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Our experience of the world around us is grounded in many intricate cognitive processes, which allow us to sense and perceive, to comprehend, and to remember. But how can we study these cognitive processes? What techniques are available to help us probe new questions in cognitive psychology, and further our understanding of this intriguing field? "Cognitive Psychology: A Methods Companion" focuses on the key methods of cognitive psychology, as well as on exciting new techniques that cognitive psychologists increasingly need to understand. Its aim is to enable students to understand these methods, their advantages and disadvantages, and better appreciate the research that employs them. Adopting a broad approach, the book draws on the contributions of the neural sciences and the computing sciences to experimental psychology, demonstrating how connectionism, symbolic computation, neuroimaging, and neuropsychology are being applied to illuminate our understanding of cognitive processes.Students are encouraged to undertake numerous activities, including computer-based exercises using specially designed software and files, to help them engage with the methods covered, and begin to explore the power of these methods as research tools. With new technologies driving forward advances in cognitive psychology at an unprecedented rate, it has never been more important for students to be aware of these technologies. "Cognitive Psychology: A Methods Companion" is the perfect resource to help students attain this awareness, and appreciate the impact that these technologies are having on the study of cognitive psychology. Online Resource Centre: The companion web site contains the following resources to augment material presented in the text, and to support interactive self-directed student learning: Neural Nets software; Act-r software; Excel spreadsheets and exercises; and SPSS data files. ... Read more

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The complete full-color Sixth Edition in a three-hole punched, looseleaf format. Students can take just the sections they need to class and can easily integrate instructor material with the text.Biological Psychology is a comprehensive survey of the biological bases of behavior that is authoritative and up-to-date. Designed for undergraduates enrolled in Biological Psychology, Physiological Psychology, or Behavioral Neuroscience, the book continues to offer an outstanding illustration program that engages students, making even complicated topics and processes clear. It offers a broad perspective, encompassing lucid descriptions of behavior, evolutionary history, development, proximate mechanisms, and applications.The Sixth Edition features a thoroughly redesigned and up-to-date Cognitive Neuroscience module (Part VI; Chapters 17 19), with expanded coverage of attention, executive control, and decision-making processes, in keeping with the latest research breakthroughs. Optional advanced topics are available on the Web as A Step Further, streamlining the printed text to emphasize the important points.The new edition boasts hundreds of new references, including research students may have encountered in the popular media. Yet critical thinking skills are also honed as the reader is alerted to the many widely held myths about the neuroscience of behavior and educated about facts that sound unlikely to the uninformed. Thorough and reader-friendly, Biological Psychology reveals the fascinating interactions of brain and behavior.KEY FEATURES * The book has an outstanding full-color art program, including hundreds of original illustrations that make it easy to understand structures, mechanisms, and processes in the brain. * Each chapter opens with a brief outline and a narrative illustrating an important aspect of behavioral biology that will be made clear to the student by reading the rest of the chapter. * Redesigned chapter summaries are organized by main chapter heads in a readable two-column format. Each has bold-faced key terms, callouts to pertinent figures, and references to the Companion Website. * Bold-faced terms are defined in the margins of the text to help students identify and learn key terminology. * All references to figures, tables, and boxes are boldfaced and in color, for easy differentiation from the body of the text. * The free-access Biological Psychology Companion Website is referenced from in-text callouts and in the chapter summaries. See Media and Supplements section. ... Read more

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This text balances experimental and clinical perspectives with a survey of a variety of mental functions. In a conversational style, the author provides clear, accessible explanations of difficult concepts, making use of analogies and case studies to illustrate them. A consistent structure throughout each chapter defines a mental function and the role of each part or parts of the brain in that function, followed by a discussion of what neuropsychological syndromes say about the cognitive and neural organization of the mental function.

Chapter pedagogy includes an opening case study to pique student interest and preview chapter topics, plus an outline that provides a conceptual structure of material; special interest boxes that provide students a better feel for an issue in neuropsychological research or an implication of neuropsychology in everyday life; summaries for review; boldface key terms; and a glossary at the end of the text.

• New! Extensive coverage of the latest research in the field with over 600 new references.
• New! A new chapter focuses on how neurons communicate.
• New! Chapter outlines are presented in a bulleted format for a more accessible summary of key concepts.
• New! Updated and expanded coverage of state-of-the art research techniques, in including MRI, optical imaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation, as well as information on how these methods work and new findings based on them.
• New! An extensively revised art program includes new illustrations and more color.

Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent text
This textbook is an excellent introduction to cognitive neuroscience and human neuropsychology. It integrates what is known (2004) about cortical control of cognitive processes with the strategies the cortical hemispheres can utilize in problem solving. The text also deals, I think fairly, with current issues in cognitive science that have yet to be fully resolved.

The text assumes little prior knowledge, and is clearly written. Although the topics include neuroanatomical terms beyond the ordinary, they are almost always explained clearly so that students can follow the important issues. I have used it three times in courses that I have taught and would hope that the text will be updated to remain current so that I may do so again.

Necessary for school - but I did not like this book.
This is one of those text books you actually get angry at."Intro" levels of such difficult subjects should not be so verbose.

Still, the book has a lot of information.It is organized nicely, has good graphics, and has a very, very good summary at the end of each chapter.

