Award-winning science writer Steven Mithen explores how an understanding of our ancestors and their development can illuminate our brains and behaviour today How do our minds work? When did language and religious beliefs first emerge? Why was there a cultural explosion of art and creativity with the arrival of modern humans? This ground-breaking book brings the insight of archaeology to our understanding of the development and history of the human mind, combining them with ideas from evolutionary psychology in a brilliant and provocative synthesis.

Sex is a fundamentally important biological variable. Recent years have seen significant progress in the integration of sex in many aspects of basic and clinical research, including analyses of sex differences in brain function. Significant advances in the technology available for studying the endocrine and nervous systems are now coupled with a more sophisticated awareness of the interconnections of these two communication systems of the body. A thorough understanding of the current knowledge, conceptual approaches, methodological capabilities, and challenges is a prerequisite to continued progress in research and therapeutics in this interdisciplinary area.
Sex Differences in the Brain provides scientists with the basic tools for investigating sex differences in brain and behavior and insight into areas where important progress in understanding physiologically relevant sex differences has already been made. This book was edited and co-authored by members of the Isis Fund Network on Sex, Gender, Drugs and the Brain, sponsored by the Society for Womens Health Research.
The book is arranged in three parts. The first part of the book introduces the study of sex differences in the brain, with an overview of how the brain, stress systems, and pharmacogenetics differ in males and females and how this information is important for the study of behavior and neurobiology of both genders. The second part presents examples of sex differences in neurobiology and behavior from both basic and clinical research perspectives, covering both humans and nonhuman animals. The final part discusses sex differences in the neurobiology of disease and neurological disorders.
For interestedindividuals as well as those who are considering conducting research at the intersections of endocrinology, neuroscience, and other areas of biomedicine, the study of sex differences offers exciting and challenging questions and perspectives. This book is intended as a guide and resource for clinicians, scientists, and students.

Neuroscience of Rule-Guided Behavior brings together, for the first time, the experiments and theories that have created the new science of rules. Rules are central to human behavior, but until now the field of neuroscience lacked a synthetic approach to understanding them. How are rules learned, retrieved from memory, maintained in consciousness and implemented? How are they used to solve problems and select among actions and activities? How are the various levels of rules represented in the brain, ranging from simple conditional ones if a traffic light turns red, then stop to rules and strategies of such sophistication that they defy description? And how do brain regions interact to produce rule-guided behaviour? These are among the most fundamental questions facing neuroscience, but until recently there was relatively little progress in answering them. It was difficult to probe brain mechanisms in humans, and expert opinion held that animals lacked the capacity for such high-level behaviour. However, rapid progress in neuroimaging technology has allowed investigators to explore brain mechanisms in humans, while increasingly sophisticated behavioral methods have revealed that animals can and do use high-level rules to control their behavior. The resulting explosion of information has led to a new science of rules, but it has also produced a plethora of overlapping ideas and terminology and a field sorely in need of synthesis. In this book, Silvia Bunge and Jonathan Wallis bring together the worlds leading cognitive and systems neuroscientists to explain the most recent research on rule-guided behavior. Their work covers a wide range of disciplines and methods, including neuropsychology, functional magnetic resonance imaging, neurophysiology, electroencephalography, neuropharmacology, near-infrared spectroscopy, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. This unprecedented synthesis is a must-read for anyone interested in how complex behaviour is controlled and organized by the brain.

Strategies and Tactics of Behavioral Research and Practice focuses on the most effective methods for measuring and evaluating changes in behavior. The authors provide the rationale for different procedures for measuring behavior and designing within-subject comparisons between control and intervention conditions. The text explains the strengths and weaknesses of methodological alternatives for every topic so that behavioral researchers and practitioners can make the best decisions in each situation. This classic text has been extensively revised to be more accessible and practical. Not only does it feature much more discussion of how research methods are relevant to today's practitioners, it also includes additional examples based on field research and service delivery scenarios. With expanded coverage on creating experimental designs, as well as new chapters on behavioral assessment, the statistical analysis of data, and ethical issues associated with research methods, this book provides a strong foundation for direct behavioral measurement, within-subject research design, and interpretation of behavioral interventions. Enriched with more pedagogical features, including key terms, tables summarizing important points, figures to help readers visualize text, and updated examples and suggested readings, this book is an invaluable resource for students taking courses in research methods. This book is appropriate for researchers and practitioners in behavior analysis, psychology, education, social work, and other social and health science programs that address questions about behavior in research or practice settings.

