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The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans
by Michael TomaselloA leading developmental psychologist proposes an evolutionary pathway to human psychological agency.Nature cannot build organisms biologically prepared for every contingency they might possibly encounter. Instead, Nature builds some organisms to function as feedback control systems that pursue goals, make informed behavioral decisions about how best to pursue those goals in the current situation, and then monitor behavioral execution for effectiveness. Nature builds psychological agents. In a bold new theoretical proposal, Michael Tomasello advances a typology of the main forms of psychological agency that emerged on the evolutionary pathway to human beings. Tomasello outlines four main types of psychological agency and describes them in evolutionary order of emergence. First was the goal-directed agency of ancient vertebrates, then came the intentional agency of ancient mammals, followed by the rational agency of ancient great apes, ending finally in the socially normative agency of ancient humans. Each new form of psychological organization represented increased complexity in the planning, decision-making, and executive control of behavior. Each also led to new types of experience of the environment and, in some cases, of the organism&’s own psychological functioning, leading ultimately to humans&’ experience of an objective and normative world that governs all of their thoughts and actions. Together, these proposals constitute a new theoretical framework that both broadens and deepens current approaches in evolutionary psychology.
The Evolution of Chinese Filiality: Insights from the Neurosciences
by Deborah Lynn PorterThis unique book brings a fresh interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of ancient Chinese history, creating a historical model for the emergence of cultural mainstays by applying recent dramatic findings in the fields of neuroscience and cultural evolution. The centrality in Chinese culture of a deep reverence for the lives of preceding generations, filial piety, is conventionally attributed to Confucius (551-479 B.C.), who viewed hierarchical family relations as foundational for social order. Here, Porter argues that Confucian conceptions of filiality themselves evolved from a systemized set of behaviors and thoughts, a mental structure, which descended from a specific Neolithic mindset, and that this psychological structure was contoured by particular emotional conditions experienced by China’s earliest farmers. Using case study analysis from Neolithic sky observers to the dynastic cultures of the Shang and Western Zhou, the book shows how filial piety evolved as a structure of feeling, a legacy of a cultural predisposition toward particular moods and emotions that were inherited from the ancestral past. Porter also brings new urgency to the topic of ecological grief, linking the distress central to the evolution of the filial structure to its catalyst in an environmental crisis. With a blended multidisciplinary approach combining social neuroscience, cultural evolution, cognitive archaeology, and historical analysis, this book is ideal for students and researchers in neuropsychology, religion, and Chinese culture and history.
The Evolution of Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Personal and Professional Journey with Don Meichenbaum
by Donald MeichenbaumThe Evolution of Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Personal and Professional Journey with Don Meichenbaum explores the "untold story" of how Cognitive Behavior Therapy emerged and discusses the controversies encountered along the way. This volume will feature a personal account of Don Meichenbaum's contributions from his initial work on self-instructional training with schizophrenics and impulsive children, through his work on stress inoculation training, and his most recent works with traumatized individuals. These previously published papers are complemented with updated papers and accompanying commentary.
The Evolution of Consciousness
by Bjørn GrindeThis book gives the reader an understanding of what consciousness is about, and of how to make conscious experiences more pleasant. It expands on a new theory that describes the evolutionary trajectory leading to conscious life forms. In short, the evidence suggests that consciousness first evolved some 300 million years ago as a consequence of the introduction of feelings. Feelings offer a strategy for making behavioural decisions. Besides playing a crucial role in the evolution of the human mind, they are a key factor in regard to mental health and quality of life. Fortunately, the human brain is plastic. By exploiting available options for modulating the mind, it is therefore possible to impact on what sort of experiences the brain serves. More specifically, you can strengthen the capacity for positive feelings and reduce the sway of negative feelings. The text covers biological, neurological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of the mind.
The Evolution of Cooperation
by Robert Axelrod&“For anyone involved in settling disputes&” (Richard Dawkins), a famed political scientist offers a classic argument for how to achieve a more cooperative world We assume that, in a world ruled by natural selection, selfishness pays. So why cooperate? In The Evolution of Cooperation, political scientist Robert Axelrod seeks to answer this question. In 1979, he organized the famed Computer Prisoner&’s Dilemma Tournament, which sought to find the most effective strategy for the ubiquitous prisoner&’s dilemma, a model of strategy problems in the nuclear age. The expectation had been that some complicated scheme of competition would win the day. Instead, a simple, cooperative program called Tit for Tat did. The effects of that victory continue to reverberate today, from college campuses to the Situation Room. A vital book for leaders and decision-makers, The Evolution of Cooperation reveals how cooperative principles help us think better about everything from military strategy to political elections to family dynamics.
