Weiten`s PSYCHOLOGY: THEMES AND VARIATIONS, 8E International Edition maintains this book`s strengths while addressing market changes with new learning objectives, a complete updating, and a fresh new design. The text continues to provide a unique survey of psychology that meets three goals: to demonstrate the unity and diversity of psychology`s subject matter, to illuminate the research process and its link to application, and to make the text challenging and thought-provoking yet easy from which to learn. Weiten accomplishes the successful balance of scientific rigor and a student-friendly approach through the integration of seven unifying themes, an unparalleled didactic art program, real-life examples, and a streamlined set of learning aids that help students see beyond research to big-picture concepts. Major topics typically covered in today`s courses are included, such as evolutionary psychology, neuropsychology, biological psychology, positive psychology, applied psychology, careers, and multiculturalism and diversity. Interactive multimedia and online resources that are fully integrated with the text-including PsykTrekTM 3.0, CengageNOWTM (with an eBook), and downloadable audio study tools-provide additional paths to learning. Instructors receive support from videos; PowerLectureTM: A One-Stop Microsoft® PowerPoint® Tool, featuring readymade lecture slides; and a YouTube resource guide. Features Appealing to visual learners-The book``s hundreds of visuals include more than 40 vivid illustrations of the brain, neurons, and other aspects of physiology by award-winning medical illustrator Fred Harwin. The popular Concept Chart booklet helps students visualize the macro-level and drill down to the micro-level. Balance of a critical thinking emphasis with the applied, practical side of psychology-Critical Thinking Application boxes (by APA President Diane Halpern) add a formal critical thinking component, asking students to apply critical thinking skills to chapter-related topics. Complementing this feature are Personal Application boxes that offer practical information for use in students`` day-to-day lives. Integrative themes-empiricism, theoretical diversity, sociohistorical contexts, multifactorial causation, cultural heritage, heredity and environment, and subjectivity of experience-provide connections among the different areas of research in psychology and help students see the ideas behind the facts. Reflecting on the Chapter``s Theme sections tie together key themes and content and show links with cross-chapter material. Featured Studies describing the how and why of key experiments-Organized in the same purpose-method-results-discussion format used in journal articles, these sections introduce students to the primary literature. Among others, new studies in this edition discuss effects of sleep deprivation, how women``s judgments of men``s faces are sensitive to their testosterone level and affinity for children, and benefits of intuition in decision-making. Balanced treatment of evolutionary psychology-Weiten presents evolutionary principles in the chapter on the biological bases of behavior and sets the stage for parallels with human behavior, which are discussed later.