A mood is defined as the prevailing psychological state (habitual or relatively temporary). It is further defined as a feeling, state or prolonged emotion that influences the whole of one's psychic life. It can relate to passion or feeling; humour; as, a melancholy mood; a suppliant mood. Mood can and does affect perceived health, personal confidence, one's perceptions of the world around us and our actions based on those perceptions. Moods can and do change often although mood swings of a sharp nature may be a symptom of underlying disease. Moods may signify happiness, anger, tension, or anxiety. Chronic periods of any mood state may be an indicator of a disorder as well. This new book gathers important research from throughout the world in this rapidly changing field.

This book argues that people care about the opinion that others hold of them, and that the actions they take to raise the esteem they enjoy produce social patterns which, in turn, affect individual economic behaviour. Written by an economist and a philosopher, Part One introduces the concept of human beings as esteem-seeking, esteem-giving creatures and points the way towards an economy of esteem. Part Two illustrates that economy in practice, while Part Three considers how we might hope to mobilize the forces of esteem in a well-designed political and social order.

The Cognitive Behavioural Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) is a set of techniques proven to be efficacious in the treatment of chronic depression. This book describes ways in which it can be extended in the treatment of patients with a variety of psychological disorders and difficulties.

Motivation and Emotion provides an explanation of emotional experience and aspects of human behaviour using psychological, physiological and alternative approaches. The brain mechanisms that govern motivations are discussed and questions such as 'Why don't we eat ourselves to death?' and 'How do we know we are thirsty?' are answered.
Phil Gorman is an A-Level teacher at Stafford College, UK, and a chief examiner for the Edexcel A Level Examination Board.
The Routledge Modular Psychology series is a completely new approach to introductory level psychology, tailor-made for the new modular style of teaching. Each book covers a topic in more detail than any large text-book can, allowing teacher and student to select material exactly to suit any particular course or project. Especially written for those students new to higher-level study, whether at school. College or university, the books include the following designed features to help with technique:

* Practise essays with specialist commentary to show how to achieve a higher grade
* Chapter summaries and summaries of key research
* Glossary and further reading
* Progress and review exercises

Related link: A-Level Psychology Website
Related link: Available for Inspection
Related link: Free Email Alerting

Originally published in 1988, this title explores and contrasts means and ends psychology with conventional psychology - that of stimuli and response. The author develops this comparison by exploring the general nature of psychological phenomena and clarifying many persistent doubts about psychology. She contrasts conventional psychology (stimuli and responses) involving reductionistic, organocentric, and mechanistic metatheory with alternative psychology (means and ends) that is autonomous, contextual, and evolutionary.

What are the processes and mechanisms involved in interpersonal behavior, and how are these constrained by human biology, social structure, and culture? Drawing on and updating classic sociological theory, and with special reference to the most recent research in evolutionary and neurophysiological theory, this ambitious work aims to present no less than a unified, general theory of what happens when people interact.
Despite modern technologies that mediate communication among individuals, face-to-face interaction is still primal and primary. This book argues against recent social theory that postulates a dramatic change in the nature of human relationships under postmodernity and, instead, asserts that despite undeniable and accelerating change in people's environments, certain basic human tendencies toward emotionally inflected, physically present social interaction remain strong.
Turner builds on first principles he locates in the work of Mead, Freud, Schutz, Durkheim, and Goffman. After brief overviews of previous work on the embeddedness of social interaction in sociocultural systems and in human biology, each chapter presents elements of the microdynamics involved in encounters: emotions, motivations (transactional needs), culture (normative conventions), role processes, status, demographics, and ecology. Each chapter ends with a series of testable propositions, which are then streamlined into a series of summary principles intended to motivate future research. The book concludes with some cautious hypotheses on the potential influence of microprocesses on broader social dynamics.

The question of what Wittgenstein meant by 'forms of life' has attracted a great deal of attention in the literature, yet it is an expression that Wittgenstein himself employs on only a relatively small number of occasions, and that he does not explicitly define. This Element gives a description of this concept that also explains Wittgenstein's reluctance to say much about it. A short historical introduction examines the origins and uses of the term in Wittgenstein's time. The Element then presents a survey of Wittgenstein's employment of it, and an overview of the literature. Finally, the Element offers a methodological reading of this notion, interpreting it as a conceptual tool in Wittgenstein's wider inquiries into the workings of our language.

