The Selfish Brain

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The Selfish Brain

Robert L DuPont
The Selfish Brain Book PDF

Author : Robert L DuPont
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 681 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2010-09-28
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 9781592859535

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The Selfish Brain by Robert L DuPont Pdf

The Selfish Brain explains how individuals and communities are affected by drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, and how treatment can lead to whole healthy, lives. Why is the brain so vulnerable to the effects of alcohol and other drugs? How does addiction echo through families, cultures, and history? What is it that families and communities do to promote or prevent addiction?These are some of the questions that this thorough, thoughtful, and well-reasoned book answers--in clear, comprehensible terms. From the basics of brain chemistry to the workings of particular drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, The Selfish Brain explains how individuals and communities become trapped in destructive habits--and how various treatments and approaches lead to recovery and whole, healthy lives.

The Selfish Brain

Richard McKenzie
The Selfish Brain Book PDF

Author : Richard McKenzie
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2021-09-27
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798483901778

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The Selfish Brain by Richard McKenzie Pdf

In The Selfish Brain, which has been written with non-economists in mind, expands on Richard McKenzie's development of "brain-centric economics," which provides a new way of assessing and reconciling (albeit partially) the growing conflict between conventional or neoclassical economics (represented by the work of Nobel Laureates Milton Friedman and Gary Becker) and behavioral economics (represented by the work of Nobel Laureates Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler). In the book, McKenzie uses conventional economic analytics to explain how and why many behaviorists' findings of widespread decision "irrationalities" and "biases" have a rational foundation. He is also able to develop many economic insights that conventional economists have missed, for example, how the gains from open trade are greater than Adam Smith and his followers have realized. He accomplishes such ends by first recognizing that the human brain, while powerful, is the one of the scarcest of all resources in the universe and by realizing that the brain faces a serious economic problem, that of allocating as carefully and judiciously as it can its limited mental resources to achieve its most valuable ends. The human brain is seen as the ultimate seat of rational decision making. Adam Smith famously wrote that people have a "propensity to truck, barter, and exchange," without giving a source of the propensity. McKenzie provides the source, the brain's scarcity problem. The brain seeks to accommodate its excess demands by seeking to specialize in its decision making and then searching out trades. Richard McKenzie, who has published widely, is the Walter B. Gerken Professor of Economics (ret.) in the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine.

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins
The Selfish Gene Book PDF

Author : Richard Dawkins
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0192860925

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The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins Pdf

Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinshiptheory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. 'Should be read, can be read by almost anyone. It describes with great skill a new face of the theory of evolution.' W.D. Hamilton, Science

The Elephant in the Brain

Kevin Simler,Robin Hanson
The Elephant in the Brain Book PDF

Author : Kevin Simler,Robin Hanson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 417 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780190495992

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The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler,Robin Hanson Pdf

Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather, but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus we don't like to talk or even think about the extent of our selfishness. This is the elephant in the brain. Such an introspective taboo makes it hard for us to think clearly about our nature and the explanations for our behavior. The aim of this book, then, is to confront our hidden motives directly - to track down the darker, unexamined corners of our psyches and blast them with floodlights. Then, once everything is clearly visible, we can work to better understand ourselves: Why do we laugh? Why are artists sexy? Why do we brag about travel? Why do we prefer to speak rather than listen? Our unconscious motives drive more than just our private behavior; they also infect our venerated social institutions such as Art, School, Charity, Medicine, Politics, and Religion. In fact, these institutions are in many ways designed to accommodate our hidden motives, to serve covert agendas alongside their official ones. The existence of big hidden motives can upend the usual political debates, leading one to question the legitimacy of these social institutions, and of standard policies designed to favor or discourage them. You won't see yourself - or the world - the same after confronting the elephant in the brain.

How God Changes Your Brain

Andrew Newberg, M.D.,Mark Robert Waldman
How God Changes Your Brain Book PDF

Author : Andrew Newberg, M.D.,Mark Robert Waldman
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2010-03-23
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780345503428

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How God Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, M.D.,Mark Robert Waldman Pdf

God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.

