Book Description

Written by respected researchers in their field, this book is about the skills beyond basic word recognition that are necessary for the processing and comprehension of spoken and written language.

Key Features
* The major topics presented are as follows:
* language and text analysis
* cognitive processing and comprehension
* development of literacy
* literacy and schooling
* factors influencing listening and reading ... Read more

Book Description

Quickly acquire the knowledge and skills you need to confidently conduct Cross-Battery Assessment

The CHC (Cattell-Horn-Carroll)-based Cross-Battery approach is a time-efficient assessment method grounded solidly within contemporary psychometric theory and research. The CHC Cross-Battery Assessment systematically integrates tests from one of the major intelligence batteries (WISC-III, WAIS-III, WPPSI-R, DAS, K-ABC, KAIT, WJ-R/III, CAS, Leiter-R, and UNIT), with tests from other cognitive batteries or supplemental cognitive ability tests, enabling mental health professionals to expand their traditional assessments to include important abilities that are not measured by traditional test series. This new approach also includes guidelines for assessing the cognitive capabilities of culturally and linguistically diverse individuals.

Essentials of Cross-Battery Assessment includes widespread coverage of the key cognitive test batteries, expert assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the tests, valuable advice on clinical applications, and illustrative case reports. The book also includes practical interpretation worksheets and summary sheets for anyone who wants to learn how to conduct cross-battery assessment.

Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help busy mental health practitioners quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of psychological assessment instruments. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you to gauge and reinforce your grasp of the information covered.

Other titles in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series:

Essentials of WAIS-III Assessment

Essentials of CAS Assessment

Essentials of Forensic Psychological Assessment

Essentials of Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II Assessment

Essentials of WISC-III and WPPSI-R Assessment

Essentials of Millon Inventories Assessment

Essentials of WAIS-III Assessment

Essentials of CAS Assessment

Essentials of Forensic Psychological Assessment

Essentials of Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II Assessment

Essentials of WISC-III and WPPSI-R Assessment

Essentials of Millon Inventories Assessment ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Super Teaching Assistant
I supervise and teach psychological assessment and use this book to help students learn how to integrate different psychological tests in their reports. The worksheets provide useful guidelines for integrating data. Overall this reference helps one create reports that are useful and appropriate for both teachers and parents, as well as physicians an therapists. Jerome Sattler's Assessment of Children books are probably the backbone of my work, but this little paperback is handy when a quick overview is all that's needed or I want to present material to individuals who do not have a theoretical background in assessment and psychometry.

Great Professors, Great Book
Again, the authors have given a blueprint of test interpretation using Gf-Gc theory. They also provided worksheets to ease the interpretation process. This book is an excellent companion to the "Wechsler Intelligence Scales and Gf-Gc Theory". I highly recommend this book.

A must have for your assessment library!
I have used Cross-Battery Assessments for over two years, and this is THE book to have in your library! Easy to read, it provides an excellent method to evaluate cognitive functioning! In school psychology, I am asked to evaluate students and then apply the results to their educational programming. Never before has it been so clear, and it has changed the way I do my job. ANYONE who does intellectual testing should have this book! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Well, i liked it anyway
Whether you like a book depends on what information you're looking for. i make computer models of human behavior so this book, which is easy to read but filled with concrete solutions and lots of supporting dat, was near-perfect for me

As a note, i'm picky when it comes both to writing and thinking. And i hate most books written by academics. Even the ones with good information (eg, Fodor's Modularity) are hard to read and filled with confusing, field-specific words. Not this book. It's really well written. Written in plain English, very few assumptions, very thorough analysis, lots of self-criticism, lots and lots of data (OK, that part is boring and can be skipped, but it's comforting to know it's there)

What's it about? Common AI, psych and economic decision and learning algorithms (decision trees, neural nets, Bayes, multiple linear regression, etc.) are compared to several absurdly simple algorithms the authors believe real humans use. The various approaches are compared and evaluated on the basis of performance, accuracy on training data, accuracy on test data (generalization) and amount of input data required. Tests are on the standard UC Irvine data learning test sets. Comparisions, outcome explanations and relevance to the human mind and the real world are provided. Explanations and analysises are easy to understand and pretty convincing

i've decided to use a lot of what was in this book in my software, things that have made my agents more natural and easier to implement. i absolutely love this book

Great book about cognitive pitfalls
It's really meant for a technical audience since this stuff is so cutting edge, but you shouldn't wait till the results appear in Time magazine. The experiments and writing are very easy to understand, very clear. And you will be amazed by the simple ways in which our brain takes shortcuts in reasoning -- both making it stupid and making it smart. Be careful next time you try to reason using probabilities, you're better off using frequency.

My own background is in philosophy, where this type of work has been very important in undermining the assumption that humans are rational. We aren't. You should probably read Kahnemann and Tversky's books before coming to this though, since this work adds an interesting spin to the old irrationality debate: maybe some of it is GOOD for us!

Statistical, Mathematical, Academic
As someone interested in the practice and theory of decision making, I came upon this book via a number of "listmania" lists that reccomend it. The first few chapters got me excited about the subject matter. The authors promised to present a new model for decision making, one that was simple, and one that works.

The ensuing pages compare several theoretical models, such as Multiple Linear Regression and Dawes Rule to their own Take the First and Take the Best models.

Most of the tests were simulated on a computer. You would feed each decision making model into the computer, and then feed in various data for it to make decisions on. One popular test is "Which is the most populated German City." The computer had data on various German Cities with populations over 100,000. It also had several indicators, such as whether it has a soccer team, or a rail system, or is a state capital. The system would present two cities, with the indicators, and the decision making model would figure out which was the most populous one.

Right now I'm in a chapter called "Bayesian Benchmarks for Fast and Frugal Heuristics." It's about halfway through the book, and I'm not sure I'll finish. While the second half sounds interesting, this book is highly academic and the authors are concerned with presenting proofs for everything they say, in detail. Sort of like a victorian novel that starts of by telling you what it's going to tell you, and then tells you several times. I may skim it because I do find the subject matter intereting.

