This is a comprehensive guide to some of the difficulties and disorders which can cause children to become disruptive at school and in the home. It examines the nature of EBDs and their potential causes, whether social, psychological or biological and discusses the issues that can arise for professionals involved in their assessment, analysing the various methods used. It is an excellent introduction for both educational and medical professionals.' - Aslib Book Guide 'A useful book for those working both in child mental health services and in education.' - British Journal of Psychiatry Children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBDs) present a challenge for parents, teachers and other professionals alike. Understanding and Supporting Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties is a comprehensive guide to this group of ill-defined, often unrelated disorders, which can cause children to become disruptive both at school and in the home. The contributors stress that EBDs are ultimately a form of communication, albeit an antagonistic one, and evaluate the success of different methods of intervention in clinical, educational and family settings. They argue that successful intervention in any environment requires an appreciation of the complex interplay in the social and personal factors affecting each child. Finally the book explores the future of EBDs and their treatment, calling for a greater understanding of children with EBDs and improved cooperation between the educational and medical forms of intervention.

This is the first volume that focuses on the lifespan neurobehavioral factors likely to determine susceptibility to alcohol abuse and its consequences. The chapters offer careful analysis of the effects of ethanol on the fetus, the infant, the adolescent, and the adult. The authors include behavioral neuroscientists and clinical neuropsychologists. Their topics range from the neurochemical and neuroanatomical consequences of prenatal alcohol to the cognitive consequences of prenatal alcohol on preschool and school-age children. The impact of genetics on sensitivity to alcohol is considered in terms of analytic tests using techniques of behavioral genetics and molecular biology. The consequences of exposure to alcohol during breastfeeding are described in experiments with human infants. The alcoholism that develops in adulthood is analyzed through the experimental study of relapse from alcohol deprivation and assessment of neuropsychological impairments and treatment for alcoholics. Drawing on extensive research that has applied techniques from molecular neurobiology and tests of learning and memory to the clinical assessment and treatment of alcoholics. The volume answers recent questions raised by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute of Drug Abuse about the role of early experience in susceptibility to later abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Although epidemiological studies can describe the problem, solutions in terms of mechanisms that mediate these effects will be found only with the kinds of experimentally oriented approaches the chapter authors describe.

Brain, body, and world are united in a complex dance of circular causation and extended computational activity. In " Being There," Andy Clark weaves these several threads into a pleasing whole and goes on to address foundational questions concerning the new tools and techniques needed to make sense of the emerging sciences of the embodied mind. Clark brings together ideas and techniques from robotics, neuroscience, infant psychology, and artificial intelligence. He addresses a broad range of adaptive behaviors, from cockroach locomotion to the role of linguistic artifacts in higher-level thought.

This volume presents an international group of researchers who model animal and human behavior--both simple and complex. The models presented focus on such subjects as the pattern of eating in meals and bouts, the energizing and shaping impact of reinforcers on behavior, transitive inferential reasoning, responding to a compound stimulus, avoidance and escape learning, recognition memory, category formation, generalization, the timing of adaptive responses, and chromosomes exchanging information. The chapters are united by a common interest in adaptive behavior--whether of human, animal, or artificial system--and clearly demonstrate the rich variety of ways in which this fascinating area of research can be approached.
In so doing, the book demonstrates the range of thought that qualifies as theorizing in the contemporary study of the mechanisms of adaptive behavior. It has two purposes: to bring together a very wide range of approaches in one place and to give authors space to explain how their ideas developed. Journal literature often presents fully-formed theories with no explanation of how an idea came to have the shape in which it is presented. In this volume, however, leaders in different fields provide background on the development of their ideas. Where once psychologists and a few zoologists had this field to themselves, now various types of computer scientists have added great energy to the mix.

In a stimulating synthesis of cognitive science, anthropology, and linguistics, Philip Lieberman tackles the fundamental questions of human nature: How and why are human beings so different from other species? Can the Darwinian theory of evolution explain human linguistic and cognitive ability? How do our processes of language and thought differ from those of Homo erectus 500,000 years ago, or of the Neanderthals 35,000 years ago? What accounts for human moral sense? Lieberman believes that evolution for rapid, efficient vocal communication forged modern human beings by creating the modern human brain. Earlier hominids lacked fully human speech and syntax, which together allow us to convey complex thoughts rapidly. The author discusses how natural selection acted on older brain mechanisms to produce a structure that can regulate the motor activity necessary for speech and command the complex syntax that enhances the creativity of human language. The unique brain mechanisms underlying human language also enhance human cognitive ability, allowing us to derive abstract concepts and to plan complex activities. These factors are necessary for the development of true altruism and moral behavior. Lieberman supports his argument about the evolution of speech and the human brain by combining the comparative method of Charles Darwin, insights from archaeology and child development, and the results of high-tech research with computerized brain scanning and computer models that can recreate speech sounds made by our ancestors over 100,000 years ago. Uniquely Human will stimulate fresh thought and controversy on the basic question of how we came to be.

The culmination of twenty years of research, this book is a cross-cultural exploration of the ways in which age, gender, and culture affect the development of social behavior in children. The authors and their associates observed children between the ages of two and ten going about their daily lives in communities in Africa, India, the Philippines, Okinawa, Mexico, and the United States. This rich fund of data has enabled them to identify the types of social behavior that are universal and those which differ from one cultural environment to another. Whiting and Edwards shed new light on the nature-nurture question: in analyzing the behavior of young children, they focus on the relative contributions of universal physiological maturation and universal social imperatives. They point out cross-cultural similarities, but also note the differences in experience between children who grow up in simple and in complex societies. They show that knowledge of the company children keep, and of the proportion of time they spend with various categories of people, makes it possible to predict important aspects of their interpersonal behavior. An extension and elaboration of the classic Children of Six Cultures (Harvard, 1975), Children of Different Worlds will appeal to the same audience-developmental psychologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, and educators-and is sure to be equally influential.

