Kategoria BISAC: Psychology >> General

"Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles--for the sheer pleasure of it--and there is no obvious genetic reason why we would do this. Marcel Danesi explores the psychology of puzzles and puzzling, with scores of classic examples. His pioneering book is both entertaining and enlightening." --Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times

..". Puzzle fanatics will enjoy the many riddles, illusions, cryptograms and other mind-benders offered for analysis." --Psychology Today

..". a bristlingly clear... always intriguing survey of the history and rationale of...

In this book, J. Allan Hobson offers a new understanding of altered states of consciousness based on knowledge of how our brain chemistry is balanced when we are awake and how that balance shifts when we fall asleep and dream. He draws on recent research that enables us to explain how psychedelic drugs work to disturb that balance and how similar imbalances may cause depression and schizophrenia. He also draws on work that expands our understanding of how certain drugs can correct imbalances and restore the brain's natural equilibrium.

Hobson explains the chemical balance concept in...

The nature/nurture debate is not dead. Dichotomous views of development still underlie many fundamental debates in the biological and social sciences. Developmental systems theory (DST) offers a new conceptual framework with which to resolve such debates. DST views ontogeny as contingent cycles of interaction among a varied set of developmental resources, no one of which controls the process. These factors include DNA, cellular and organismic structure, and social and ecological interactions. DST has excited interest from a wide range of researchers, from molecular biologists to...

In this sweeping challenge to the postmodern critiques of psychoanalysis, Joel Whitebook argues for a reintegration of Freud's uncompromising investigation of the unconscious with the political and philosophical insights of critical theory. Perversion and Utopia follows in the tradition of Herbert Marcuse's Eros and Civilization and Paul Ricoeur's Freud and Philosophy. It expands on these books, however, because of the author's remarkable grasp not only of psychoanalytic studies but also of the contemporary critical climate; Whitebook, a philosopher and a psychoanalyst, writes with equal...

A discussion by a broadly respected authority of the complicated relationship between theology and ordinary life in the early church. The first section of the book scrutinizes theology with a view to understanding its bearing upon Christian understandings of life (the theological "stories" of Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine). The second section examines aspects of ordinary life and explores how Christians related them to religious ideas (the family, hospitality, citizenship, monasticism, and attitudes toward the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West).

This very learned...

This book features essays by the major supporters of the narrative metaphor. They approach the subject from philosophical, religious, anthropological, and historical perspectives as well as from the psychological point of view. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and literary theorists will find the book provocative and a convenient reference source to the narrative approach.

Most trainers rely on trial and error as the only means of improving facilitation skills. This definitive text furnishes a comprehensive framework for determining the best interventions to use in a given group situation. The trainer is presented with strategies for assisting the individual to establish an attainable goal, develop a strategy for change, and implement and evaluate that strategy during and following the life of the group. Both personal and professional development groups are addressed in the model. Most current literature describes how to design management training and human...

This work presents a new and important paradigm modification in psychology that attempts to incorporate ideas from quantum physics and postmodern culture. The author feels that the current diagnostic model of the mental health establishment is too entwined with political and economic factors to represent a valid method for healing psychological problems. The predominant model is too linear, reductionist, normative, and based upon an abnormal view of behavior. Exacerbating this problem is our highly accelerated present-day lifestyle in which new processes and interactions are constantly...

Although psychology is steeped in writing, as a discipline it has developed little explicit understanding of writing. This is the first book to examine writing (and the teaching of writing) in psychology from the standpoint of composition studies, the scholarly field that specializes in the study and teaching of writing. The book's purpose is to develop a different, richer, more explicit understanding of writing than psychology presently has. Three major aspects of writing are discussed: audience, genre, and style. After examining these, the author draws implications for the teaching of...

Harcum maintains that the proper assumptions about human nature are established by their relative utility in solving existing human problems. In order to facilitate solutions to familiar problems of daily living, the author advocates a definition of the science of psychology that includes the concepts of human freedom and intrinsic dignity. The author emphasizes the importance of the free will concept to behavioral scientists and practitioners as well as to citizens of the general population who, perhaps without realizing it, are forced users of behavioral science. The author's intention...