The Altruistic Brain

Donald W. Pfaff,Sandra Sherman
The Altruistic Brain Book PDF

Author : Donald W. Pfaff,Sandra Sherman
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
ISBN : 9780199377466

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The Altruistic Brain by Donald W. Pfaff,Sandra Sherman Pdf

"Unlike any other study in its field, The Altruistic Brain synthesizes into one theory the most important research into how and why - by purely physical mechanisms - humans empathize with one another and respond altruistically."--Jacket.

Global Brain

Howard Bloom
Global Brain Book PDF

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2008-04-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780470310397

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Global Brain by Howard Bloom Pdf

"As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement."-DAVID SMILLIE, Visiting Professor of Zoology, Duke University In this extraordinary follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Lucifer Principle, Howard Bloom-one of today's preeminent thinkers-offers us a bold rewrite of the evolutionary saga. He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a "complex adaptive system," a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role. and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality. Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a "grand vision," says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why.

Brain and Behavior

David Eagleman,Jonathan Downar
Brain and Behavior Book PDF

Author : David Eagleman,Jonathan Downar
Publisher : Sinauer Associates, Incorporated
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2023-03-26
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0190861657

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Brain and Behavior by David Eagleman,Jonathan Downar Pdf

Brain and Behavior: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective captures the excitement of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience by focusing on fundamental scientific principles, patterns, and ways of thinking. Brain and Behavior is clear and vibrant writing, with fascinating real-life examples and applications that help to emphasize the dynamically changing nature of the brain. This text covers a wide territory critical for understanding the brain, from the basics of the nervous system to the sensory and motor systems, sleep, language, memory, emotions and motivation, social cognition, and brain disorders. Throughout the narrative, the authors emphasize the dynamically changing nature of the brain, through the mechanisms of neuroplasticity. The text pulls together the best current knowledge about the brain while acknowledging current areas of ignorance and pointing students toward the most promising directions for future research.

The Ravenous Brain

Daniel Bor
The Ravenous Brain Book PDF

Author : Daniel Bor
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2012-08-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780465032969

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The Ravenous Brain by Daniel Bor Pdf

Consciousness is our gateway to experience: it enables us to recognize Van Gogh’s starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven’s Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine: philosophers have for centuries declared this mental entity so mysterious as to be impenetrable to science. In The Ravenous Brain, neuroscientist Daniel Bor departs sharply from this historical view, and builds on the latest research to propose a new model for how consciousness works. Bor argues that this brain-based faculty evolved as an accelerated knowledge gathering tool. Consciousness is effectively an idea factory—that choice mental space dedicated to innovation, a key component of which is the discovery of deep structures within the contents of our awareness. This model explains our brains’ ravenous appetite for information—and in particular, its constant search for patterns. Why, for instance, after all our physical needs have been met, do we recreationally solve crossword or Sudoku puzzles? Such behavior may appear biologically wasteful, but, according to Bor, this search for structure can yield immense evolutionary benefits—it led our ancestors to discover fire and farming, pushed modern society to forge ahead in science and technology, and guides each one of us to understand and control the world around us. But the sheer innovative power of human consciousness carries with it the heavy cost of mental fragility. Bor discusses the medical implications of his theory of consciousness, and what it means for the origins and treatment of psychiatric ailments, including attention-deficit disorder, schizophrenia, manic depression, and autism. All mental illnesses, he argues, can be reformulated as disorders of consciousness—a perspective that opens up new avenues of treatment for alleviating mental suffering. A controversial view of consciousness, The Ravenous Brain links cognition to creativity in an ingenious solution to one of science’s biggest mysteries.

