Human Instinct

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The Human Instinct

Author : Kenneth R. Miller
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2018-04-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781476790282

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The Human Instinct by Kenneth R. Miller Pdf

A radical, optimistic exploration of how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will. Lately, the most passionate advocates of the theory of evolution seem to present it as bad news. Scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Sam Harris tell us that our most intimate actions, thoughts, and values are mere byproducts of thousands of generations of mindless adaptation. We are just one species among multitudes, and therefore no more significant than any other living creature. Now comes Brown University biologist Kenneth R. Miller to make the case that this view betrays a gross misunderstanding of evolution. Natural selection surely explains how our bodies and brains were shaped, but Miller argues that it’s not a social or cultural theory of everything. In The Human Instinct, he rejects the idea that our biological heritage means that human thought, action, and imagination are pre-determined, describing instead the trajectory that ultimately gave us reason, consciousness and free will. A proper understanding of evolution, he says, reveals humankind in its glorious uniqueness—one foot planted firmly among all of the creatures we’ve evolved alongside, and the other in the special place of self-awareness and understanding that we alone occupy in the universe. Equal parts natural science and philosophy, The Human Instinct is a moving and powerful celebration of what it means to be human.

Human Instinct

Author : Lord Robert Winston
Publisher : Random House
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2011-05-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781446486412

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Human Instinct by Lord Robert Winston Pdf

From caveman to modern man ... Few people doubt that humans are descended from the apes; fewer still consider, let alone accept, the psychological implications. But in truth, man not only looks, moves and breathes like an ape, he also thinks like one. Sexual drive, survival, competition, aggression - all of our impulses are driven by our human instincts. They explain why a happily married man will fantasize about the pretty, slim, young woman sitting across from him in the tube and why thousands of people spend their week entirely focused on whether their team will win their next crucial match. But how well do our instincts equip us for the twenty-first century? Do they help or hinder us as we deal with large anonymous cities, stressful careers, relationships and the battle of the sexes? In this fascinating book, Robert Winston takes us on a journey deep into the human mind. Along the way he takes a very personal look at the relationship between science and religion and explores those very instincts that make us human.

Killer Instinct

Author : Nadine Weidman
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2021-10-19
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780674983472

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Killer Instinct by Nadine Weidman Pdf

A historian of science examines key public debates about the fundamental nature of humans to ask why a polarized discourse about nature versus nurture became so entrenched in the popular sciences of animal and human behavior. Are humans innately aggressive or innately cooperative? In the 1960s, bestselling books enthralled American readers with the startling claim that humans possessed an instinct for violence inherited from primate ancestors. Critics responded that humans were inherently loving and altruistic. The resulting debateÑfiercely contested and highly publicÑleft a lasting impression on the popular science discourse surrounding what it means to be human. Killer Instinct traces how Konrad Lorenz, Robert Ardrey, and their followers drew on the sciences of animal behavior and paleoanthropology to argue that the aggression instinct drove human evolutionary progress. Their message, spread throughout popular media, brought pointed ripostes. Led by the anthropologist Ashley Montagu, opponents presented a rival vision of human nature, equally based in biological evidence, that humans possessed inborn drives toward love and cooperation. Over the course of the debate, however, each side accused the other of holding an extremist position: that behavior was either determined entirely by genes or shaped solely by environment. Nadine Weidman shows that what started as a dispute over the innate tendencies of animals and humans transformed into an opposition between nature and nurture. This polarized formulation proved powerful. When E. O. Wilson introduced his sociobiology in 1975, he tried to rise above the oppositional terms of the aggression debate. But the controversy over WilsonÕs workÑled by critics like the feminist biologist Ruth HubbardÑwas ultimately absorbed back into the nature-versus-nurture formulation. Killer Instinct explores what happens and what gets lost when polemics dominate discussions of the science of human nature.