The Evolution of Cooperation: Revised Edition
by Robert AxelrodThe Evolution of Cooperation provides valuable insights into the age-old question of whether unforced cooperation is ever possible. Widely praised and much-discussed, this classic book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists-whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals-when there is no central authority to police their actions. The problem of cooperation is central to many different fields. Robert Axelrod recounts the famous computer tournaments in which the "cooperative” program Tit for Tat recorded its stunning victories, explains its application to a broad spectrum of subjects, and suggests how readers can both apply cooperative principles to their own lives and teach cooperative principles to others.
The Evolution of Desire
by David M. BussWith two new chapters by the author. If we all want love, why is there so much conflict in our most cherished relationships? To answer this question, says noted psychologist David Buss, we must look into our evolutionary past. Based on the most massive study of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than ten thousand people of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, The Evolution of Desire is the first book to present a unified theory of human mating behavior. Now in a revised and updated edition, Buss's classic presents the latest research in the field, including startling new discoveries about the evolutionary advantages of infidelity, orgasm, and physical attractiveness.
The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating
by David M. BussIf we all want love, why is there so much conflict in our most cherished relationships? To answer this question, argues the prominent psychologist David M. Buss, we must look into our evolutionary past. Based on the most massive study of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 people of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, The Evolution of Desire is the first book to present a unified theory of human mating behavior.In this fully revised and updated edition of The Evolution of Desire, Buss has incorporated the explosion of research in the field of human mating since its original 1994 publication, from startling discoveries about the evolutionary advantages of infidelity and physical attractiveness to new findings regarding sexual orientation, the emotion of sexual disgust, and incest avoidance adaptations.
The Evolution of Family Patterns and Indirect Therapy with Adolescents
by Giorgio Nardone Emanuela Giannotti Rita RocchiThis text presents a picture of contemporary family patterns that might produce problems of social and psychopathologic deviance in adolescents. It is the outcome of the teamwork of 32 researchers and therapists, members of the Centre of Strategic Therapy in Arezzo. This work was put together over a period of five years, where the research-intervention group met on a monthly basis under the author's personal supervision, to put together the data gathered from thousands of cases of disturbed adolescents with the aim of better the application of specific strategic interventions in parent-child problematics. The purpose of this book is to point out clearly how some problems of contemporary adolescents can be triggered off and how they can be prevented or solved. It is meant to be a training text for specialists but it is also reader-friendly and can be appreciated both by parents and children so that both can come to avoid the traps hidden in relationships and their dysfunctional aspects. In other words, the aim is to 'correct' "the best intentions that produce the worst effects".
The Evolution of Human Cleverness
by Richard HallamThe Evolution of Human Cleverness presents a unique introduction to the way human cognitive abilities have evolved. The book comprises a series of mini-essays on distinct topics in which technical terms are simplified, considering how humans made the long journey from our ape-like ancestors to become capable of higher-level reasoning and problem solving. All the topics are cross-linked, allowing the reader to dip in and out, but certain key concepts run through the underlying reasoning. Chiefly, these are adaptation and selection, the distinction between ultimate and proximate causes of behaviour, gene–culture co-evolution, and domain-general versus domain-specific cognitive processes. The book should help the reader draw lessons for the human species as a whole, especially in view of the environmental threats to its own existence. Entries have been carefully crafted to cut through scientific jargon, providing bite-sized and digestible chunks of knowledge, making the topic accessible for students and lay readers alike. The author draws on research from diverse fields including Psychology, Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, and Neuroscience to provide an unbiased account of the field, making it an ideal text for students of all levels.
The Evolution of Human Pair-Bonding, Friendship, and Sexual Attraction: Love Bonds
by Michael R. KauthThe Evolution of Human Pair-Bonding, Friendship, and Sexual Attraction presents an evolutionary history of romantic love, male-female pair-bonding, same-sex friendship, and sexual attraction, drawing on sexuality research, gay and lesbian studies, history, literature, anthropology, and evolutionary science. Employing evolutionary theory as a framework, close same-sex friendship is examined as an adaptive trait that has harnessed love, affection, and sexual pleasure to navigate same-sex environments for both men and women, ultimately benefiting their reproductive success and promoting the inheritance of traits for friendship. Chapters consider the desire to form close same-sex friendships and ask if this is embedded in our biology, concluding that most humans have the capacity to form loving, meaningful, and sexual relationships with men and women. This book takes on a unique interdisciplinary approach and is essential reading for those studying and working in sexuality research, anthropology, sociology, evolutionary psychology, and gay and lesbian studies. It will also be of interest to marriage and family therapists as well as sex therapists.