Social

Matthew D. Lieberman
Social Book PDF

Author : Matthew D. Lieberman
Publisher : Crown
Page : 442 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2013-10-08
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780307889119

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Social by Matthew D. Lieberman Pdf

We are profoundly social creatures--more than we know. In Social, renowned psychologist Matthew Lieberman explores groundbreaking research in social neuroscience revealing that our need to connect with other people is even more fundamental, more basic, than our need for food or shelter. Because of this, our brain uses its spare time to learn about the social world--other people and our relation to them. It is believed that we must commit 10,000 hours to master a skill. According to Lieberman, each of us has spent 10,000 hours learning to make sense of people and groups by the time we are ten. Social argues that our need to reach out to and connect with others is a primary driver behind our behavior. We believe that pain and pleasure alone guide our actions. Yet, new research using fMRI--including a great deal of original research conducted by Lieberman and his UCLA lab--shows that our brains react to social pain and pleasure in much the same way as they do to physical pain and pleasure. Fortunately, the brain has evolved sophisticated mechanisms for securing our place in the social world. We have a unique ability to read other people’s minds, to figure out their hopes, fears, and motivations, allowing us to effectively coordinate our lives with one another. And our most private sense of who we are is intimately linked to the important people and groups in our lives. This wiring often leads us to restrain our selfish impulses for the greater good. These mechanisms lead to behavior that might seem irrational, but is really just the result of our deep social wiring and necessary for our success as a species. Based on the latest cutting edge research, the findings in Social have important real-world implications. Our schools and businesses, for example, attempt to minimalize social distractions. But this is exactly the wrong thing to do to encourage engagement and learning, and literally shuts down the social brain, leaving powerful neuro-cognitive resources untapped. The insights revealed in this pioneering book suggest ways to improve learning in schools, make the workplace more productive, and improve our overall well-being.

Behave

Robert M. Sapolsky
Behave Book PDF

Author : Robert M. Sapolsky
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 802 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2017-05-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780735222786

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Behave by Robert M. Sapolsky Pdf

Why do we do the things we do? Over a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its genetic inheritance. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. What goes on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happens? Then he pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell triggers the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones act hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli which trigger the nervous system? By now, he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going--next to what features of the environment affected that person's brain, and then back to the childhood of the individual, and then to their genetic makeup. Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than that one individual. How culture has shaped that individual's group, what ecological factors helped shape that culture, and on and on, back to evolutionary factors thousands and even millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours de horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do...for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.

The Teenage Brain

Frances E. Jensen,Amy Ellis Nutt
The Teenage Brain Book PDF

Author : Frances E. Jensen,Amy Ellis Nutt
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 303 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2015-01-06
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780062067869

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The Teenage Brain by Frances E. Jensen,Amy Ellis Nutt Pdf

A New York Times Bestseller Renowned neurologist Dr. Frances E. Jensen offers a revolutionary look at the brains of teenagers, dispelling myths and offering practical advice for teens, parents and teachers. Dr. Frances E. Jensen is chair of the department of neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. As a mother, teacher, researcher, clinician, and frequent lecturer to parents and teens, she is in a unique position to explain to readers the workings of the teen brain. In The Teenage Brain, Dr. Jensen brings to readers the astonishing findings that previously remained buried in academic journals. The root myth scientists believed for years was that the adolescent brain was essentially an adult one, only with fewer miles on it. Over the last decade, however, the scientific community has learned that the teen years encompass vitally important stages of brain development. Samples of some of the most recent findings include: Teens are better learners than adults because their brain cells more readily "build" memories. But this heightened adaptability can be hijacked by addiction, and the adolescent brain can become addicted more strongly and for a longer duration than the adult brain. Studies show that girls' brains are a full two years more mature than boys' brains in the mid-teens, possibly explaining differences seen in the classroom and in social behavior. Adolescents may not be as resilient to the effects of drugs as we thought. Recent experimental and human studies show that the occasional use of marijuana, for instance, can cause lingering memory problems even days after smoking, and that long-term use of pot impacts later adulthood IQ. Multi-tasking causes divided attention and has been shown to reduce learning ability in the teenage brain. Multi-tasking also has some addictive qualities, which may result in habitual short attention in teenagers. Emotionally stressful situations may impact the adolescent more than it would affect the adult: stress can have permanent effects on mental health and can to lead to higher risk of developing neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression. Dr. Jensen gathers what we’ve discovered about adolescent brain function, wiring, and capacity and explains the science in the contexts of everyday learning and multitasking, stress and memory, sleep, addiction, and decision-making. In this groundbreaking yet accessible book, these findings also yield practical suggestions that will help adults and teenagers negotiate the mysterious world of adolescent development.

