Self-Control in Animals and People

Self-Control in Animals and People
Author: Michael Beran
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2018-08-11
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0128125098

Self-Control in Animals and People takes an interdisciplinary look at what self-control is, how it works, and whether humans are alone as a species in their ability to demonstrate self-control. The book outlines historical and recent empirical approaches to understanding when self-control succeeds and fails, and which species may share with humans the ability to anticipate better future outcomes. It also provides readers with in-depth explorations of whether various species can delay gratification, the ways in which people and animals exhibit other forms of self-control, what influences the capacity and expression of self-control, and much more. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of self-control research, the book also describes self-control assessment tests that can be used with young children, adults, and a wide variety of nonhuman species, with the goal of making fair and clear comparisons among the groups. This combination makes Self-Control in Animals and People a valuable resource for cognitive, developmental, and clinical psychologists, philosophers, academic students and researchers in psychology and the social sciences, and animal behaviorists. - Provides a comprehensive perspective of the evolutionary emergence of self-control across species - Explores different "kinds" of self-control and their links to one another, and whether self-control can be improved or strengthened - Offers insight on mental time travel (chronesthesia) and how it relates to self-control - Demonstrates how to develop self-control tests for human and nonhuman animals, and how to make fair and clear comparisons among those groups

Self-Reg

Self-Reg
Author: Dr. Stuart Shanker
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2016-06-21
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0698158881

There’s no such thing as a bad kid. That’s what a lifetime of experience has taught Dr. Stuart Shanker. No matter how difficult, out of control, distracted, or exhausted a child might seem, there’s a way forward: self-regulation. Overturning decades of conventional wisdom, this radical new technique allows children and the adults who care for them to regain their composure and peace of mind. Self-Reg is a groundbreaking book that presents an entirely new understanding of your child’s emotions and behavior and a practical guide for parents to help their kids engage calmly and successfully in learning and life. Grounded in decades of research and working with children and parents by Dr. Shanker, Self-Reg realigns the power of the parent-child relationship for positive change. Self-regulation is the nervous system’s way of responding to stress. We are seeing a generation of children and teens with excessively high levels of stress, and, as a result, an explosion of emotional, social, learning, behavior, and physical health problems. But few parents recognize the “hidden stressors” that their children are struggling with: physiological as well as social and emotional. An entrenched view of child rearing sees our children as lacking self-control or willpower, but the real basis for these problems lies in excessive stress. Self-regulation can dramatically improve a child’s mood, attention, and concentration. It can help children to feel empathy, and to cultivate the sorts of virtues that most parents know are vital for their child’s long-term wellbeing. Self-regulation brings about profound and lasting transformation that continues throughout life. Dr. Shanker translates decades of his findings from working with children into practical, prescriptive advice for parents, giving them concrete ways to develop their self-regulation skills and teach their children to do the same and engage successfully with life for optimal learning, social, and emotional growth.

Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology

Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology
Author: Jeff Greenberg
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 546
Release: 2013-12-17
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1462514790

Social and personality psychologists traditionally have focused their attention on the most basic building blocks of human thought and behavior, while existential psychologists pursued broader, more abstract questions regarding the nature of existence and the meaning of life. This volume bridges this longstanding divide by demonstrating how rigorous experimental methods can be applied to understanding key existential concerns, including death, uncertainty, identity, meaning, morality, isolation, determinism, and freedom. Bringing together leading scholars and investigators, the Handbook presents the influential theories and research findings that collectively are helping to define the emerging field of experimental existential psychology.

Survival of the Friendliest

Survival of the Friendliest
Author: Brian Hare
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0399590676

A powerful new theory of human nature suggests that our secret to success as a species is our unique friendliness “Brilliant, eye-opening, and absolutely inspiring—and a riveting read. Hare and Woods have written the perfect book for our time.”—Cass R. Sunstein, author of How Change Happens and co-author of Nudge For most of the approximately 300,000 years that Homo sapiens have existed, we have shared the planet with at least four other types of humans. All of these were smart, strong, and inventive. But around 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens made a cognitive leap that gave us an edge over other species. What happened? Since Charles Darwin wrote about “evolutionary fitness,” the idea of fitness has been confused with physical strength, tactical brilliance, and aggression. In fact, what made us evolutionarily fit was a remarkable kind of friendliness, a virtuosic ability to coordinate and communicate with others that allowed us to achieve all the cultural and technical marvels in human history. Advancing what they call the “self-domestication theory,” Brian Hare, professor in the department of evolutionary anthropology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University and his wife, Vanessa Woods, a research scientist and award-winning journalist, shed light on the mysterious leap in human cognition that allowed Homo sapiens to thrive. But this gift for friendliness came at a cost. Just as a mother bear is most dangerous around her cubs, we are at our most dangerous when someone we love is threatened by an “outsider.” The threatening outsider is demoted to sub-human, fair game for our worst instincts. Hare’s groundbreaking research, developed in close coordination with Richard Wrangham and Michael Tomasello, giants in the field of cognitive evolution, reveals that the same traits that make us the most tolerant species on the planet also make us the cruelest. Survival of the Friendliest offers us a new way to look at our cultural as well as cognitive evolution and sends a clear message: In order to survive and even to flourish, we need to expand our definition of who belongs.

Subhuman

Subhuman
Author: T. J. Kasperbauer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0190695811

How do we think about animals? How do we decide what they deserve and how we ought to treat them? Subhuman takes an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, drawing from research in philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, law, history, sociology, economics, and anthropology. Subhuman argues that our attitudes to nonhuman animals, both positive and negative, largely arise from our need to compare ourselves to them.

Beyond Words

Beyond Words
Author: Carl Safina
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2015-07-14
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0805098887

Hailed conservationist Carl Safina examines animal personhood as told through the inspired narrative portraits of elephants, wolves, and dolphins

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

From Neurons to Neighborhoods
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2000-11-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309069882

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Self-control

Self-control
Author: Alexandra W. Logue
Publisher: Pearson
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1995
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN:

Why can't I stay on a diet? Why do I put off studying for tests and writing reports? Why can't I save any money? Self Control: Waiting Until Tomorrow for What You Want Today provides a comprehensive answer to the question of why it is so difficult for some people (and animals) to show self-control under certain conditions. Alexandra W. Logue explains how evolution has affected our ability to choose actions that, over the long run, will result in valuable consequences. She argues that evolutionary factors have caused us to discount delayed events, making it difficult to wait or work for things that may be important to us, but which may not occur for some time. Integrating both basic and applied research on self-control, Logue describes the research base that links self-control and evolution, in addition to detailing methods that can be used to lessen the constraints of our evolutionary heritage. The author also describes applications of basic research to understanding and treating a wide variety of self-control problems.

The Cambridge Handbook of Animal Cognition

The Cambridge Handbook of Animal Cognition
Author: Allison B. Kaufman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1032
Release: 2021-07-22
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 110856125X

This handbook lays out the science behind how animals think, remember, create, calculate, and remember. It provides concise overviews on major areas of study such as animal communication and language, memory and recall, social cognition, social learning and teaching, numerical and quantitative abilities, as well as innovation and problem solving. The chapters also explore more nuanced topics in greater detail, showing how the research was conducted and how it can be used for further study. The authors range from academics working in renowned university departments to those from research institutions and practitioners in zoos. The volume encompasses a wide variety of species, ensuring the breadth of the field is explored.