Customer Reviews (26)

Psyc Core Concepts
The book is in excellent condition. The only thing is, is that the book was highlighted by the previous owner. It doesn't bother me, only because it seemed like the previous owner did a good job on what exactly to highlight. I find it more helpful than anything. So, I give this product and seller a good rating!

poor packaging
When I received the book from the postman the flimsy brown paper was all torn and the top and sides of the book was exposed. Do not know the original condition of the book because of this. The top right corners were all folded over and corner of cover was torn off. The book was still useable, however my son said it looked like it went thru the war. Will not order from amazon again an expensive collage book and will not recommend it to anyone either.
Postman said shipper could of packaged much better....

love three ring binder book
I absolutely love this book, not a problem ordering it... as with my other 2 classes.... this is an awsome way to have a book!!!!!!!

Psychology Core Concepts 6th edition
I received my order promptly and the product was in very good condition.I will order again whenever I need textbooks.

BLU10GT Problematic
Poor vendor service.I tried to cancel the order but the vendor sent this book.I tried to return the book but the vendor indicates he/she does not accept returns (note,the vendor does not disclose this"no return policy" to consumers - you find out about it after the fact.In an e-mail the vendor wrote:"I am not a buisness nor have I claimed to be. I am a regular person. . ."If I had know this person did not consider himself/herself a "business" I would never have purchased the book from them. ... Read more

Product Description

The subject of the book is the grounding of architectural acoustics in psychophysics (perception, listener preferences) and neuroscience (auditory function, neural correlates of perception and preference). This is the first rational-scientific approach to designing performance spaces that is based on systematic psychoacoustical observations of spatial hearing and listener preferences. Observations of the neuronal correlates of auditory qualities and listener preferences ground the theory of listener preferences in the neurophysiology of the human brain. A correlation-based model of neuronal signal processing in the central auditory system is proposed. Observed psychological and neurophysiological commonalities between auditory and visual sensations and preference patterns are presented and discussed. This book thus spans the disciplines of physics, acoustics, psychology, neurophysiology, and music production, thereby blending science and art.

Temporal and spatial sensations. Temporal auditory sensations include auditory qualities such as pitch, timbre, loudness, and duration, which are modeled using features extracted from the temporal autocorrelation function (ACF) of the sound. Neuronal responses related to these qualities are mainly associated with left hemisphere auditory regions of cerebral cortex. Spatial auditory sensations include the perceived direction of sound, its apparent size (apparent source width, ASW) and its subjective diffuseness deeply related to envelopment. These spatial aspects of sound perception are extracted from the interaural crosscorrelation function (IACF), which takes into account the differences in the sounds that reach the two ears. Cortical neuronal responses related to spatial hearing are mainly associated with auditory regions in the right hemisphere.

Thus, the "primary sensation" evoked by a sound in some space can be divided into two categories: temporal sensations and spatial sensations. Any other subjective responses of the source sound signal and the sound field can be described in terms of temporal and spatial factors. Part I of the book describes experimental results from basic research in acoustics, psychoacoustics, the psychology of auditory preferences, and auditory neurophysiology. Applications include optimal design of concert hall and opera house acoustics, architectural acoustics of speech intelligibility and musical expression, as well as the perception of noise and its annoyance.

In Part II, temporal and spatial sensations in vision are described in terms of similar kinds of correlation-based representations. A seamless, general theory can be established for temporal and spatial aspects of vision that includes subjective preferences for visual environments. Many audio-visual analogies are drawn. A typical temporal sensation of vision is the "pitch" of a flickering light, for which the missing fundamental is perceived in a manner highly analogous to its acoustic counterpart. Visual spatial sensations include contrast, regularity and coarseness. A spatial "vibrato" in a drawing is demonstrated as an application of the theory in the visual arts.

The reader is given a highly fleshed out strategy for architectural acoustical design that is grounded both in psychology and neuroscience. Few other works are as ambitious in attempting to understand and explain such a wide range of perceptual phenomena. This human-centered design approach can be applied to any design practice in which the goal is to optimize the experience of the design product by its users. The proposed theory shows how a unified science of human perceptual experience and preference might be both possible and useful.

