Understanding the human mind and how it relates to the world that we experience has challenged philosophers for centuries. How then do we even begin to think about 'minds' that are not human? Science now has plenty to say about the properties of mind. In recent decades, the mind - both human and otherwise - has been explored by scientists in fields ranging from zoology to astrobiology, computer science to neuroscience. Taking a uniquely broad view of minds and where they might be found - including in plants, aliens, and God - Philip Ball pulls these multidisciplinary pieces together to explore what sorts of minds we might expect to find in the universe. In so doing, he offers for the first time a unified way of thinking about what minds are and what they can do, arguing that in order to understand our own minds and imagine those of others, we need to move on from considering the human mind as a standard against which all others should be measured, and to think about the 'space of possible minds'. By identifying and mapping out properties of mind without prioritizing the human, Ball sheds new light on a host of fascinating questions. What moral rights should we afford animals, and can we understand their thoughts? Should we worry that AI is going to take over society? If there are intelligent aliens out there, how could we communicate with them? Should we? Understanding the space of possible minds also reveals ways of making advances in understanding some of the most challenging questions in contemporary science: What is thought? What is consciousness? And what (if anything) is free will? The more we learn about the minds of other creatures, from octopuses to chimpanzees, and to imagine the potential minds of computers and alien intelligences, the greater the perspective we have on if and how our own is different. Ball's thrillingly ambitious The Book of Minds about the nature and existence of minds is more mind-expanding than we could imagine. In this fascinating panorama of other minds, we come to better know our own.

Sensory substitution and augmentation devices are built to try to replace or enhance one sense by using another sense. For example, in tactile-vision, stimulation of the skin driven by input to a camera is used to replace the ordinary sense of vision that uses our eyes. The feelSpace belt aims to give people a magnetic sense of direction using vibrotactile stimulation driven by a digital compass. Fiona Macpherson brings together researchers -neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers -who are developing these technologies, studying the minds and behaviour of subjects who use them. Sensory Substitution and Augmentation has three specific aims. The first is to present the latest empirical research on sensory substitution and augmentation. Second, philosophers and scientists who adopt a very different approach comment on the empirical work. Their commentaries are often critical of the assumptions of the work, but often they make and call for clarifications, suggest extensions to the work, or comment on features of the application of the work that the original authors do not. This is one reason why Sensory Substitution and Augmentation is more than simply a collection of papers on the same topic. Finally, philosophers look at the nature of sensory substitution and augmentation, tackling issues such as the nature and limitations of sensory substitution, the nature of the sensory experiences, theories of perception, and the potential for these devices to help those people with disabilities, in part due to future amendments of the devices that are suggested. Throughout, there is a particular focus on the nature of the perceptual experiences, the sensory interactions, and the changes that take place in the mind and brain over time that occur while using and training to use these technologies.

Professional Development, Training, and Supervision in Human Services Organizations provides the latest research on Human Service Organizations (HSO) groups, both public and private, and their use of the Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) model for effective designing, implementing and maintaining services within HSOs. Each volume in this series highlights key concepts and applications pertinent to each division of HSOs, with this release providing program directors and supervisors with the tools they need to develop an efficient and effective training program for onboarding, performance evaluation and professional development for their staff.

'An original, provocative and fascinating new theory by one of the world's leading neuroscientists about why the mind wanders - and when and why it's good for you' Daniel Gilbert Your brain is noisy. Certain regions are always grinding away at involuntary activities like daydreaming and intrusive thoughts - taking up to forty-seven percent of your waking time. This is mindwandering. Mindwandering is the first popular book to explore the phenomenon of our wandering minds and the cutting-edge new research behind it. Cognitive neuroscientist Moshe Bar combines his decades of research to explain the benefits and the possible cost of mindwandering within the broader context of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry and philosophy. He provides you with practical knowledge that can help strengthen your relationships with others, increase your concentration at work and reduce your anxiety. 'Bar's revelatory, pioneering studies are finally available for everyone to enjoy, so we can optimally direct our states of mind to better align with the moment' David Eagleman, New York Times-bestselling author of Incognito and Livewired 'Highlights the role of mindwandering in solving problems, inducing happiness and in teaching us to bring the right mind to the right time' Dr Nancy Etcoff, psychologist at Harvard Medical School 'A gentle and humane book that should be read by everyone interested in the human mind and the human brain' Andy Clark, Professor of Cognitive Philosophy, University of Sussex

