Book Description

In this revision of their ground-breaking book, the authors offer an even more balanced, integrated, and applied text. In addition, the book's multidimensional framework, integration of the biopsychosocial dimensions for assessing social functioning, attention to foundation knowledge and diversity, and use of case studies to illuminate the applied aspects of HBSE content all combine to give readers an experience that is meaningful and exciting.Using a unique, multidimensional framework for assessing behavior, the authors look at biopsychosocial development across the life span. Essentially, the framework provides a concrete tool for the reader to assess human behavior from a perspective that truly reflects the values and knowledge base of the social work profession. Lively and comprehensive, this book succeeds by helping students connect foundation knowledge with practice concerns. ... Read more

Book Description

In this accessible text, David Morgan explains the fundamental principals of learning and cognition while employing the central organizing theme that the notion of learning and cognition are best conceptualized as processes that allow animals, including humans, to adapt to complex environments over time. ... Read more

Book Description

Sensory Secrets drives home the importance of using information from all the senses to develop foundational skills necessary for growing, learning, decision making, and communication.It is a guide to promote successful learning and positive behavior in people of all ages.Sensory Secrets is a must for parents; pre-school, kindergarten, and elementary education teachers; homeschoolers; and anyone who wishes to expand their understanding of neurology, thereby increasing positive outcomes.Sensory Secrets is written in an easy to read style with examples, ideas, and strategies.The Foundational Skills Inventory is included as a tool to assist educators and empower parents while locating possible areas of need to facilitate learning.Parents need this book the day they bring their newborn home from the hospital. ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Thumbs UP for Sensory Secrets
This book was fantastic! It was well written, easy to understand, and accurate. Catherine generated wonderful ideas for parent/child activities that can be immediately implemented to help change children's lives.

I will use the Foundational Skills Inventory in my practice and share it with other therapists. It is easy for parents, educators and other health professionals to use to highlight areas of concern, and to clearly communicate with the occupational therapist. I plan to order it in tablet form as soon as it becomes available.

A must read for OT students! I highly recommend this book!

Great tool for parents and professionals
Catherine's book is a great tool for learning about sensory integration. It is easy to read and understand. She offers many useful strategies for working with children with multiple problems. Her functional skills inventory is simple to use and can be a way of tracking progress of a student over time as skills are achieved. I highly recommend this book.

sensory secrets how to jump start learning in children
Of everything that I've read this is the best book. Its a fairly quick read. It's broken down into very specific catigories. It gives you warning signs. It tells you how to work on a problem with professionals. It shows you hundreds of ways to work on each specific sensory motor problem. It also helps you to evaluate your own child and explains how certain holes in the learning foundation could quickly lead to learning diviculties later on in life (early grade school). If you feel that there is a problem with your child and you can't put your finger on it - this is the book that will give you invaluable stepping stones.

Great "Intro" Book
I found this to be a wonderful book for parents just entering the world of Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I explains so many of the terms and theories used by Occupational Therapists. However, this truly is an introduction, and not very helpful to anyone who has been working with an OT for any length of time.

If you don't have this one, you're library is not complete!!
Great book, very very good!!! You must have this one for your resource shelves. Therapists need the inventory for use in practice. What a great communication tool for parents, teachers and others to communicate with therapists. It helps parents to 'talk therapy talk,' just by filling in the inventory. The sensory secret checklist is great too. If you put this one on top of your list, you will recommend it too. Easy reading, with life changing information!!! ... Read more

Book Description

Judgment pervades human experience.Do I have a strong enough case to go to trial?Will the Fed change interest rates?Can I trust this person? This book examines how people answer such questions.How do people cope with the complexities of the world economy, the uncertain behavior of friends and adversaries, or their own changing tastes and personalities?When are people's judgments prone to bias, and what is responsible for their biases?This book compiles psychologists' best attempts to answer these important questions. ... Read more

Book Description

This text examines the fundamentals of solving a scientific research problem, focusing on the relationship between the problem and the research design. This edition includes new information about computer statistical software, multivariate statistics, research ethics, and writing research reports in APA style. This book is ideal for graduate students in that it covers statistics, research methodology, and measurement all in one volume. This is a book that graduate students will keep as a reference throughout their careers. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Foundations of Behavioral Research
Foundations of Behavioral Research by Kerlinger and Lee is one of my prescribed books, for a Research course that I am taking, as part of a Masters program.