Product Description
Approximately 40 selections of enduring intellectual value--classic articles, book excerpts, and research studies--that have shaped the study of psychology and our contemporary understanding of it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A broad range of specializations
Pettijohn has done a good job of selecting texts that cover a broad range of topics within the field of Psychology, and which have had a substantial impact on the field. Watson, Skinner, Freud, Rogers and Maslow all make appearances, as well as a host of other esteemed academics who are perhaps a bit less well known.

The topics themselves are extremely interesting, but since the selections were generally written for the academic community, the texts tend to be dry. For that reason, I wouldn'' recommend this to the layman; you have to be a student of psychology in order to appreciate most of these essays.

For the serious student, the selections are a perfect way to get an overall feel for the field of Psychology, and to perhaps start to gravitate towards a particular area of specialization.

good choice of sources; too much left out of each one
A word to the editor:putting web site addresses in a book is a sure way to outdate your book quickly.

Can't argue with the choice of articles.Here are *excerpts from* 50 fundamental articles in psychology -- fromFreud a century ago to researchers working a decade ago.Any beginningpsychology student at the high school or undergraduate level would do wellto read them.For that matter, any graduate student would do well to readthe ones that he or she isn't already familiar with -- the book covers thegamut of specialties in psychology, pretty much following the topics thatare found in a standard intro psych textbook, and in the same order.Thetrouble is that too much editing -- that is, leaving out of things -- tookplace here.I realize this was done to make things accessible tofirst-time readers who would be put off by statistics, methodologicaldiscussions, or technical debates in journal articles.Still I think theseexcerpts could give students a false sense, or no sense, of what actualresearch reports are like.Better to give them the entire article and tellthem which sections to ignore.Then they can see what (and how much)they're missing.They can handle it. ... Read more

Product Description
Trance is a state of narrowed awareness. We go in and out of trances all our lives, enthralled by our inner minds, our relationships, our families, our communities, and our culture at large.

Trances are at the root of what is the very best and very worst in human beings.Trance states can trap us in our rigidities, but they can also open the door to creative productivity and personal freedom.

In this groundbreaking new book, Adam Crabtree dissects the condition of trance we find ourselves in and suggests ways of being more aware and empowered in our lives.He describes the ultimate aim: to arrive at what he calls Trance Zero--an intuitive state of being in which one is fully awake to the real condition of our existence.This state is nothing less than a new paradigm of personal immanence and is the very essence of optimism.

To understand trance is to appreciate the true nature of human experience--both in its potentials and limitations.In times of massive change and confusion, Trance Zero is an essential text for renewing our faith in what it means to be human. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Whoever thought this book sucks is in a trance
As a full time student, part-time worker, and volunteer, I usually never write online reviews due to extreme time constraints, but I was so disturbed by the two bad reviews for this book that I felt that I must write at least a short review to counter them.

I read this book several months ago so it is not fresh in my mind and thus I will be unable to offer specific points about it. But I do remember that I was hugely impressed by this book. The ideas in it gave me a much better understanding of social groups, culture, and human nature in general. These new understandings spilled over into my understanding and views on history and contemporary issues and even my own life and the people who populate my life. Also, the author writes in a clear and straight forward manner which keeps the pages turning quickly.

Redundant and worthless
I paid attention to the other review and got this from my library first.It is really mind blowing how mich space the author takes up to say nothing of practical value.If there is a description of attaining this "trance zero", I missed it.I'm glad I didn't waste the money.

Waste of Time
This book is nothing but hundreds of pages of self-serving tripe.There were hundreds of in-depth descriptions of "trances", but nothing the average person doesn't already understand.Further, though the book proposes the "trance zero" state, it's only hypothetical, offering no means to obtain or experiment with this state of consciousness.
I admit the author's complete lack of moral character did not help this book any- as when he rather casually describes a woman being victimized by another psychologist over a period of YEARS while she is seeing the author professionally for help.By his own words, he never helped her at all or stoppped this monster from destroying a woman's life.So much for the effectiveness of his methods.
I learned nothing of practical value.Period.If you must read it, try the library first.