There are very interesting stories that go along with each chapter. ... Read more

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Developed out of work done under the ESPRIT project, this book is concerned with applying mainstream research on human cognitive processes to the design of optimal user interfaces for office systems. Key aspects of cognitive psychology research are reviewed by a number of academic researchers, but the application of the research findings is given from an industrial perspective by practitioners in the field. The book discusses the design process, design guidelines and associated development methodology and gives some suggestions for further developments in the field. ... Read more

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Cognitive neuropsychology has now established a major place in the teaching of undergraduate psychology degrees and is an important topic of postgraduate research. The subject is also of increasing interest to clinicians because of its links with devising remediation procedures for people with brain injury. Explorations in Cognitive Neuropsychology is the first major text to appear on this topic since the late 1980s and thus introduces the reader to a vast amount of research previously unavailable in textbook format. The book is written in a lively and engaging style which nonetheless enables the reader to get a scholarly, in-depth overview of this important field. The coverage of topics is very broad-ranging. It begins with an overview of the subject including issues such as research strategy and advances in neuroimaging. Following this are chapters on blindsight, agnosia, facial processing impairments, and the rapidly growing area of neglect. The next chapter is devoted to studies of the split brain. Two chapters then cover the enormous developments in devising functional architectures of the language system from the observation of discrete language impairments. Various aspects of memory impairments are then discussed and the book ends with a consideration of frontal lobe functions. At various points the book also covers the contribution of connectionist modelling to cognitive neuropsychology. ... Read more

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING offers a comprehensive introduction to the field with a strong focus on the social aspects of decision making processes. Winner of the prestigious William James Book Award, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING is an informative and engaging introduction to the field written in a style that is equally accessible to the introductory psychology student, the lay person, or the professional. A unique feature of this volume is the Reader Survey which readers are to complete before beginning the book. The questions in the Reader Survey are drawn from many of the studies discussed throughout the book, allowing readers to compare their answers with the responses given by people in the original studies. This title is part of The McGraw-Hill Series in Social Psychology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Scientific rundown on decision making in lay terms
Making the right decisions is seldom easy. Situations change and choices confound. Faulty perceptions and biases can block clear thinking and undermine the ability to weigh alternatives rationally. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo explained 90 years ago, "We may try to see things as objectively as we please. Nonetheless, we can never see them with any eyes except our own." This is the vexing paradox involved in making decisions: People who are in the process of deciding cannot always trust their own perceptions and thought processes. Psychologist Scott Plous, winner of numerous awards and honors, examines decision making in this rigorously scientific yet mostly accessible book, itself an award winner. getAbstract believes it will interest decision analysts, researchers, psychologists and strategists, as well as readers who want to know why they may make poor decisions and how to make better ones.

Are we rational decision makers?
First we need to define what we understand under rational. Initially, researchers measured human rationality by analyzing the degree of "maximization" of utility (net wealth) of their decisions. Using this approach, we seemed not too "rational". Then they came up with a value function, defined in terms of gains and losses as deviations from a reference point and which incorporates decreasing returns. (For a deeper explanation read Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics). This curve makes the loss segment steeper than the profit segment ("S-shaped curve"). When measured against this function we seemed a bit more rational. For me, this should come as no surprise since decision making was probably a bit more oriented at preserving our lives and escaping dangers (loss part of the function) than at obtaining food. It would not be too useful to be the best food gatherer if you succumbed to your enemies at the first opportunity. (This is probably my first "hindsight bias", which means that after knowing the outcome of a study, we tend to say that we knew it from the beginning).

Apparently we tend to "satisfice" not "optimize", which for me is obvious (second hindsight bias) and I will try to explain why: In several of the examples, in order to "maximize" value, you need to multiply one probability with one or several others to obtain the "combined probability result" of two or more events happening one after the other. In other problems, you need to add up the individual probabilities in order to obtain the probability of one or the other event happening. Assuming that you knew how to state the problem in terms of probabilities and the rules to calculate them, you would still need to actually perform the calculations (consciously or unconsciously) in order to take a decision. Many decisions need to be taken quickly and even if there is enough time, I do not think people usually do these calculations, so they probably rely on some sort of intuition (what the author calls heuristics or rules of thumb). These rules of thumb will depend on past experiences specially on those that are easily accesible to memory because they were frequent or recent or because they had a great emotional impact on us (positive or negative). If to "maximize value" we need to perform complex calculations, then I am sure we do not "maximize", we rather settle with a fairly good decision. Further, if we need to "maximize value" in order to be considered rational, then we are probably not rational.

It would have been interesting to know how people decide when previously given the calculated expected values of each choice (considering the probabilities). I think that "rationality" would increase a bit, but not significantly, since some people believe they can "outperform" the odds (by special luck), while others try to avoid undesirable risks, even if the probabilities are very low (specially if the impact of the risk is big).

The book explains thoroughly how we deviate from what would be "rational" decision making. Each of the 20 chapters presents research that exemplifies one or more biases like inconsistency, perception and memory biases, framing, intransitivity, neglecting base rates, attribution errors, social loafing, sunk costs and behavioral traps. It makes quite clear that we do not decide in a "rational" way, but it does not explain the actual process we use to make decisions. Additionally, the author shows that we are not good at probability and statistical analysis, but he does not explain the calculations we should have done were we "rational decision makers". (He could have included it in an Appendix). If you already know this kind of math or if you are not interested, then the book can be read without it. Finally and although the book is very interesting and full of insights, I need to say that I am glad that I bought a used one, since its price seems not too rational to me either.

A Wonderful Work
This work by Scott Plous should not be taken lightly. Dr. Plous, indeed, reviews the literature, but he also puts the missing pieces to the puzzle together as you try to understand how we got to the point we are today in the Psychology of judgment and decision making. Without this comprehensive review, it is hard to put other books in context. Many books explore specific persuasion principles and the psychological aspects of decision making. The problem is, how to you put all of the pieces together to make sense of it all. Plous gives the big picture so you will have a place from which to view all the other articles and books you read. I read this book four times and tried to pick apart each paragraph to see how it could apply to influencing others. I promise you the pearls are there if read each page with the goal of understanding how it can be applied in the real world. This book was my top 2 of all time!

Outstanding
One of my favorite recommendations to non-cognitive psychologist friends in addition to required reading in several of my courses.

Loved it and will read it again.
I think it is probably the best book on decision-making psychology I read. This book is full of great insights and tipsinto the decision making. It gives a very well rounded overview of the many aspects of decision making: selective perception, memory, biases and heuristic, behavioral traps, etc. It is also one of the more easily read books on the very complex subject. It has a large number of relevant and easy to digest examples.