In the course of working through the book, we (my fellow students and I), have encountered a large number of spelling, grammatical and even content errors. The book needs careful reading and editing.

However, the book has a lot to offer if you can look beyond the flaws mentioned above.

One of a kind
There are very few books written that covers as many important topics in behavioral research methods as this one. Earlier editions were outstanding and the fourth edition is exceptional. The new material in the 4th Edition is helpful to today's researcher. Both researcher and student doing research should have this book. The examples are extremely useful in facilitating the understanding of research methods and the analysis of data.

Kerlinger is the Behavioral Research Bible
This volume includes everything a student or professional researcher needs to know about the methods and principles of behavioral research. This comprehensive guide can be used for work in psychology, nursing, sociology, market research and other areas. ... Read more

Book Description

Step-by-step guidelines to applying empirically supported cognitive behavior therapies

Cognitive Behavior Therapy brings together all the techniques of cognitive behavior therapy into one comprehensive volume. In more than sixty chapters, an international group of contributors offer complete information on the details of implementing empirically supported therapeutic techniques to treat a wide range of presenting problems, including smoking cessation, stress management, habit reversal, pain management, and many others.

This book assists you in properly and successfully delivering a large number of effective treatment techniques. The broad array of empirically supported techniques, thoroughly covered by leading experts in each discipline, provides a unique resource for thorough and proper administration of effective therapies for a wide range of clinical problems. A range of basic to more complex methods in cognitive behavior therapy is identified, including standard behavior therapy and cognitive therapy techniques, as well as up-to-date procedures such as acceptance strategies and mindfulness.

Complete with helpful tables clearly explaining, step by step, the implementation of each therapeutic technique, Cognitive Behavior Therapy is an essential tool for mental health practitioners and researchers working with these specialized therapies. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A very useful for clinical practice
This volume is one of the most complete and useful tools available for the application of cognitive-behavioral interventions. Instead of a dry academic text that is difficult to apply or a poorly grounded and loose set of guidelines, you get a scientifically grounded and precise set of interventions for a variety of different problems.

Any cognitve-behavioral clinician who does not have this volume will be missing something which may help them solve some of their most difficult problems.

As a clinical psychology professor, I use this with my students.

A good reference on CBT skills
The book serves a good reference for essential CBT skills, with easy-to-understand format and step-by-step illustrations. For experienced clinican with solid theortical background, it can serve as a quick reference and reminder for good tools available in our hands. ... Read more

Book Description

This mid-level book introduces and explains statistical concepts and principles clearly, assuming minimal mathematical sophistication but avoiding a "cookbook" approach. The book also presents a broader outlook on hypothesis testing by including such often-neglected concepts as statistical power, indices and other techniques. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

It is the most understandable statistics book for beginners
I have been using this book in my statistics classes since 1990. It is so easy to understand for undergraduate students. Authors give really good examples to explain some complex subjects of statistics. These examples make the book more readable..

I would recommend this book.
This book was very informative. It explained things clearly and was useful in learning Statistics. ... Read more

Book Description

This guide to the WAIS-III and WMS-III tests is written to help clinical practitioners achieve efficient and accurate interpretations of test results. The only interpretive guide to be based on data obtained while standardizing the tests, this reference source provides new models for interpreting results, as well as practical information on the diagnostic validity, demographically corrected norms, and accuracy of the tests in measuring intelligence and memory.

The focus of information is to allow clinicians to reduce variance in the interpretations of scores, indicating how best to factor in socio-economic status of respondents, interpreting meaningful change in serial assessments, and scoring with alternate or omitted sub-tests. Also included in the book are chapters on accommodating clients with disabilities. The final chapter discusses frequently asked questions (with answers) on the use and interpretation of the tests, as well as practical issues to help make scoring time-efficient and accurate.

