Based on Estes' important Fitts Lectures, this volume details a set of psychological concepts and principles that offers a unified interpretation of a wide variety of memory, categorization, and decision-making phenomena. These phenomena are explained via two families of models established by the author: a storage-retrieval model and an adaptive network model. Estes considers whether the models are competing or complementary, offering cogent and instructive arguments for both perspectives. Estes' theory is then applied to two large-scale series of studies on category learning and recognition, providing an integrated understanding of seemingly disparate phenomena. This book is the culmination of the author's more than ten years of research in the field, and stands as a great achievement by one of this century's eminent psychologists. It will be indispensable to a wide variety of behavioral scientists, including mathematical and cognitive psychologists.

First published in English 1968, in this volume Paul Fraisse begins with history, looking at the evolution of experimental psychology, starting with its origins. He then moves on to the establishment of experimental psychology around the world. In the second chapter he discusses the experimental method. In the third chapter Jean Piaget tackles the questions of explanation and parallelism and their problems within experimental psychology. The final chapter by Maurice Reuchlin goes on to discuss measurement in psychology looking at various scales with their experimental conditions and numerical properties.

"I think David C. Edwards does a very good job of covering the material. The writing style is consistently clear, direct and interesting. Research findings are clearly presented and clearly explained."

--Ronald R. Ulm, Salisbury State University

How do culture and other people affect our eating habits? Is love "natural" to humans? Is anger always at the root of aggressive behaviors? Aimed at unraveling the mysteries of human motivation and emotion, author David C. Edwards explores the evolutionary, physiological, social, and cognitive factors that shape each motivational behavior from anger to sex to work and play. Topically organized, Edwards provides readers with the best of contemporary findings in each motivational behavior and summarizes how past research in the field contributed to current thought. To facilitate the reader?s comprehension of the material, each chapter begins with a concise overview statement and ends with a personal summary. Within the chapter, the author highlights material of special importance and concludes major sections with a summary. Each chapter ends with a set of questions that will help a student reader prepare for an exam.

Over the last decade, there has been a revolution in our understanding of the physiological role of the cochlea (the inner ear), and the mechanisms of cochlear hearing loss, the most common type in adults, which results in distortions in sound perception. This is the first book to cover the topic; aimed at students and researchers in auditory rehabilitation and its technology, it explains the nature of hearing distortion and relates them to the underlying physiological mechanisms. It provides a theoretical framework for understanding the changes that follow cochlear damage which had important implications not only for theories of normal perception but also the design of signal processing hearing aids.

This book presents and discusses seven contemporary theoretical approaches to behavior analysis that build upon the foundations laid by B.F. Skinner's radical behaviorism and renew its legacy. These contemporary approaches show that behaviorism is not a monolithic or static intellectual tradition, but a dynamic movement, which changes and adapts in face of new questions, issues, and perspectives. The death of behaviorism has been proclaimed since its early days - a "premature" assessment, to say the least - but this volume shows that behaviorism is alive and kicking, even thirty years after its main proponent passed away. This volume contains seven sections, each one dedicated to a particular variation of contemporary behaviorism: Howard Rachlin's teleological behaviorism, William Baum's molar behaviorism and multiscale behavior analysis, John Staddon's theoretical behaviorism, John Donahoe's biological behaviorism, Gordon Foxall's intentional behaviorism, Steven Hayes' contextual behaviorism or contextual behavioral science, and Emilio Ribes-Inesta's field-theory behaviorism. Each section contains three chapters: the first one written by the original proponent of each of these forms of behaviorism, the second one written by a commentator, and the third one written by the proponent, replying to the commentator. Contemporary Behaviorisms in Debate will be a valuable tool to behavior analysts and psychologists in general by providing an introduction to contemporary forms of behaviorism and promoting debates about the main philosophical issues faced by the field of behavior analysis today- issues that can directly influence future epistemological variations in the selection process of "behaviorisms." By doing so the book is directed not only to the present, but, more importantly, toward the future of the field.