Around the world and throughout history, in cultures as diverse as ancient Mesopotamia and modern America, human beings have been compelled by belief in gods and developed complex religions around them. But why? What makes belief in supernatural beings so widespread? And why are the gods of so many different people so similar in nature? This provocative book explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas by looking through the lens of science at the common structures and functions of human thought.
The first general introduction to the "cognitive science of religion," Minds and Gods presents the major themes, theories, and thinkers involved in this revolutionary new approach to human religiosity. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book sets out to study the evolutionary forces that modeled the modern human mind and continue to shape our ideas and actions today. Todd Tremlin details many of the adapted features of the brain -- illustrating their operation with examples of everyday human behavior -- and shows how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead many people to naturally entertain religious ideas. In short, belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology, in powerful cognitive processes that all humans share.
In the course of illuminating the nature of religion, this book also sheds light on human nature: why we think we do the things we do and how the reasons for these things are so often hidden from view. This discussion ranges broadly across recent scientific findings in areas such as paleoanthropology, primate studies, evolutionary psychology, early braindevelopment, and cultural transmission. While these subjects are complex, the story is told here in a conversational style that is engaging, jargon free, and accessible to all readers. With Minds and Gods, Tremlin offers a roadmap to a fascinating and growing field of study, one that is sure to generate interest and debate and provide readers with a better understanding of themselves and their beliefs.

How did we get from unconscious material forces to the dazzling intricacy of the human mind? Standard evolutionary theory has not provided us with a continuous picture of that long emergence. In consequence, psychological theories remain highly fragmented, without deeper roots or foundations, while the general public either remain confused, or invoke miracles or the hand of an intelligent designer. This book provides new concepts from dynamic systems theory, and the new evolutionary synthesis, to present a comprehensive overview of the evolution of cognition. It combines ideas about complexity and environmental structure to highlight the emergence of intelligent systems very early in evolution. Intelligent systems came to dominate evolution through increasing complexity, including cell signalling, epigenetics, developmental systems, behaviour, brain and cognitive systems, to culminate in the human cognitive and other mental systems. This volume has fundamental implications for psychological theory and our understanding of humanity.

Cybersecurity and Cognitive Science provides the reader with multiple examples of interactions between cybersecurity, psychology and neuroscience. Specifically, reviewing current research on cognitive skills of network security agents (e.g., situational awareness) as well as individual differences in cognitive measures (e.g., risk taking, impulsivity, procrastination, among others) underlying cybersecurity attacks. Chapters on detection of network attacks as well as detection of cognitive engineering attacks are also included. This book also outlines various modeling frameworks, including agent-based modeling, network modeling, as well as cognitive modeling methods to both understand and improve cybersecurity.

An inspiring book about creative problem-solving from the No.1 bestselling author of BOUNCE, BLACK BOX THINKING and YOU ARE AWESOME.

Where do the best ideas come from?

And how do we apply these ideas to the problems we face - at work, in the education of our children, and in the biggest shared challenges of our age: rising obesity, terrorism and climate change?

In this bold and inspiring new book, Matthew Syed - the bestselling author of Bounce and Black Box Thinking - argues that individual intelligence is no longer enough; that the only way to tackle these complex problems is to harness the power of our 'cognitive diversity'.

Rebel Ideas is a fascinating journey through the science of team performance. It draws on psychology, economics, anthropology and genetics, and takes lessons from a dazzling range of case-studies, including the catastrophic intelligence failings of the CIA before 9/11, a communication breakdown at the top of Mount Everest, and a moving tale of deradicalization in America's deep South.

It is a book that will strengthen any company, institution or team, but it also offers many individual applications too: the remarkable benefits of personalised nutrition, advice on how to break free of the echo chambers that surround us, and tips on how we can all develop an 'outsider mindset'.

Rebel Ideas offers a radical blueprint for creative problem-solving. It challenges hierarchies, encourages constructive dissent and forces us to think again about where the best ideas come from.

What holds together the various fields that are supposed to consititute the general intellectual discipline that people now call cognitive science? In this book, Erneling and Johnson identify two problems with defining this discipline. First, some theorists identify the common subject matter as the mind, but scientists and philosophers have not been able to agree on any single, satisfactory answer to the question of what the mind is. Second, those who speculate about the general characteristics that belong to cognitive science tend to assume that all the particular fields falling under the rubric--psychology, linguistics, biology, and son on--are of roughly equal value in their ability to shed light on the nature of mind. This book argues that all the cognitive science disciplines are not equally able to provide answers to ontological questions about the mind, but rather that only neurophysiology and cultural psychology are suited to answer these questions. However, since the cultural account of mind has long been ignored in favor of the neurophysiological account, Erneling and Johnson bring together contributions that focus especially on different versions of the cultural account of the mind.

