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Understanding the Human Mind

Author: John Edward Terrell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-09

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1000093565

Drawing on current research in anthropology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and the humanities, Understanding the Human Mind explores how and why we, as humans, find it so easy to believe we are right—even when we are outright wrong. Humans live out their own lives effectively trapped in their own mind and, despite being exceptional survivors and a highly social species, our inner mental world is often misaligned with reality. In order to understand why, John Edward Terrell and Gabriel Stowe Terrell suggest current dual-process models of the mind overlook our mind’s most decisive and unpredictable mode: creativity. Using a three-dimensional model of the mind, the authors examine the human struggle to stay in touch with reality—how we succeed, how we fail, and how winning this struggle is key to our survival in an age of mounting social problems of our own making. Using news stories of logic-defying behavior, analogies to famous fictitious characters, and analysis of evolutionary and cognitive psychology theory, this fascinating account of how the mind works is a must-read for all interested in anthropology and cognitive psychology.

Mind Shift

Author: John Parrington

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-04-22

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0192521640

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John Parrington argues that social interaction and culture have deeply shaped the exceptional nature of human consciousness. The mental capacities of the human mind far outstrip those of other animals. Our imaginations and creativity have produced art, music, and literature; built bridges and cathedrals; enabled us to probe distant galaxies, and to ponder the meaning of our existence. When our minds become disordered, they can also take us to the depths of despair. What makes the human brain unique, and able to generate such a rich mental life? In this book, John Parrington draws on the latest research on the human brain to show how it differs strikingly from those of other animals in its structure and function at a molecular and cellular level. And he argues that this 'shift', enlarging the brain, giving it greater flexibility and enabling higher functions such as imagination, was driven by tool use, but especially by the development of one remarkable tool - language. The complex social interaction brought by language opened up the possibility of shared conceptual worlds, enriched with rhythmic sounds, and images that could be drawn on cave walls. This transformation enabled modern humans to leap rapidly beyond all other species, and generated an exceptional human consciousness, a sense of self that arises as a product of our brain biology and the social interactions we experience. Our minds, even those of identical twins, are unique because they are the result of this extraordinarily plastic brain, exquisitely shaped and tuned by the social and cultural environment in which we grew up and to which we continue to respond through life. Linking early work by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky to the findings of modern neuroscience, Parrington explores how language, culture, and society mediate brain function, and what this view of the human mind may bring to our understanding and treatment of mental illness.

Human Psychology 101

Author: Alan G. Fields

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-08-21

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781537220451

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Understanding the human mind is a complicated array of wirings of the past combined with the physical and chemical inclinations of the present. Psychology is the study of the human brain, but it's so much more than a mere dissection of the gooey gray mass trapped in our skulls; it's a study of what makes us tick as individuals and as a species. Human Psychology 101: Understanding the Human Mind and What Makes People Tick is meant to show you the facets of a human being and how they work together to make a person tick. It's not a psychological treatise or a DSM-V. It's a collection of my own research of psychology and stories from my life and those of my friends and acquaintances that help illustrate the principles I'm going to be telling you about. I will be dividing this book into seven aspects of human psychology: emotions, personality, decision-making, morality, perception, behavior, and relationships. To understand what makes someone tick is to have mastered a sort of psychological sleight of hand, and I hope that this book serves as a useful step on your way to mastery over that brand of magic trick. How human beings think and behave is an unendingly fascinating study, one that reveals how simple and elegant and, on the other hand, complex and mysterious we all are. I hope you are as pumped as I am to think about the inner workings of how people tick.

The Human Advantage

Author: Suzana Herculano-Houzel

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2016-03-18

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0262333201

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Why our human brains are awesome, and how we left our cousins, the great apes, behind: a tale of neurons and calories, and cooking. Humans are awesome. Our brains are gigantic, seven times larger than they should be for the size of our bodies. The human brain uses 25% of all the energy the body requires each day. And it became enormous in a very short amount of time in evolution, allowing us to leave our cousins, the great apes, behind. So the human brain is special, right? Wrong, according to Suzana Herculano-Houzel. Humans have developed cognitive abilities that outstrip those of all other animals, but not because we are evolutionary outliers. The human brain was not singled out to become amazing in its own exclusive way, and it never stopped being a primate brain. If we are not an exception to the rules of evolution, then what is the source of the human advantage? Herculano-Houzel shows that it is not the size of our brain that matters but the fact that we have more neurons in the cerebral cortex than any other animal, thanks to our ancestors' invention, some 1.5 million years ago, of a more efficient way to obtain calories: cooking. Because we are primates, ingesting more calories in less time made possible the rapid acquisition of a huge number of neurons in the still fairly small cerebral cortex—the part of the brain responsible for finding patterns, reasoning, developing technology, and passing it on through culture. Herculano-Houzel shows us how she came to these conclusions—making “brain soup” to determine the number of neurons in the brain, for example, and bringing animal brains in a suitcase through customs. The Human Advantage is an engaging and original look at how we became remarkable without ever being special.