I certainly don't regret buying this book, having mathematical models for decision making is certainly handy (as someone interested in AI), but I wouldn't call it light reading, nor would I reccomend it to a manager interested in the decision making process.

I found much more interesting "Sources of Power" by Gary Klein. Indeed, I consider Sources of Power to be one of the most informative and most entertaining books I've ever read, and wish more like it existed.

In summation, I found this book to be highly academic and theoretical. If you are a human being interested in the decision making process as it is carried out by humans, I reccomend the more hands-on Sources of Power by Gary Klein. If you are interested in simple, statistical models for decision making (the kind you can teach a computer), then pick up this book.

Smart book that makes decision making simple!
This book introduced me to an exciting new way of thinking about decision making. "Heuristics" is basically just a fancy word for "rules of thumb" and the book shows convincingly how simple rules of thumb can go a very long way.

The 18 authors from various academic fields believe that decision rules and the environment in which they are used should always be considered together. Moreover it seems plausible that a simple rule which performs as well as a rule that requires more effort to apply, should be the preferred way of explaining the observed behavior.

The authors propose a bunch of simple heuristics for all kinds of problems. One particularly impressive example was the extremely simple "recognition heuristic" which e.g. proved to be quite successful on the stock market. For all heuristics in the book it is shown that they are easy to use, that they require little memory and computational capacity, and that therefore they appear to be very plausible models for explaining human (and animal) behavior.

If you are interested in decision making and/or if you are working in the fields of psychology, economics, artificial intelligence or related fields, this book is a "must-have"! ... Read more

Book Description

Kathleen Galotti's text led the way in emphasizing the applied side of cognitive psychology. The title of the book emphasizes its "in and out" of the laboratory focus, which includes cross-cultural, individual and gender differences, as well as cognitive development through adolescence. This coverage is very unique to Galotti's text, which shows readers both the importance and the personal relevance of understanding brain function. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: IN AND OUT OF THE LABORATORY is perfect for instructors who like to supplement their primary text with readings from additional sources. Additional study aids, review questions, InfoTrac College Edition search terms and activities, and references to the CogLab Web site encourage students to get involved with the contentand help them understand even the most abstract concepts through hands-on practice and reinforcement. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Ever since Freud, we've known that we share our mental space with another mind, one that may prove quite a hindrance. It can be like a bad roommate we can't evict, leaving dirty dishes in the sink and playing the stereo too loud, and all we can do is try to adjust its excesses with a few carefully worded notes. Dr. Fredric Schiffer believes that he has located the culprit and learned how to talk to it, and his clinical success with problems like cocaine addiction, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder suggest that he's on to something. Of Two Minds is his report from the front.

A psychiatrist affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Schiffer has studied split-brain research and devised his own experiments to show that stress and anxiety are often felt more strongly in one hemisphere than the other.No simple "left brain good, right brain bad" dichotomy, it seems that those who have been affected by emotional trauma lateralize the effects, perhaps in an effort to maintain more-or-less-normal functioning. One hemisphere or the other gets stuck in the past, says Schiffer, and acts out through the patient's symptoms. His goal is integration of these two minds into a kind of team by using clever manipulation of sensory stimuli and other tools of cognitive science.

Of Two Minds is unusual in its acceptance of both scientific and emotional validity. Alternating reviews of the data with often heart-wrenching transcripts of therapy sessions, it offers a two-pronged assault on what seems to be a dual-natured problem. While it might not solve your "roommate problem" overnight, it may start you on the road to reconciliation. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Fascinating Theory You Can Experience Yourself
The book describes how you can easily stimulate one side of your brain and how this can affect your mood - and it works. After seeing Doctor Schiffer on 20/20, I tried for myself the simple test he described on TV and explains in the book. In less than a minute after covering all but my extreme left visual field, I was in tears. Trying the other side took away all my stress just as quickly and made me feel self-confident. The results of the two hemisphere theory Schiffer explains in this book worked for me. I've since shared the same test with friends and relatives. Without any previous explanation, they experience the same effects as the book predicts. This book outlines a real, practical and simple way to reduce stress. I highly recommend the book and encourage you to make your own pair of glasses as he describes. Just get a pair of $4 safety goggles and tape the lenses. My wife and I can really open up to each other by following the conversation techniques in the book, while wearing homemade pairs of glasses. I know we must look silly, but it works. My only complaint about Schiffer's book is that he focuses primarily on the theraputic value of his research. It would have been nice if he had explored the other possibilities of his discoveries. At least this book is not just another theoretical work. It has techniques in it that you can try yourself. Whether or not you believe his conclusions, you will experience the effect.

A revolutionary approach to human psychology
The ideas presented in this book is fascinating. If the dual-brain theory is confirmed, it will revolutionize the history of psychology forever.

first of it's kind
This book takes the next step in converging the many theories about two brain psychology. Most books have mearly eluded to the fact that the two brains have a possibility of being two separate entities. Dr. Schiffer has been bold enough to take the logical next step, which is to face the facts, that two separate entities are the only real way to describe the brain, and it's two halves, for, the brain's two halves are really, two brains not one. Plus, he has tangible examples, with methods for each person to find a way that they can explore this phenomenon for themselves in their own way, and at their own pace.

A terrific guide to why we feel troubled, and how to fix it.
Don't mistake this book for another tedious explanation of what it means to be right-brained or left-brained. This is a wonderful user's manual to our personalities, and specifically to why we get sad or anxious. Schiffer explains clearly and engangingly, at a level I found easy to understand (I'm not in the mental health field), how each of us essentially harbors two people in ourselves, and why we sometimes suffer because of it. Schiffer throws in plenty of convincing research and examples, and lays out a clear approach to identifying our two personalities, showing how one of them tends to cause us problems, and then dealing with it (there's a simple vision trick that can help). It's already helped me understand a lot about myself. Somehow, it's a fun read, too.