Lev Virine, author of Project Decisions: The Art and Science ... Read more

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Three leading figures in the field of cognitiveneuroscience provide an engaging, narrativedriven overview of this path-breaking field.Taking a highly interdisciplinary approach, theauthors balance cognitive theory, withneuroscientific and neuropsychological evidenceto reveal what we currently know about how thehuman mind works and to encourage students tothink like cognitive neuroscientists. The texthas been reorganized to move more seamlesslyfrom micro to macro level topics, and itsunderlying pedagogy strengthened in order tomake it an even more effective teaching tool.Maintaining its commitment to highlight the most cutting-edge trends in the field, the thirdedition includes the first ever standalonechapter of its kind on social neuroscience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good book.
This is a nice book, written in a language that suits readers with a general scientific background. Richly illustrated with many colorful pictures and diagrams.A good introduction to the subject.

Worst textbook of my life
The goal of any good textbook, for the purposes of the layman who is unfamiliar in the field, should be to present the ideas in a clear and fluid manner, without becoming too wordy or cryptic.
This book does anything but that.

The book is incredibly dense, arcane, and unnecessarily verbose. Trying to read and understand the material is like trying to dissect a frozen, rotting carcass of a bull with a butter knife: it is arduous, squalid, and of course, without utility. It simply never gives. There were times that I would labor through a confusing paragraph, barely managing to get through without getting lost in the words, and by the time I was done, I would step back and feel completely clueless as to what I had just read. Then, after scanning the rest of the chapter and discovering that the torture went on for another 50 pages, I wanted to die. And it wasn't long--maybe about an hour and 3 pages later--that I realized I was, indeed, dying.

I love psychology, and I find neurophysiology fascinating, but I hate this textbook. Since I had to rely on it for my test, this textbook is the sole reason I suffered this semester. Having never taken a psychology course that wasn't satisfying, I was surprised that this could ever happen to me. But it did. And it sucked. It sucked like hell.

Call this review extreme, but I haven't talked to another student in my class that *doesn't* agree with me in this opinion, at least to some degree.

Tell your professors to never make their students read this book. And if your professor insists, drop the course as soon as possible, and make it out alive while you can.

I'm not even kidding.

Excellent book
This is a very good textbook that describes the field, which I haven't seen a definition for, but basically seems to be the connection between our biology and human thought, memory, speech and so on.The book is a full introduction and requires no specialized knowledge.

Neuroscience is probably the most interesting scientific field right now.Even the simplest thought processes of tiny things like worms are not yet understood but the recent giant leap in medical technology is allowing scientists to study smaller and smaller pieces of the puzzle. There are new discoveries coming out every year such as 'mirror neurons' and there will be a lot of big breakthroughs and nobel prizes here in the future.I'm especially interested in how this affects computer science, there a lot of billionaires out there plowing money into research such as at the Redwood Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience and Microsoft Research.

An excellent narrative-style textbook
I would recommend this textbook to anyone who is interested in learning cognitive neuroscience. This textbook was recommended to me by a professor at Harvard, Dr. Andrea Heberlein. Since this course is not taught at my university, I decided to cover it on my own. And, by far, this is the best textbook I've ever had. Here are the reasons why:

1) Gazzaniga along with his colleagues is the legend of cognitive psychology, so I was happy to see that the research is up-to-date featuring the frontiers of cognitive neuroscience. My understanding of scientific articles on the topics I covered improved enormously.

2) The explanations are very clear and narrative-style. That means that the author includes the stories of origination of different ideas within neuroscience, competition between different researchers in a psychological debate, descriptions of where the researchers come from (the feature that I really liked and that no other textbook has), extended examples on the subjects. This is the first textbook I read like a novel.

3) Enormous amount of excellent illustrations. This is the best illustrated book that I have seen - and I have seen many. The illustrations are very clear and colorful. They include all the aspects that are needed to support the text.

4) The textbook covers most of the material that can be covered by some textbooks on biopsychology when it comes to cognitive functions. However, it advances well beyond this level. There are separate chapters on attentions, on hemisphericality, etc. However, since the book contains almost everything you need to know, you don't even have to take biopsych in advance. In fact, it describes synapse in more detail than in both of my biopsych textbooks. Besides, the explanations in the textbook are so clear that even if you did, you will enjoy revisiting the past topics from a new perspective.

5) The book provides a perfect amount of both cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology. The authors assume that you have already taken cognitive psychology course. However, they still provide just the right amount of information on it, to refresh your memory, I guess, to proceed with the relevance to the brain.

6) The cover picture of the brain makes you want to open the textbook and read.

As for the price - I wish I would buy this textbook earlier not to waste my money on anything else. This is the best investment I made.

The Best I've Seen So Far
This book is thorough and comprehensive.It covers the basics that one needs to know to be familiar with the field as well as more in depth matters.The writing style is informal and a pleasure to read.I would highly recommend this book to students, teachers or experts in the field.Or for people like me who are interested laypersons. ... Read more

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This book is fun to read!...Cooper takes care to delineate those studies that were particularly important in their purpose, particularly clever in their design, and most groundbreaking in their results. He makes a gripping story of the inception and march of progress in what could have been simply a long series of interesting research projects. In doing so, he made me nostalgic for a time when the field of psychology was alive with excitement and overrun with research topics that actually made sense to those outside a narrow specialty and that meant something to the citizenry." 

                                                                                                        -Alan Cheney, PSYCCRITIQUES

Customer Reviews (2)

Biased but still has good qualities
At times this book almost feels like a recitation of Coopers research career.Most of the research presented in this book was performed by or related to Coopers own research.Which makes sense, since he is more familiar with these experiments than experiments not related to his own.As such, the book mainly focuses on Coopers point of view of cognitive dissonance rather than cognitive dissonance in general.

If you aren't familiar with any of the research after 1957 then this book will do a pretty good job of getting you started, but I wouldn't recommend stopping there.

This book is a gem!
Fifty years ago, we learned that we cannot hold two conflicting thoughts at the same time, nor can we engage in behaviors that conflict with our beliefs, at least not without creating a great deal of psychological discomfort, which we then have to work hard to dissipate. Even before 1957, people knew, for example, that it was not easy to see themselves as upstanding, honest individuals while simultaneously swindling widows of their life savings. But that year was particularly full of conflicting thoughts and behaviors. It was the year Ed Sullivan introduced Elvis as "a real, decent fine boy" and then allowed his singing of "Peace In The Valley" to be televised only from the waist up. It was the year the Soviet Union launched not one but two Sputniks into orbit, putting that country and not us into first place in the original star wars.