The Art Instinct

Author : Denis Dutton
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780199539420

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The Art Instinct by Denis Dutton Pdf

The Dinka have a connoisseur's appreciation of the patterns and colours of the markings on their cattle. The Japanese tea ceremony is regarded as a performance art. Some cultures produce carving but no drawing; others specialize in poetry. Yet despite the rich variety of artistic expression to be found across many cultures, we all share a deep sense of aesthetic pleasure. The need to create art of some form is found in every human society.In The Art Instinct, Denis Dutton explores the idea that this need has an evolutionary basis: how the feelings that we all share when we see a wonderful landscape or a beautiful sunset evolved as a useful adaptation in our hunter-gather ancestors, and have been passed on to us today, manifest in our artistic natures. Why do people indulge in displaying their artistic skills? How can we understand artistic genius? Why do we value art, and what is it for? These questions have long been asked by scholars in the humanities and in literature, but this is the first book to consider the biological basis of this deep human need.This sparking and intelligent book looks at these deep and fundamental questions, and combines the science of evolutionary psychology with aesthetics, to shed new light on longstanding questions about the nature of art.

The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness

Author : Dacher Keltner,Jason Marsh,Jeremy Adam Smith
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2010-01-04
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0393076857

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The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness by Dacher Keltner,Jason Marsh,Jeremy Adam Smith Pdf

Leading scientists and science writers reflect on the life-changing, perspective-changing, new science of human goodness. In these pages you will hear from Steven Pinker, who asks, “Why is there peace?”; Robert Sapolsky, who examines violence among primates; Paul Ekman, who talks with the Dalai Lama about global compassion; Daniel Goleman, who proposes “constructive anger”; and many others. Led by renowned psychologist Dacher Keltner, the Greater Good Science Center, based at the University of California in Berkeley, has been at the forefront of the positive psychology movement, making discoveries about how and why people do good. Four times a year the center publishes its findings with essays on forgiveness, moral inspiration, and everyday ethics in Greater Good magazine. The best of these writings are collected here for the first time. A collection of personal stories and empirical research, The Compassionate Instinct will make you think not only about what it means to be happy and fulfilled but also about what it means to lead an ethical and compassionate life.

The Consuming Instinct

Author : Gad Saad
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 367 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2011-06-21
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781616144302

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The Consuming Instinct by Gad Saad Pdf

In this highly informative and entertaining book, the founder of the vibrant new field of evolutionary consumption illuminates the relevance of our biological heritage to our daily lives as consumers. While culture is important, the author shows that innate evolutionary forces deeply influence the foods we eat, the gifts we offer, the cosmetics and clothing styles we choose to make ourselves more attractive to potential mates, and even the cultural products that stimulate our imaginations (such as art, music, and religion). The book demonstrates that most acts of consumption can be mapped onto four key Darwinian drives—namely, survival (we prefer foods high in calories); reproduction (we use products as sexual signals); kin selection (we naturally exchange gifts with family members); and reciprocal altruism (we enjoy offering gifts to close friends). The author further highlights the analogous behaviors that exist between human consumers and a wide range of animals. For anyone interested in the biological basis of human behavior or simply in what makes consumers tick—marketing professionals, advertisers, psychology mavens, and consumers themselves—this is a fascinating read.

The Puzzle Instinct

Author : Marcel Danesi
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2004-02-20
Category : Games & Activities
ISBN : 0253217083

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The Puzzle Instinct by Marcel Danesi Pdf

"Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles--for the sheer pleasure of it--and there is no obvious genetic reason why we would do this. Marcel Danesi explores the psychology of puzzles and puzzling, with scores of classic examples. His pioneering book is both entertaining and enlightening." --Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times "... Puzzle fanatics will enjoy the many riddles, illusions, cryptograms and other mind-benders offered for analysis." --Psychology Today "... a bristlingly clear... always intriguing survey of the history and rationale of puzzles.... A] splendid study...." --Knight Ridder Newspapers

The Language Instinct

Author : Steven Pinker
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2010-12-14
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780062032522

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The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker Pdf

"A brilliant, witty, and altogether satisfying book." — New York Times Book Review The classic work on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind In The Language Instinct, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.

THE Interview That Solves The Human Condition And Saves The World!

Author : Jeremy Griffith
Publisher : WTM Publishing and Communications PTY Limited
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2020-06-30
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781741290578

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THE Interview That Solves The Human Condition And Saves The World! by Jeremy Griffith Pdf

The best introduction to biologist Jeremy Griffith’s world-saving explanation of the human condition! The transcript of acclaimed British actor and broadcaster Craig Conway’s astonishing, world-changing and world-saving 2020 interview with Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith about his book FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition which presents the completely redeeming, uplifting and healing understanding of the core mystery and problem about human behaviour of our so-called good and evil -stricken human condition thus ending all the conflict and suffering in human life at its source, and providing the now urgently needed road map for the complete rehabilitation and transformation of our lives and world! In fact, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Professor Harry Prosen, has described it as the most important interview of all time! This world-saving interview was broadcast across the UK in 2020 and is being replayed on radio & TV stations around the world. This book is supported by a very informative website at www.humancondition.com, where you can watch the video of the interview.