It really works. . .
I saw a piece on 20/20 by Dr. Timothy Johnson on Dr. Schiffer's goggle therapy. I have tried this method and it really works. As with many things in life, this is a case where an unorthodox manner of treatment that may at first seem strange offers impressive benefits. Anyone who is suffering from depression should read this book and incorporate its teachings. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Mindmapping and some other stuff
Mindmapping isn't a difficult concept to grasp - it's somewhat surprising the mileage that different authors have managed to extract from it.
That said, this book does offer some additional value - it covers the concepts of MindMapping with excellent clarity and, if your looking for business applications, it does that with surprising ease of reading.

Strong emphasis on business issues
This book is divided into three sections:
1: two chapters as a brief introduction to the brain and creativity
2: one chapter on how to create mind maps
3: eight chapters covering ways that mindmaps can be used within a larger context of (as the book's title says) creativity and problem-solving. Specifically, there are chapters on writing, projects, brainstorming, meetings, to-do lists, presentations, learning, and overall personal growth.

One item of note is that "Mindmapping" has a very strong emphasis on teaching you how mind maps can be used in business settings. For example, the chapter on writing has a big section on business writing, and the meetings and presentation chapters are entirely business-related. The book also covers other uses for mind maps, but not to the degree that it focuses on business. If business-related mind map information is what you're looking for, then this may well be the book for you. If you're looking for a broader-based overview of uses for, and techniques of making, mind maps however, you might not be left entirely satisfied. "Mindmapping" lost one star in my rating because of this imbalance, which ideally should be mentioned in the title: "Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving IN BUSINESS" or some such.

The other star was lost for the tendency, mentioned in other reviews here, to get off the subject of mindmapping and examine tangentally-related issues such as general tips for running meetings and the like.

Interesting uses for this book
As a IT professional, I've passed 28 computer certification tests. How? By using the principles contained in this book and mindmapping in general. Tricks for memorization, pure and simple. Mindmapping works.

Simplistic
This book is essentially a rewrite of Tony Buzan's books on mind mapping. If you're interested in mindmapping techniques, read Buza.

extremely valuable
The material is concise, and unlike many other books of this type, it is long on solid material and short on mumbo-jumbo. ... Read more

Book Description

Including valuable advice for those planning a field study, this practical manual for students and researchers studying wild primates provides essential information concerning the technical and practical aspects of field and laboratory methods.The study covers surveys and habituation, remote sensing and GPS, tracking and trapping, non-invasive genetic and endocrine assays, and ethical issues. It will be appropriate for final year undergraduates, postgraduate students and researchers in primatology, behavioral ecology and zoology. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume brings together articles from The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition. The selected articles are important benchmarks in the recent history of research and theory on the cultural and contextual foundations of human development.The central theme of this discussion can be posed as a question: How shall we develop a psychology that takes as its starting point the actions of people participating in routine, culturally organized activities? The discussion is organized in terms of a set of overarching themes of importance to psychologists and other social scientists: The nature of context; experiments as contexts; culture-historical theories of culture, context, and development; the analysis of classroom settings as a social important context of development; the psychological analysis of activity in situ; and questions of power and discourse.This text will appeal to graduate students and professionals in psychology, anthropology, education, and child development. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (8)

hope
This book offers hope in a way that many attitudes don't offer.
The criticisms of the book surprise me. Everyone talks about strategies. The author is doing that also and doing it in a hopeful way. I hate the term, attention deficit. Most people are too quick to feel that a student can't develop self-control. If a person thinks they can't control themselves, they can't. One of the psychiatrists in the mental health center where I work said that the largest handicap is often a patient's perception of the diagnosis.

There are several children's books that help children develop strategies for self-control and a hopeful attitude. One is a new book titled, Whoa Wiggle-worm. One of the characters is named Lickety-split. Cool and uncool nicknames is one of the things they deal with in the book. Self-control is shown on a level that children can relate to.

Excellent study presenting a new theory of ADHD
My main reason for writing is to point out that the earlier reviewer who criticized Barkley for the passage about the 3 Little Pigs completely misunderstood the point Barkley was trying to make. Barkley was not saying that he thought that ADHD people deserved what they got; he was saying that some people who misunderstood what ADHD was all about might believe that ADHD people deserved what they got. The reviewer did not read Barkley carefully.

Worthless
I don't mean to be mean, but this book gave me no new information about ADD. It is the same info from everything else that I have read.

More of the same
Those of you who have read other books by Barkley have already read this one. It is the same thing over and over and over again. Don't waste your money.

Essential reading for professionals, parents, ADHD adults
The previous reviewer (Bethesda, MD; 12/22/98) takes one quote out of context and grossly distorts its meaning. Dr. Barkley actually discusses the fact that *many individuals in our society* believe persons with ADHD "deserve what they get." Dr. Barkley does not possess such a callous attitude. As other reviewers have noted, this book is a remarkable synthesis of research in psychology, evolutionary biology, and the neurosciences. The theory Barkley proposes will undoubtedly be refined as researchers put it to the test. However, I suspect that in 20 years we'll look back and wonder how we could have thought ADHD was primarily an "attention disorder" as opposed to an impairment in response inhibition and self-regulation. ... Read more

Book Description

The book provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art overview of current research on cognitive and applied aspects of eye movements. The contents include peer-reviewed chapters based on a selection of papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Eye Movements (Turku, Finland 2001), supplemented by invited contributions. The ECEM conference series brings together researchers from various disciplines with an interest to use eye-tracking to study perceptual and higher order cognitive functions.

The contents of the book faithfully reflect the scope and diversity of interest in eye-tracking as a fruitful tool both in basic and applied research. It consists of five sections: visual information processing and saccadic eye movements; empirical studies of reading and language production; computational models of eye movements in reading; eye-tracking as a tool to study human-computer interaction; and eye movement applications in media and communication research.

Each section is concluded by a commentary chapter by one of the leading authorities in the field. These commentaries discuss and integrate the contributions in the section and provide an expert view on the most significant present and future developments in the respective areas.