Best explanation of the "group mind" concept
I bought this book wanting to find out how to do hypnosis, and figuring it would give me the right theoretical+practical basis.The information was so good I felt no need to go on to practice "hypnosis".For the first time I saw someone dissect and analyze "group minds", how we human beings act together as cells of separate "organisms", and what the properties of these organisms are and how they evolve and act, as well as how we influence each other.It changed my whole perspective on how I deal with others.You don't need hypnosis when, by understanding humans, you can just act normally and get the same benefits.

This book is a must read.I think it should be required reading for everyone before they leave high school.Did you know that some "group mind" organisms have "lived" for more than a thousand years?And many of these group minds live out their lifespans undetected, unrecognized as such by their component "cells" (us humans)? ... Read more

Product Description
"Signals, Sound, and Sensation" is of great importance to the hearing science community... If I were to give an advanced course, this is precisely the book I would recommend." --- W. Dixon Ward, University of Minnesota

This is a unique book on the mathematics of signals written for hearing-science researchers. Designed to follow an introductory text on psychoacoustics, Signals, Sound, and Sensation takes the reader through the mathematics of signal processing from its beginnings in the Fourier transform to advanced topics in modulation, dispertion relations, minimum phase systems, sampled data, and nonlinear distortion. While the book is organized like an introductory engineering text on signals, the examples and exercises come from research on the perception of sound. A unique featre of the book is the consistent application of the Fourier transform, which unifies topics as diverse as cochlear filtering and digital recording. More than 250 exercises are included. many of them are devoted to practical research in perception, while others explore surprising auditory illusions generated by special signals. working knowledge of elementary calculus is the only prerequisite. Signals, Sound, and Sensation will help readers acquire the quantitaive skills they need to solve signal problems that arise in their everyday work. periodic signals, aperiodic signals, and noise- along with their linear and nonlinear transformations-are covered in detail. More advanced mathematical topics are treated in the appendices. In no other book are signal mathematics and psychoacoustics so neatly intertwined. Researchers and advanced students in the psychology of auditory perception willl find this book indispensable.

FROM THE REVIEWS:

AMERICAN SCIENTIST"...this scholarly yet eminent readable account is particularly welcome...It emphasizes not only advanced psychoacoustics concepts and measurement protocols but also provides a masterly treatment of mathematics of signals, from Fourier series to nonlinear distortion and Hilbert transforms, to name only a few of the subjects covered in considerable depth. It is remarkably successful in its simultaneous exposition of the analytical, physical and perceptual aspects of sound and hearing...this is a splendid book, well organized, copiously illustrated and pleasingly written."

PHYSICS TODAY"Hartmann's many years of teaching acoustics and physics are evident in the confident manner in which he presents this material. He covers a wide range of topics in a clear, authoritative and easy-to-read style. The material is most appropriate for the student who has an interest in the science of hearing and who wishes to acquire familiarity with acoustics and signal theory...[It is] intended to be used as a text for a second course in psychoacoustics. For this purpose, the coverage of relevant topics is very thorough...The book would also be a useful reference for anyone interested in the study of auditory perception. Readers who already have an acquaintance with signal theory may appreciate the sensible style of the discussions of such psychoacoustic topics as loudness and pitch perception. As a hearing research scientist with a background in physics and electrical engineering, I appreciate the direct, accessible style of Hartmann's book and found it a pleasure to read. It should be considered by anyone wanting to teach signal theory to students with an interest in psychoacoustics."

PHYSICS TODAY"...I found this to be a book with a lot of personality and distinctiveness. The writing style is clear, but very personal and seems to convey the deep interest of the author on the issues discussed. The book contains historical notes interspersed throughout the text, an interesting touch, and clearly separated from the main text to identify them as such. I would judge the book to be an important addition for anyone involved in research or teaching in psychoacoustics or hearing science." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good application of signal processing theory to psychoacoustics
This book very much resembles an engineering textbook. It is written on the premise that a fundamental element in the science of sound as it is perceived is the signal. Thus, scientists who understand the mathematics of the signal are better prepared to develop and understand models of psychoacoustical effects. Therefore, this is not intended to be a first book on the either the subject of signal processing or psychoacoustics. Rather, this book attempts to join the two subjects.

