PREFACE
I’ve always enjoyed the story about the man who claims to own Abraham
Lincoln ’s axe. “The head has been replaced several times,” the man admits.
“And this is the third or fourth handle. But it ’s the same axe that Honest Abe
used. ”I was reminded of this story recently when I thumbed through the first
edition of this book. Gradually, over the course of eight editions, much of the
book has changed. There are new topics, new learning aids, new examples,
and hundreds and hundreds of new references. But, like Lincoln’ s axe, the
essence of the book remains intact. Briefly, here ’s what ’s new this time
around, as well as what ’s stayed the same.
WHAT ’SN E W ?
As in previous revisions, each chapter has been updated to reflect new researchfindings and new developments in the field. More than 250 references havebeen added to this edition. I ’ve also made a few additions and deletions to re-
flect some of the changes I see in the field. You ’ll find an expanded discussion
of theory and research on the behavioral activation system (BAS) and behav-ioral inhibition system (BIS) in Chapter 9. Chapter 14 now includes a section
on unmitigated communion as part of the discussion of individual differences
in gender-role behavior. I ’ve also added a personality scale for students to
assess their own level of unmitigated communion. That same chapter includes
a new section on the effects of playing violent video games, a topic of particu-
lar relevance for many college students. I ’ve added a new research topic to
Chapter 16 —cognitions and aggression. I ’ve presented the general aggression
model and discussed the research on reactive aggression in elementary schooland middle school boys.
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