The book is a reference volume including a large body of new empirical work but also principal theoretical viewpoints of leading research groups in the field. ... Read more

Book Description

Activity theory is an interdisciplinary approach to human sciences that originates in the cultural-historical psychology school of thought, intitiated by Vygotsky, Leont'ev and Luria. Activity theory takes the object-oriented, artifact-mediated collective activity system as its unit of analysis, thus bridging the gulf between the individual subject and the societal structure. This volume is the first comprehensive presentation of contemporary work in activity theory, with twenty-six original chapters by authors from ten countries.The first part of the book discusses central theoretical issues, and the second part is devoted to the acquisition and development of language. Part Three contains chapters on play, learning, and education, and Part Four addresses the meaning of new technology and the development of work activities.The final section covers issues of therapy and addiction. ... Read more

Book Description

This market leading text has been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest in research in perception.Clinical, Developmental, and Methodological materials are interwoven to heighten student's appreciation for the importance of the field. The authors emphasize perception in a real-world context by relating concepts to students everyday experiences.The text is known for its thematic presentation of material and its ability to present perception as a unified and coherent field. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

This book will change how you think
If there was ever a book that changed my life, this is it. This book is a synopsis of many of de Bono's other books. It is written simply and filled with bits of humour. It's a quick read, and the ideas and tools he introduces are meant to focus your thinking skills and change your perspective on how thinking is done. Please get this book and read it with an open mind. You will like it

A Must-Read for Real-Life Problem-Solvers
As a tenured law-professor in a school dedicated to teaching lawyers to solve problems creatively, I consider de Bono's book the most startlingly original and comprehensive book I've encountered on the subject. Moreover, it convincingly reveals how unaware teachers, academics, journalists, politicians, and other professionals are of the mental shackles we wear as our legacy from the Western Tradition of "thinking." For the price, it's just-under-200 pages can't be beat!

Pete and Repeat, Pete left. Who was left? Repeat. Pete and..
This book is very repetative. I repeat, this book is very repetative.

Have an open mind!
This book was a quick read and totally worth the time. De Bono explains many methods to help you keep an open mind about many common situations. He explains that the mind wants certainty in order to take action, but that sometimes to get this certainty, the mind will use a familiar pattern of thinking that may not necessarily apply to the situation under consideration, while ignoring many possibilities. The more our minds use the same patterns, the easier it is to use the same pattern even if the situation doesn't call for it. For example, say you commonly jump on the defensive in personal situations and believe people do things without considering you. You may ignore possible alternatives in many personal situations and use the same destructive pattern to interpret many of your personal encounters. In one section of the book, De Bono compares these patterns of thinking to pouring hot ink on a bowl of jello. The ink will make an indention. Then if you pour the ink and melted jello out, the indention remains. And the next time you pour hot ink into the same jello, the ink will deepen the same indention in the jello. In the same way, the more our minds use certain patterns to interpret the world, the easier it becomes to use the same patterns time and time again. This book teaches you to recognize your familiar patterns of thinking and move beyond them if necessary. A really interesting read. De Bono does not attack Western thought. On the other hand, he simply objectively describes some of the history behind it and the fact that it was necessary and most practical at one time. In the end of the book, he gives a layout for setting up a "thinking club" which if set up would probably resemble Benjamin Franklin's "Junto." Excellent read!

Pleasantly Surprised
REVIEW: I received a copy of this book by accident. I decided to read it anyway since I am a "thinking" personality type and the book looked easy to read. I was expecting the book to read like a hyped-up mass market self help book. I was pleasantly surprised. I found the book very practical, easy to read, and genuine. I picked up a good deal of useful information and helpful methods. These include understanding (within the brain) what makes things seem funny to step-by-step thinking procedures.

De bono writes very simply and even when he explains theoretical concepts the explanations are not technical. There is some tendency by the author to regularly cite his many other books and to use his own made up words and acronyms. I found the citations to the other works authentic and not overt plugs. Similarly the use of coined terms and acronyms seemed very practical and not driven by ego as I've noticed with many authors.

STRENGTHS: Very practical methods and ideas to improve thinking, easy to read, short chapters. Optional practice activities and not too technical or academic.

WEAKNESSES: Some might not like the regular use of coined terms and acronyms. Only cites his own books. Some things explained too briefly.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Anyone interested in improving their thinking. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Believe it or not you can Re-Create Your Life
Re-Create Your LIfe delivers just what it promises--it describes a method to transform yourself and the world. Morty explains how most behavioral and emotional problems stem from various beliefs and how these beliefs can be eliminated to transform behavior and feelings.

As soon as I read this book I tried the method on myself and I eliminated one belief. From then on I was fascinated and had to know more. I visited the web site of the Decision Maker Institute and signed up for a workshop to learn how to eliminate beliefs. That weekend transformed my life. I eliminated the fear I had of taking risks which was formed early in my life and I started using the process on friends and family. I went to future workshops in which I learned how to find all of the beliefs that create a pattern of behavior or a given set of emotions and since then I have been able to help friends eliminate problems like procrastination, panic attacks, phobias and have recieved money for my work.

Before I was exposed to the material in this book I had the thought that I could do anything but deep down inside there was always some doubt. Now I KNOW all people can live without limits and experience a life where anything is possible.

A good news and a bad news
The good news is delivered to you right after the introductory chit-chat. You'll be astonished to learn the reason why the traditional methods of solving one's problems don't usually work. Mr. Lefkoe has invented a completely new technique that is free from this lack and is able to reform your thinking in such a way that you stop running into the same problems over and over again.

His main idea is that many problems are caused by destructive beliefs. While traditional methods try to reform your thinking by convincing you that the harmful beliefs are totally untrue and unfounded, Mr. Lefkoe's method doesn't involve challenging the beliefs. Instead, you are to find out how the belief first evolved (usually it was in your childhood). When you have realized how the circumstances you were in produced the belief, you'll understand that the belief evolved because back then, your access to information and your capability of interpreting it were limited. It was quite reasonable for you to draw such conclusions from the circumstances you were in and the information you had. However, there is no reason for you to maintain this belief now. It is only one possible interpretation of the experiences you've had - there are numerous others and you can choose which one you prefer.

At that point you clearly see that this is just what you have missed all those years. You're ready to kiss Mr. Lefkoe's feet and are dying to finally know the details of this life-saver. Then comes the bad news: you can't do it on your own. This technique isn't suitable for self-help and can only be applied by a professional counselor. There's but a handful of them and they are God knows where.

