- Abducted
- Susan A. Clancy
- How could anyone believe he or she was abducted by aliens? Or want to believe it? Clancy argues that abductees are sane and intelligent people who have unwittingly created vivid false memories from a mélange of nightmares, culturally available texts, and a powerful drive for meaning that science is unable to satisfy. This book is not only a subtle exploration of the workings of memory, but a sensitive inquiry into the nature of belief.
- Hardcover 2005 / Paperback 2007
- The Alex Studies
- Irene Maxine Pepperberg
- Twenty years ago Irene Pepperberg set out to discover whether large-brained, highly social parrots were capable of mastering complex cognitive concepts and the rudiments of referential speech. Her investigation and the bird at its center--a male Grey parrot named Alex--have since become almost as well known as their primate equivalents and no less a subject of fierce debate in the field of animal cognition. This book represents the long-awaited synthesis of the studies constituting one of the landmark experiments in modern comparative psychology.
- Hardcover 2000 / Paperback 2002
- Animal Cognition
- Jacques Vauclair
- Animal Cognition presents a lucid and comprehensive overview of cognitive processes in animals--bees and wasps, cats and dogs, dolphins and sea otters, pigeons, titmice, and chimpanzees--and offers a novel discussion of the ways in which Piagetian concepts may be used to develop models for the study of animal cognition.
- Hardcover 1996
- Apes, Monkeys, Children, and the Growth of Mind
- Juan Carlos Gomez
- In this fascinating introduction to the study of primate minds, Gomez identifies evolutionary resemblances--and differences--between human children and other primates. He argues that primate minds are best understood not as fixed collections of specialized cognitive capacities, but more dynamically, as a range of abilities that can surpass their original adaptations.
- Hardcover 2004 / Paperback 2006
- Child Soldiers
- Michael Wessells
- Compelling and humane, this book reveals the lives of the 300,000 child soldiers around the world, challenging stereotypes of them as predators or a lost generation. Based mainly on participatory research and interviews with hundreds of former child soldiers worldwide, Wessells allows these ex-soldiers to speak for themselves. A passionate call for action, Child Soldiers pushes readers to go beyond the horror stories to develop local and global strategies to stop this theft of childhood.
- Hardcover 2007
- Coding and Redundancy
- Jack P. Hailman
- This book explores the strikingly similar ways in which information is encoded in nonverbal man-made signals (e.g., traffic lights and tornado sirens) and animal-evolved signals (e.g., color patterns and vocalizations). Appealing not only to specialists in semiotics, animal behavior, psychology, and allied fields but also to general readers, it serves as an introduction to animal signaling and to an important class of human communication.
- Hardcover 2008
- Constructing a Language
- Michael Tomasello
- In this groundbreaking book, Tomasello presents a comprehensive usage-based theory of language acquisition. Drawing together a vast body of empirical research in cognitive science, linguistics, and developmental psychology, Tomasello demonstrates that we don't need a self-contained "language instinct" to explain how children learn language. Their linguistic ability is interwoven with other cognitive abilities.
- Hardcover 2003 / Paperback 2005
- The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition
- Michael Tomasello
- Bridging the gap between evolutionary theory and cultural psychology, Michael Tomasello argues that the roots of the human capacity for symbol-based culture are based in a cluster of uniquely human cognitive capacities. These include capacities for understanding that others have intentions of their own, and for imitating, not just what someone else does, but what someone else has intended to do. Tomasello further describes with authority and ingenuity how these capacities work over evolutionary and historical time to create the kind of cultural artifacts and settings within which each new generation of children develops.
- Hardcover 2000 / Paperback 2001
- Cultural Psychology
- Michael Cole
- The distinguished psychologist Michael Cole, known for his pioneering work in literacy, cognition, and human development, offers a multifaceted account of what cultural psychology is, what it has been, and what it can be. A rare synthesis of the theory and empirical work shaping the field, this book will become a major foundation for the emerging discipline.
