I bought this book as an undergraduate studying for the GRE in Psychology (and yes, I think it did help) and have continued to use it as a doctoral student. It's been helpful at all levels. I recommend it to undergrads who are just interested in psychology, to anyone wanting to brush up on any area of psychology, and to psychologists or psychologists-in-training who want a handy reference to look up new or unfamiliar terms. It contains clear illustrations -- for example, of the eye and of some optical illusions -- and includes a separate list of common statistical formulas, a list of Greek symbols found in psychology, and a list of abbreviations commonly found in psychology.
It has entries for everything from the most broad topics, e.g. "behaviorism", which gets a lengthy encyclopedic-like entry, to the most narrow, e.g. "phobophobia: fear of fearing", "bad trip", and "Barnum effect". It includes biographical entries. It includes many entries concerning statistial analyses used in psychology -- factor analysis, Latin square, rank order correlation, etc. Every aspect of psychology is included here -- the physiological, the psychoanalytic, the behavioral, you name it. All in a very small and concise package -- ordinary paperback size and probably less thick than the latest John Grisham novel.
Each entry leaves you with a good grasp of the basics of the term in question.
This is a good book for picking up and browsing if you're just trying to edify yourself, and it's a good book to have handy if you are surrounded by psychologists (or books) who occasionally hit you with a term you aren't quite sure of or would like to know more about.
Highly recommended.
