Obsessive-compulsive disorder is currently the subject of considerable research, because recent epidemiological studies have suggested that the condition is more prevalent than was originally believed. This book offers a critical discussion of the most important theories that have been put forward to explain this disorder. The book includes behavioral/learning accounts (and cognitive-behavioral supplements of these), accounts based on Pavlovian personality theories (such as those by Eysenck, Gray, and Claridge), Pierre Janet's account, cybernetic approaches, psychodynamic approaches, Reed's...

What is the mind? How does it work? How does it influence behavior? Some psychologists hope to answer such questions in terms of concepts drawn from computer science and artificial intelligence. They test their theories by modeling mental processes in computers. This book shows how computer models are used to study many psychological phenomena--including vision, language, reasoning, and learning. It also shows that computer modeling involves differing theoretical approaches. Computational psychologists disagree about some basic questions. For instance, should the mind be modeled by digital...

We live in a world in which inconsistency is the rule rather than the exception and this is particularly true with regard to rewards and frustrations. In some cases, rewards and frustrative nonrewards appear to occur randomly for what seems to be the same behavior; in others a sequence of rewards is suddenly followed by nonrewards, or there are large rewards followed by small rewards. Sometimes we are rewarded for responding quickly, other times for responding slowly. The important common factor in these and other cases is frustration, how we learn about it and how we respond to it. Without...

It is hard to think of any significant aspect of our lives that is not influenced by what we have learned in the past. Of fundamental importance is our ability to learn the ways in which events are related to one another, called associative learning. This book provides a fresh look at associative learning theory and reviews extensively the advances made over the past twenty years. The Psychology of Associative Learning begins by establishing that the human associative learning system is rational in the sense that it accurately represents event relationships. David Shanks goes on to consider...

Genius: The Natural History of Creativity presents a novel theory of genius and creativity that is based on the personality characteristics of creative persons and geniuses. Starting with the fact that genius and creativity are frequently related to psychopathology, this book brings together many different lines of research into the subject. Professor Eysenck provides experimental evidence to support these theories in their application to creativity. He considers the role of intelligence, social status, gender, and many other factors that have been linked with genius and creativity. His...

Incentive relativity is the study of the disappointment and irritation shown by animals and humans when they fail to obtain an expected reward. This book provides a full account of the subject, focusing on animals' responses to the relative value of rewards. These relativity effects cause stress in animals but they may also inspire adaptation beneficial to survival. This text shows how animal research may lead to an understanding of individual differences in discernment and susceptibility to disappointment, and to an understanding of both the advantages and disadvantages of dissatisfaction.

This book deals with motivation at all levels from the physiological to that of mathematical modelling and explains complex ideas lucidly.

This book describes the control of thirst and water intake, and the physiology and psychology of drinking.

A comprehensive 1980 study of the way in which animals learn particularly about the relationship between events in their environment.