This is a new, somewhat "radical" introductory textbook for General Psychology and Neuroscience, based on a small set of core principles that cut across the full spectrum from neuroscience to social psychology. In short, this is an ambitious attempt to present a unified, principled perspective on the field, akin to what is standard in other fields.The advantage to the student is that it is consistent, coherent, and concise (200 pages), in contrast to standard textbooks which run over 800 pages and are filled with topical stories and historical accounts, that, while fascinating, ultimately distract from the understanding of the core concepts in the field.The core principles are the Three C's: Compression: The brain actively compresses the large amount of information flowing in through the senses, to extract the most relevant, salient information. This principle is essential for understanding the basic function of the neuron, the core principles of sensation and perception, attention, and stereotyping, among others.Contrast: The brain encodes all information in a relative way, by constantly contrasting information over space and time. Again, this function is anchored in the basic function of the neuron, and explains many phenomena in sensation and perception (color contrast effects, etc), and the core mechanisms in reinforcement learning where the rewards we experience are always contrasted with our expectations, and in the fact that we don't care what our absolute salary is --- we only care about how much we make relative to our peer group.Control: Above all, the brain seeks control. Loss of perceived control is an essential element in most mental disorders, and many aspects of social psychology are driven by the dynamics of control. The trajectory of development can be understood in terms of a progression in ability to control the environment and oneself. Large portions of the brain are devoted to control, and understanding how basic motor control works can help understand higher levels of self-control. A key element of control is the ability to predict what will happen next --- prediction and control are two sides of the same coin.With just these three principles, we can understand a huge swath of psychology and neuroscience, and do so in a much more connected, coherent manner than the jumble of facts and stories typically presented in standard textbooks

Written by seven leading authors, the text covers the growing subject of cognitive neuroscience and makes clear the many challenges that remain to be solved. Now, in this second edition, the text has been streamlined to 15 chapters for ease of reference. The condensation makes the topics covered easier to assimilate, and better suited to presentation in a single-semester course. Each chapter has been updated to address the latest developments in the field, including expanded coverage of genetics, evolution, and neural development. Introductory Boxes in each chapter take up an especially interesting issue to better capture readers' attention. An appendix reviews the major features of human neuroanatomy and basic aspects of neural signaling. As before, this edition includes an extensive glossary of key terms. And, with every new copy of the book, we offer a fully upgraded version of Sylvius 4 Online, which includes an interactive tutorial on human neuroanatomy as well as a magnetic resonance imaging atlas of the human brain.

Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychotherapy provides a bionetwork theory unifying empirical evidence in cognitive neuroscience and psychopathology to explain how emotion, learning, and reinforcement affect personality and its extremes. The book uses the theory to explain research results in both disciplines and to predict future findings, as well as to suggest what the theory and evidence say about how we should be treating disorders for maximum effectiveness. While theoretical in nature, the book has practical applications, and takes a mathematical approach to proving its own theorems. The book is unapologetically physical in nature, describing everything we think and feel by way of physical mechanisms and reactions in the brain. This unique marrying of cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology provides an opportunity to better understand both. - Unifying theory for cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology - Describes the brain in physical terms via mechanistic processes - Systematically uses the theory to explain empirical evidence in both disciplines - Theory has practical applications for psychotherapy - Ancillary material may be found at: http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780124200715 including an additional chapter and supplements

Organized around four well-established core principles, Principles of Psychology provides students with a framework to understand the science of behavior. Written in a conversational style, the text is organized around the following four well-established principles that serve as touchstones for the field of psychology: --The mind is a process at work in a physical machine, the brain. --We are consciously aware of only a fraction of our mental activity. --We constantly modify our behavior, beliefs, and attitudes according to what we perceive about the people around us. --Experience physically alters the structure and function of the brain. With these four principles as a framework for the text, Principles of Psychology emphasizes that psychology is a science through discussion of relevant big-picture and proven concepts and cutting-edge research-based investigations that examine behavioral, psychological, and neuroscience experiments. By presenting data and facts from other scientific disciplines, as well as real-world vignettes and stories, Marc Breedlove teaches the reader how to think critically and scientifically about the underlying mechanisms of behavior. In-Text Features --Vignette Each chapter begins with a story, an instance when behavior has a big impact on someone's life. The chapter returns to the vignette several times as we cover findings that relate to that particular case. --Researchers at Work In every chapter, important discoveries are explained and illustrated to highlight the process of experimentation and hypothesis testing. Over the course of the book, the progression of experiments provides an increasingly sharper picture of the factors shaping behavior. --Skeptic at Large Intended to sharpen the student's critical thinking skills, these boxes explore a widespread misconception and demonstrate how scientific research disproves it. The exploration of scientific experimentation also reinforces the Researchers at Work feature. --Psychology in Everyday Life These are topics where knowledge of psychology might be applicable to everyday life, such as whether people with schizophrenia are violent, the importance of "blind" auditions for musicians, how to stop smoking, or how conditioned taste aversion might cause you to stop eating sushi when you used to love it. --The Cutting Edge Just prior to the end of every chapter, this feature explores an exciting report of current research. Showing students these vibrant and bold experiments will emphasize that psychology research remains alive and well. --Think Like a Psychologist: Principles in Action To close each chapter, each principle is related back to the vignette to show the student that when they observe an interesting behavior they can recall and apply the four principles. If they can do this, they will indeed be thinking like a psychologist.