The Evolution of Human Sociability
by Ron VannelliHow do desires and fears motivate human sociability? What effect do these motivators have on reproductive, social and political behaviour? And, crucially, how might we understand them separate from preconceived notions of design or higher morality? Taking these questions as a focus, this book examines human evolution with the emphasis on sexual selection and the evolution of a number of human psychological processes. Exploring evolutionary, sexual and maturational processes, along with primate, fossil and geological evidence, Vannelli argues that human nature can be conceptualised as species-typical desires and fears, derived from sexual selection during human evolution, and that these are major motivators of behaviour. Presenting additional evidence from the anthropology of band societies, along with material from group behaviour, Vannelli highlights the importance of pair-bonding, friendship, alliance behaviour, vengeance seeking and interpersonal politics in social behaviour, providing a unique interdisciplinary framework for understanding human nature and the evolution of human sociability.
The Evolution of Imagination
by Stephen T. AsmaConsider Miles Davis, horn held high, sculpting a powerful musical statement full of tonal patterns, inside jokes, and thrilling climactic phrases—all on the fly. Or think of a comedy troupe riffing on a couple of cues from the audience until the whole room is erupting with laughter. Or maybe it’s a team of software engineers brainstorming their way to the next Google, or the Einsteins of the world code-cracking the mysteries of nature. Maybe it’s simply a child playing with her toys. What do all of these activities share? With wisdom, humor, and joy, philosopher Stephen T. Asma answers that question in this book: imagination. And from there he takes us on an extraordinary tour of the human creative spirit. Guided by neuroscience, animal behavior, evolution, philosophy, and psychology, Asma burrows deep into the human psyche to look right at the enigmatic but powerful engine that is our improvisational creativity—the source, he argues, of our remarkable imaginational capacity. How is it, he asks, that a story can evoke a whole world inside of us? How are we able to rehearse a skill, a speech, or even an entire scenario simply by thinking about it? How does creativity go beyond experience and help us make something completely new? And how does our moral imagination help us sculpt a better society? As he shows, we live in a world that is only partly happening in reality. Huge swaths of our cognitive experiences are made up by “what-ifs,” “almosts,” and “maybes,” an imagined terrain that churns out one of the most overlooked but necessary resources for our flourishing: possibilities. Considering everything from how imagination works in our physical bodies to the ways we make images, from the mechanics of language and our ability to tell stories to the creative composition of self-consciousness, Asma expands our personal and day-to-day forms of imagination into a grand scale: as one of the decisive evolutionary forces that has guided human development from the Paleolithic era to today. The result is an inspiring look at the rich relationships among improvisation, imagination, and culture, and a privileged glimpse into the unique nature of our evolved minds.
The Evolution of Intelligence
by Robert J. Sternberg James C. KaufmanHow 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.
The Evolution of Intelligent Systems: How Molecules Became Minds
by Ken RichardsonHow could something as seemingly transcendental as the human mind have arisen from far simpler material beginnings? This book provides a comprehensive overview of evolution from pre-life and early life forms through increasing complexity to advanced cognitive systems using a new framework based on dynamic systems theory.
The Evolution of Knowledge: Rethinking Science for the Anthropocene
by Jürgen RennA fundamentally new approach to the history of science and technologyThis book presents a new way of thinking about the history of science and technology, one that offers a grand narrative of human history in which knowledge serves as a critical factor of cultural evolution. Jürgen Renn examines the role of knowledge in global transformations going back to the dawn of civilization while providing vital perspectives on the complex challenges confronting us today in the Anthropocene—this new geological epoch shaped by humankind.Renn reframes the history of science and technology within a much broader history of knowledge, analyzing key episodes such as the evolution of writing, the emergence of science in the ancient world, the Scientific Revolution of early modernity, the globalization of knowledge, industrialization, and the profound transformations wrought by modern science. He investigates the evolution of knowledge using an array of disciplines and methods, from cognitive science and experimental psychology to earth science and evolutionary biology. The result is an entirely new framework for understanding structural changes in systems of knowledge—and a bold new approach to the history and philosophy of science.Written by one of today's preeminent historians of science, The Evolution of Knowledge features discussions of historiographical themes, a glossary of key terms, and practical insights on global issues ranging from climate change to digital capitalism. This incisive book also serves as an invaluable introduction to the history of knowledge.