You might feel cheated. But, if you happen to take a second look at the inner sleeve, you'll read: "describes a process that enables people to [---] solve their [---] problems". Really, no one has promised that in this book, a method will be presented THAT YOU CAN USE. You made it all up by yourself, didn't you? (I guess this must be what they call the American way of telling the truth.)

Well, I may have no right to feel betrayed, but I still do. It's quite possible that the method isn't suitable for self-treatment, but I'm absolutely convinced that if Mr. Lefkoe would have wanted to help us, he could have given us at least something - some kinds of questionnaires, a list of a few hundred of most common beliefs etc., instead of wasting a whole third of the book on some world-reforming daydreams. But he won't do that (even his web site doesn't contain anything usable), because he wants you to go to him and pay extra for getting actual help. What about those who live on the other side of the world? I guess he just doesn't give a damn.

It is obvious that Mr. Lefkoe didn't write this book in order to provide useful service to the readers but to advertise his seminars. I bet that if you'll ever have a chance to talk to him personally, he won't say you a word of any importance without having received advance payment. He will have to do without my money, however, because I returned the book. Though the book was somewhat beneficial for me, I just didn't feel Mr. Lefkoe deserved to get any money for this 240-page sales letter. Besides, reading through parts 1 and 2 once is all you need - the essential information in this book would fit on a half of a page.

By the way, some reviewers wonder why Mr. Lefkoe dwells so long over his obscure social utopias. I'll tell you why. If he could convince governments or even big companies to apply his technique, he wouldn't have to worry about his daily bread for the rest of his life. Bothering with individuals is so unsecure - you have to approach them individually and find a personal solution for each one of them. Do you imagine how much more money Mr. Lefkoe could make by giving standardized counseling to tens or even hundreds of people simultaneously?

To summarize: If you are in a desperate situation, you might want to give this book a try. You must realize that it will be clutching at a straw, but the new ideas presented in the book just might be of some help. If you don't feel desperate, you can spare reading this book. It delivers much less than what the publisher tries to make you believe. I'm giving it four stars for contents minus one for inhumanity.

If it works for you, great!
I can see some good points about this book but nothing like the other reviews I've seen. Well, sometimes one thing works for one and not another. I didn't think the description of how to put the core ideas and methods in the book into practice was particularly well done. To the author, (almost) every problem that anyone has ever had boils down to feeling "I'm not worthy enough, I'm not good enough" and I doubt the simplistic suggestions offered here will be of help to very many.

Powerfully simple and simply powerful
Both the Decision Maker Process and the book written about it are powerfully simple and simply powerful. For years I've believed "I don't matter", "I'm not worthy enough to be loved by a man", "Being in families is painful", "I don't deserve to be happy", and "The way to survive is to not let people in." These beliefs have been at the basis of undesirable patterns that have driven my life. While years of therapy, reading, retreats, and processing helped me identify the patterns and beliefs, they did very little to diminish their strength in my life. I continued to use a wall of words like a veil to separate me from my feelings, to keep me numb and not let others get close to me. In order to avoid real intimacy, I would keep busy. It was hard to relax, loosen up and have fun. Then I heard Morty Lefkoe speak at a Wellness Conference and learned about the Decision Maker Process. After experiencing three sessions of the Decision Maker Process, those beliefs no longer exist and the patterns no longer drive my life. I just married the warm, funny, supportive man I've been living with for eight years in a fun ceremony on the top of a dam above sunny water and blue sky. I'm happy to be part of a special family and stepmother to his perceptive, sweet, 11 year old boy. Each day we grow in deeper love and respect with one another. I devoted a year of college to studying other techniques and philosophies seemingly similar to the Decision Maker Process and found none. It stands as unique in helping people transform themselves and re-create their lives. The Decision Maker Process clears the way for living in a space where nothing is missing and anything is possible. That, after all, is the space we are all born into.

Learn how to stop thwarting your own success!
Have you ever wanted to lose weight but somehow kept sabotaging your efforts to do so? Or wanted to change careers but were afraid you may not have what it takes to succeed? Or were afraid of something that you knew was totally irrational but for some reason those fears kept popping up and kept you from doing things you wanted to do and from enjoying your life? Well, if so, then this is the book you need to read. RE-CREATE YOUR LIFE reveals the secret to why we do all those things that get in the way of our own happiness. And it's so simple and makes such sense! Once you understand WHY you're doing what you're doing, that it's really a survival strategy that's based on certain beliefs that you have (that may even be unconscious), you can follow the easy steps to get rid of those beliefs and totally and permanently change your behavior, your life, and the way you feel about yourself. All I can say is that it has worked for me and I have tried the process on about 20 of my friends and it has worked for every single one of them. I don't usually endorse products or books or things, but I consider this kind of a public service message. Why continue to block yourself from achieving what you want when you can learn how to live your life as if you are the one making the decisions and creating your life, which you are! ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive book covers the core principles of learning and memory in a clear, reader-friendly style, covering animal learning and human memory in a balanced fashion. The relationship between the field of neuropsychology and learning and memory has been stressed throughout the book, with special attention given to brain imaging research.The coverage of memory problems has been expanded to include sections addressing imagination inflation and recovered memory.Additional discussion of spatial memory in Chapter 11 features a discussion of the computer-based virtual mazes that are used for testing human spatial learning.Chapter 12, "Psychopathology and Memory," now includes a piece on post-traumatic stress disorder and related effects on memory. Designed for those interested in the combination of learning with memory and the psychology of learning. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Be warned: In many ways this is a terrifying book. It deals with a subject--violence against children--that most of us never want to consider. But, as Gavin de Becker stresses, such situations, though rare, can occur, so all parents must deal with the facts in order to protect their children properly. De Becker's aim is to create awareness of potential dangers and provide parents with the knowledge necessary for prevention and control. As he emphatically states in Protecting the Gift, much of this knowledge is already hard-wired in the form of intuition: "This natural ability is deep, brilliant, powerful. Nature's greatest accomplishment, the human brain, is stunningly efficient when its host is at risk, but when one's child is at risk, it moves to a whole new level, one we can justifiably call miraculous." The trick, he stresses, is trusting and acting on intuition.

