CONFLICTING ADVICE. AND I HAD TO MAKE A CHOICE.

To give cohesion to this welter of facts, theories, and scientific studies, I have reiterated at numerous points a widely accepted theme in psychology, the multiple bases of behavior, stating that several factors are often influential in any given response. The aim of psychology is to identify these factors and the intricate relationships among them.

Two subordinate themes have been employed to elaborate and extend this approach. The first is a stress on empiricism, which states that knowledge is acquired through experience; psychological information is obtained by observation and experimentation. The second is a reminder that psychology is guided by various theories. These diverse theoretical views emphasize and encompass the breadth of modern psychology.

The objective of science is truth, and therefore the fundamental mode of communication in this book is rational and direct, guided by logical analysis. The narrative method, with its unfolding sequence, serves as a complement. It is a powerful and ubiquitous mode of human thought, possessing the capacity to instruct in ways not possible in traditional scientific discourse. More holistic and contextual, it is a deeply ingrained human tendency, a natural way of thinking about the world (Bruner, 1990).

Support for narrative instruction comes from a wide variety of studies and essays in modern psychology--too numerous to cite fully (Bruner, 1986; Coles, 1989; Epstein, 1994; Fernald, 1987; Mandler & Johnson, 1977). Human beings tell stories not just for entertainment and pleasure but also for comprehension, explanation, memory, interest, and persuasion, as well as for the organization and preservation of their culture (Bruner, 1990; Howard, 1991; Liebes, 1994; Sarbin 1986; Schank, 1990; Vitz, 1990).

The narratives in this book were drawn chiefly from a psychological context. Most are about the work of pscyhologists--their research, teaching, and clinical practice; some are about the lives or families of psychologists; and others arise from psychologist's thoughts about the human condition.

Each chapter of this book relates its own story. You will meet a young man sailing around the world, a drummer battling a rare disease, men walking on fire, and women scaling Mount Everest; you will encounter seventeenth-century monks, a college student who becomes a patient, and pseudopatients who enter a mental hospital; you will find tales of research about obedience to authority and enslavement to the standard keyboard; you will observe learning in schoolchildren, a wild boy from the woods, orphan girls in institutions, and a clever horse in Berlin; you will build with a corps of carpenters and struggle with a dreaming artist; and you will follow the lives of a mother and son, a father and son, and a young couple in love.

Each narrative serves three instructional functions. First, through its appeal to intelligence and emotion, it increases reader interest. The unfolding sequence develops and sustains motivation. Second, the narrative aids comprehension. It does so by favoring Bacon's rule of one variable, which states that different theories or viewpoints can be best understood when they are compared with respect to the same illustration. Thus, when different theories, methods, or perspectives are presented within a chapter, a single illustration for all of them is provided by the unfolding narrative. Third, the narrative improves memory for the contents of the chapter. Serving as a connecting thread, it gives each chapter a mnemonic framework or structure. In the words of William James, the narrative may become an idea to which the "facts will soon cluster and cling . . . like grapes to a stem" (1890).

There is also a companion to this textbook, the Student Learning Guide, offering several aids for the student. First, it contains learning objectives for each chapter, informing the student of the expected learning outcomes. Then it presents an extensive learning-and-practice exercise for every chapter, called programmed instruction, emphasizing the major concepts in the chapter. Programmed instruction is effective for three reasons. It proceeds in small steps, appropriate to the learner's capacity. It requires active responding, ensuring that students are directly engaged in the task. And it provides immediate knowledge of results, informing learners about the adequacy of their responses.

The guide also includes a variety of exam questions, ranging from multiple-choice to matching items. They constitute a self-testing review. With an emphasis on diversity, these questions are designed to assist students in preparing for examinations of all sorts.

In Chicago, Barbara Muller, publishing consultant, set forth a very clear rule for the further refinement of this manuscript: Successful writing is rewriting. With extensive experience, she guided a detailed revision of the text, ever mindful of a tendency throughout the publishing industry: The covers of most books are too far apart.

And finally the edited manuscript reached the publisher's offices, coming under the supervision of a poised and sagacious production editor, Mary Rottino. She ably directed the whole project--manuscript, photographs, line art, and all the rest--through the labyrinthine corridors and across the innumerable desktops that comprise an impressive modern publishing house, Prentice Hall.

Writing a textbook is an instructional task, and here I am clearly indebted to former and current students and colleagues at various universities and colleges in America and Europe. Much of this book reflects my development as a teacher, writer, and psychologist through interactions with them. May they find themselves here in spirit, if not in lettered tribute.