ASU Psychology Textbooks: Used Copies, PDFs, and Alternatives
PSY textbooks at ASU are heavily reused — here's how to find cheap used copies and free alternatives for common psychology courses.
Psychology Textbooks at ASU: High Volume, High Reuse
Psychology is one of ASU's largest majors, and PSY 101 is one of the highest-enrollment courses on campus. That's actually good news for you: when a lot of students take the same course, the used textbook market is deep and prices stay competitive.
Here's what to know about getting psych texts without paying full price.
PSY 101: Intro Psychology
This course uses one of a handful of standard intro texts — Myers, Schacter, or similar. These books are used at universities across the country, which means the used market is enormous. You can find previous editions for under $20 almost anywhere.
Check ASU List first since the copies there come from ASU students who took the same course and professor. That means the same edition, sometimes with previous students' highlights (which can actually be helpful).
OpenStax also publishes a free, open-access Psychology textbook. It's not identical to the assigned text, but it covers intro psych concepts thoroughly and works well as a supplement or alternative if your professor doesn't grade closely from the assigned text.
Upper-Division Psych: It Gets More Specific
As you move into major-required courses — Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Research Methods — the textbook requirements get more specific and the resale market gets thinner.
PSY 230 (Personality): Textbooks vary by professor. Ask what's actually tested from the textbook versus what's in lectures. Many psych professors at ASU test primarily from slides.
PSY 394 (Research Methods): Field & Hole's Discovering Statistics or similar. These actually do get used — lots of problem sets. Buy used from a student who passed; their annotations might help. Check ASU List and filter by course number.
PSY 410 / 412 (Abnormal Psych): Butcher's Abnormal Psychology or Barlow's. Used copies are widely available. One or two editions back is fine for understanding the concepts; just be aware of updated diagnostic criteria if that's specifically tested.
When a PDF Might Be Around
A lot of psych textbooks — especially older editions — have scanned PDFs floating around the internet. The question of legality is nuanced: downloading a copyrighted PDF you didn't pay for is technically infringement, regardless of whether you could afford the book.
What's clearly legal and genuinely useful:
- ASU Library digital access — many psych textbooks are available digitally through the library. Check lib.asu.edu.
- Google Scholar — journal articles that back up textbook content are often freely available
- PsycARTICLES through ASU Library — APA's full-text journal database, free with your ASURITE ID
- OpenStax Psychology — free, peer-reviewed, legitimate
Statistics: The Psych Major's Budget-Killer
If you're a psych major taking STP 226 or STP 231 for your stats requirement, or using statistics in research methods, the textbook situation is similar. OpenStax has a free Introductory Statistics textbook. SPSS tutorials are free on YouTube. The software itself is available through ASU's computer labs.
Selling Psych Textbooks
Psych textbooks sell well because demand is steady. The major is large, PSY 101 is taken by non-majors for credit, and the courses repeat every semester.
Sell on ASU List at the end of the semester. Be specific about edition and condition. Intro textbooks sell fast — list them early, not after finals week when everyone else is listing too. For upper-division texts, list the week before finals when next-semester students are starting to look.
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