This book explains the foundation of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), an approach to Bayesian inference that does not require the specification of a likelihood function. As a result, ABC can be used to estimate posterior distributions of parameters for simulation-based models. Simulation-based models are now very popular in cognitive science, as are Bayesian methods for performing parameter inference. As such, the recent developments of likelihood-free techniques are an important advancement for the field. Chapters discuss the philosophy of Bayesian inference as well as provide several algorithms for performing ABC. Chapters also apply some of the algorithms in a tutorial fashion, with one specific application to the Minerva 2 model. In addition, the book discusses several applications of ABC methodology to recent problems in cognitive science. Likelihood-Free Methods for Cognitive Science will be of interest to researchers and graduate students working in experimental, applied, and cognitive science.

This book offers a widely interdisciplinary approach to investigating important questions surrounding the cognitive foundations of group attitudes and social interaction. The volume tackles issues such as the relationship between individual and group attitudes, the cognitive bases of group identity and group identification and the link between emotions and individual attitudes. This volume delves into the links between individual attitudes (such as beliefs, goals and intentions) and how they are reflected in shared attitudes where common belief, collective acceptance, joint intentions, and group preferences come into play. It pursues answers to the connections between trust and beliefs, goals and intentions and attempts to investigate questions such as: does trust have an affective component and how it may relate to hope and fear? The volume also scrutinizes game theory and questions whether it can satisfactorily explain and model social interaction and if there may be any concepts which are not addressed by the current theory. Contributors are derived from disciplines including philosophy, economics, psychology, logic and computer science. Interdisciplinary in scope and comprehensive detail, this volume integrates a variety of approaches - philosophical, psychological and artificial intelligence - to strategic, normative and emotional aspects of social interaction.

The culmination of Romanes's highly influential analysis of the phylogenetic development of mind. Analyzing and rejecting the various arguments adduced against the continuity of descent as applied to human mind and building a positive case based on presumed parallels between ontogenetic and phylogenetic development, Romanes presented the classic 19th century account of the origin of human faculty.

First developed in 1955, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is the original form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and one of the most successful psychotherapeutic techniques in the world. Its founder, world-renowned psychologist Albert Ellis, now offers an up-to-date description of the main principles and practices of this innovative and influential therapy.REBT emphasizes the importance of cognition in psychological disturbances. Its aim is to help patients recognize their irrational and destructive beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, and to restructure harmful philosophic and behavioral styles to achieve maximal levels of happiness and productivity. In this book Dr. Ellis points out the most recent revisions of the original therapy and examines the use of REBT in treating specific clinical problems. Among the topics considered are depression, stress management, addiction, marital problems, the use of hypnosis, disposable myths, and many other obstacles to mental health.This fascinating look at REBT by its internationally recognized creator will be of inestimable value to professionals and laypersons alike.

This book explores how grammatical structure is related to meaning. The meaning of a phrase clearly depends on its constituent words and how they are combined. But how does structure contribute to meaning in natural language? Does combining adjectives with nouns (as in 'brown dog') differ semantically from combining verbs with adverbs (as in 'barked loudly')? What is the significance of combining verbs with names and quantificational expressions (as in 'Fido chased every cat')? In addressing such questions, Paul Pietroski develops a novel conception of linguistic meaning according to which the semantic contribution of combining expressions is simple and uniform across constructions. Drawing on work at the heart of contemporary debates in linguistics and philosophy, the author argues that Donald Davidson's treatment of action sentences as event descriptions should be viewed as an instructive special case of a more general semantic theory. The unified theory covers a wide range of examples, including sentences that involve quantification, plurality, descriptions of complex causal processes, and verbs that take sentential complements. Professor Pietroski also provides fresh ways of thinking about much discussed semantic generalizations that seem to reflect innately determined aspects of human languages. Designed to be accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of elementary logic, Events and Semantic Architecture will interest a wide range of scholars in linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science.