The Evolution of Personality Assessment in the 21st Century: Understanding the People who Understand People
by Christopher J. HopwoodThis edited volume provides readers with a deeper knowledge of the growth of personality assessment in North America over the past 40 years through the autobiographies of its most notable figures. Experts provide insights into their professional backgrounds, training experiences, their contributions and approaches to personality assessment, their perceptions of current trends, and their predictions about the future of the field. Each chapter explores topics of deep significance to the writer, fluidly intertwining theory and personal narrative. Beginning clinicians, scholars, and students will gain a better understanding of the major empirical advances that were made during the last generation regarding key questions about the nature of people, the structure of personality traits, and the connections between personality and mental health.
The Evolution of Psychological Theory: A Critical History of Concepts and Presuppositions
by Richard LowryFirst published in 1982. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis.
The Evolution of Relational Paradigms in Transactional Analysis: What's the Relationship Got to Do With It?
by Helena Hargaden William F. CornellIn this fascinating and robust volume, the editors have compiled a collection of articles that provides an account of their individual theoretical journeys as they trace the evolution of relational transactional analysis. They re-examine the term ‘relational’, offering the reader a multiplicity of ways in which to conceptualise the theory of transactional analysis from a truly pluralistic perspective. This collection of 14 stunning articles from the Transactional Analytic Journal, written over a period of nearly three decades, traces the evolutionary process of a way of thinking that incorporates both theoretical innovations and advanced methodological ideas. Central to the themes of this book is a theoretical understanding of the bidirectionality of the relational unconscious, alongside a methodology that not always, but most often, demands a two-person methodology in which the therapist’s subjectivity comes under scrutiny. Uniquely useful as a research tool for psychotherapists interested in the most up to date psychological theories, this book offers a perspective on relational theory that is both respectful and critical. It will be of enormously useful to the trainee, the researcher, the clinician and the supervisor and will help inform the development of a clinical dialectical mind.
The Evolution of Religions: A History of Related Traditions
by Lance GrandeThousands of religions have adherents today, and countless more have existed throughout history. What accounts for this astonishing diversity?This extraordinarily ambitious and comprehensive book demonstrates how evolutionary systematics and philosophy can yield new insight into the development of organized religion. Lance Grande—a leading evolutionary systematist—examines the growth and diversification of hundreds of religions over time, highlighting their historical interrelationships. Combining evolutionary theory with a wealth of cultural records, he explores the formation, extinction, and diversification of different world religions, including the many branches of Asian cyclicism, polytheism, and monotheism.Grande deploys an illuminating graphic system of evolutionary trees to illustrate historical interrelationships among the world’s major religious traditions, rejecting colonialist and hierarchical “ladder of progress” views of evolution. Extensive and informative illustrations clearly and vividly indicate complex historical developments and help readers grasp the breadth of interconnections across eras and cultures.The Evolution of Religions marshals compelling evidence, starting far back in time, that all major belief systems are related, despite the many conflicts that have taken place among them. By emphasizing these broad historical interconnections, this book promotes the need for greater tolerance and deeper, unbiased understanding of cultural diversity. Such traits may be necessary for the future survival of humanity.
The Evolution of Same-Sex Attraction
by Menelaos ApostolouThis book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolutionary origins of same-sex attraction, evaluating multiple existing evolutionary theories. It combines empirical findings with theoretical arguments in order to review evidence on the prevalence rates of same-sex attraction and determine its genetic and environmental basis. Among the topics addressed:Attitudes towards same-sex attraction across human historyAssessing the weak selection pressures hypothesis of attractionAssessing the male choice hypothesis of attractionEvolution of same-sex attraction in men versus women The Evolution of Same-Sex Attraction will be of interest to academics and students of evolutionary and psychological sciences, filling a gap in literature on the origins of specifically same-sex attraction.