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion is the second title published in the new Templeton Science and Religion Series. In this volume, Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown provide an overview of the relationship between neuroscience, psychology, and religion that is academically sophisticated, yet accessible to the general reader. The authors introduce key terms; thoroughly chart the histories of both neuroscience and psychology, with a particular focus on how these disciplines have interfaced religion through the ages; and explore contemporary approaches to both fields, reviewing how current science/religion controversies are playing out today. Throughout, they cover issues like consciousness, morality, concepts of the soul, and theories of mind. Their examination of topics like brain imaging research, evolutionary psychology, and primate studies show how recent advances in these areas can blend harmoniously with religious belief, since they offer much to our understanding of humanity's place in the world. Jeeves and Brown conclude their comprehensive and inclusive survey by providing an interdisciplinary model for shaping the ongoing dialogue. Sure to be of interest to both academics and curious intellectuals, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion addresses important age-old questions and demonstrates how modern scientific techniques can provide a much more nuanced range of potential answers to those questions.

How does brain activity give rise to sleep, dreams, learning, memory, and language? Do drugs like cocaine and heroin tap into the same neurochemical systems that evolved for life's natural rewards? What are the powerful new tools of molecular biology that are revolutionizing neuroscience? This undergraduate textbook explores the relation between brain, mind, and behavior. It clears away the extraneous detail that so often impedes learning, and describes critical concepts step by step, in straightforward language. Rich illustrations and thought-provoking review questions further illuminate the relations between biological, behavioral, and mental phenomena. With writing that is focused and engaging, even the more challenging topics of neurotransmission and neuroplasticity become enjoyable to learn. While this textbook filters out non-critical details, it includes all key information, allowing readers to remain focused and enjoy the feeling of mastery that comes from a grounded understanding of a topic, from its fundamentals to its implications.

A method of inquiry largely formulated by the German Edmund Husserl and later adapted by Alfred Schutz, phenomenological psychology is explained in this introductory study. It shows how phenomenology can be used in examining the reality of the world of everyday life, and how it provides an antidote to behaviorism, symbolic logic and other positivist systems.

This definitive work--now extensively revised with virtually all new chapters--has introduced generations of researchers to the psychological processes that underlie social behavior. What sets the book apart is its unique focus on the basic principles that guide theory building and research. Since work in the field increasingly transcends such boundaries as biological versus cultural or cognitive versus motivational systems, the third edition has a new organizational framework. Leading scholars identify and explain the principles that govern intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup, and intergroup processes, in chapters that range over multiple levels of analysis. The book's concluding section illustrates how social psychology principles come into play in specific contexts, including politics, organizational life, the legal arena, sports, and negotiation. New to This Edition *Most of the book is entirely new. *Stronger emphasis on the contextual factors that influence how and why the basic principles work as they do. *Incorporates up-to-date findings and promising research programs. *Integrates key advances in such areas as evolutionary theory and neuroscience.

This thoroughly revised new edition of a classic book provides a clinically inspired but scientifically guided approach to the biological foundations of human mental function in health and disease. It includes authoritative coverage of all the major areas related to behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry. Each chapter, written by a world-renowned expert in the relevant area, provides an introductory background as well as an up-to-date review of the most recent developments. Clinical relevance is emphasized but is placed in the context of cognitive neuroscience, basic neuroscience, and functional imaging. Major cognitive domains such as frontal lobe function, attention and neglect, memory, language, prosody, complex visual processing, and object identification are reviewed in detail. A comprehensive chapter on behavioral neuroanatomy provides a background for brain-behavior interactions in the cerebral cortex, limbic system, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebullum. Chapters on temperolimbic epilepsy, major psychiatric syndromes, and dementia provide in-depth analyses of these neurobehavioral entities and their neurobiological coordinates. Changes for this second edition include the reflection throughout the book of the new and flourishing alliance of behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry with cognitive science;major revision of all chapters; new authorship of those on language and memory; and the inclusion of entirely new chapters on psychiatric syndromes and the dementias. Both as a textbook and a reference work, the second edition of Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology represents an invaluable resource for behavioral neurologists, neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists, cognitive and basic neuroscientists, geriatricians, physiatrists, and their students and trainees.