The amygdala is a central component of the limbic brain system and is known to be vital to understanding aspects of emotion, memory and social behaviour. Dysfunction of the structure is also thought to contribute to a variety of disorders, including autism, Alzheimer's Disease and schizophrenia. The nature of its contribution to these fundamental aspects of behaviour and cognition, and its relationship with other regions of the brain has remained elusive. However, since Aggleton's first book on the subject - The Amygdala: Neurobiological Aspects of Emotion, Memory, and Mental Dysfunction (1992) - there have been major advances in our understanding of the processes involved and a dramatic rise in the volume of research. Scientists are now able to define its contribution in an increasingly precise manner. Leading experts from around the world have contributed chapters to this comprehensive and unique review, describing current thinking on this enigmatic brain structure. This is a book for all those with an interest in the neural basis of emotion and memory.

This thoroughly revised new edition of a classic book provides a clinically inspired but scientifically guided approach to the biological foundations of human mental function in health and disease. It includes authoritative coverage of all the major areas related to behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry. Each chapter, written by a world-renowned expert in the relevant area, provides an introductory background as well as an up-to-date review of the most recent developments. Clinical relevance is emphasized but is placed in the context of cognitive neuroscience, basic neuroscience, and functional imaging. Major cognitive domains such as frontal lobe function, attention and neglect, memory, language, prosody, complex visual processing, and object identification are reviewed in detail. A comprehensive chapter on behavioural neuroanatomy provides a background for brain-behaviour interactions in the cerebral cortex, limbic system, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebullum. Chapters on temperolimbic epilepsy, major psychiatric syndromes, and dementia provide in-depth analyses of these neurobehavioral entities and their neurobiological coordinates. Changes for this second edition include the reflection throughout the book of the new and flourishing alliance of behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry with cognitive science;major revision of all chapters; new authorship of those on language and memory; and the inclusion of entirely new chapters on psychiatric syndromes and the dementias. Both as a textbook and a reference work, the second edition of Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology represents an invaluable resource for behavioural neurologists, neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists, cognitive and basic neuroscientists, geriatricians, physiatrists, and their students and trainees.

'A brilliant new book' Daily Telegraph 'Well written . . . and often entertaining' The Times 'A sparkling analysis' Prospect When uncertainty is all around us, and the facts are not clear, how can we make good decisions? We do not know what the future will hold, particularly in the midst of a crisis, but we must make decisions anyway. We regularly crave certainties which cannot exist and invent knowledge we cannot have, forgetting that humans are successful because we have adapted to an environment that we understand only imperfectly. Throughout history we have developed a variety of ways of coping with the radical uncertainty that defines our lives. This incisive and eye-opening book draws on biography, history, mathematics, economics and philosophy to highlight the most successful - and most short-sighted - methods of dealing with an unknowable future. Ultimately, the authors argue, the prevalent method of our age falls short, giving us a false understanding of our power to make predictions, leading to many of the problems we experience today. Tightly argued, provocative and written with wit and flair, Radical Uncertainty is at once an exploration of the limits of numbers and a celebration of human instinct and wisdom.

This volume presents a balanced and representative overview of the major developments and trends in Traffic and Transport Psychology.

Traffic and Transport Psychology covers and enormously diverse field with many different theoretical and methodological approaches. Driver behaviour theories are, as yet, fragmented. Some theories focus on performance aspects, some on risk management and some on the social context. The first part of the book presents arguments for integrated models, for alternative paradigms and for a blatant atheoretical approach to driver behaviour. In addition, two chapters are devoted to novel methodological approaches to studying driver behaviour.

In the second part, driver performance is the central issue, centred around three themes: perception, cognition and workload.

The third part deals with social factors. It reflects the considerable development that has been made in recent years in the area of attitude measurment and the effect of attitude components and factors reflecting individual differences such as sensation-seeking on driver behaviour and, in particular, on drivers' willingness to take risks and commit traffic law violations.

In the last part, current developments are discussed in relation to applications to enhance safety.

Above all, this volume reflects the enormous growth and development that has occurred in Traffic and Transport Psychology in recent years. While it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the driver is the critical link in accident causation, it is only recently that this is translated, at least in some countries, into an awareness that effective accident countermeasures can no longer ignore theperceptual and cognitive capabilities, attitudes and social fators that govern driver behaviour. It is hoped that the contents of this book will contribute to a more humane traffic and transport system.