Recent years have witnessed a revival of research in the interplay between cognition and emotion. The reasons for this renaissance are many and varied. In the first place, emotion theorists have come to recognise the pivotal role of cognitive factors in virtually all aspects of the emotion process, and to rely on basic cognitive factors insight in creating new models of affective space. Also, the successful application of cognitive therapies to affective disorders has promoted clinical psychologists to work towards a clearer understanding of the connections between cognitive processes and emotional problems. And whereas the cognitive revolutionaries of the 1960s regarded emotions with suspicion, viewing them as nagging sources of 'hot' noise in an otherwise cool, rational, and computer-like system of information processing, cognitive researchers of the 1990s regard emotions with respect, owing to their potent and predictable effects on tasks as diverse as object perception, episodic recall, and risk assessment. These intersecting lines of interest have made cognition and emotion one of the most active and rapidly developing areas within psychological science.

The Roman cult of Mithras was the most widely-dispersed and densely-distributed cult throughout the expanse of the Roman Empire from the end of the first until the fourth century AD, rivaling the early growth and development of Christianity during the same period. As its membership was largely drawn from the ranks of the military, its spread, but not its popularity is attributable largely to military deployments and re-deployments. Although mithraists left behind no written archival evidence, there is an abundance of iconographic finds. The only characteristic common to all Mithraic temples were the fundamental architecture of their design, and the cult image of Mithras slaying a bull. How were these two features so faithfully transmitted through the Empire by a non-centralized, non-hierarchical religious movement? The Minds of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras addresses these questions as well as the relationship of Mithraism to Christianity, explanations of the significance of the tauroctony and of the rituals enacted in the mithraea, and explanations for the spread of Mithraism (and for its resistance in a few places). The unifying theme throughout is an investigation of the 'mind' of those engaged in the cult practices of this widespread ancient religion. These investigations represent traditional historical methods as well as more recent studies employing the insights of the cognitive sciences, demonstrating that cognitive historiography is a valuable methodological tool.

The Science of Dream Interpretation presents a scientific, historic and psychological account of dream interpretation by introducing the biological and evolutionary foundations of sleep, dreams and dream interpretation. Chapters cover the theory of dream interpretation, the physiological and evolutionary reasons for sleep and dreaming, an overview of the role dreams and dream interpretation throughout history, including the cultural and religious significance of dreams, and how dreams interrupt sleep, including issues of insomnia, sleep walking, and more. The next few sections present influential dream theorists of the 20th century, including a review of their theories (Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Fritz Perls). The final section explains how dreams may be used to extract personal meanings and be utilized in psychotherapy, including case examples from actual psychotherapy sessions of the techniques used to interpret dreams.

Ormrod's engaging, conversational writing style introduces readers to all of the essential learning theories and their real-world classroom implications The market-leading education textbook on learning theories, Human Learning , looks at a broad range of theoretical perspectives, including behaviorist, social cognitive, cognitive, constructivist, cognitive-developmental, sociocultural, and contextual. Each chapter is filled with concrete examples of how these theories apply to learning, instruction, and assessment as well as specific ways readers can apply the theories in their own classrooms. The straightforward, conversational writing style readily engages readers and helps them truly understand the concepts, principles, and theories related to human learning and cognition. The new 8th Edition includes expanded discussions of several contemporary perspectives and a variety of new topics that have emerged in recent research (e.g., motivated reasoning, desirable difficulties). Some discussions of psychological perspectives on learning that have primarily historical value have been either condensed or altogether removed to make room for recent advances in theory and research.

Shaping the Future of Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Towards Technological Advances and Service Innovations coincides with the 25th International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) Congress in Dubai from December 5-9, 2022. There are three overarching themes of this book. Firstly, the impact of the Internet and digital technologies on the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, including computerized therapies, and the fundamental role of technologies to advance knowledge in the field. Secondly, a theme on harnessing the expansion of knowledge on psychiatric disorders and their treatment for children and adolescents, exemplified by chapters on different kinds of adversity in child and adolescent mental health and a chapter on precision therapeutics. Given the location of the IACAPAP Congress, the third theme focuses on aspects of child and adolescent mental health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Chapters provide insights into a broad range of contemporary technology- and service innovation-related topics in child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health. These include growing up in the digital age, cyberbullying, clinical applications of big data and machine learning, computerized cognitive behavioral therapy, technology- enhanced learning, lessons from COVID-19, new understanding of the consequences of psychological trauma, autoimmune encephalitis, and precision therapeutics in depression. Acknowledging the global challenge of child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, readers will find an emphasis on contextual challenges in the field, including innovations for scaling up of mental health intervention in low- and middle-income countries, and research and training in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

This book proposes a novel CWW model to personalize individual semantics in linguistic decision making, based on two new concepts: numerical scale and consistency-driven methodology. The numerical scale model provides a unified framework to connect different linguistic symbolic computational models for CWW, and the consistency-driven methodology customizes individuals' semantics to support linguistic group decision making by setting personalized numerical scales. The book is a valuable resource for researchers and postgraduates who are interested in CWW in linguistic decision making.