- Hardcover 1996 / Paperback 1998
- The Dalai Lama at MIT
- Edited by Anne Harrington
- Edited by Arthur Zajonc
- Their meeting captured headlines; the waiting list for tickets was nearly 2000 names long. If you were unable to attend, this book will take you there. Including both the papers given at the conference, and the animated discussion and debate that followed, The Dalai Lama at MIT reveals scientists and monks reaching across a cultural divide, to share insights, studies, and enduring questions.
- Hardcover 2006 / Paperback 2008
- Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge
- Henry Plotkin
- Bringing together evolutionary biology, psychology, and philosophy, Henry Plotkin presents a new science of knowledge that traces an unbreakable link between instinct and our ability to know. Since our ability to know our world depends primarily on what we call intelligence, intelligence must be understood as an extension of instinct. The capacity for knowledge is deeply rooted in our biology and, in a special sense, is shared by all living things.
- Hardcover 1994 / Paperback 1997
- How Infants Know Minds
- Vasudevi Reddy
- Most psychologists claim that we begin to develop a “theory of mind at age two or three, by inference, deduction, and logical reasoning. But does this mean that small babies are unaware of minds? Reddy deals with the persistent problem of “other minds” by proposing a “second-person” solution: we know other minds if we can respond to them. And we respond most richly in engagement with them.
- Hardcover 2008
- Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain
- Philip Lieberman
- Using data seldom considered by psycholinguists and neurolinguists, a prominent neuroscientist argues that human language--though more sophisticated than all other forms of animal communication--is not a qualitatively different ability from all forms of animal communication, it does not require a quantum evolutionary leap to be explained, and it is not unified in a single "language instinct." In a blow to human narcissism, Philip Lieberman makes the case that language is a by-product of our remote reptilian ancestors' abilities to dodge hazards, seize opportunities, and live to see another day.
- Hardcover 2000 / Paperback 2002
- The Languages of the Brain
- Albert M. Galaburda, Editor
- Stephen M. Kosslyn, Editor
- Yves Christen, Editor
- A stellar lineup of international cognitive scientists, philosophers, and artists make the book's case that the brain is multilingual. Among topics discussed in the section on verbal languages are the learning of second languages, recovering language after brain damage, and sign language, and in the section on nonverbal languages, mental imagery, representations of motor activity, and the perception and representation of space.
- Hardcover 2002
- Lessons from an Optical Illusion
- Edward M. Hundert
- This book is a bold, modern recasting of the age-old nature-nurture debate, informed by revolutionary insights from brain science, artificial intelligence, psychiatry, linguistics, evolutionary biology, child development, ethics, and even cosmology.
- Hardcover 1995 / Paperback 1997
- Making Stories
- Jerome Bruner
- Stories pervade our daily lives. We use them to make sense of the world. But how does this work? In Making Stories, the eminent psychologist Jerome Bruner examines this pervasive human habit and suggests new and deeper ways to think about how we use stories to make sense of lives and the great moral and psychological problems that animate them. Looking at legal cases and autobiography as well as literature, Bruner warns us not to be seduced by overly tidy stories and shows how doubt and double meaning can lie beneath the most seemingly simple case.
- Paperback 2003
- Mind Time
- Benjamin Libet
- Foreword by Stephen M. Kosslyn
- Our subjective inner life is what really matters to us as human beings--and yet we know relatively little about how it arises. Over a long and distinguished career Libet has conducted experiments that have helped us see, in clear and concrete ways, how the brain produces conscious awareness. For the first time, Libet gives his own account of these experiments and their importance to our understanding of consciousness.
- Hardcover 2004 / Paperback 2005
- Mind in Life
- Evan Thompson
- How is life related to the mind? Thompson explores this so-called explanatory gap between biological life and consciousness, drawing on sources as diverse as molecular biology, evolutionary theory, artificial life, complex systems theory, neuroscience, psychology, Continental Phenomenology, and analytic philosophy. Ultimately he shows that mind and life are more continuous than previously accepted, and that current explanations do not adequately address the myriad facets of the biology and phenomenology of mind.