KEY FEATURES
* Only guide to be based on data obtained in the standardization of the tests
* Practical examples given to help guide interpretation of scores
* Focuses on information to make faster, more accurate scoring interpretations ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Arsenal For Attacking Flawed Presentations
A presentor is usually happy when people pose questions, as long as they are not critical questions. Most of the time the audience doesn't pose any questions because they simply don't know what questions to ask or how to formulate those questions.

The prinicipal points of this book:

Establishing the issue and the conclusion.
- Knowing and agreeing with the counterpart on the issue prevents us from veering off away from the subject of discussion. People like chaning the issue when they feel trapped.
- Listening to the person's conclusion about the mentioned issue which will indicate the person's opinion.

What are the reasons for their arguments on a certain suject?
- Reasoning takes many roads but often we don't know how to counter weak reasoning. Key words that give way to faulty reasoning with no substance to back up the argument.

Finding words that are ambiguous
- Counterparts discussing a subject, saying the same thing with several key words but some words have many meanings. Make sure you are talking about the same thing.

What are the value conflicts and assumptions?
- Value conflicts are explosive because of different political, religous and moral beliefs. A speaker who is devoutly religious will try and bring biblical arguments in to reasoning which for someobdy who is an athiest, would mean absolutely nothing.

How good is the evidence: Appeals to authority and testamonials.
- Probably one of the most abused factors in supporting an argument. How often have you heard, "Experts on the subject state 70% of medical doctors say x,y and z habits are great for your health". Don't forget to ask who the authority is. The more general authority and testamonials are the weaker the argument. The authors of many surveys make them biased. e.g. If scientific study has proven that smoking is good for your health and the author of the article is a lobbyist for the tobbaco industry, could it be possible that the author has something to gain from the study? If so ask what other authors or experts say about the subject. The so called industry specific gurus who give their testamonials are in most cases biased, because they have something to gain with the report.

Deceptive statistics are also factors that need to be examined closely. When a presentor starts talking about averages and percentages, ask which average and how large the sampeling was on people who took the survey. You would be surprised about how many presentors do not know anything about the facts they are presenting.

The author does not only wirte about critical thinking but has included many exercises to acitvate the reader to look for faulty reasoning and how to build up questions to counter evidence being presented. It is a great introduction text to critical thinking.

If You Are Intimidated by Critical Thinking, Try This!
"Critical thinking" can seem like an intimidating task (and that is a shame, because the world would be such a better place if more people could learn to think critically!). My guess is that this book was written for people with just such fears, and so I am grateful it exists. There are very few books that can introduce a beginner to the thrill of critical thinking in a way seems fairly uncomplicated, and yet that fosters progressive competency. Just as the "user friendly" title implies, each chapter is easy to understand. Concepts are broken down into basic parts. Application of principles is invited through a wealth of interesting and brief articles within each chapter. The book's concepts can be assessed with relevant questions, and diverse exercises which incorporate various learning styles. I have utilized this text for community college instruction since the book's first edition. What I love about this book is that its simplicity allows me to readily pull in related information without disrupting the flow (so even for a teacher, the book is very user friendly, and able to accommodate creative explorations). Chapters need not be assigned in sequence in order for the book to work. Even the lay-out says to a potential student, "Come and try critical thinking; it is not scary, and you will soon become better at it than you think!" (Believe me, in contast, many critical thinking books are dense, and their lay-out can subtly add another layer of resistance for the beginning critical thinker.) Every semester with this text, students catch the thrill of thinking for themselves. They see real life applications within every chapter, and that is what hooks them. Student feedback often indicates that the class (with this text as its core) has "opened up the world." Yes, the book is an excellent launching point to a systematic way of exploration. This way, once begun, eventually leads to everything (since all knowledge is connected). I do not know what it would be like to use this book in isolation. I have used it only in a class, where critical thinking skills can be "tried out" in the context of group interactions. My guess is that practicing good thinking would be harder (and less fun) without this kind of dialogue and exchange. In saying this, I don't mean to discourage individuals from trying this book. However, if you have a chance to use this book at the same time as others are using it, that is what I would recommend.