Why do we need two eyes? Why are all cats grey at night and appear to move faster the day? Why is the sky blue and the setting sun red? This book explains the multifaceted nature of perception, and discusses the mysteries of vision. It provides readers with experiments to help them discover optical illusions and the features of their own perception. Illusions of Seeing begins with a discussion on the essence of light and its perception to the human eye. It presents a comprehensive overview of the basic laws of human perception as well as the fundamentals of good gestalt. Subsequent chapters discuss geometric-optical illusions; the perception of form, brightness, and translucency and their interaction with each other; ambiguous perception, color vision, spatial vision. The book ends with a discussion of the perception of motion and its interaction with color, form, and spatial depth with a full chapter devoted to illusions in our everyday life. Consider this your travel guide in the marvelous world of sight, to experience a completely individual way to understand and improve your own perception. Illusions of Seeing will be of interest to psychologists, physicists, biologists, and undergraduate and graduate students within the field of cognitive psychology.

This book is a collection of Leea (TM)s most important works, placed in a historical setting and contextualized through the commentaries of other leading researchers in the field. The contributors were selected on the basis of their standing in the field. Some have been directly involved in collaborations with Lee, while others have participated in public discussions on particular controversies. All contributors know David Lee well as a researcher and scholar, and some know him on a more personal levela "as a student, supervisor, mentor, or friend. It is this mixture of involvements with David Lee and his writings that yields a unique exchange of ideas on the origins of movement. Closing the Gap: The Scientific Writings of David N. Lee is an invaluable resource for academics and postgraduate students studying perceptuo-motor control.

This book is a collection of Leea (TM)s most important works, placed in a historical setting and contextualized through the commentaries of other leading researchers in the field. The contributors were selected on the basis of their standing in the field. Some have been directly involved in collaborations with Lee, while others have participated in public discussions on particular controversies. All contributors know David Lee well as a researcher and scholar, and some know him on a more personal levela "as a student, supervisor, mentor, or friend. It is this mixture of involvements with David Lee and his writings that yields a unique exchange of ideas on the origins of movement. Closing the Gap: The Scientific Writings of David N. Lee is an invaluable resource for academics and postgraduate students studying perceptuo-motor control.

A cognitive psychology which becomes increasingly specialized requires a special effort in order to avoid a fragmentation into several controversial issues that are independently discussed but also inherently related. Rather than asking additional differentiated questions which are then investigated by more specialized experimental methods and designs, this book promotes unified theories and a levels approach for their experimental evaluation. Within this cognitive science approach and on the basis of the most foundational assumptions of Kintsch's construction integration theory, a computational theory of knowledge acquisition is then developed and subsequently evaluated by psychological experiments.
For forty years, computer simulation techniques and experimental psychology research have greatly matured the understanding of human knowledge and its acquisition in different learning environments. This volume critically assesses the advantages and limitations of these approaches and then develops an integrated research methodology. It goes on to provide significant progress concerning the following questions:
* What are the most promising research methodologies for investigating human cognition?
* How can the experimental psychology research on text comprehension, concept formation, and memory become more closely related to one another when the very specialized research paradigms and the highly specific scientific controversies promote their separation and independent discussion?
* How can a general comprehension-based theory bridge the gap between simple experimental settings and the real-life situations that occur in education and work environments?
This book demonstrates how experimental psychology can proceed more successfully by investigating those aspects that are shared among different areas of research like text comprehension, categorization, and learning by exploration. It also shows how unified theories can assist in applying experimental psychology and cognitive science results to areas such as intelligent tutoring systems, instructional design, and the development of expert systems in complex real world domains.

"Winnicott" and "sex" are two subjects that are rarely associated with one another. Sexuality is not a prominent theme within the work of Winnicott, who preferred to concentrate on the development of the self from infancy. However, his writings contain unexplored insights into sexuality and it is these hidden insights that prompted Lesley Caldwell to invite papers from leading analysts to expand upon them.This collection provides a fresh and innovative look at the work of Winnicott and into sexuality, in particular infantile sexuality. The unusual link of Winnicott to Freud and to psychoanalysis located in the drives encourages a different perspective into British psychoanalysis. Other diverse themes include a historical examination of Winnicott through the British Society; an exploration of the similarities between Laplanche and Winnicott; a parallel reading of Winnicott's paper on transitional objects and transitional phenomena and Donne's "The Good Morrow"; linking Rilke through his poem "Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes" to Winnicott; the use of Winnicott's work in the treatment of sexual dysfunction; and the interrelation between sexuality and play.The sixth volume in the Winnicott Studies Monograph series, these papers will appeal to all practicing psychoanalysts and will open a new perspective on D.W. Winnicott.Contributors: Mario Bertolini, Lesley Caldwell, Andreas Giannakoulas, Andre Green, Joyce McDougall, Francesca Neri, Adam Phillips, Helen Taylor Robinson, Dominique Scarfone, and Maggie Schaedel