In this valuable, even necessary, book, he shatters many myths about the typical profiles of regular offenders and the prevalence of such problems as sexual abuse and kidnapping. He also deconstructs the wisdom of traditional maxims such as "Never talk to strangers" and "If you are ever lost, go to a policeman." Without offering a compendium of every conceivable danger, he identifies warning signals and real risks that are often easy to spot once you know what to look for. He offers practical advice on recognizing signs of sexual abuse, choosing a baby sitter or nanny, how to prepare kids for walking to school alone, and how to teach children about potential risks without making them afraid to venture out of the house. And he continually stresses that denial and ignoring intuition are the biggest mistakes that parents make in protecting their kids from those that mean them harm. Well written and infinitely informative, Protecting the Gift affords parents more confidence and less reason for unnecessary worry. --Shawn Carkonen ... Read more

Reviews (84)

Tremendously valuable book for parents!
This is the finest book of it's type.It is must reading for all parents. . . this book is a "gift" to children and parents who follow its teachings.

A book all parents should read
Review: This is one book that EVERY parent should read. It not only gives you permission to take the necessary steps to protect your children, but it compells you to do so. Read it! And then read it again!!! You will have your eyes opened to what you can do to empower yourself and your children where their safety is concerned. At the very worst, you'll not be left with the agonising thought "If only I had done more" - by simply picking up this book and reading it you are doing more.

If you want to protect your kids - this is the book to read
I admit there were some aspects of this book that illicited a fair amount of fear, but don't let that stop you!! The main point being, once you are aware of the dangers you are better equiped to handle the situation should it arise. I love the fact that De Becker stressed the use of the parents INTUITION and empowered parents to ACT on thier intuition even if it may "seem" irrational. Because of this book I am able to talk to my kids effectively about staying safe and how to avoid having them walk around in a state of fear (stranger danger etc), but have them feel strong and confident enough to deal with a "worst case senario".

The information and research he presented about who the abusers are and how the pretators "prey" on children is something every parent should be aware of and its all here in this book.

Many parents get stuck in the "it wouldn't happen to my child" mind set, and the subject of child abuse is too awful to even think about- which is unfortunate because you can't protect your kids if you don't know what the most likely dangers are. There is no question that this book will help it's readers become SKILLED PROTECTORS of thier children.

Must Read ALL Parents
I give this now to all expectant parents. This book is life-changing. As a mother, it posed questions that I have never thought of asking. I now have the guts to ask what is most important in keeping my son safe. deBecker gives parents 'permission' to be assertive parents.

Without frightening us deBecker brings to our attention what we need to know to keep our children safe. He focuses on our instincts and his discussions make such obvious sense.

I'm at the airport posting this review and looking forward to my long flight now that I have this book. Halfway through I simply cannot put it down.
[...]

I have started to give this book as a gift to every new parent I know.Excellent excellent book.

Should be required reading
I agree with the Amazon review that this book can be terrifying, but it is necessary.Once you get past this only then can you gain the knowledge that you need to keep yourself and your child safe.Where I do not agree with Amazon's review is when it says that these things "rarely occur."While stranger abduction rarely occurs, sexual abuse among children is sadly VERY common and if unprotected, too likely to occur to our children.This book really debunks some long held myths and shows you signs to look for.It will help you protect yourself and teach you how to show your child to protect herself/himself as well.Sadly, I've recommended this book to countless friends, only a handful are willing to read it.Some are afraid to confront their biggest fears, others are cynical stating "It's only common sense, why would I pay $10 to read that!" Then I ask them "Should your child talk to strangers?"They always answer incorrectly and I tell them they should just cough up the $10.Your child's safety is priceless.$10 is an AMAZINGLY low price to pay to educate yourself. ... Read more

Amazon.com

As you read this, at some level you're aware that you're reading, thanks to a standard human feature commonly referred to as consciousness. What is it--a spiritual phenomenon, an evolutionary tool, a neurological side effect?The best scientists love to tackle big, meaningful questions like this, and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio jumps right in with The Feeling of What Happens, a poetic examination of interior life through lenses of research, medical cases, philosophical analysis, and unashamed introspection. Damasio's perspective is, fortunately, becoming increasingly common in the scientific community; despite all the protestations of old-guard behaviorists, subjective consciousness is a plain fact to most of us and the demand for new methods of inquiry is finally being met.

These new methods are not without rigor, though. Damasio and his colleagues examine patients with disruptions and interruptions in consciousness and take deep insights from these tragic lives while offering greater comfort and meaning to the sufferers. His thesis, that our sense of self arises from our need to map relations between self and others, is firmly rooted in medical and evolutionary research but stands up well to self-examination. His examples from the weird world of neurology are unsettling yet deeply humanizing--real people with serious problems spring to life in the pages, but they are never reduced to their deficits. The Feeling of What Happens captures the spirit of discovery as it plunges deeper than ever into the darkest waters yet. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (40)

great Book.
Dmasio has been setting the background for his theory of consciousness from the early 90es with publications on convergence zones, and on neuropsychology. His book Descartes Error discusses emotional and affective states as regulated by homeostatic processes, an important part of his theory of consciousness. His is a second order theory of consciousness with an special role for the self. He starts with definitions, and he introduces many concepts, some of which are useful, others too vauge or not-obviously helpful. He introduces the proto-self, the core-self, and the autobiographical self. Consciousness will itself consist in core consicousness and extended consciousness.

The proto self is just an image of the body as represented by homeostatic and regulating mechanisms of the brain. Brain stem nuclei, hypothalami, insular and somatosensory cortices are essential in this story. The proto self in nonconscious, and is the foundation of the core self one of the protagonists of the making of consicousness. Consciousness is a feeling because it is rooted on the proto self, on body signals. The core self is is a transistent and repeatedly re-created entity for each object. Damasio holds that it is the core self in relationship with an object that is essential for consciousness. The object is just the content of perceptual representations, and is largely understood. Core Consciousness then is about two things. The organism (core self)involved in relating to an object, and the object in the relation causing the organims to change. (So perception has effects on bodily states, on musculoskeletal reactions, etc..).