Maybe "user-friendly" makes it average...
It took my a while to read through the book... a sign of boring content... I would say the book is good for a beginner in this field, it provides many examples, which are easy to grasp, but which I found too basic for the more advanced reader... or which even constitute common sense.
It may be well suited to be covered in High School ... not much more to add (sorry).
While I haven't looked around, I am convinced there a better titles out there.

Teaching Students to THINK!
I first utilized this excellent book in undergraduate classes about a year ago.I enjoyed using it and it received accolades from the students, (once they realized that sometimes, thinking is WORK!)

It is "user-friendly", and the segments in each chapter are short but concise. There are numerous exercises after each section so that the student can put to immediate use, their newly acquired knowledge.

But I believe the highest praise came from the students that jokingly complained, "I can't think the same way anymore!" They had become "Critical Thinkers". And we can certainly use all of those that we can get! ... Read more

Book Description

Bolstered by national television exposure on Oprah and a cover story in the New York Times Magazine, the "down low"-a term used to refer to "straight" men who have sex with men-was thrust into the open in 2004. Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aide, goes beyond the hype with the first responsible, eye-opening look at the down low sensation. Unlike all previous accounts on the topic, Beyond the Down Low presents the DL not merely as a problem of gay and bisexual men living in the shadows, but more as an example of America's unwillingness to engage in critical but uncomfortable conversations about black sexuality. Boykin details how society has helped to create an environment where black gay and bisexual men feel compelled to lead double lives. Meanwhile, the dialogue that has taken place in the black community encourages an unhealthy battle of the sexes, ignores the complexity of the closet, demonizes bisexuality, disempowers women, and misdirects public resources and attention. This book is a timely and well researched answer to the question, "Why are so many black men on the DL?" More importantly, it is an essential tool to pry open the closet door in black America. ... Read more

Book Description

Understanding temporal integration by the brain is expected to be among the premier topics to unite systems, cellular, computational, and cognitive neuroscience over the next decade. The phenomenon has been studied in humans and animals, yet until now, there has been no publication to successfully bring together the latest information gathered from this exciting area of research. For the first time, Functional and Neural Mechanisms of Interval Timing synthesizes the current knowledge of both animal behavior and human cognition as related to both technical and theoretical approaches in the study of duration discrimination. Chapters written by the foremost experts in the field integrate the fields of time quantum and psychophysics, rhythmic performance and synchronization, as well as attentional effort and cognitive strategies through the linkage of time as information in brain and behavior. This cutting-edge scientific work promotes a concerted view of timing and time perception for those on both sides of the behavior-biology divide. With Functional and Neural Mechanisms of Interval Timing neuroscientists, ethologists, and psychologists will gain the necessary background to understand the psychophysics and neurobiology of this crucial behavior. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

State of the Art Picture
The Birth of the Mind is a really excellent book. Gary Marcus has unified data from more than 500 papers into the state of the art picture of the interactions of the genome and the brain. Well organized and clearly written, Birth leaves no doubt that genes play a crucial role in programming the development of the brain, and paints a Vermeer-like picture of the nature of the influence. In doing so he addresses head on the two main objections to this view. He explains how only 30000 genes can encode a huge and complex brain by showing how genes can have multiple roles and act in groups to perform complex functions. And he resolves the conflict between nature and nurture by showing that the genes code flexible circuits that continue to adapt in response to the environment.

Readers interested in The Birth of the Mind will also enjoy What is Thought?. What is Thought? looks not so much at how the brain wires up, but at the computations mind performs, seeing the genome as source code and the brain as an executable. Recent results in computer science then suggests answers to big "why" questions. What is Thought? suggests fundamental computational principles why the genome being so compact is integral to the computations the brain performs being meaningful, and why learning requires the genome to encode meaningful information into circuits that adapt, as well as why the genome encodes consciousness which has the qualities we experience.