This is a timely work which explores the validity of rational and subjective approaches to conflict resolution, considers the value of international law and organizations for addressing complex social phenomena, and outlines a structural approach to international conflicts. In addition it extends the analysis of conflict transformation to new issues on the international agenda, such as antagonism between urban and rural areas and threat to the environment.

In his most probing and expansive work to date, Jerome Kagan-one of this country's leading psychologists-demonstrates that innovative research methods in the behavioral sciences and neurobiology, together with a renewed philosophical commitment to rigorous empiricism, are transforming our understanding of human behavior. Contemporary psychology, according to Kagan, has been preoccupied with three central themes: How malleable is temperament? How predictable are the milestones of cognitive development? How accurate is consciousness as a window onto the self, its motives, beliefs, and emotions? In a review of past approaches to these questions, Kagan argues persuasively that behavioral scientists have reached less-than-satisfactory answers because they have failed to appreciate the biases inherent in their frame of reference and the limitations of their investigative procedures. He calls into question a number of techniques that have been mainstays of psychological investigation: the Ainsworth Strange Situation for assessing the emotional attachment of an infant to its mother, and interviews and questionnaires as indexes of personality, to name only two. Kagan's own research has used novel laboratory situations to discover a group of children who exhibit a pattern of behavior he calls "temperamentally inhibited"-they are restless and irritable from birth, and by twenty-four months cling to the mother and show biological signs of high anxiety in unfamiliar situations. These findings, coupled with current understanding of the structure and chemistry of the nervous system, lead him to speculate that these children are born with a biological predisposition that favors the development of a shy, fearful personality. Through longitudinal studies of this kind, as well as through his cross-cultural investigations of cognitive development, Kagan has infused new meaning into the nature-nurture debate.

In this book, J.P.Scott combines genetic theories of evolution, systems theory, and theories of behavioural evolution to explain the evolution of social behaviour and organization. He proposes that caregiving has evolved from self care, to care of fertilized eggs, to developing embryos, to hatchings. Care may then be extended to adult offspring, collateral relatives and to unrelated others.;Humans, Scott shows, are unique in the degree to which caregiving behaviour is extendable to non-related humans, other animals as pets, and even to plants. He concludes that social organization is based on caregiving as well as processes such as unconscious physiological co-operation, site attachment, sexual behaviour, defensive behaviour, competition and conflict. Competition is thus not the sole mode of evolution. This view challenges some of the conventional sociobiological theories of the evolution of altruism. The book's broad interdisciplinary scope and social relevance has significant import for the general reader as well as for researchers and students in evolution, animal behaviour, ecology, psychobiology, and the human sciences of anthropology, political science, and sociology.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a complex and evolving model of treatment that has been developed for and applied to a wide range of mental and physical problems and disorders. CBT's flexibility as a model can also make it a difficult technique to master. To be an effective cognitive behavioural therapist, the practitioner must be able to learn the broad principles related to CBT, and understand how to adapt those principles to his or her varied clients. Intended as a stand-alone companion to the APA video series of the same title, this book brings together three esteemed leaders and trainers in the field to elucidate the key principles, frameworks, and therapeutic processes that are used by effective cognitive behaviour therapists. In engaging language, this slim and approachable volume follows the typical sequence of delivering CBT to a client, with chapters focusing on assessment, case conceptualizations, core beliefs, behavioural strategies, problem-solving strategies, cultural responsiveness, and techniques to address distorted thinking. Featuring illustrative hypothetical cases and discussion of cutting-edge research, this book will give therapists a rich understanding of the various methods, approaches, and ideas that drive modern CBT.

Cognitive-behavioural therapies are the most popular form of mental health services offered today. But with this popularity comes an urgent need for standardized training and education for emerging cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) clinicians. This handy guide offers an evidence-based approach to supervision of emerging CBT practitioners. The authors' approach is based on two key concepts: feedback that is geared toward strengths as well as weaknesses, and stimulates problem-solving and growth; and demonstration, by which a supervisor takes part in role-playing exercises and even shows videos of his or her own work with clients, in order to model the experiential knowledge that trainees need to succeed. Using a wealth of case examples, including material from a supervision session with a real trainee (from the DVD Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Supervision, also available from the American Psychological Association), Newman and Kaplan demonstrate how trainees can learn to think like effective CBT practitioners, from conceptualizing cases and matching interventions to the individual needs of each client, to the comprehensive and subtle understandings of cultural competency and professional ethics.

This hands-on guide is designed to help school practitioners conduct effective multidimensional assessments of a wide range of emotional and behavioral difficulties. Each chapter focuses on a particular method, describes its applications in the school setting, and offers clear guidelines for implementation, illustrated with realistic case examples. Approaches discussed include direct observation, analogue assessment, child self-reports, teacher and parent interviewing, informant reports, and self-monitoring procedures. Recommendations for working with culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents are also provided.

The theoretical and empirical underpinnings of the assessment strategies demonstrated here are thoroughly reviewed in the companion volume, Behavioral Assessment in Schools, Second Edition: Theory, Research, and Clinical Foundations (see other side for more information).

Teachers, parents, and community leaders need effective strategies for dealing with inappropriate behaviors of all children. The factors behind inappropriate behavior (inadequate and early environmental influences, home environment, behavior styles, cultural styles, and learning styles) are compounded for young African-American males due to the organizational structure of the public schools. In order to meet the challenge, the schools must adapt new and creative ways for teaching social skills to this population. This book presents that social skills curriculum.

This edited collection brings together scholars from the United States and abroad to provide an introduction to selected topics in cross-cultural psychology, the scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes under diverse cultural conditions.