- Hardcover 2007
- Momentous Events, Vivid Memories
- David B. Pillemer
- David Pillemer's research extends the current study of narrative and specific memory. Drawing on a variety of evidence and methods--cognitive and developmental psychology, cross-cultural study, psychotherapy case studies, autobiographies and diaries--Pillemer elaborates on five themes: the function of memory; how children learn to construct and share personal memories; memory as a complex interactive system of image, emotion, and narrative; individual and group differences in memory function and performance; and, how unique events linger in memory and influence lives.
- Hardcover 1998 / Paperback 2000
- On Intelligence . . . More or Less
- Stephen Ceci
- Ceci argues that traditional conceptions of intelligence ignore the role of society in shaping intelligence and underestimate the intelligence of non-Western societies. He puts forth a "bio-ecological" framework of individual differences in intellectual development that is intended to address some of the major deficiencies of extant theories of intelligence.
- Paperback 1996
- Print Literacy Development
- Victoria Purcell-Gates
- Erik Jacobson
- Sophie Degener
- Is literacy a social and cultural practice, or a set of cognitive skills to be learned and applied? Literacy researchers, who have differed sharply on this question, will welcome this book, which is the first to address the critical divide. The authors lucidly explain how we develop our abilities to read and write and offer a unified theory of literacy development that places cognitive development within a sociocultural context of literacy practices.
- Hardcover 2004 / Paperback 2006
- Psychological Tools
- Alex Kozulin
- The concept of "psychological tools"--the signs, symbols, texts, formulae, and most fundamentally, language that enable us to master psychological functions like memory, perception, and attention in ways appropriate to our cultures--is a cornerstone of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of cognitive development. In this lucid book, Alex Kozulin argues that the concept offers a useful way to analyze cross-cultural differences in thought and to develop practical strategies for educating immigrant children from widely different cultures.
- Hardcover 1998 / Paperback 2001
- Psychophysiology
- Kenneth Hugdahl
- This important text presents a comprehensive introduction to the history, methods, and applications of psychophysiology and explores other areas concerned with the "mind-body interface," such as psychosomatic medicine, behavioral medicine, clinical psychology, psychiatry, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience.
- Paperback 2001 / Hardcover
- The Science of Self-Control
- Howard Rachlin
- This book proposes a new science of self-control based on the principles of behavioral psychology and economics. Claiming that insight and self-knowledge are insufficient for controlling one's behavior, Howard Rachlin argues that the only way to achieve such control--and ultimately happiness--is through the development of harmonious patterns of behavior. Most personal problems with self-control arise because people have difficulty delaying immediate gratification for a better future reward. To avoid those problems, the author presents a strategy of "soft commitment," consisting of the development of valuable patterns of behavior that bridge over individual temptations.
- Hardcover 2000 / Paperback 2004
- Strangers to Ourselves
- Timothy D. Wilson
- "Know thyself," a precept as old as Socrates, is still good advice. But is introspection the best path to self-knowledge? Wilson makes the case for better ways of discovering our unconscious selves. If you want to know who you are or what you feel or what you're like, Wilson advises, pay attention to what you actually do and what other people think about you. Showing us an unconscious more powerful than Freud's, and even more pervasive in our daily life, Strangers to Ourselves marks a revolution in how we know ourselves.
- Hardcover 2002 / Paperback 2004
- Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language
- Philip Lieberman
- In this forcefully argued book, the leading evolutionary theorist of language provides a framework for studying the evolution of human language and cognition. Philip Lieberman asserts that the widely influential theories of language's development are inconsistent with principles and findings of evolutionary biology and neuroscience. In his view, the human language ability is the confluence of a succession of separate evolutionary developments, jury-rigged by natural selection to work together for an evolutionarily unique ability.
- Hardcover 2006