Clearest account of the nature vs. nurture debate.
I very much enjoyed and learned from this new and innovative book, Birth of the Mind by Dr. Gary Marcus. Still, before I could write my own review I came across a professional review in one of Britain's most distinguished journals, Nature Neuroscience. I present it instead:

"About half of the estimated 30,000-odd genes in the human genome are expressed in the brain. Among these genes is hidden the explanation for our unique human cognitive abilities, and for many of the differences between individual people. Developmental neurobiology is the essential bridge for connecting genome to behavior, but despite its obvious importance, there has not yet been a popular book devoted to this subject.

"The Birth of the Mind is an ambitious attempt to fill this gap. The author, Gary Marcus, is a cognitive scientist, but he has learned a lot about developmental neurobiology and has written a concise and very readable introduction to the field. By drawing on related disciplines such as genetics, cognitive science and evolution, he provides an overview of how the interaction between genome and environment gives rise to the human brain and by extension the human mind.

"Marcus gives as clear an account as I have ever seen of the nature versus nurture 'debate' In fact, most biologists no longer regard this as a debate (genes and environment are both important), and the fact that it is still perceived as such by the public may reflect the lack of clear popular account, which this book now provides.

"He also dispels a more recent myth, namely that there is a ˜gene shortage™ that precludes genes from encoding complex behaviors. It is admittedly surprising that we have only 30,000 genes but 100 billion neurons, particularly given that the nematode C. elegans has nearly as many genes yet only 302 neurons. But as Marcus makes clear, genes are complex individually and give rise to even greater complexity by acting in combination; moreover, the truth is that we have no basis for surprise, absent a theory to explain how many genes are needed for a given degree of biological complexity"

"Einstein famously advised that everything should be made as simple as
possible, but no simpler. Marcus takes this to heart, and his book contains
many simplifications but few misrepresentations.

"... enjoyable to read [and written] with a light touch .... I have no
hesitation recommending it to students, scientists from other disciplines, or lay readers wanting to learn something about this fascinating and fast-developing field."

[Nature Neuroscience, April 2004, at p. 117, by Charles Jennings, Executive
Editor of the Nature Research Journals.]

Science writing at its best!
This is an extraordinary book. It brings the reader up to speed on the fascinating and important research that is uncovering how genes and the environment conspire to build brains of extraordinary complexity. The writing is crystal clear, the style is engaging, and Marcus makes the cutting edge science he's discussing accessible to any intelligent reader. This is science writing at its best. If you enjoy reading other great science writers like Pinker and Dawkins, you'll find this a great read!

Building plans and specifications for your mind?
If you are among those still arguing the "nature versus nurture" debate has been resolved, visit an English Lit class. The humanities continue skirting the notion that genes play a role in our mental life. It challenges our ideal of "free will". Marcus, in this matchless survey, argues that "what's good for the body is good for the mind". And few dispute that genes build bodies. The mind, like the body, has deep evolutionary roots. Even the simple organisms inhabiting the planet with us today show how brains develop. Increased complexity of body is reflected in brain structure. And the mind, he reminds us, resides in the brain.

Marcus explains his notion with a wealth of research, most of it very recent. He explains how similar our brain structure is to that of other animals and what that implies for behaviour. The mechanism of building brains is common to all animal life, even when the final product varies. Genes transmit signals - "recipes" - of structure and function for all parts of the body. Brains, he continually reminds us, are not that different from livers. Neurons proceed from points of origin, finding appropriate areas to reside and assume functional duties. From origin to operation they show flexibility and adaptability. In this, Marcus argues, it's clear the brain is no different than any other organ.