How is one to understand the nature of intelligence? One approach is through psychometric testing, but such an approach often puts the "cart before the horse"--the test before the theory. Another approach is to use evolutionary theory. This criterion has been suggested by a number of individuals in the past, from Charles Darwin in the more distant past to Howard Gardner, Stephen Gould, Steven Pinker, Carl Sagan, David Stenhouse, and many others. The chapters in this book address three major questions: 1. Does evolutionary theory help us understand the nature of human intelligence? 2. If so, what does it tell us about the nature of human intelligence? 3. And if so, how has intelligence evolved? The goal of this book is to present diverse points of view on the evolution of intelligence as offered by leading experts in the field. In particular, it may be possible to better understand the nature and societal implications of intelligence by understanding how and why it has evolved as it has. This book is unique in offering a diversity of points of view on the topic of the evolution of human intelligence.

What distinguishes humankind from other species? A leading candidate is our facility at mutual understanding ("theory of mind"), our ability to ascribe thoughts, desires, and feelings to one another. How do we do this? Folk-wisdom says, "By empathy - we put ourselves in other people's shoes". In the last few decades this idea has moved from folk-wisdom to philosophical conjecture to serious scientific theory. This volume collects essays by Alvin Goldman, many of which have played a major role in crystallizing this "simulation," or "empathizing," account of mindreading and showing how it is confirmed by recent findings in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Regions of your brain resonate with the brains of others when you observe them manifest their feelings in facial affect or see them about to undergo a painful stimulus or a mere touch on the arm. Essays in the volume explore an array of topics in the philosophy of cognitive science, ranging from embodied cognition to the metaphysics of actions and events. "Embodied cognition" is a catch-phrase for a family of current proposals in the philosophy of cognitive science. Some of these call for a radical re-shaping of cognitive science and others for a more measured response to repeated experimental findings that the body - or representations of the body - figure more prominently in cognition than previously recognized. Goldman dives into this terrain with a theory that brings coherence and unity to a large swath of scientific evidence. Other essays revisit his earlier work on action individuation but reconfigure it with a psychologizing twist. The final essay prepares the reader for a futuristic scenario: a book presents you with eerily accurate accounts of your past life, your present thoughts, and even your upcoming decisions. How should you respond to it?

Practical Ethics for Effective Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Second Edition is for behavior analysts working directly with, or supervising those who work with, individuals with autism. The book addresses the principles and values that underlie the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's (R) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts and factors that affect ethical decision-making. In addition, the book addresses critical and under-discussed topics, including scope of competence, evidence-based practice in behavior analysis, how to collaborate with professionals within and outside one's discipline, and how to design systems of ethical supervision and training customized to unique treatment settings. Across many of the topics, the authors also discuss errors students and professionals may make during analyses of ethical dilemmas and misapplications of ethical codes within their practice. New to this revision are chapters on Quality Control in ABA Service Delivery, Ethical Issues in ABA Business Management and Standardizing Decision-making in ABA Service Delivery.

'Wendy Wood is the world's foremost expert in the field, and this book is essential' - Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit. What if you could harness the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, which already determines so much of what you do, to achieve your goals? Shockingly, we spend nearly half our day repeating things we've done in the past without thinking about them. How we respond to the people around us; the way we conduct ourselves in meetings; what we buy; when and how we exercise, eat and drink - a truly remarkable number of things we do every day, we do by habit. And yet, whenever we want to change something about ourselves, we rely on willpower alone. We hope that our determination and intention will be enough to effect positive change. And that is why almost all of us fail. Professor Wendy Wood is the world's foremost expert on habits. By drawing on three decades of original research, she explains the fascinating science of how we form habits and provides the key to unlocking our habitual mind in order to make the changes we seek. Combining a potent mix of neuroscience, case studies and experiments conducted in her lab, Good Habits, Bad Habits is a comprehensive, accessible and highly practical book that will change the way you think about almost every aspect of your life.