But 1957 was a good year, too. The laser and the piña colada were invented. And social psychology was flourishing with interesting research that was relevant to everyday American life. It was the year psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term 'cognitive dissonance' when in another recent news event, a small group of Californians calling themselves The Seekers awaited the prophesied end of the world by flood on December 21, 1955. "All of the people would perish in the cataclysm," they believed, "except for those who believed in the prophecies emanating from the planet Clarion; they alone would be saved from the flood" (p. 3). As happened to the Millerites a century before, the Jehovah's Witnesses 40 years earlier, and countless other groups before and after, The Seekers were sorely disappointed when the day came and the expected event failed to transpire.

Festinger and his students, however, knew they had hit a gold mine of social research in this 'disconfirmed expectancy,' and their prompt and thorough study of the group resulted in Festinger's 1956 book When Prophecy Fails. In the book, Festinger finishes the story: After the great letdown, and after much prayer and soul searching by the devotees, the Seeker's prophet soon learned from Clarion that Earth had been spared because of the faith and efforts of the little group. What had seemed like a failed prophecy was actually a blessing in disguise. Goodbye, disconfirmed expectancy! Adios, cognitive dissonance! Festinger and his team went on in later studies to focus on the specific psychological process by which this cognitive adjustment had taken place. Cognitive dissonance theory had been born.

Social psychologist Joel Cooper captures all of this beautifully in Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory. It is a labor of love as much as a scholarly revisit to the roots, development, and current implications of an important 'super-theory' (p. 181) in psychology. Cooper is the ideal person to write this book. His own research in cognitive dissonance stretches back four decades, and, although he does not mention it in the book, Cooper's doctoral dissertation likely dealt with cognitive dissonance. His website reveals that even now "his major research focus is on attitudes and attitude change, particularly as they relate to the process of cognitive dissonance." In short, Cooper has the bona fides to write this book.

And this is no dry memoir. In the tradition of Elliot Aronson, whose own work in cognitive dissonance theory is amply discussed, the book is a delight to read. In discussing all of the important studies of cognitive dissonance over the last half century, Cooper takes care to delineate those studies that were particularly important in their purpose, particularly clever in their design, and most groundbreaking in their results. He made me nostalgic for that time when the field of psychology was alive with excitement and research topics that actually made sense to those outside a narrow specialty. While I personally wasn't even sentient during that longed-for time, it is fun to read about.

Cooper also writes of the theory's important implications for today. The early 21st century is alive with possibilities for conflicting thoughts and actions, as we drive across town to hear a speaker who flew his private jet to lecture us about environmental responsibility or we write a check for the campaign of a 'family values candidate' who is on his third marriage and is a known philanderer. Cooper agrees, and he discusses the role of cognitive dissonance theory in reaching current health-care and public health goals. And for clinicians, he provides a thought-provoking section on the union of psychotherapy (all brands) and cognitive dissonance.

This book is a gem and joins those rare others in our field that offer important historical perspective, brush away the cobwebs from relevant research, suggest remedies for some current challenges, and all the time provide a very enjoyable read.

*This is a condensed version of my review of the book in PsycCRITIQUES--Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 52(45), 2007.
... Read more

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Instant Notes titles focus on core information and are designed to help undergraduate students come to grips with a subject quickly and easily.

Instant Notes in Cognitive Psychology provides a succinct yet comprehensive overview of the key theoretical and empirical topics in cognitive psychology, providing easy access to the core information in the field. The book can serve as a core text, supplemented by readings in the original literature, as a reference guide for students and lecturers alike, or as an ideal revision guide prior to exams.

Instant Notes in Cognitive Psychology is intended primarily for students taking a first course in the subject, but can also be used as an introduction to the field for undergraduates and graduates from other subject areas. ... Read more

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Cognitive science approaches the study of mind and intelligence from an interdisciplinary perspective, working at the intersection of philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. With Mind, Paul Thagard offers an introduction to this interdisciplinary field for readers who come to the subject with very different backgrounds. It is suitable for classroom use by students with interests ranging from computer science and engineering to psychology and philosophy.

Thagard's systematic descriptions and evaluations of the main theories of mental representation advanced by cognitive scientists allow students to see that there are many complementary approaches to the investigation of mind. The fundamental theoretical perspectives he describes include logic, rules, concepts, analogies, images, and connections (artificial neural networks). The discussion of these theories provides an integrated view of the different achievements of the various fields of cognitive science.

This second edition includes substantial revision and new material. Part I, which presents the different theoretical approaches, has been updated in light of recent work the field. Part II, which treats extensions to cognitive science, has been thoroughly revised, with new chapters added on brains, emotions, and consciousness. Other additions include a list of relevant Web sites at the end of each chapter and a glossary at the end of the book. As in the first edition, each chapter concludes with a summary and suggestions for further reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Useful book for Cognitive Sciences' students
Very good book regarding the Computational Representational Understanding of Mind (CRUM). Althought only focusing on one theory to explain the fucntioning of our mind it has concise and easy to understand explanations, going from the most basic representations to the most complex.

Accessible Cognitive Science Primer
Unlike the other review I just read -
This TEXTBOOK is clear, concise, and logically organized.

The book provides relevant, in-line definitions for all terms and concepts used. The book teaches you the concepts, principles, and methods of cognitive science, gently in an interesting way as you read the text. The author's writes in everyday language and creates his examples and situations in the "everyday" world to illustrate specific concepts and/or methods.

This is the best, most comprehesive, easy-to-understand, introductory overview of cognitive science I have ever read.All of this is packed into a slim, 5" by 8" volume consisting of 230 pages of text & exercises by a knowledgable author with great writing skills.

A great text from beginner to practioner.

You don't need a masters degree in some specific subject to understand what the author is presenting. This book applies the standards and elements of critical thinking unself-consciously and transparently. Every student should be required to read this text because it teaches critical thinking skills in both content AND message.Delightful!!

I have not (yet) read any of Paul Thagard's other textbooks but you can be SURE that I will.