It is our brain's interaction with the rest of the body that sets us somewhat apart from the other animals. Language, the element we hold so dear in protecting our unique status, is given a thorough examination in this book. There are no "language genes", Marcus stresses, but there are identified genes, notably FOXP2, known to impact speech ability. He explains that looking for "genes for" something is futile. Genes interact in too convoluted a manner to expect simple associations between a few nucleotides and something as complicated as speech.

Marcus offers a novel term to counter those railing against the strawman "genetic determinism". Having explained how evolution has led to building brains, he declares them "prewired" but not "hardwired". "Prewired" means that basic functions are spelled out biologically, but don't limit our interaction with our environments. All brains permit flexibility by neurons interacting with each other as conditions vary. We can learn because we are prewired to learn. However, we've only begun the research where our brains are concerned.

Marcus presents this trove of information with amazing clarity. His topics aren't simple mechanisms or ideas, yet he conveys it all with graceful logic. He avoids "dumbing down" the science, yet nothing is lost in his presentation. His theme and supporting examples, buttressed by a glossary and extensive bibliography, are expressed in delightfully accessible prose. Some explanatory graphics depict various elements and mechanisms in furthering the reader's understanding. The underlying concept is "universality" and it's easy to see how his ideas apply to all animal life.

This is a valuable book, easily absorbed by students, professionals in many fields, including, in the final chapter, lawyers. The general public should be the primary market for this book since Marcus makes clear what has been learned may be applied in various ways, from "gene therapy" to "designer children". He doesn't avoid the hard issues in showing how recent science has closed off many myths while opening as many new options. Further research is needed, he argues, to avoid foolish mistakes. Those failing to read this book may make or allow those errors. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

The 'gosh, golly' guide to genes, brains and minds.
This book is reasonably enjoyable and informative. The topic is a difficult one, and I think the author is successful in providing a comprehensible overview of a large, complex, and incompletely understood scientific project.

My main criticism is that the author seems to be uncertain about the audience for whom he is writing. At times he is glib and humorous, using colloquialisms and expressions which will quickly date. At other times, understanding the text requires expert knowledge. For example you might quess in Figure 5.3 that Pcx and Ncx stand for Paleocortex and Neocortex, but can you be confident in Figure 7.2 that the orthogonal axes labelled 'M' and 'R' are actually medial and rostral? Having decided to copy illustrations from other sources, the author should have edited them fully, or left the explanatory codes untouched. ... Read more

Book Description

With over four hundred new citations, Cognitive Neuroscience, Second Edition, embraces the latest findings in this cutting-edge field. A revised chapter two, "The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Cognition," introduces new analysis of the chemical systems that support cognition, outlines the modulation of neuronal transmission during development and disease, and increases coverage of the function of membrane receptors in neurochemistry. An entirely new chapter three, "Gross and Functional Anatomy of Cognition," provides a foundation for working through the functional analysis of cognitive systems in subsequent chapters. The Second Edition also includes extensive coverage of computational modeling, highlighting the ways in which modeling demonstrates the neural mechanisms of cognition. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Not an Introductory Text
I am currently studying this text in an introductory class. It seems to be a source of frustration to most of the course's students.

The text's overall organization is to compare studies of animals and humans, discuss how they differ from or support one another, and show how they may reveal underlying mechanisms for behavior. However, this structure is never made clear. To the beginning psych student, the text comes across as a jumbled mess of conflicting data and jargon. There is no glossary supplied, and as if that weren't enough, the index is not thorough.

Most of the faults with this book arise from poor editing rather than writing. It's clear that the authors are experts in their field; however, as experts, their writing is at too high of a level for the beginning student. If this book is intended for an introductory class, the editors should be more careful about clearly defining difficult terms and removing as much cognitive neuroscience lingo as possible. Further, although the graphics are nice to look at, many of their captions introduce new concepts not discussed in the text or fail to clarify what is depicted. As a side note, the editors should also look closely at the headings and subheadings: many are placed incorrectly and add little or no value to reading comprehension.

In short, this is a good text for someone who wants a broad review of a field they are already familiar with. It will need a second or third edition if it is to be appropriate for an introductory class.