Consciousness is create in 3 steps according to Damasios model. The first step leads to a non verbal account of what happens in the brain when the organism interacts with the object, a mapped narrative that creates the feeling of knowing. Then objects of the organisms experience are reactivated mnemonically in recall by core consicousness. Collections of these memorized objects become the objects of ones autobiography, and so the autobiographical self is created. Finally, the holding simustaniously active the images of the autobiographical self and the object, with the enhancement of language, memory, attention and learning, creates the extended consciousness familiar to humans.

The neural mappings of the object and the organism reacting to the object are first order maps. This is insufficient for core consicousness. Consciousness occurs when an organim forms a second order mapping of the happenings of the first orer maps, second order maps that describe the relationship between the object and the organism. The second order maps represent the organism in the process of making first order maps related to the aprprehension of an object. This is the crucial step in Damasios account. Proposed neural sites of these second order mappings are the colliculus, the thalamus, the cingulate cortices, some medial parietal areas and the predrontal areas. For theoretical reasons, Damasio favours the thalamus and the cingulate cortices.

Damasio presents a lot of evidence in favour of his theory, but to my mind, not all of it is remotely conclusive. For example, Damasio cites that cingulate damage creates akinetic mutism, and holds this helps his case. But he does not tells us that not all cingulate damage causes akinetic mutism, nor that akinetic mutism is not described by patients as unconsciousness, but as a loss of thought and volition. Thalamus damage causes loss of consciousness, as do some nuclei involved in creating the proto-self. But the reasons for this are that (thalamus, and reticular activating system) these contribute to cortical activation in general. They may play a role in Damasios speculations, but this is not obvious. He dismisses frontal and parietal areas too quickly. Parietal damage can cause neglect, whcih is a disturbance of consciousness. If it is true that frontal lobe damage does not cause loss of consicousness, it is not clear that it might not be a sufficient(assuming there are many of these) but not necessary condition for it. Working memory and planning might enrich extended consciousness considerably.

Damasio is also holding a philosophical position when he holds that a second order patern is whan creates consciousness. Contrast this whith HOT theories who claim that consicousness is having second order thoughts about other thoughts. If so, objection to HOT theories might be raised against damasio. Is this higher order map necessary and sufficient for consciousness, or only to instrospective mechanisms, self-consciousness, or cognitive higher abilities? How about phenomenal consicousness? Is the cingulate important for consicousness because of the role damasio gives to it, or because (as many studies show) the cingulate modulates attentive, emotional, and intrasensory integration functions? Damasio himself notes that attention, emotions and other functions may be linked to consciousness, but are not consicousness . How about theories that hold that the sufficient and necessary conditions for, say, consicousness of color, is simply activation in v4, a first order map, as many studies suggest? is attention really independent of consciousness, as Damasio holds? research shows that attention might be a pre-condition for a stimulus to enter awareness.

Damasio got some things right, but he undoubtedly got others wrong. His approach is ambitious and informative, as well as very plausible. I recomend this book highly, but I do not think at the end Damasios theory will stand as it is presented in this book.

Analysis of Levels of Consciousness.
Like the Roman aqueduct of Segovia, Spain, Dr. Damasio has built a monument, block by block. At the clinical level this book is a must for neuropsychiatrists when searching for rational guidance in their therapeutic approaches. At the scientific level, Dr. Damasio has accomplished,singlehandedly, what Watson and Crick did in piecing together portions of multifaceted data to give birth their DNA mosaic; but it had to wait for Nirenberg's genetic code to achieve a solid scientific status. As we move forward to the philosophical level, we find Damasio's projections somewhat illusive. To start with, he seems to have a confusion between 'awareness' and 'consciousness'; the latter lacking the purpose element that underlies the former. Awareness brings together the object and the body for an effective adaptive goal (which may not even require being conscious,see "Thinking About my Thoughts", submitted in Dec.'99 for March 2000 publication in Telicom* by the undersigned). Consciousness is just 'experiencing' or "feeling the feelings". We may agree up to the "feeling" but being able to feel the self is a qualitative jump. At the end of the book Dr. Damasio substitutes the "object" being imaged by the brain for an 'emotion' and then reasons that if you can image an object (ideal or natural), you can also image the subject of the emotion. The problem being that the an object (natural or ideal) has essence and existence, is substantive whereas an 'emotion' is a predicate, devoid of an independant existence, devoid of the "self" he is claiming to have felt. Perhaps just as serious is his scalpel excision of language from his conceptual model. "Language" is any system of signs useful to man to communicate his thoughts"** By limiting the definition of language to its most sophisticated stage of evolution, the spoken word, it is understandable that it can't be accomodated in his conceptual model. Interoceptive (body), exteroceptive (object) and language domains are interactive and form a "feeling" but 'feeling the self' is incorporating interactively the non-materiality of 'self'into the materiality of the brain, a pipe dream!.

*Telicom is a publication of the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (ISPE) **Biopsychosociology, Limusa Ed, Mexico 1987, by the undersigned.

Excellent Attempt by Damasio to Explain Us to Ourselves
Damasio breaks down into minute, qualitative descriptive detail how the boby/brain functions in humans, and ergo, de facto, many mammals. This book's strength is that Damasio backs up his claims regarding neural anatomy, physiology, and function with specific examples from comparative neuropathology. The book's weakness is that he goes on at length with qualitative descriptions for non-intuitive notions like how the body and brain function as a singular unit, and how emotions and feelings are integral along with body/brain physiology. I say this is the book's weakness because Damasio often bogs down and even tries to describe phenomena that are possibly ineffable, but these attempts at qualitative description are also one of the strengths of this book. This may seem contradictory, but possibly the book would have read differently if the author had stuck to purely quantitative case studies. However he did not, so we get through Damasio's several qualitative, alternate descriptions of singular phenomena an attempt to flesh out and make organic the dry clinical data. On the one hand the book could have been more concise without the extended descriptive sections, on the other hand the book possibly becomes richer and more meaningful because of them; this is up to the reader to decide.