Although we live in a technologically advanced society, superstition is as widespread as it has ever been. Far from limited to athletes and actors, superstitious beliefs are common among people of all occupations and every educational and income level. Here, Stuart Vyse investigates our proclivity towards these irrational beliefs. Superstitions, he writes, are the natural result of several well-understood psychological processes, including our human sensitivity to coincidence, a penchant for developing rituals to fill time (to battle nerves, impatience, or both), our efforts to cope with uncertainty, the need for control, and more. Vyse examines current behavioral research to demonstrate how complex and paradoxical human behavior can be understood through scientific investigation, while he addresses the personality features associated with superstition and the roles of superstitious beliefs in actions. Although superstition is a normal part of human culture, Vyse argues that we must provide alternative methods of coping with life's uncertainties by teaching decision analysis, promoting science education, and challenging ourselves to critically evaluate the sources of our beliefs.

The Selfish Gene Pool was written to encourage dialogue on the issue of the claim that all people are destined to act selfishly in all situations, whether they are aware of it or not, because their fitness in resulting generations depends on it. This book provides an overview of a motivation model designed to support a positive interpretation of altruistic behavior. It specifically denies the claims of sociobiologists' 'selfish gene' theory, and provides a thorough rebuttal of their argument. Unfortunately, the sociobiological analysis of behavior ignores the influence of a moral sense, and the fact that altruistic behavior (which they deny exists) is directed not toward the resident gene, but toward the totality of the relevant gene pool. In spite of the criticism that has been leveled at sociobiologist extremists, nothing has appeared in print that represents an alternative explanation for altruistic behavior.

A collection of carefully selected contributions to behavioral economics from some of the leading international scholars in the field. Designed to fully complement Volume One, topics covered include preferences, behavioral game theory, motivated mental states and emotions and decision making.

The field of nonverbal communication is a strategic site for demonstrating the inextricable interrelationship between nature and culture in human behaviour. This book, originally published in 1997, aims to explode the misconception that "biology" is something that automatically precludes or excludes "culture". Instead, it points to the necessary grounding of our social and cultural capabilities in biological givens and elucidates how biological factors are systematically co-opted for cultural purposes. The book presents a complex picture of human communicative ability as simultaneously biologically and socioculturally influenced, with some capacities apparently more biologically hard-wired than others: face recognition, imitation, emotional communication, and the capacity for language. It also suggests that the dividing line between nonverbal and linguistic communication is becoming much less clear-cut. The contributing authors are leading researchers in a variety of fields, writing here for a general audience. The book is divided into sections dealing with, respectively, human universals, evolutionary and developmental aspects of nonverbal behaviour within a sociocultural context, and finally, the multifaceted relationships between nonverbal communication and culture.

Our views on human nature are fundamental to the whole development, indeed the whole future, of human society. Originally published in 1974, Professor Thorpe believed that this was one of the most important and significant topics to which a biologist can address himself, and in this book he attempts a synthetic view of the nature of man and animal based on the five disciplines of physiology, ethology, genetics, psychology and philosophy. In a masterly survey of the natural order he shows the animal world as part of, yet distinct from, the inanimate world. He then treats aspects of the animal world which approach the human world in behaviour and capabilities, examining simple organisms, communications in vertebrates and invertebrates, innate behaviour versus acquired behaviour, and animal perception. In the second part of the book he deals with those aspects of human nature for which there is no analogy and which constitute man's uniqueness - his consciousness of his past, his awareness of his future and his desire to understand the meaning of his existence. The primary facts which demonstrate the importance of this book arise from the ever-growing power of man over his environment and his apparent inability to foresee and cope with the dangers of uncontrolled population growth on the one hand and the wildly irrational waste and degradation of the natural resources of the world on the other. Professor Thorpe believes that an immense responsibility lies with literate men of good will, particularly scientists, to convince man that he is the spearhead and custodian of a stupendous evolutionary process. Animal Nature and Human Nature integrates scientific fact with sound theological thought in an attempt to fulfil, in a manner previously impossible Pascal's injunction that: 'It is dangerous to show man too clearly how much he resembles the beast without at the same time showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to allow him too clear a vision of his greatness without his baseness. It is even more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very profitable to show him both.'