Are scientific 'facts' about body image enough to define conceptions of normality? Reassessing Experimental Psychology from a critical perspective, Sylvia Blood demonstrates how its research into Body Image can be misused and prone to misuse. Classifying women who experience distress and anxiety with food, eating and body size as suffering 'body image disturbance' or 'body image dissatisfaction', it can reproduce dominant assumptions about language, meaning and subjectivity. Experimental psychology's discourse about body image has recently become more widely influential, becoming popularised through domains such as women's magazines, in which psychological experts provide 'facts' about women's 'body image problems', and offer advice and psychological treatments. With acute cross-disciplinary awareness Body Work: The Social Construction of Women's Body Image exposes the assumptions at work in the methods and status of experimental approaches. Penetrating beyond the usual dichotomy between experimental and popular psychology, this book illuminates some of the ways in which women's magazines have embraced experimental psychology's treatment of the issue. Drawing on her experience in Clinical Psychology, Sylvia Blood highlights the damaging effects of uncritically experimental views of body image. She goes on to elaborate not only an alternative model of discursive construction but also the implications of such a theory for clinical practice. Merging theory and clinical experience, Sylvia Blood exposes the fallacies about women's bodies that underpin experimental psychology's body image research. She demonstrates the dangerous consequences of these fallacies being accepted as truths in popular texts and in the talk of 'everyday' women.

This book presents an historical and conceptual reconstruction of the theories developed by Meinong and a group of philosophers and experimental psychologists in Graz at the turn of the 19th century. Adhering closely to original texts, the contributors explore Meinong's roots in the school of Brentano, complex theories such as the theory of intentional reference and direct reference, and ways of developing philosophy which are closely bound up with the sciences, particularly psychology. Providing a faithful reconstruction of both Meinong's contributions to science and the school that arose from his thought, this book shows how the theories of the Graz school raise the possibility of engaging in the scientific metaphysics and ontology that for so long have been considered off limits.

This volume provides an empirical and conceptual overview of advances in our understanding of impulsivity and impulsive behaviors. Prominent scientists review the range of behavioral phenomena referred to as 'impulsive', as well as the defining features and psychological, neurocognitive and behavioral processes that underlie of the manifestation of impulsive behaviors, focussing on progress made and the questions remaining to be answered.

Animal Intelligence is a consolidated record of Edward L. Thorndike's theoretical and empirical contributions to the comparative psychology of learning. Thorndike's approach is systematic and comprehensive experimentation using a variety of animals and tasks, all within a laboratory setting. When this book first appeared, it set a compelling example, and helped make the study of animal behavior very much an experimental laboratory science.

This landmark study in the investigation of animal intelligence illustrates Thorndike's thinking on the evolution of the mind. It includes his formal statement of the influential law of effect, which had a significant impact on other behaviorists. Hull's law of primary reinforcement was closely related to the law of effect and Skinner acknowledged that the process of operant conditioning was probably that described in the law of effect.

The new introduction by Darryl Bruce is an in-depth study of Thorndike's legacy to comparative psychology as well as a thorough retrospective review of Animal Intelligence. He includes a biographical introduction of the behaviorist and then delves into his theories and work. Among the topics Bruce covers with respect to Thorndike's studies are the nature of animal intelligence, the laws of learning and connectionism, implications for comparative psychology, and relation to theories of other behaviorists. Animal Intelligence is an intriguing analysis that will be of importance to psychologists and animal behaviorists.

In laboratory research, the process of conditioning is traditionally initiated with a single intermittent stimulus (such as a tone or flash of light). This is true of both classical and instrumental research. Because of its role in evoking conditioned behavior, the use of an intermittent stimulus has become an indispensable part of laboratory research on conditioned behavior. The question arises whether the same scheme of conditioning may be applied to behaviors occurring in real life.