Having said this, the book itself endeavors to demonstrate how consciousness emerges from gross neuroanatomy and physiology. In this Damasio is successful in using neuropathology to define terms such as: homeostasis, consciousness, language, mental images, neuronal maps, cathexis, and hedonic tone (although he does not use these two latter terms explicitly). In all honesty Damasio is very strict about defining his terms. Even though the author writes to a popular audience some knowledge of neuroanatomy and physiology is helpful in reading this book for maximum effect; although this book would be a good beginning for those interested in neurology. In General, the appendix, 'Notes on Mind and Brain,' should probably be read prior to reading the main body of text, especially if the reader is weak in basic neurology. In any event, Damasio is big on forming neologisms although he spends adequate time defining and explaining them. As a neurologist, he always couches his arguments in materialist, Darwinistic terms.

A good way to describe the structure of this often rambling, inchoate book, is to briefly compare it to Dr. Paul McLean's triune brain model. The triune brain posits the reptilian brain (brain stem) as primary, the mammal brain (thalamus, limbic, etc.) as secondary, and the primate brain (cortex) emerging evolutionarily later as tertiary. Damasio uses a similar foundation in positing the proto-self, the core self, and the autobiographical self (I told you there were a lot of neologisms), but he does so in a way that has them all hang together as a synchronous, functioning unit. The proto-self is rather the sense of homeostatic organism state, where the core self is the 'transcient but conscious reference to the individual organism in which events are happening' (to get a taste of Damasio's descriptive effluence), and the autobiographical self is the more cortical, temporal sense of self derived from transcendental yet highly efficacious ideas about past and future. It can all get pretty incoherent, but a complete reading of the book supplies numerous neural correlates which shore up the author's assertions.

In the end it is hard not to recommend this book because, in the reading of it, the author lights upon accurate though transitory descriptions of what it means to have a brain and be conscious. He places emotions and feelings (better see his definitions of these two terms) in their proper place in neural events. Indeed Damasio does well in defining a neural basis for epistemology [p. 130, 137, 138, 296, 305, 316] and idealism [p. 320, 322]. In closing Damasio admits that 'we cannot characterize yet all the biological phenomena that take place between (a) our current description of a neural pattern, at varied neural levels, and (b) our experience of the image that originated in the activity within the neural maps.' Indeed we may never be able accomplish such a correlation absolutely, but in the reading of a book such as this one, and say, Edelman's "A Universe of Consciousness," we see we are not very far off either.

Tony tumbles temples
Damasio is not one to let traditional concepts restrain expression of good research. This book overturns many long-held ideas, replacing them with fresh insights on how our minds and bodies interact. Not afraid to tackle the big questions, Damasio offers a rich, substantial analysis of how our brains and bodies interact. That interaction is called our "mind". It's not always easy to see how these two aspects of ourselves are so intimately merged, but Damasio makes it all clear in this book. Why does consciousness feel to us in the manner it does?

Essential to Damasio's analysis of consciousness is his division of it. "Core" consciousness is the brain's "automatic" processes - breathing, heartbeat and the countless other biological functions. "Extended" consciousness is the realm of memory, conception, "thinking" and other aspects we generally associate with the mind. The latter are those featured in most cognitive studies, which he argues are inadequate. Damasio stresses repeatedly that the "core" - "extended" distinction isn't absolute. The links between core and extended consciousness are multiple and varied. They occur in many places in the brain and its association with the rest of the body. He calls for further studies on those interactions as the foundation for a better understanding of full consciousness.

Damasio has particularly fine presentation skills. He puts us at ease in describing his patients, his theories and how they fit together. His patients, after all, are only us with some brain disturbance. Many are people we could encounter daily. They have, however, suffered some malady that disconnects essential parts of their brains' mechanism. Damasio explains in an intimate conversational style what they are suffering. Consciousness in these people has been impaired. The impairment is in the realm of emotion and feeling.

Those two terms are the core of Damasio's thesis. Unlike mainstream cognitive scientists, he separates them, with one being the "public" expression and the other private. Feelings belong to us, where emotions are shared with the world. He is breaking new ground in cognitive studies with his work. The result is a highly detailed book, with intense examination of brain operations. A reader unfamiliar with these topics may find the book increasingly challenging as you progress through the topics. The rewards for persistence, however, are rich. Damasio has provided an innovative scenario of how consciousness is structured. This book deserves serious attention and will remain fundamental for some time.[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

shoddy writing, wonderful ideas
I haven't read this book, but my biology professor in college is one of the foremost researchers in the field of neuroscience, and has told me that the ideas and theories set forth by Damasio are very respected in their field. My professor, like many other researchers and science scholars, has read the book several times, and his only criticism of it is that the writing is horrible and hard to get through. He said the sentences are belabored and ridiculous, but worth reading anyhow because of the groundbreaking information set forth in this book. Other books he recommends: Phantoms of the Brain, the less scientific The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, and an unrelated one: Botany of Life. ... Read more

Book Description

This market leading text has been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest in research in perception.Clinical, developmental, and methodological material are interwoven to heighten student's appreciation for the importance of the field.The authors emphasize perception in a real-world context by relating concepts to students everyday experiences.The text is known for its thematic presentation of material and its ability to present perception as a unified and coherent field. ... Read more

Book Description

Working memory is currently a "hot" topic in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Because of their radically different scopes and emphases, however, comparing different models and theories and understanding how they relate to one another has been a difficult task. This work offers a much-needed forum for systematically comparing and contrasting existing models of working memory. It does so by asking each contributor to address the same comprehensive set of important theoretical questions on working memory. The answers to these questions elucidate the emerging general consensus on the nature of working memory among different theorists and clarify incompatible theoretical claims that must be resolved in future research. As such, this volume serves not only as a milestone that documents the state of the art in the field, but also as a theoretical guidebook that will promote new lines of research and more precise and comprehensive models of working memory. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Failed Attempt...
There are many different scientific models of how human memory works. This book's authors posed the same eight questions to a doz