While many women receive equal education, such equality is nowhere in sight when it comes to women's and men's career success: men still earn significantly more than women and are more likely to be promoted. In this book, the authors offer a state of the art review of applied social-psychological research on gender at work, shedding light on all the different ways that work-related perceptions, attributions, outcomes, and the like differ for women and men. Focusing on domains (e.g., engineering) and positions (e.g., leadership) that are marked by women's underrepresentation, the first part of the book looks at gender at work in terms of stereotypes, attitudes, and social roles, including parenthood, while the second part takes a social identity and communication perspective, exploring the situations in which men and women interact at work. Many chapters focus on applied questions, such as career choice, effects of role models, and sexual harassment at work. Theories and findings are applied to these topics, with conclusions and recommendations drawn throughout the book.

This book adopts a social-psychological perspective in studying natural groups, focusing on relationships between groups that have been living in the same environment for a long time. A theoretical model is proposed concentrating on norm violation as a triggering factor of attributions and reactions between two social groups. In an elaboration of this framework, called Norm Violation Theory, this process is conceptualized as being affected by a number of social psychological context factors: identification with the own group, intergroup attitudes, perceived differences in power, and feelings of fraternal relative deprivation. Each of these factors can influence the manifestation of negative intergroup behavior and contribute to a possible escalation of conflict. The theory also proposes that norms of redress, existing between groups embedded within an overall cultural or organizational entity, become operative as soon as an escalating process is set in motion. Professionals in social psychology, sociology, and psychology with an interest in group dynamics will find this book stimulating collateral reading.

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Dr Daniel Crosby, comes the behavioral finance book all investors have been waiting for. In The Laws of Wealth, psychologist and behavioral finance expert Daniel Crosby offers an accessible and applied take on a discipline that has long tended toward theory at the expense of the practical. Readers are treated to real, actionable guidance as the promise of behavioral finance is realised and practical applications for everyday investors are delivered. Crosby presents a framework of timeless principles for managing your behavior and your investing process. He begins by outlining ten rules that are the hallmarks of good investor behavior, including 'Forecasting is for Weathermen' and 'If You're Excited, It's Probably a Bad Idea'. He then goes on to introduce a unique new taxonomy of behavioral investment risk that will enable investors and academics alike to understand behavioral risk in a newly coherent and complete way.From here, attention turns to the four ways in which behavioral risk can be combatted and the five equity selection methods investors should harness to take advantage of behaviorally-induced opportunities in the stock market. Throughout, readers are treated to anecdotes, research and graphics that illustrate the lessons in memorable ways. And in highly valuable 'What now?' summaries at the end of each chapter, Crosby provides clear, concise direction on what investors should think, ask and do to benefit from the behavioral research. Dr. Crosby's training as a clinical psychologist and work as an asset manager provide a unique vantage and result in a book that breaks new ground in behavioral finance. You need to follow the laws of wealth to manage your behavior and improve your investing process!

The topics discussed in this volume have been chosen to represent studies in which both behavioural and neurobiological analysis have been emphasized. They include work on behavioural and neural aspects of imprinting, song learning in birds, and spatial memory of food-storing birds. There are also overviews of neural and behavioural aspects of classical conditioning, the role of the hippocampus in spatial behaviour in mammals, and studies of learning in invertebrate model systems. Each contribution has been written by a leading international authority and gives an up-to-date and concise account of current developments. The volume is based on a Royal Society Discussion Meeting held in February 1990 and the papers are being published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions Series B.

A great deal is now known about the cellular changes which take place in neural circuits and, over the past twenty years, the chick has proved to be an invaluable model for work on memory formation. The prior experience of the chick is controllable in a way that is impossible to match in any other vertebrate, and the pharmacology and phases of memory formation are better established. In addition, the anatomy of the chick brain is now well established, allowing valuable comparisons with animal models. This book reviews all the main aspects of work on learning and plasticity in behaviour and neural mechanisms in the chick, together with related topics such as the development of behaviour and lateralization of function. It is an authoritative reference for researchers who wish to use the chick or to draw on the relevant literature. The aim is to introduce a wider audience to the chick as an experimental model and to describe the way in which it has been used in the investigation of learning and plasticity at every level, from the behavioural to the molecular. The authors are all experts in their field, from laboratories throughout the world. The book will be useful to all researchers in the field and of interest to psychologists, neurophysiologists, and those studying animal behaviour.