CRUM: Computational Representational Understanding of the Mind
The linguistic-analysis tradition in philosophy had achieved ascendancy in twentieth-century philosophy of science. But it has been characterized by a nominalist view, which admits a two-level semantics consisting of only (1) the linguistic symbol, such as word, and (2) the objects or individual entities the symbol references.Nominalism recognizes no mediating third level consisting of the idea, concept, "intension", proposition, or any other mental reality between linguistic signs and nonlinguistic objects.

The two-level semantics is also the view typically held by the Positivist philosophers, who rejected mentalism in psychology, and who like B.F. Skinner prefer behaviorism.However Thagard, like Herbert Simon, explicitly rejects the behavioristic approach in psychology and advocates cognitive psychology, which recognizes mediating mental realities.

The two-level semantics is also characteristic of philosophers such as Quine who accept the Russellian predicate calculus.This calculus of symbolic logic contains a notational convention that uses quantification to express existence claims.It therefore fabricates an Orwellian-likenominalist newspeak in which predicate terms are semantically vacuous, unless they are placed in the range of quantifiers, such that they reference some kind of entities called either "mental entities" or Platonic "abstract entities."The philosopher Nelson Goodman for example therefore divides all philosophers into nominalists and Platonists.Not surprisingly the Russellian symbolic logic was adopted by the Logical Positivists.Oddly Thagard does not reject the Russellian symbolic logic, although it is not clear that he recognizes the ontological implications of its notational conventions.

In this book, Mind: Introduction to Cognitive Science (1996), intended as an undergraduate textbook, Thagard states that the central hypothesis of cognitive science is that thinking can best be understood in terms both of representational structures in the mind and of computational procedures that operate on those structures. He labels this central hypothesis with the acronym "CRUM", by which he means "Computational Representational Understanding of Mind."This hypothesis assumes that the mind has mental representations analogous to data structures and computational procedures analogous to algorithms, such that computer programs using algorithms applied to data structures can model the mind and its processes.

Readers interested in more commentary on Thagard are invited to read my book titled History of Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Science at my web site philsci with free downloads.See especially BOOK VIII.

Thomas J. Hickey
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Product Description
(Psychology Press) Univ. of Sussex, UK. Provides a grounding in cognitive psychology for beginning undergraduates. Includes overviews of all core topics in the field. Covers visual perception, attention, memory, knowledge, imagery, language, reasoning and problem solving. Contains a list of key terms and a series of revision questions. Softcover, hardcover also available. ... Read more

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Computational modeling plays a central role in cognitive science. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to computational models of human cognition. It covers major approaches and architectures, both neural network and symbolic; major theoretical issues; and specific computational models of a variety of cognitive processes, ranging from low-level (e.g., attention and memory) to higher-level (e.g., language and reasoning). The articles included in the book provide original descriptions of developments in the field. The emphasis is on implemented computational models rather than on mathematical or nonformal approaches, and on modeling empirical data from human subjects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An interesting and helpful collection of articles
This book could be considered to be a collection of articles on the `computational theory of mind.' Although the articles are somewhat out of date, due to the advances in neuroscience and cognitive science that have occurred since the time of publication of the book, it does serve as a good motivation for the understanding of more recent developments. I did not read all of the articles in the book, and so my review will be confined to the ones that I did.

The article on ACT in chapter 2 is basically a theory of cognition that is based on recursion. Referring to ACT as a "simple theory of complex cognition", John Anderson, the author of the article, wants to simulate the manner in which humans develop recursive programs. The machine that is to simulate this makes use of `production rules,' in its knowledge base, which the author claims is exhaustive enough to produce complex cognition. To produce true machine intelligence, all one has to do is to tune these production rules and make use of them as needed. As the author describes it, the original ACT theory was based on human associative memory, but the one described in this article is called ACT-R, and can simulate adaptive behavior in the presence of a noisy environment. The author describes various simulations using ACT-R, and concludes that it is sensitive to prior information and to information about what is appropriate response to the situation it finds itself in. The author stresses more than once the simplicity of the ACT-R system: it is able to encode data from the environment as declarative knowledge, encode the changes in the environment as procedural knowledge, and encode the statistics of this knowledge use in the environment.

Another highly interesting article is the one by Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky on the application of optimization theory to linguistics. Called `optimality theory' by the authors in their extensive research on the topic, in the article they discuss the relations between optimality in grammar and optimization in neural networks. The authors discuss with great clarity the role that constraints play in the construction of linguistic structures, and the fact that these constraints typically conflict with each other. This conflict between grammatical constraints must thus be managed by a successful grammatical architecture. Optimality theory asserts that these constraints are universal in the sense that they are present in every language. The connection of optimality theory with neural networks arises when one is interested in finding out if the properties of optimality theory can be explained in terms of fundamental principles of cognition. The computational theory of neural networks the authors believe holds some clues on these properties. In order to make the connection with grammatical issues, as abstract as they are, and because neural networks are highly nonlinear dynamical systems, one must find a way of encapsulating the complicated behavior of neural networks. The authors accomplish this by the use of Lyapunov functions, which for reasons of consistency of terminology they call `harmony functions.' For those neural networks admitting a harmony function, the initial activation pattern flows through the network to construct a pattern of activity that maximizes "harmony." Most interestingly, the harmony function for a neural network performs the same function as does the mechanisms needed for well-formed grammar. The patterns of activation are thus a mathematical analog of the structure of linguistic representations. However, the authors are careful to note that not every weighting scheme for the neural network will give a possible human language. It is here where the constraints play an essential role in limiting the possible linguistic patterns and relations.

The article by Keith Holyoak and Paul Thagard discusses the construction of a correspondence between a source analog and of a target. This is the so-called analogical mapping, which is constructed using a collection of structural, semantic, and pragmatic constraints. In the view of the authors, the concept of analogy can be broken down into four components, namely the selection of a source analog, the actual mapping, an analogical inference (transfer), and the actual learning that takes place. The authors omit discussion of the last component in this article. The finding of the correspondences between the two analogs can result in a combinatorial explosion, and so use is made of appropriate constraints. These constraints consist of those that exemplify structural consistency, those of semantic similarity, and lastly of pragmatic centrality. The theory of analogical mapping that the authors propose is governed by these constraints. They discuss the ACME (Analogical Constraint Mapping Engine) algorithm as one that constructs a network of units representing mapping hypotheses and eventually converges to a state that represents the best mapping. They list several applications of ACME, such as radiation problems, attribute mappings, chemical analogies, and the classical `farmer's dilemma' problem. ACME was also able to simulate a number of empirical results related to human analogical reasoning. The analogical mapping they discuss is most powerful in a specific domain however. This domain-specificity is a typical restriction for most of the efforts in learning theory and artificial intelligence.