This is very much a signals and systems type book, except that all of the signals and systems described pertain to audio and its perception. The quantitative emphasis in this book is underscored by the exercises at the end of each chapter. The author assumes that the reader has a fundamental understanding of calculus. Using that as a basis, the reader will learn a great dealabout differential equations, Fourier transforms, and linear algebra, as these topics are covered in depth as they are needed. Throughout the book, topics that may seem elementary to those with an engineering background are interspersed with applications to acoustics and psychoacoustics that the reader may not be familiar with, so chapters should not be overlooked just because their titles convey the idea of remedial material. For example Chapter 6, on the perception of complex tones, at first looks like a simplistic tutorial on sampling theory, but it leads up to the interesting Shepard tones and the Tritone Paradox.

Along with the basics of tone and characteristics of sound, there is detailed coverage on the Fourier series and integral, signal processing, random processes and noise, and modulation, all discussed within the framework of applying these subjects to acoustics and psychoacoustics.Thus, some chapters are very mathematical while others are very conversational. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has prior knowledge of both signals and system theory as well as acoustics and psychoacoustics. There is no other book I know of that is as good as this one at explaining the mathematics of psychoacoustics.

Hard stuff
I read the book and it was quite a bit of hard work. I can only recommend to people who love maths. For all others, especially biologists and people more interested in the biological things: it is not worth the money.
If the author would use a more coherent and explaining style of writing and reduce formulas for every single detail it would be much better.

A Unique Book on Auditory Processing
This book fills a large gap between signal processing and psychoacoustics.Standard signal processing books have in-depth coverage on Fourier transform, filtering, etc., but say little about what various signals mean to our ears.On the other hand, psychoacoustics books lack necessary mathematical rigor and insight for people who want to understand underlying computations.The book is written with remarkable clarity and rigor, and yet accessible to readers with just basic knowledge of calculus.The book does not just state conclusions but goes through the trouble to show how they are or can be derived, which greatly enhances understanding.An ideal book for people interested in auditory computations, and a required reading for my students in Ohio State Computer and Cognitive Science.I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in acoustic processing and auditory perception. ... Read more

Product Description

The field of perception is devoted to explaining the operation of the senses and the experiences and behaviors resulting from stimulation of the senses. Perceptual processes such as recognizing faces, seeing color, hearing music, and feeling pain represent the actions of complex mechanisms, yet we usually do them easily. The Encyclopedia of Perception presents a comprehensive overview of the field of perception through authoritative essays written by leading researchers and theoreticians in psychology, the cognitive sciences, neuroscience, and medical disciplines. It presents two parallel and interacting approaches: the psychophysical, or determining the relationship between stimuli in the environment and perception, and the physiological, or locating the biological systems responsible for perception. Are there any processes not associated with perception? Surely there are, but the pervasiveness of perception is truly impressive, and the phenomena of perception and its mechanisms are what this encyclopedia is about.

Key Features

• Contains 16 pages of color illustration and photography to accompany the entries
• Offers a varied and broad list of topics, including basic research as well as methodologies, theoretical approaches, and real-world applications of perceptual research
• Emphasizes human perception but includes ample research because of its importance in its own right and because of what this research tells us about human perception
• Written by recognized experts from many disciplines but for an audience with no previous background in perception-students and members of the general public alike

Key Themes

• Action
• Attention
• Audition
• Chemical Senses
• Cognition and Perception
• Computers and Perception
• Consciousness
• Disorders of Perception
• Illusory Perceptions
• Individual Differences (Human) and Comparative (Across Species; Not Including Ageing, Disorders, and Perceptual Development)
• Methods
• Perceptual Development/Experience
• Philosophical Approaches
• Physiological Processes
• Sense Interaction
• Skin and Body Senses
• Theoretical Approaches
• Visual Perception

Customer Reviews (4)

The Trickiness of Skepticisms
A couple questions about Alston's omissions:

1) Why doesn't he include dreams as being reason to doubt SP's reliability?

2) Why doesn't he include rationality and practicality as doxastic practices?


And it might have better benefited Alston to realize that the threat of epistemic circularity works two ways (this regards his final chapter anyway): Where he claims one cannot make a case for reason's reliability without presupposing reason (thus its unsupportable reliability), the same goes for the converse: You can't refute reason without presupposing it, so any reduction would beg the question as well.