Human Hope and the Death Instinct

Author : David Holbrook
Publisher : Pergamon
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1971
Category : Psychology
ISBN : UOM:39015002964347

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Human Hope and the Death Instinct by David Holbrook Pdf

Human Hope and the Death Instinct: An Exploration of Psychoanalytical Theories of Human Nature and their Implications for Culture and Education focuses on the study of human nature. The manuscript first offers information on psychology as a form of philosophical anthropology and reactions against the Freudian theory, including the origins of love and hate, death instinct, and metapsychology and negation. The book then discusses human nature and the development of object-relations psychology. Topics include the theories of W. R. D. Fairbairn on love and structure of personality; relationships o.

The Fairness Instinct

Author : L. Sun
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2013-10-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781616148485

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The Fairness Instinct by L. Sun Pdf

Combining research from the social sciences, hard sciences, and the humanities, this accessible cross-disciplinary book offers fascinating insights into a key component of human nature and society. What do the Arab Spring, the Robin Hood legend, Occupy Wall Street, and the American taxpayer reaction to the $182 billion bailout of AIG have in common? All are rooted in a deeply ingrained sense of fairness. But where does this universal instinct come from? This is the driving question at the heart of L. Sun’s The Fairness Instinct. Thinkers from Aristotle to Kant, from Augustine to John Rawls, and religions from Christianity to Confucianism, have offered great insight into the nature and origins of this basic human desire for fairness. Based on the most recent scientific discoveries in behavioral genetics, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, economics, and evolution, Sun argues that the origins of the fairness instinct cannot be found exclusively in the philosophical, social, and political perspectives to which we so often turn; rather, they can be traced to something much deeper in our biological makeup. Taking as his starting point Frans De Waal’s seminal study showing that Capuchin monkeys revolt when they are shortchanged by receiving a less valuable reward than their peers receive for the same task, Sun synthesizes a wide range of research to explore the biological roots of the fairness instinct. He shows that fairness is much more than a moral value or ideological construct; fairness is in our DNA. Combining scientific rigor with accessible and reader-friendly language to relate fascinating stories of animal and human behavior, The Fairness Instinct lays out an evolutionary roadmap for how fairness emerges and thrives under natural selection and how two powerful engines—social living and social hierarchy—have fueled the evolution of this intricate and potent instinct in all of us. Probing into the motives that underlie such phenomena as envy, consumerism, anti-intellectualism, revenge, revolution, terrorism, marriage, democracy, and religion, Sun showcases the power of the fairness instinct to make our history, shape our society, and rule our social lives.

From instinct To Identity

Author : Breger
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2024-05-21
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781412824170

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From instinct To Identity by Breger Pdf

From Instinct to Identity begins an account of personalitydevelopment by tracing the legacy of the human speciesfrom its primate heritage to its present form. Findingsfrom ethology, primate studies, linguistics, and othersources are used to construct an account of the uniquefeatures of man. Th e evolution of early cultures is shownthrough use of anthropological work. The ideas of Sigmund Freud, particularly as modifi edby Erik Erikson, are presented together with the theoriesand fi ndings of Jean Piaget and his collaborators in a seriesof chapters that follow the person from infancy to adolescence.Other chapters examine play, dreams, and fantasy;anxiety and its eff ects on the development of self; moraldevelopment; and identity. Th e emphasis throughout ison the growth of self, and its impact on social norms. The author blends together theories and findingsfrom psychoanalysis, psychology, ethology, humanisticpsychology, and child development, develops a model ofhuman motivation in which the basic emotional systemsof love, anxiety, aggression, curiosity and intelligence aretraced from their primate background through the humanlife cycle. He brings together classic ideas on guilt andconscience with research on moral reasoning and egodevelopment,and clarifi es diffi cult ideas in a clear, directprose style. This classic volume, now available in paperbackwith a new introduction by the author, will fi nd a newaudience among anthropologists as well as psychologistsinterested in the evolution of human behavior. Louis Breger is professor of psychoanalyticstudies emeritus at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology in Pasadena.He is a practicing psychotherapist andpsychoanalyst, and is the founding presidentof the Institute of ContemporaryPsychoanalysis, Los Angeles. He haswritten other books and a number ofscholarly articles on psychoanalytic topicsincluding the acclaimed biography, Freud:Darkness in the Midst of Vision, and Dostoevsky: The Author asPsychoanalyst.