Good as an Introduction or Reference Book
This book presents the current and mor well-known models of cognition in the area cognitive science.This includes descriptions of both symbolic and connectionist models (e.g. ACT-R, SOAR, ART-MAP, MAC/FAC, etc.), written by the authors who developed them.However, each chapter presents a somewhat condensed version of each model, so some (but not all) of the technical details are ommitted. Overall, the book can function as an extensive introduction to contemporary methods and issues in cognitive modelling, or as a reference book for those more familiar with the field. ... Read more

Product Description
This textbook augments the first edition through the inclusion of a set of reseach and review papers selected by the authors to supplement the contents of each chapter by providing a discussion of research issues and detailed investigation of individual cases. One or two papers supplement each chapter. A short introduction to each set makes clear the nature of their contribution and how they relate to each chapter's contents. Some of the papers are short reviews of theoretical contributions; others are case studies in the tradition of cognitive neuropsychology. At least three of the main trends discernible in cognitive neuropsychology in the 1990s are represented in the chosen papers. The first is the use of connectionist models to simulate patterns of impairment in brain-injured patients. The second is the growing convergence between cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience: cognitive neuropsychologists are becoming increasingly interested in the brain processes that underlie the preserved and damaged psychological processes they study. The third trend is the involvement of cognitive neuropsychologists in work on therapy and rehabilitation. ... Read more

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David C. Edwards provides the best of contemporary findings and summarizes how past research contributes to current thought. Within each topically organized chapter, which all begin with a concise overview statement and end with a personal summary, the author highlights material of special importance and concludes major sections with a summary. Each chapter also ends with a set of questions that will help student readers.

Product Description
This innovative text is designed to improve thinking skills through the application of 30 critical thinking principles—Metathoughts. These specialized tools and techniques are useful for approaching all forms of study, inquiry, and problem solving. Levy applies Metathoughts to a diverse array of issues in contemporary clinical, social, and cross-cultural psychology: identifying strengths and weaknesses in various schools of thought, defining and explaining psychological phenomena, evaluating the accuracy and usefulness of research studies, reducing logical flaws and personal biases, and improving the search for creative solutions. The Metathoughts are brought to life with practical examples, clinical vignettes, illustrations, anecdotes, thought-provoking exercises, useful antidotes, and contemporary social problems and issues.

Tools of Critical Thinking, 2/E is primarily suited as a core textbook for courses in critical thinking/problem solving, or makes an ideal supplement in a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate psychology courses, including introductory psychology, abnormal psychology (psychopathology), cross-cultural psychology, theories and methods of psychotherapy, research methods and design, theories of personality, clinical practicum, and contemporary problems and issues in psychology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Not Only For Psychology Students
Although this textbook was written for students, instructors, researchers, and therapist in psychology, it is not difficult to follow.There are 30 short chapters, each devoted to a single aspect of thinking that can lead you astray.

"Part One, Conceptualizing Phenomena" - There are nine lessons on what to watch out for when describing, naming, or comparing something.

"Part Two, Explaining Phenomena" - There are five lessons on causation.Primarily, lessons in the logic needed to determine what causes an event or behavior.

"Part Three, Common Misattributions" - The next five lessons deal with errors made in judging behavior.When you observe someone's act, it is not always possible to determine why they did it, even when you think the reason is obvious; the cause may be hidden.

"Part Four, Investigating Phenomena" - When you are conducting research, these seven lessons will help you improve the validity of your results.It is all too easy for your own viewpoint and biases to distort the conclusions of your study.

"Part Five, Other Biases and Fallacies in Thinking" - There are only three lessons in this part.Errors when using prototypes, the first explanation that comes to mind, and assuming you can solve a problem by knowing its cause.

"Part Six, Conclusions" - In this last part, there is only one lesson.When making any decision, there are always trade-offs.Consider your options; for example, if you are considering this book, have you looked at similar books first?

Following these chapters is a "Metathoughts Summary and Antidote Table", which, for each chapter, gives a short one paragraph summary followed by a few antidotes to help you avoid the thinking errors covered.At the end of the book is an extensive "Glossary" of terms and concepts.

Of Value for All Thinkers
This is an exceptionally well written and helpful work on a difficult subject. It is of value not only to students and practioners in the behavioral sciences but to anyone who wishes to clarify their own thought process.

Reference book
I bought this book years ago and I have been using it since then as a reference.

Lives up to its advertising.
Well written, with easy to understand examples of fallacious thought.The exercises are well thought out as well, helping the reader to really grok the subject.

Simplistic workbook aimed at psychology undergrads
I came across this book by accident and ordered it due to the strength of the online reviews.However, had I had a quick browse of it first I wouldn't have.

I expected a serious attempt at systematically categorizing fallacies in thinking.What it actually is is a very rudimentary workbook for undergraduate psychology students that introduces some common failures in reasoning in a very simplistic way.For that purpose it may be fine.If you have already done much thinking or reading in this area you are likely to find this book dissapointing, and in a number of areas surprisingly naive. ... Read more

Product Description

In this fifth edition of A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication, author Richard Jackson Harris continues his examination of how our experiences with media affect the way we acquire knowledge about the world, and how this knowledge influences our attitudes and behavior.

Presenting theories from psychology and communication along with reviews of the corresponding research, this text covers a wide variety of media and media issues, ranging from the commonly discussed topics – sex, violence, advertising – to lesser-studied topics, such as values, sports, and entertainment education.

The fifth and fully updated edition offers:

• highly accessible and engaging writing
• contemporary references to all types of media familiar to students
• substantial discussion of theories and research, including interpretations of original research studies
• a balanced approach to covering the breadth and depth of the subject
• discussion of work from both psychology and media disciplines.