Not for those without background
This book is not intended for the general reader, reader with cellular neuroscience background, but has a target audience of advanced undergraduate or graduate level students with relevant background. Also would be useful for the psychology professional without specific or with dated cognitive neuroscience background, or others intending a research or applied clinical career in the area. Appropriate background would necessarily be at least an undergraduate course in cognitive psychology, with additional help provided by biological psychology or a medical professional in neurology. Discussions of principles and mechanisms are at a "functional machinery" level and thus would not make sense to those without some previous training in those principles. It just isn't a basic text, thus, no glossary of basic terms is included. Yes, the material is both abstract and complex, but so is brain function, and we are just beginning to learn. There are very, very few textbooks that survey this area which only became a separate field of study sometime around 1986. Other reading material in the field consists entirely of professional level chapters in compiled and edited texts. The only other broad survey text that I know of is Marie Banich's book on the related area of Cognitive Neuropsychology.

Additions to this book
This book is more like a bunch of journals bound together. The authors introduce new words without previous qualifications. For example, in the chapter of binocular vision, they added spatial normalization and various other models, without telling what exactly they are! Also when I tried to find these terms in relatively basic texts I was unable to find them. Same was the case with internet.

It is definitly for advanced learner. (I am doing PhD in neuroscience and still finding it very difficult)To clarify zillions of issue I have to sit with my mentor. Although she is very nice but still the discussion needs a lot of time, which is difficult for her to take out in her busy schedule.

In short, this book is recommended if you are doing a specific research and want to know extremely minute details of the ideas, certainly not for a introductory or intermediate learner.

Best overall for Cogntive Neuroscience
I have used it in an upper division undergraduate psychology class, and in my students' rankings of textbooks, this book has consistently been ranked higher than any other text I've used.

The level is beyond a simple introductory psychology text, but is very appropriate for the upper division course.

The numerous full-color illustrations and photographs are especially helpful in illustrating key points.

It covers the full spectrum of the neural basis of cognition, from simple perception through the biology of emotion to the basis of consciousness (with very interesting case studies of brain damaged patients throughout).

Verbose and EXTREMELY boring
I am a fourth year neuroscience major and found this book to be extremely verbose and boring. The chapters are 50 pages long at least and the author continually digresses into random tangents so you're left bored and confused at the end of each chapter. Do NOT buy it unless you want to be even more confused in your course than necessary! ... Read more

Amazon.com

The state-of-the-art knowledge about knowledge is contained within the MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Its 471 comprehensive entries cover topics as diverse as "Hemispheric Specialization," "Epiphenomenalism," and "Algorithms" in 1,000 to 1,500 words each, thoroughly cross-indexed and extensively referenced to launch further research. A few biographical entries are also included, highlighting such giants as Alan Turing and Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The editors selected their contributors well, assigning "Neurobiology of Consciousness" to Christof Koch and Francis Crick, for example. Even better, six longer essays introduce the Encyclopedia, each providing an overview of one of the six disciplines that overlap to form cognitive science: computational intelligence; culture, cognition, and evolution; linguistics and language; neurosciences; philosophy; and psychology. These are enormously helpful to the researcher, as they are general enough to allow easy entry but still meaty enough to be useful themselves and as pointers to specific entries. The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, while not a casual entry into the field, is an essential addition to the reference shelf for anyone seriously interested in AI, consciousness, or other aspects of natural and artificial brains. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (3)

What an attitude!
I sent a regular mail and 2 emails according to the instruction included in the CD package to get an account passwrod to access the web site content. No response!!!

good book to have
i am an engineering student and i enjoy reading this book. Although many topics are about psychology, you can find all kind of different subjects that you will never find anywhere else. That is way it is so valuable. the book is very heavy.

