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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Philosophy & theory of psychology
Researchers from different disciplines (e.g., physiological,
psychological, philosophical) have investigated motivation using
multiple approaches. For example, in physiology (the scientific
study of the normal function in living systems such as biology),
researchers may use "electrical and chemical stimulation of the
brain, the recording of electrical brain-wave activity with the
electroencephalograph, and lesion techniques, where a portion of
the brain (usually of a laboratory animal) is destroyed and
subsequent changes in motivation are noted" (Petri & Cofer,
2017). Physiological studies mainly conducted with animals, other
than humans, have revealed the significance of particular brain
structures in the control of fundamental motives such as hunger,
thirst, sex, aggression, and fear. In psychology, researchers may
study the individuals' behaviors to understand their actions. In
sociology, researchers may examine how individuals' interactions
influence their behavior. For instance, in the classroom students
and teachers behave in expected ways, which may differ when they
are outside the classroom. Saracho (2003) examined the students'
academic achievement when they matched or mismatched their
teachers' way of thinking. She identified both the teachers and
students individual differences and defined consistencies in their
cognitive processes. In philosophy, researchers can study the
individuals' theoretical position such as supporting Maslow's
(1943) concept that motivation can create behaviors that augments
motivation in the future. Abraham H. Maslow's theory of
self-actualization supports this theoretical position (Petri &
Cofer, 2017). These areas and others are represented in this
volume. This volume is devoted to understanding mutual and
contemporary themes in the individuals' motivation and its
relationship to cognition. The current literature covers several
methods to the multifaceted relationships between motivational and
cognitive processes. Comprehensive reviews of the literature focus
on prominent cognitive perspectives on motivation with young
children, which includes ages from birth to eight years of age. The
chapters in this special volume review and critically analyze the
literature on several aspects of the relationships between
motivational and cognitive processes and demonstrates the breadth
and theoretical effectiveness of this domain. This brief
introduction acknowledges the valuable contributions of these
chapters to the study of human motivation. This volume can be a
valuable tool to researchers who are conducting studies in the
motivation field. It focuses on important contemporary issues on
motivation in early childhood education (ages 0 to 8) to provide
the information necessary to make judgments about these issues. It
also motivates and guides researchers to explore gaps in the
motivation literature.
Self-Control in Animals and People takes an interdisciplinary look
at what self-control is, how it works, and whether humans are alone
as a species in their ability to demonstrate self-control. The book
outlines historical and recent empirical approaches to
understanding when self-control succeeds and fails, and which
species may share with humans the ability to anticipate better
future outcomes. It also provides readers with in-depth
explorations of whether various species can delay gratification,
the ways in which people and animals exhibit other forms of
self-control, what influences the capacity and expression of
self-control, and much more. In addition to its comprehensive
coverage of self-control research, the book also describes
self-control assessment tests that can be used with young children,
adults, and a wide variety of nonhuman species, with the goal of
making fair and clear comparisons among the groups. This
combination makes Self-Control in Animals and People a valuable
resource for cognitive, developmental, and clinical psychologists,
philosophers, academic students and researchers in psychology and
the social sciences, and animal behaviorists.
Unusual focus on healing factional divisions in psychoanalysis *
Contains contributions from internationally respected clinicians *
Offers a thoughtful and practical guide to working effectively with
other analysts in a variety of settings
The technological advancements of today not only affect
individual's personal lives. They also affect the way urban
communities regard the improvement of their resident's lives.
Research involving these autonomic reactions to the growing needs
of the people is desperately needed to transform the cities of
today into the cities of the future. Driving the Development,
Management, and Sustainability of Cognitive Cities is a pivotal
reference source that explores and improves the understanding of
the strategic role of sustainable cognitive cities in residents'
routine life styles. Such benefits to residents and businesses
include having access to world-class training while sitting at
home, having their wellbeing observed consistently, and having
their medical issues identified before occurrence. This book is
ideally designed for administrators, policymakers, industrialists,
and researchers seeking current research on developing and managing
cognitive cities.
The book provides a new look at the everyday relationship between
psychological processes and extraordinary aspects of ordinary
phenomena. Why should we deal with ordinary things? People's life
is made of everyday practical, taken-for-granted things, such as
driving a car, using money, listening music, etc. When you drive
from home to workplace, you are migrating between contexts. Is this
an empty space you are crossing, or the time you spend into the car
is something meaningful? In psychological terms, things have, at
least, three levels of existence, a material, a symbolic and an
affective one. The underlying idea is that the symbolic elaboration
of everyday things is characterized by the transcendence of the
particular object-sign, leading to the creation of more and more
complex sign fields. These fields expand according to an inclusive
logic up to dialogically and dialectically incorporate opposites
(i.e. clean/dirty, transparent/opaque, hide/ show, join/divide,
slow/fast, etc.). Even the meaning of "ordinary" and
"extraordinary" follow such an inclusive logic: if you give a
positive value to ordinary, extraordinary is rule-breaking;
otherwise, if ordinary means trivial, extraordinary assumes a
positive value. Besides, things are cultural artifacts mediating
the experience of the world, the psychological processes and the
construction of mind. Reflecting upon "things" is thus a more
meaningful pathway to understand Psyche.
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.
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