The renewal of interest in psychological anthropology has called for a critical appraisal of past schools and approaches as well as an up-to-date review of the literature and evidence from contemporary research. This handbook, the first reference work devoted to this growing field, draws upon the work of distinguished contributors to examine historical, methodological, and critical material related to psychological anthropology.

The volume is organized in two parts. The first is an historical overview of the field from 1920 to the present, outlining the major schools and...

The thrust of this book is to educate policymakers, academics, political scientists, and others as to the beneficial use of psychological principles within a multidisciplinary framework to aid in the development of more productive policy. Contributors to this volume offer an integrative, collaborative, synergistic approach to effecting positive change. The book's goal is threefold: to offer a varied collection of solutions and models of applications of psychological principles; to collect a diverse group of experts (academics, theorists, and practitioners) whose expertise spans some of the...

The past century has seen many changes in the study of psychology. One of those major changes was the adoption of scientific principles to define and build the discipline of psychology. These principles were manifested in the discipline's method of investigation and subject matter. For many, this constituted a revolution in the study of psychology. This work examines the results of this revolution and asks whether it has been beneficial.

The author explains how the psychology-science union came about and examines the positive and negative results. He then describes the major...

Along with biological and medical factors, psychological factors must also be considered in health and well being. Stress plays a major role in physical illness, and stress management is therefore critical to establishing good health and well being behavior. William Miley offers a biopsychosocial approach emphasizing the complex interactions between biologoical, psychological, social, and cultural factors. Lifestyles are a fertile ground for psychological intervention to maintain health and well being. This book focuses on contemporary lifestyle patterns offering positive behaviors to...

The first book focused on diplomacy from a psychological perspective, this work features 12 top diplomats and psychologists examining issues and approaches. Factors considered include the implicit and explicit ground rules for the interaction of diplomats, and their assumptions about their own roles and those of their counterparts. The book explores the vital question: Do diplomats meet to work out agreements and solutions for the common benefit of humanity, or is it the responsibility of a diplomat to seek advantage for his or her own nation at the expense of others? The topics include...

Gorsuch seeks to provide a thoughtful introduction to relating spirituality and psychology in a postmodern era. This is timely due to the considerable interest in spirituality, the ways psychology and religion can impact lives, and ways spirituality and psychology can be brought together in dialogue or integration. Gorsuch provides a basis from which to address the many practical concerns to which both psychology and spirituality speak.

Practical issues are the ultimate concern of both psychology and spirituality. Gorsuch addresses such issues as examples along the way and in...

From twins torn away from their family and separated, to a girl shut in a basement, maltreated and malnourished, the world of Jewish children who were hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust becomes painfully clear in this volume. Psychiatrist Bluglass presents interviews with 15 adults who avoided execution in their childhoods thanks to being hidden by Christians, all of whom have since developed remarkably positive lives. All are stable, healthy, intelligent, and share a surprising sense of humor. Together, they show a profound ability to recover and thrive--an unexpected resilience....

Jaques presents a totally new general theoretical foundation for understanding the individual and social behavior of all living organisms. In contrast to existing theories of behavior which are static, Jaques has succeeded in breaking through to a truly dynamic orientation. This breakthrough, resulted from his fundamental research into work organizations that led to the realization that the difference between inanimate processes and all living behavior, is that all living behavior is composed of intentional goal-directed work.

This continuous work entails the use of judgment...

Challenging existing claims concerning the functions of Rapid Eye Movement sleep and the purported meaninglessness of dreams, this text offers a complete and up-to-date survey on the anatomy, physiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of REM sleep as well as the cognitive neuroscience of dream phenomonolgy and dream content. The text underlines the importance of looking at how REM interacts physiologically with NREM sleep, in order to understand the potential functions of REM. The findings support and extend clams that the functions of REM involve memory consolidation and regulation of emotional...

This volume shows how masculinity is a socially constructed entity with a definition that has evolved over time. Masculine icons/heroes and methods of male socialization allow for contextual examination of specific time periods, which is necessary to understand the concept of Western masculinity. The volume presents two masculinities, representing the aristocracy and the warrior class notions of how to be a man, that have vied for dominance throughout most of Western culture.