Understanding the Human Mind

Author: Jason Browne

Publisher:

Published: 2020-07-25

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13:

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Unlock the ultimate secret of human life--the knowledge to change the world lies within you... Have you ever wondered what makes us, humans, such complex creatures, and why of all living things, we're the only ones who are self-aware? Have you wanted to explore the hidden secrets of your mind, striving to understand the endless potential your brain has to offer? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to unlock the full power of your brain and achieve a better understanding and a sense of unity with yourself and everything around you? The answer to your questions lies in one fascinating concept--human consciousness. Ever since humans acquired the ability to think and understand, we have been looking for answers to the meaning of our existence--we knew that we could make sense of what's around us, but we never managed to fully grasp how and why that was possible. Despite great progress in that direction in recent studies of neuroscience where researchers were able to associate various higher mental functions to different parts of the brain, the question of whether consciousness is actually in the brain, or if it's an experience outside our body, remains as elusive as ever. The quest to understand consciousness has, and always will, remain one of the biggest mysteries of our existence. Some have contended with accepting the limitations of the brain to fully comprehend it, while others have turned to spirituality to find meaning in the vastness of human experience. Wherever you may be on that scale, armed with an inner sense of insatiable curiosity and a true desire to fully grasp everything that humanity knows about its own consciousness, you'll get all the knowledge you need to better understand yourself, as well as the reality that surrounds you. In Understanding the Human Mind, you will discover: The power we've been entitled to through evolution, and what you can do with it to better understand your own mind A plethora of fascinating philosophies that try to make sense of the human mind and understand how it experiences the world How psychology built further on those theories to attempt to heal the world from mental ailments What an altered state of consciousness is, and how it can unlock the hidden secrets of your mind The one science that got so close to understanding what consciousness is and the implications of that on the understanding of our existence How the esoteric Eastern spirituality influenced philosophies of the West, and how it transformed the understanding of higher states of consciousness and enlightenment And much more. Understanding the fundamental functions of what makes us human is the ultimate power we can achieve. With such deep knowledge of ourselves and our surroundings, we can alter our perception of the world to our advantage and become the version of ourselves we've always wanted to be. We'll finally manage to understand the responsibility that comes with being highly aware, and hold within us the strength to make the world a better place for ourselves and the people around us. If you want to explore the endless labyrinth of your mind and find your way to a higher state of awareness, then scroll up and click the "Add to Cart" button right now.

Horse Brain, Human Brain

Author: Janet Jones

Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1646010272

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An eye-opening game-changer of a book that sheds new light on how horses learn, think, perceive, and perform, and explains how to work with the horse’s brain instead of against it. In this illuminating book, brain scientist and horsewoman Janet Jones describes human and equine brains working together. Using plain language, she explores the differences and similarities between equine and human ways of negotiating the world. Mental abilities—like seeing, learning, fearing, trusting, and focusing—are discussed from both human and horse perspectives. Throughout, true stories of horses and handlers attempting to understand each other—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—help to illustrate the principles. Horsemanship of every kind depends on mutual interaction between equine and human brains. When we understand the function of both, we can learn to communicate with horses on their terms instead of ours. By meeting horses halfway, we achieve many goals. We improve performance. We save valuable training time. We develop much deeper bonds with our horses. We handle them with insight and kindness instead of force or command. We comprehend their misbehavior in ways that allow solutions. We reduce the human mistakes we often make while working with them. Instead of working against the horse’s brain, expecting him to function in unnatural and counterproductive ways, this book provides the information needed to ride with the horse’s brain. Each principle is applied to real everyday issues in the arena or on the trail, often illustrated with true stories from the author’s horse training experience. Horse Brain, Human Brain offers revolutionary ideas that should be considered by anyone who works with horses.

How the Mind Works

Author: Steven Pinker

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-06-02

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0393334775

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Explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life.

Creating Language

Author: Morten H. Christiansen

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2016-03-18

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 026233478X

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A work that reveals the profound links between the evolution, acquisition, and processing of language, and proposes a new integrative framework for the language sciences. Language is a hallmark of the human species; the flexibility and unbounded expressivity of our linguistic abilities is unique in the biological world. In this book, Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater argue that to understand this astonishing phenomenon, we must consider how language is created: moment by moment, in the generation and understanding of individual utterances; year by year, as new language learners acquire language skills; and generation by generation, as languages change, split, and fuse through the processes of cultural evolution. Christiansen and Chater propose a revolutionary new framework for understanding the evolution, acquisition, and processing of language, offering an integrated theory of how language creation is intertwined across these multiple timescales. Christiansen and Chater argue that mainstream generative approaches to language do not provide compelling accounts of language evolution, acquisition, and processing. Their own account draws on important developments from across the language sciences, including statistical natural language processing, learnability theory, computational modeling, and psycholinguistic experiments with children and adults. Christiansen and Chater also consider some of the major implications of their theoretical approach for our understanding of how language works, offering alternative accounts of specific aspects of language, including the structure of the vocabulary, the importance of experience in language processing, and the nature of recursive linguistic structure.

Understanding the Human Mind

Author: John Edward Terrell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781003013761

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Drawing on current research in anthropology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and the humanities, Understanding the Human Mind explores how and why we, as humans, find it so easy to believe we are right--even when we are outright wrong. Humans live out their own lives effectively trapped in their own mind and, despite being exceptional survivors and a highly social species, our inner mental world is often misaligned with reality. In order to understand why, John Edward Terrell and Gabriel Stowe Terrell suggest current dual-process models of the mind overlook our mind's most decisive and unpredictable mode: creativity. Using a three-dimensional model of the mind, the authors examine the human struggle to stay in touch with reality--how we succeed, how we fail, and how winning this struggle is key to our survival in an age of mounting social problems of our own making. Using news stories of logic-defying behavior, analogies to famous fictitious characters, and analysis of evolutionary and cognitive psychology theory, this fascinating account of how the mind works is a must-read for all interested in anthropology and cognitive psychology.

The Book of Minds

Author: Philip Ball

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-06-28

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 0226822044

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Popular science writer Philip Ball explores a range of sciences to map our answers to a huge, philosophically rich question: How do we even begin to think about minds that are not human? Sciences from zoology to astrobiology, computer science to neuroscience, are seeking to understand minds in their own distinct disciplinary realms. Taking a uniquely broad view of minds and where to find them—including in plants, aliens, and God—Philip Ball pulls the 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, by locating them in what he calls 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? Informed by conversations with leading researchers, Ball’s brilliant survey of current views 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.