The text is appropriate for Media Effects, Media & Society, and Psychology of Mass Media coursework, as it examines the effects of mass media on human cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors through empirical social science research; teaches students how to examine and evaluate mediated messages; and includes mass communication research, theory and analysis.

Customer Reviews (2)

A useful introduction to media psychology
This is the 4th edition of this volume.Harris provides a nice overview to media psychology.I think the book is mistitled because it does not really deal with cognitive psychology (as a cognitive psychologist would define it).For example, there is limited discussion of factors influencing attention to TV or the cognitive representation of media stories or even how media stories are comprehended.Rather, the book really looks at social psychological approaches to the media (e.g., models of advertising effectiveness, motivations for watching TV, effects of TV violence etc).The volume is an excellent introduction to what is often referred to as media psychology, but I do think it is mistitled.Also, there are topics that are missing from the volume.For example, there is a growing research literature on factors influencing the entertainment value of a TV show or movie and that literature is not discussed in this book.I do use it as a textbook in a undergraduate seminar I teach and the students generally enjoy the book, but it is a textbook, but it does an excellent job at introducing readers to the psychological study of the media.

A must for any mass communication scholar
This is one of the best texts on the effects, either real or imagined, of mass communication on its consumers.Texts on research can be hard to get through.However, Richard Jackson Harris takes years of scholarly writings from the classic "Bobo Doll Study" to the latest in mass communication research and provides the reader with one of the most objective, comprehensive, witty and easy-to-read texts this subject.

For any mass communication scholar or practitioner, this is an absolute must read.I have written several research papers throughout college and graduate school, and this book was an indespensible tool.If communication is your thing, get it now! ... Read more

Product Description
This is a thorough revision and updating of the extremely successful third edition. As in previous editions, the following three perspectives are considered in depth: experimental cognitive psychology; cognitive science, with its focus on cognitive modelling; and cognitive neuropsychology with its focus on cognition following brain damage. In addition, and new to this edition, is detailed discussion of the cognitive neuroscience perspective, which uses advanced brain-scanning techniques to clarify the functioning of the human brain. There is detailed coverage of the dynamic impact of these four perspectives on the main areas of cognitive psychology, including perception, attention, memory, knowledge representation, categorisation, language, problem-solving, reasoning, and judgement.
The aim is to provide comprehensive coverage that is up-to-date, authoritative, and accessible. All existing chapters have been extensively revised and re-organised. Some of the topics receiving much greater coverage in this edition are: brain structures in perception, visual attention, implicit learning, brain structures in memory, prospective memory, exemplar theories of categorisation, language comprehension, connectionist models in perception, neuroscience studies of thinking, judgement, and decision making.
Cognitive Psychology: A Students Handbook will be essential reading for undergraduate students of psychology. It will also be of interest to students taking related courses in computer science, education, linguistics, physiology, and medicine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive but tedious
My main interests are Social Psychology so I am somewhat biased. This book is extremely well regarded in the U.K. and indeed it is a very good reference for Cognitive Psychology. Where it falls down is in the writing style. There is unfortunately a view on this side of the pond that if you write in an engaging and reader friendly way that you are guilty of dumbing down. Consequently, U.K. textbook writers frequently have a humourless and inacessible writing style. When this applied to a subject which is difficult for many people to grasp then the results can be stupifying. This is coupled here with a very dense typeface and a lack of illustrations. I think when complex experiments involving colour stimuli would benefit from good quality colour images. Here we have a book which is extrmeley uninviting. A little investment in improved visuals would be benficial. ... Read more

Product Description
A concept grounded in the practice of certain forms of Buddhism, mindfulness is the conscious, uninvolved awareness of the present moment. Western psychologists have recently learned that this state of mind is particularly conducive to the accomplishment of cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT: an active mode of psychological treatment that attempts to recognize and counter negative thoughts and behaviors before they lead to debilitating symptoms like depression. As statistics confirm again and again that depression is the single most common psychological problem affecting Americans, the refinement of psychotherapy through the integration of spirituality-based techniques has generated considerable interest among psychology professionals. This approachable and easy-to-use book makes these powerful techniques available to the general public.

The book is built around a compelling series of specific, step-by-step interventions that provide readers with an understanding of the thoughts that lead to depression. They learn how to find the motivation to confront depressive feelings. By "sitting" with painful emotions and allowing them to pass, readers find that they can reduce the frequency of depressive episodes. Using meditation practices for observation and awareness, they develop the ability to recognize cognitive, physiological, and environmental triggers that can lead to aggravated periods of the disorder. When readers change how they approach their day-to-day lives—their daily activities, the choices they make, and the way they cope with life’s ups and downs—they strengthen the skills they need to move beyond depression and develop lasting peace of mind.Amazon.com Review
"A life shaken by depression is also a life open to the possibility of deep transformation," write John McQuaid, Ph.D., and Paula Carmona, R.N., M.S.N., experts in treating depression. They recommend a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and meditation. CBT teaches you to track your thoughts, observe behaviors, and notice how these affect depression. By changing thoughts and behaviors, you learn to change your emotions and mood. Meditation trains you to observe your life and thoughts. Both can help you identify, then change, core beliefs that influence depression, resulting in new core beliefs based on your values. Peaceful Mind doesn't have the snappy sentences, pep talks, or quick-read paragraphs common to self-help books. The style is calm, the content detailed, much as a therapist might explain things to you. Sometimes the style seems gloomy (e.g. "feeling desiccated, like a dried bag of bones"), but the overall feeling is optimistic. The authors hold out hope and contentment, and a conviction that this can help you get there. Psychologist John R. McQuaid, Ph.D., heads the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Program at the Veterans Administration.Paula E. Carmona, R.N., M.S.N., is a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist with special training in Zen meditation. --Joan Price ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Clear, succinct and powerful treatment for depression
Great book.Clearly and succinctly explains some really practical and simple, yet powerful methods for dealing with depression.I'd highly recommend it to anyone seeking to come to terms with and negotiate their way out of depression, particularly anyone interested in a non-medical, self-directed treatment approach emphasising present moment awareness or mindfulness.

a good starting point in CBT and mindfulness
I'm not a psychologist, so my background in issue is very narrow. I've appreciated very much this volume, as it explain in a very clear manner the inner meaning of CBT and mindfulness. I owned yet the seminal work of Beck and al. on depression. In 'Peaceful Mind' you find the same concepst introduced in a delightful way. It's not an handbook for therapist, so there are no much references or footnotes. It gives as granted the acceptance of the Beck's paradigm (not in Kuhn's sense, of course...) and on it the authors envisage a well made self-therapy. It any case, for everyone interested in CBT and mindfulness is a good starting point.

