With a strong applied focus, WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? ESSENTIALS, 2nd Edition, captures and holds students' attention from the first page to the last. Ellen Pastorino and Susann Doyle-Portillo, award-winning psychology professors with an infectious enthusiasm for teaching, have found that students who are curious are motivated to explore and truly learn how psychological concepts are connected. This text incorporates the authors' successful and engaging teaching approach, unlocking students' curiosity with compelling, chapter-opening stories of real people that show students how psychology affects their everyday lives. Embedded critical-thinking questions motivate students to continue making connections between personal stories, applications to their own lives, and psychological concepts they will use outside of the classroom. Diversity is addressed in every chapter through integration of issues of gender, race, culture, ethnicity, and sexuality.