Memoirs of an Addicted Brain

Marc Lewis
Memoirs of an Addicted Brain Book PDF

Author : Marc Lewis
Publisher : Doubleday Canada
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2011-10-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780385669269

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Memoirs of an Addicted Brain by Marc Lewis Pdf

A gripping, ultimately triumphant memoir that's also the most comprehensive and comprehensible study of the neuroscience of addiction written for the general public. FROM THE INTRODUCTION: "We are prone to a cycle of craving what we don't have, finding it, using it up or losing it, and then craving it all the more. This cycle is at the root of all addictions, addictions to drugs, sex, love, cigarettes, soap operas, wealth, and wisdom itself. But why should this be so? Why are we desperate for what we don't have, or can't have, often at great cost to what we do have, thereby risking our peace and contentment, our safety, and even our lives?" The answer, says Dr. Marc Lewis, lies in the structure and function of the human brain. Marc Lewis is a distinguished neuroscientist. And, for many years, he was a drug addict himself, dependent on a series of dangerous substances, from LSD to heroin. His narrative moves back and forth between the often dark, compellingly recounted story of his relationship with drugs and a revelatory analysis of what was going on in his brain. He shows how drugs speak to the brain - which is designed to seek rewards and soothe pain - in its own language. He shows in detail the neural mechanics of a variety of powerful drugs and of the onset of addiction, itself a distortion of normal perception. Dr. Lewis freed himself from addiction and ended up studying it. At the age of 30 he traded in his pharmaceutical supplies for the life of a graduate student, eventually becoming a professor of developmental psychology, and then of neuroscience - his field for the last 12 years. This is the story of his journey, seen from the inside out.

Zen and the Brain

James H. Austin
Zen and the Brain Book PDF

Author : James H. Austin
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 876 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1999-06-04
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0262260352

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Zen and the Brain by James H. Austin Pdf

A neuroscientist and Zen practitioner interweaves the latest research on the brain with his personal narrative of Zen. Aldous Huxley called humankind's basic trend toward spiritual growth the "perennial philosophy." In the view of James Austin, the trend implies a "perennial psychophysiology"—because awakening, or enlightenment, occurs only when the human brain undergoes substantial changes. What are the peak experiences of enlightenment? How could these states profoundly enhance, and yet simplify, the workings of the brain? Zen and the Brain presents the latest evidence. In this book Zen Buddhism becomes the opening wedge for an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of consciousness. In order to understand which brain mechanisms produce Zen states, one needs some understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain. Austin, both a neurologist and a Zen practitioner, interweaves the most recent brain research with the personal narrative of his Zen experiences. The science is both inclusive and rigorous; the Zen sections are clear and evocative. Along the way, Austin examines such topics as similar states in other disciplines and religions, sleep and dreams, mental illness, consciousness-altering drugs, and the social consequences of the advanced stage of ongoing enlightenment.

Emotional Engineering, Vol. 6

Shuichi Fukuda
Emotional Engineering Vol 6 Book PDF

Author : Shuichi Fukuda
Publisher : Springer
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2018-09-04
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 3319889931

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Emotional Engineering, Vol. 6 by Shuichi Fukuda Pdf

This book looks back at the starting point of engineering to show the importance of motivation in dealing with the passive-to-active consumer change, and explains how engineering can be holistic. It presents a variety of research on emotion, discussing topics such as neuroscience, philosophy and physiology. In addition to providing similar research being carried out from different perspectives in other fields, it demonstrates to readers how they can work with researchers in other fields to explore the new frontiers and their applications together. With engineering quickly moving from product development to experience development, and the role of emotion in engineering becoming increasingly important, Emotional Engineering, Vol. 6 is a valuable resource for engineers and researchers.