Changed my life
I have to say upfront that I have read and practiced numerous methods/variations of mindfulness meditation.However, none have struck just the right chord with me.
Peaceful Mind opened up a new door for me and allowed me to deal with my obsessive thoughts with the ultimately practical tools of CBT and Mindfulness.
I can honestly say that that marriage changed my life.

Peace,
Brett

Not what you think
You might think that this is yet another book on mindfulness.Or, if you are into mindfulness based therapies, you may assume that this is yet another book that covers the "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction" (MBSR, a la Kabat-Zinn) or "Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy" (MBCT, a la Segal, Williams and Teasdale).

In fact this book is unique, and doesn't really fit in the same mold as MBSR and MBCT.

Here's what I believe are the key elements:

1) EXCELLENT INTRO TO COGNITIVE THERAPY. I believe that this book contains an excellent introduction to cognitive therapy, and it can probably be used even if you aren't interested in mindfulness per se.McQuaid is a master instructor when it comes to cognitive therapy, and it shows in this book.He has an approach that is similar to Beck and others, but he has his own unique, helpful style.So I think this is an excellent resource for clients and clinicians. (Carmona is a well-established therapist in her own right, so I imagine that she contributed to the cognitive component of the book, too).

2) CONCISE, PRACTICAL INTRO TO MINDFULNESS.The introduction to mindfulness is simple and elegant, and (if I understand correctly) informed primarily by Carmona's long-standing mindfulness practice. The style here differs noticably from the writing styles of Kabat-Zinn, Santorelli, Segal and many others. The details of the approach are laid out in a very accessible, descriptive manner, without ambiguity.(I'm a fan of these other authors and their approaches, too.I'm simply pointing out that this book's style and feel is unique.)

3) SOME INTEGRATION OF THE COGNITIVE AND MINDFULNESS-BASED APPROACHES.If you are looking for a seamless integration of the two approaches, you might be a little disappointed.The authors do discuss the combination of the two approaches, but they do not attempt an extensive integration.I'm not sure that clients need to work hard to integrate the two approaches, so this is not a complaint.Those seeking more theory, research, or spiritual training in mindfulness will need to look elsewhere.

I've been collaborating with McQuaid for a couple years since this book was released, so I'm biased!If you are thinking about pursuing a mindfulness-based approach, it is probably best to commit to spending a certain amount of time each day to the practice.It is also advisable to find a group and mentors who can guide you along your path. You don't have to pursue this path with psychotherapists, and you don't have to spend large amounts of money to pursue this. You don't need lots of books on the topic of mindfulness, either.But make sure that you find a mentor or therapist or group or spiritual leader that you trust. I suppose that it is possible to do this work on your own (as described in Lawrence LeShan's book on meditation), but it is harder.

time consuming but helpful
I am finding this book quite helpful to getting to know myself better and to have greater control over my emotional responses, or mood. The authors guide you through several approaches of specific steps you should take to get to know some of your core beliefs, which they say may be causing depression. You are free to choose the approach that works best for you, but you do need to try them all to see what works. It is quite time consuming. One of the approaches requires you to record your activities and asses your mood every hour. The instructions are clear and concice and examples provided are helpful, however it does take a true commitment. I suppose it may be fair to say that true change most often does take real work. ... Read more

Product Description
This textbook discusses fundamental issues in the definition and measurement of emotion, including: conscious and unconscious processes; the ways in which emotions arise in, and are constrained by, social situations and social processes; the regulation and sharing of emotion and their effects of mental health; and the manner in which culture (including subculture) shapes or moderates some of these processes.

The book also focuses on the component processes of emotion, their functions, and the ways in which these interact with the social environment.Rather than deny either that emotions are biologically determined or that they are culturally created or shaped, both biology and social situation are treated as important forces in the elicitation and the experience of emotion.

Each section of the book is structured around specific approaches or models, and the precise questions that they were constructed to address.The theories and models are also placed in their in historical context.Discussion of the different approaches is elaborated by summaries of the extant scientific evidence, as well as examples of specific experiments or studies that were designed to evaluate the question.Timely, engaging real-world examples are used from a variety of international contexts.

The pedagogic features, including concise introductions and summaries, discussion questions, and suggested readings, have been incorporated into the volume, making this an ideal text for a course of Emotion, which can be found as an option within many social psychology and cognitive psychology courses. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

holistic
A great book. I am studying as a counsellor and this book has been very beneficial as a reference for my essays. This book has a great structure which allows for a foundation to move onto more depth such as Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence.

great document!
This is a general document on emotions, which is very actual. A good book for researchers or students, or anyone who is interested on the experimental study of emotions.

For those interested in social cognition
This is an excellent book, written in an engaging and accessible style, which makes it informative and agreeable to read. It constitutes a valuable resource for college students as well as graduate students who are interested in emotion processing from the perspectives of cognitive and social psychology. Both perspectives are well integrated. It is for me one of the best introductory textbook in a rapidly growing field of research.
This book is also a fine example of how the study of emotion has changed and how fascinating this domain is to those interested in social cognition. ... Read more

Product Description

This reader offers articles that students can relate to several different facets of cognition, as well as other sub-disciplines of psychology.

Topics such as the distinction between top-down and bottom-up processing, divided attention, proactive interference, language learnability, and expertise are presented in these up-to-date, highly informative, and interesting articles.

This is a research reader students will find interesting, applicable, and extremely relevant to their course and lives. Students will get a good deal of exposure to the fundamental concepts that have helped define the field of cognitive psychology.