People who studied/study Psychology at Melbourne

[simpak]

Mind, Brain and Behaviour 1;

Prescribed Texts:   There are no prescribed texts for this subject.
Recommended Texts:   
Eysenck, M.W. (2004) Psychology: An International Perspective Hove, Sussex, UK: Psychology Press/Palgrave Macmillan

Smyth, T.R. (2004) The Principles of Writing in Psychology Basingstoke, Hampshie, UK: Palgrave Macmillan

Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau L.B. (2004) Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences (6th ed.). Belmont CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning


How necessary are the recommended texts?  Do you suggest buying all of them/any of them?  Should you just reference the library if you need them?
Explain.

[squance]

A lot of people don't buy the textbooks because they just rely on the lectures/notes and if need be, they just go to the library to borrow the books. Its convenient to have your own copy of the textbooks

I found the The Principles of Writing in Psychology quite useless. Didn't use that one much. Don't buy it.

The Stats book I found quite useful and I actually read/used most of the book . Buy that one perhaps.

[username]

I personally found the textbooks very helpful. Sometimes lecturers modify questions from the textbook for the exam (Quantitative Methods).

I would suggest buying Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences and Psychology: An International Perspective, since the library only has limited copies and during exam time it's almost impossible to get one on loan.

But if you had to pick between either, I'd choose Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences since I found QM a bitch to grasp.

[Glockmeister]

Monash uses Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences as well. It's a pretty nifty, if slight dull book. I'll still have it for reference at least.