The Evolution of Suicide (Evolutionary Psychology)
by C A SoperIn this radical and reflective volume, psychotherapist and evolutionary psychologist C A Soper offers evolutionary analysis of a distinctly human behaviour: suicide. Soper’s ‘pain and brain’ model posits ancient emotion as the motivator for suicidal escape, but specific human cognitive adaptations as supplying the means. The framework also provides a basis for explaining why only a relatively small number of humans actually take their own lives. Two types of anti-suicide systems are hypothesised, active and reactive mechanisms designed to obstruct suicide, manifest in a diversity of interconnected human psychological phenomena that are otherwise hard to explain. Among these is the intriguing proposal that some symptoms of common mental disorders such as depression and addiction, long associated with suicidality, may function as anti-suicide survival mechanisms.Among the topics addressed:· Suicide as an adaptive problem in human evolution.· Nonhumans’ and young childrens’ immunity to suicide.· The causation and course of common mental disorders.· Psychodynamic defences, regulating the experiencing of painful life events.· Positive psychology in autonomic suicide prevention.· The protective role of spiritual and religious belief.· A novel evolutionary explanation of altruistic behavior.· The suicide taboo as a kroll system.· Prediction and prevention of suicide. In raising and considering key questions regarding this most controversial act, The Evolution of Suicide will appeal to researchers across a range of behavioural and life science disciplines. The book’s implications for clinical intervention and prevention will make it useful also to mental health professionals and those involved with formulating mental health policy.
The Evolution of Techniques: Rigidity and Flexibility in Use, Transmission, and Innovation (Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology)
by Mathieu CharbonneauA novel, interdisciplinary exploration of the relative contributions of rigidity and flexibility in the adoption, maintenance, and evolution of technical traditions.Techniques can either be used in rigid, stereotypical ways or in flexibly adaptive ways, or in some combination of the two. The Evolution of Techniques, edited by Mathieu Charbonneau, addresses the impacts of both flexibility and rigidity on how techniques are used, transformed, and reconstructed, at varying social and temporal scales. The multidisciplinary contributors demonstrate the important role of the varied learning contexts and social configurations involved in the transmission, use, and evolution of techniques. They explore the diversity of cognitive, behavioral, sociocultural, and ecological mechanisms that promote and constrain technical flexibility and rigidity, proposing a deeper picture of the enablers of, and obstacles to, technical transmission and change.In line with the extended evolutionary synthesis, the book proposes a more inclusive and materially grounded conception of technical evolution in terms of promiscuous, dynamic, and multidirectional causal processes. Offering new evidence and novel theoretical perspectives, the contributors deploy a diversity of methods, including ethnographies, field and laboratory experiments, cladistics and phylogenetic tree building, historiography, and philosophical analysis. Examples of the wide range of topics covered include field experiments with potters from five cultures, stability and change in Paleolithic toolmaking, why children lack flexibility when making tools, and cultural techniques in nonhuman animals.The volume&’s three thematic sections are:· Timescales of technical rigidity and flexibility· Rigid copying to flexible reconstruction· Exogenous factors of technical rigidity and flexibilityThe volume closes with a discussion by philosopher Kim Sterelny.ContributorsRita Astuti, Adam Howell Boyette, Blandine Bril, Josep Call, Mathieu Charbonneau, Arianna Curioni, Nicola Cutting, Bert De Munck, György Gergely, Anne-Lise Goujon, Ildikó Király, Catherine Lara, Sébastien Manem, Luke McEllin, Helena Miton, Giulio Ongaro, Sarah Pope-Caldwell, Valentine Roux, Manon Schweinfurth, Dan Sperber, Kim Sterelny, Dietrich Stout, James W. A. Strachan, Sadie Tenpas
The Evolution of Winnicott's Thinking: Examining the Growth of Psychoanalytic Thought Over Three Generations
by Margaret Boyle SpelmanWhat happens to the thinking of a thinker who refuses a discipleship? This book attempts to answer this question in relation to D. W. Winnicott and the evolution of his thinking. He eschewed a following, privileging the independence of his thinking and fostering the same in others. However Winnicott's thinking exerts a growing influence in areas including psychoanalysis, psychology, and human development. This book looks at the nature of Winnicott's thought and its influence. It first examines the development of Winnicott's thinking through his own life time (first generation) and then continues this exploration by viewing the thinking in members of the group with a strong likelihood of influence from him; his analysands (second generation) and their analysands (third generation).
The Evolution of the Emotion-Processing Mind: With An Introduction To Mental Darwinism
by Robert LangsIn attempting to unify psychoanalytic and evolutionary theories, Langs offers a concise account of the most current versions of Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theory. He then develops the arguement that the emotion processing mind is an organ of adaptation that has evolved by natural selection.