So the case for reason's (and like doxastic practices') reliability begs the question, but this question begging is informed by the question begged. This epistemic "problem", if it is one, is a little more polygonal than circular.

This is an otherwise shrewd and clearly written book.

And that's all I got.


PEACE

A Reliable, Sensible, and Perceptive Book
This monograph deals with a perennial philosophical question:whether sense perception generates reliable information about the external world.The author, William Alston, reviews the contemporary philosophical literature and analyzes arguments purporting to demonstate that sense perception is reliable; he can find no argument, whether a priori or experiential, that doesn't fall into circularity by tacitly assuming that sense perception is reliable.Nevertheless, he concludes that it's rational to rely conditionally on sense perception even if we can't prove that it's reliable:we have no choice but to rely on our senses in practice, and there's no reason to think they're systematically misleading us.Along the way, Alston discusses private languages, brains in vats, and evil demons.

I've never been gripped by the problems of epistemology, nor entirely convinced they aren't pseudo-problems. I didn't like "The Matrix," either.I did, however, like this modest, intelligent book very much.I had to read some paragraphs two or three times in order to grasp their meaning fully, but that was only because the material was difficult (at least for me), not because Alston writes badly.He actually writes quite clearly for an academic philosopher.I knocked off one star only because Alson didn't situate his analysis within the history of philosophy.That was too bad, since much of his argumentation recasts in modern language 18th-century debates between David Hume and Thomas Reid.General readers are entitled to intellectual history along with technical philosophy!

Good Book About A Fundamental Question
One of the central questions in philosophy is the reliability of sense perception.That is, how do we know that our senses are (generally speaking) reliable and what method (if any) is there to determine whether they are reliable on any specific occasion?

Although we assume that our senses give us accurate information about a world "out there" providing good arguments for this belief isn't so simple.Take the philosopher Ayn Rand: she never actually explained what method we use to determine whether the senses are, on any given occasion, accurate(although this hasn't prevented her followers from asserting that she - and she alone - has "solved" the problem).

Throughout the history of philosophy, numerous answers have been given.Prof. William Alston discusses these answers in this compact and readable book.(Actually, his discussion is somewhat broader: by the reliability of sense perception, Prof. Alston means a "doxastic practice" of belief formation which goes from sense perception to beliefs about the physical and social environment.)As he notes, many of the arguments in favor of the reliability of sense perception can be broken down into "a priori" and empirical arguments.Some of the a priori arguments provide a satisfactory refutation of skepticism, but don't provide any reason to think that the senses are more generally accurate than not.(Although he doesn't mention Rand's argument that skepticism is self-refuting because "existence exists," similar arguments are discussed.)Many of the empirical arguments appear to provide reasons for believing that the sense perception is reliable (because they provide a good track record in making predictions and the like) yet they assume what needs to be proved: that the senses are in fact reliable.

Prof. Alston closes the book with his own argument in favor of the reliability of sense perception (which I confess I didn't understand very well) and an evaluation of the arguments offered.

This is the first book I've read by Prof. Alston.I think I'll be reading his A REALIST CONCEPTION OF TRUTH next.

Are our belief-forming processes reliable?
This is the broad question that epistemologist William Alston addresses in this work; the title topic -- the reliability of sense perception -- he holds to be a special case of the reliability of basic doxastic(belief-forming) practices generally.

"Sense perception," asAlston deals with it here, covers a variety of more or less customary waysof forming beliefs, and Alston designates the whole lot of them as"sensory perception practice" (abbreviated SP throughout most ofthe work). The problem he faces to begin with is that there does not seemto be a _noncircular_ demonstration that SP is reliable in this way.(Though admitting that not all circularity is vicious, he neverthelessdecides to avoid circular arguments himself and -- rather too summarily, Ithink -- dismisses coherence theories "without a hearing" for thepurposes of this work.)

He devotes the bulk of the work to considerationsof various sorts of argument for the reliability of SP -- simple"track record" and pragmatic arguments, _a priori_ argumentsincluding theological ones, and empirical arguments. The burden of his ownargument here is essentially to show (a) that the noncircularity problemaffects all direct arguments for the reliability of SP, and (b) that thisproblem is not unique to SP but affects _all_ of our usual ways of formingbeliefs.