In Conditioning, Wanda Wyrwicka analyzes evidence of the influence of situations on behavior in laboratory studies. She looks at cases in which the subject's reaction was dependent on complex situations rather than a single stimulus. Wyrwicka suggests that beyond external situations there exists internal factors located in the brain that consist of previous and present experiences that may influence behavior. In Chapter 1, Wyrwicka summarizes Ivan Pavlov's concept of the conditioned reflex using intermittent stimuli. Chapter 2 deals with the mechanisms of motor conditioned behavior and the results of instrumental conditioning studies. Chapter 3 covers the phenomenon called "switching," which is the appearance of a conditioned reaction different than the original conditioned stimulus. In Chapter 4, Wyrwicka describes various studies in which situation becomes a potent factor in conditioned reactions. Chapter 5 describes research pertaining to defensive and alimentary behaviors. Chapter 6 analyzes three examples of complex conditioning: detour, feeding, and presleep behaviors. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the functions of various internal organs, and the conditioning of electrical brain activity leading to inhibition of epileptic seizures. In her concluding chapter, Wyrwicka discusses theoretically the data mentioned previously.

Conditioning opens up rich possibilities for continued exploration. This revealing work will interest scientists specializing in behavioral sciences, psychologists, neuroscientists, educators, as well as students of biology.

This book examines the role that human subjective experience plays in the creation of reality and introduces a new concept, the Bubble Universe, to describe the universe as it looks from the subjective viewpoint of an individual. Drawing on a range of research, the author questions the extent to which the scientific study of the origins of life, consciousness and subjective experience is itself influenced by scientists' subjective worlds. The author argues that in many respects the Bubble Universe differs from the universe as described by science and religion, and analyzes these differences. The fabric and structure of subjective reality is described, and various aspects of the Bubble Universe are examined, including science, religion, life, morality and history. The differences between the views from inside the subjective universe and from scientific, religious and sociocultural versions of the universe are outlined, and their significance for practical and theoretical problems are highlighted and illustrated with psychological experiments. This book will be of value to all scholars interested in how subjectivity influences research and appeal in particular to those working in developmental and theoretical psychology, consciousness, epistemology, phenomenology, and the philosophy of science and of the mind.

Interoception is the body-to-brain axis of sensations that originates from the internal body and visceral organs. It plays a unique role in ensuring homeostasis, allowing human beings to experience and perceive the state of their bodies at any one time. However, interoception is rapidly gaining interest amongst those studying the human mind. It is believed that beyond homeostasis interoception is fundamental in understanding human emotion and motivation and their impact upon behavior. That link between interoception and self-awareness is supported by a growing body of experimental findings. The Interoceptive Mind: From Homeostasis to Awareness offers a state-of-the-art overview of, and insights into, the role of interoception for mental life, awareness, subjectivity, affect, and cognition. Structured across three parts, this multidisciplinary volume highlights the role that interoceptive signals, and our awareness of them, play in our mental life. It considers deficits in interoceptive processing and awareness in various mental health conditions. But it also considers the equally important role of interoception for well-being, approaching interoception from both a theoretical and a philosophical perspective. Written by leading experts in their fields, all chapters within this volume share a common concern for what it means to experience oneself, for the crucial role of emotions, and for issues of health and wellbeing. Each of those concerns is discussed on the joint basis of our bodily existence and interoception. The research presented here will undoubtedly accelerate the much-anticipated coming of age of interoceptive research in psychology, cognitive neurosciences and philosophy, making this vital reading for anyone working in those fields.

This book critically examines the historical and philosophical foundations of construct validity theory (CVT), and how these have and continue to inform and constrain the conceptualization of validity and its application in research. CVT has had an immense impact on how researchers in the behavioural sciences conceptualize and approach their subject matter. Yet, there is equivocation regarding the foundations of the CVT framework as well as ambiguities concerning the nature of the "constructs" that are its raison d'etre. The book is organized in terms of three major parts that speak, respectively, to the historical, philosophical, and pragmatic dimensions of CVT. The primary objective is to provide researchers and students with a critical lens through which a deeper understanding may be gained of both the utility and limitations of CVT and the validation practices to which it has given rise.