An Instinct for Truth

Author : Robert T. Pennock
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2019-08-13
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262042581

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An Instinct for Truth by Robert T. Pennock Pdf

An exploration of the scientific mindset—such character virtues as curiosity, veracity, attentiveness, and humility to evidence—and its importance for science, democracy, and human flourishing. Exemplary scientists have a characteristic way of viewing the world and their work: their mindset and methods all aim at discovering truths about nature. In An Instinct for Truth, Robert Pennock explores this scientific mindset and argues that what Charles Darwin called “an instinct for truth, knowledge, and discovery” has a tacit moral structure—that it is important not only for scientific excellence and integrity but also for democracy and human flourishing. In an era of “post-truth,” the scientific drive to discover empirical truths has a special value. Taking a virtue-theoretic perspective, Pennock explores curiosity, veracity, skepticism, humility to evidence, and other scientific virtues and vices. He explains that curiosity is the most distinctive element of the scientific character, by which other norms are shaped; discusses the passionate nature of scientific attentiveness; and calls for science education not only to teach scientific findings and methods but also to nurture the scientific mindset and its core values. Drawing on historical sources as well as a sociological study of more than a thousand scientists, Pennock's philosophical account is grounded in values that scientists themselves recognize they should aspire to. Pennock argues that epistemic and ethical values are normatively interconnected, and that for science and society to flourish, we need not just a philosophy of science, but a philosophy of the scientist.

Managing the Human Animal

Author : Nigel Nicholson
Publisher : Texere Publishing
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1587991624

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Managing the Human Animal by Nigel Nicholson Pdf

We have taken ourselves out of the Stone Age Â- but we cannot take the Stone Age out of ourselves. Time and time again managers and leaders have tried to eliminate hierarchies, internal politics, and interorganisational rivalry Â- but to no avail. Why? Evolutionary psychology would say that they are working against human nature Â- emotional and behavioral 'hardwiring' that is the legacy of our Stone Age ancestors. In this unique and important book, Professor Nigel Nicholson explores many of evolutionary psychology's central tenets and its implications for business management. The insights that this science provides into human instinct will prove illuminating to anyone seeking to understand why people act and think in frequently perplexing and unproductive ways while at work. Through his work at London Business School, Nigel Nicholson has placed himself at the forefront of this exciting Â- some would say radical Â- new field of evolutionary psychology. His research challenges many conventional beliefs about human nature and provides a more realistic picture of what motivates people and shapes their thoughts and actions at work. In Managing the Human Animal, he sets the record straight on what he regards as the utopian daydreaming which has led to ideas that indicate office politics, turf wars and gossip can be eliminated and that status and gender differences count for nothing. Instead, what he puts forward will intrigue and inform those looking to understand mankind's basic instincts and to mange them with skill.

The Patterning Instinct

Author : Jeremy Lent
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 572 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781633882942

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The Patterning Instinct by Jeremy Lent Pdf

Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Award! This fresh perspective on crucial questions of history identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning in their world. It offers a glimpse into the minds of a vast range of different peoples: early hunter-gatherers and farmers, ancient Egyptians, traditional Chinese sages, the founders of Christianity, trail-blazers of the Scientific Revolution, and those who constructed our modern consumer society. Taking the reader on an archaeological exploration of the mind, the author, an entrepreneur and sustainability leader, uses recent findings in cognitive science and systems theory to reveal the hidden layers of values that form today's cultural norms. Uprooting the tired clichés of the science-religion debate, he shows how medieval Christian rationalism acted as an incubator for scientific thought, which in turn shaped our modern vision of the conquest of nature. The author probes our current crisis of unsustainability and argues that it is not an inevitable result of human nature, but is culturally driven: a product of particular mental patterns that could conceivably be reshaped. By shining a light on our possible futures, the book foresees a coming struggle between two contrasting views of humanity: one driving to a technological endgame of artificially enhanced humans, the other enabling a sustainable future arising from our intrinsic connectedness with each other and the natural world. This struggle, it concludes, is one in which each of us will play a role through the meaning we choose to forge from the lives we lead.