His concluding chapter takes an interesting tack. He contendsthat even though it is not possible to offer a _direct_ (noncircular)argument that SP is reliable, nevertheless practical rationality shows thatit _is_ rational to "engage in SP (and other doxastic practices)"-- that is, practical reason demands that we do go ahead and form ourbeliefs in the ordinary accepted ways. His claim at this point is that,although he has not shown that SP _is_ reliable, he has shown that it isrational to _suppose_ SP to be reliable.

His distinction here is one thathe takes to be crucial, so it will be as well to spell it out precisely.His claim, he says, is not that in judging SP to be rational, he is thereby_judging_ that it is rational tosuppose that SP is reliable; his claim isthat the judgment that SP is rational _is itself a commitment_ to therationality of judging SP to be reliable.

Got that? Well, for furtherelaboration you'll have to read the book itself. At any rate, hisconclusion is that SP is just one of a whole host of doxastic practices inwhich it is _practically_ rational to engage; he has not, as he readilyadmits, shown that it is rational "in an _epistemic_ sense" tojudge that SP is reliable.

After a brief discussion of why this sort ofrationality is relevant and more or less sufficient, he turns in closing toa short survey of ways in which this rationality might be undermined (by"overriders of prima facie rationality") or supported (by"significant self support"). His final remark is that there issome urgency about deciding how to regard doxastic practices which can beneither avoided nor shown to be reliable.

The argument of this volume isa development of his work in _Perceiving God_, in the third chapter ofwhich he discussed the impossibility of proving SP reliable in anoncircular way. At bottom the present work is an expanded version of thatchapter, offered -- as Alston says -- to "philosophers who would notopen a book entitled _Perceiving God_" but might find the argument onsense perception interesting in its own right.

Those potential readersmight include some from the "Objectivist" camp -- at least thosewho recognize the woeful inadequacies in Ayn Rand's ownsweep-it-under-the-rug policy on the question Alston here addresses. Inparticular, readers of David Kelley's _The Evidence of the Senses_ mightlike to read through Alston's very different approach. ... Read more

Product Description
Many organisms possess multiple sensory systems, such as vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. The possession of such multiple ways of sensing the world offers many benefits. These benefits arise not only because each modality can sense different aspects of the environment, but also because different senses can respond jointly to the same external object or event, thus enriching the overall experience-for example, looking at an individual while listening to them speak. However, combining the information from different senses also poses many challenges for the nervous system. In recent years, there has been dramatic progress in understanding how information from different sensory modalities gets integrated in order to construct useful representations of external space; and in how such multimodal representations constrain spatial attention. Such progress has involved numerous different disciplines, including neurophysiology, experimental psychology, neurological work with brain-damaged patients, neuroimaging studies, and computational modelling. This volume brings together the leading researchers from all these approaches, to present the first integrative overview of this central topic in cognitive neuroscience. ... Read more

Product Description
Cognitive Ecology identifies the richness of input to our sensory evaluations, from our cultural heritage and philosophies of aesthetics to perceptual cognition and judgment. Integrating the arts, humanities, and sciences, Cognitive Ecology investigates the relationship of perception and cognition to wider issues of how science is conducted, and how the questions we ask about perception influence the answers we find. Part One discusses how issues of the human mind are inseparable from the culture from which the investigations arise, how mind and environment co-define experience and actions, and how culture otherwise influences cognitive function. Part Two outlines how philosophical themes of aesthetics have guided psychological research, and discuss the physical and aesthetic perception of music, film, and art. Part Three presents an overview of how the senses interact for sensory evaluation. ... Read more

Product Description
a book ... Read more

Product Description
Hearing is a comprehensive, authoritative reference work covering both the physiological and perceptual aspects of hearing. Intended for researchers and advanced students in the field of hearing, it reviews major areas of research in addition to new discoveries, including active mechanisms in the cochlea, across-channel processes in auditory masking, and perceptual grouping processes.

Key Features
* Covers both physiological and perceptual aspects of hearing
* Authoritative reviews by experts in the field
* Comprehensive up-to-date coverage
* An integrated work with extensive cross-references between chapters ... Read more