Why are some people more mentally able than others ? In an authoritative, critical and intergrated series of review essays Professor Ian Deary inquires after the cognitive and biological foundations of human mental ability differences. Many accounts of intelligence have examined the structure and number of human mental ability differences and whether they can predict sucess in education,work and social life. Few books have taken psychometric intelligence differences as a starting point and brought together the reductionistic attempts to explain them.New to the highly acclaimed Oxford Psychology Series, Looking Down on Human Intelligence appraises the search for the origins of psychometric intelligence differences in terms of brain function parameters. The book provides an original and thought provoking guide to ancient and modern research on one of the most compelling questions in human psychology.

Vision allows us to do many things. It enables us to perceive a world composed of meaningful objects and events. It enables us to track those events as they take place in front of our eyes. It enables us to read. It provides accurate spatial information for actions such as reaching for or avoiding objects. It provides colour and texture that can help us to separate objects from their background, and so forth. This book is concerned with understanding the processes that allow us to carry out these various visually?driven behaviours. In the past ten years our understanding of visual processing has undergone a rapid change, primarily fostered by the convergence of computational, experimental and neuropsychological work on the topic. Visual Cognition provides the first major attempt to cover all aspects of this work within a single text. It provides a state?of?the?art summary of research on visual information processing, relevant to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and research workers. It covers: seeing static forms, object recognition, dynamic vision (motion perception and visual masking), visual attention, visual memory, visual aspects of reading.For each topic, the relevant computational, experimental and neuropsychological work is integrated to provide a broader coverage than that of other texts.

The conditional, if...then, is probably the most important term in natural language and forms the core of systems of logic and mental representation. It occurs in all human languages and allows people to express their knowledge of the causal or law-like structure of the world and of others' behaviour, e.g., if you turn the key the car starts, if John walks the dog he stops for a pint of beer; to make promises, e.g., if you cook tonight, I'll wash up all week; to regulate behaviour, e.g., if you are drinking beer, you must be over 18 years of age; to suggest what would have happened had things been different, e.g., if the match had been dry it would have lit, among many other possible uses. The way in which the conditional is modelled also determines the core of most logical systems. Unsurprisingly, it is also the most researched expression in the psychology of human reasoning.
Cognition and Conditionals is the first volume for over 20 years (On Conditionals, 1986, CUP) that brings together recent developments in the cognitive science and psychology of conditional reasoning. Over the last 10 to 15 years, research on conditionals has come to dominate the psychology of reasoning providing a rich seam of results that have created new theoretical possibilities. This book shows how these developments have led researchers to view people's conditional reasoning behaviour more as succesful probabilistic reasoning rather than as errorful logical reasoning. It shows how the multifarious, and apparently competing, theoretical positions developed over the last 50 years in this area - mental logics, mental models, heuristic approaches, dual process theory, and probabilistic approaches-have responded to these insights. Its organisation reflects the view that an integrative approach is emerging that may need to exploit aspects of all these theoretical positions to explain the rich and complex phenomenon of reasoning with conditionals. It includes an introductory chapter relating the development of the psychology of reasoning to developments in the logic and semantics of the conditional. It also includes chapters by many of the leading figures in this field.
Cognition and Conditionals will be a valuable resource for cognitive scientists, psychologists and philosophers interested how people actually reason with conditionals.

Psychology's most famous theories--played out in real life! Forget the labs and lecture halls. You can conduct your very own psych experiments at home! Famous psychological experiments--from Freud's ego to the Skinner box--have changed the way science views human behavior. But how do these tests really work? In Psych Experiments, you'll learn how to test out these theories and experiments for yourself...no psychology degree required! Guided by Michael A. Britt, creator of popular podcast The Psych Files, you can conduct your own experiments when browsing your favorite websites (to test the "curiosity effect"), in restaurants (learning how to increase your tips), when presented with advertisements (you'd be surprised how much you're influenced by the color red), and even right on your smartphone (and why you panic when you can't find it). You'll even figure out how contagious yawning works! With this compulsively readable little book, you won't just read about the history of psychology--you'll live it!