Required reading for cognitive scientists
The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences - "MITECS" - is a truly excellent book. MITECS is the book I spent four years wishing for back when I started studying cognitive science. MITECS is also a very *large* book; I've set out to read all 471 articles, and I'm currently on "Computational Neuroscience" (p. 166 of 900), although I've also read a lot of other articles as circumstances required. From that sample size, my comments:

The good news: There are some truly excellent articles in this book. Microcolumns and macrocolumns, cerebellar chips, the pathways of the visual system - you can read this book and find out a hundred amazingly cool things that you never even realized you desperately needed to know. Oddly enough, MITECS is also a pretty good as an encyclopedia - if you suddenly need to know more about vision, you'll find what you need to know in "Visual Anatomy and Physiology". (Or "Visual Processing Streams". Or "High-Level Vision". Or "Computational Vision". Or "Mental Rotation". You do need to do a certain amount of hunting, if it's a sufficiently broad subject. More than half the cerebral cortex is devoted to vision - see "Mid-Level Vision" - and MITECS reflects this fact.)

MITECS *excels* as an authoritative reference; you'll almost never need to quote anything else. If you're familiar with cognitive science, you'll often laugh when you get to the end of an article and see the author's byline: "Columns and Modules" by William Calvin, "Chinese Room Argument" by John Searle, "Evolutionary Computation" by Melanie Mitchell, "Evolutionary Psychology" by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby.

The bad news: If you try to read MITECS linearly, you will find that many of the articles, perhaps even a majority, are eminently skippable. (For the record, I read them anyway.) As all of the articles were written by independent individuals - none of whom could read the book first, since it didn't exist yet - there is understandably a great deal of duplication of information. Every third author feels the need to inform you that the mind is a computational information-processing system. (If I had one request to make of the hundreds of authors who write the next edition, it would be: "Skip all the introductory material and the philosophy and try to pack in as much useful detail as you can.") There are also some understandable problems with depth of coverage, made worse by the aforesaid tendency to write introductions; whenever I read an article about a topic that I had earlier studied in more detail, it really brought home the realization that each of these 471 articles tries to cover a topic about which *multiple* entire books have been written.

There are several things I'd like to see in future editions of this book. First and foremost is *less philosophy* and more focus on concrete details, particularly *surprising* details, or details that have something substantial to say about how the mind works. I don't want to know what David Hume thought about causality; I want to know if anything interesting happens when research subjects are asked to reason about causality. (I must also confess myself uninterested in most of the biographical articles that form much of MITECS - but then, that's probably because I'm not using it to study history.) Finally, I would like to see a neuroanatomical index as well as a table of contents. It's already a big book, but they can afford another six pages to show a detailed neuroanatomical map, with names for the areas, and references to the appropriate sections of the book. Such a map would be an enormous help to those of us trying to build up a concrete visualization of the brain.

Conclusion: This is a *really good* book. It's not so much "a good book with a few drawbacks" as "an excellent book with tremendous potential for *even more* improvement", and I mean this in all seriousness. If you're a cognitive scientist, you have basically no choice but to buy this book. If you're a student of the mind or a cognitive hobbyist, then this may not be the *first* book you buy, but you will buy it sooner or later.

It's just such a great book. ... Read more

Book Description

"An important, sophisticated and complex monograph . . . Both the theoretical analysis and the empirical findings constitute major contributions to cross-cultural value analysis and the cross-cultural study of work motivations and organizational dynamics. This book is also a valuable resource for anyone interested in a historical or anthropological approach to cross-cultural comparisons."
--PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY

The Second Edition of this classic work, first published in 1981 and an international bestseller, explores the differences in thinking and social action that exist among members of more than 50 modern nations. Geert Hofstede argues that people carry "mental programs" which are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organizations, and that these programs contain components of national culture. They are expressed most clearly in the different values that predominate among people from different countries.

Geert Hofstede has completely rewritten, revised and updated Cultures Consequences for the twenty-first century, he has broadened the book's cross-disciplinary appeal, expanded the coverage of countries examined from 40 to more than 50, reformulated his arguments and a large amount of new literature has been included. The book is structured around five major dimensions: power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism versus collectivism; masculinity versus femininity; and long term versus short-term orientation.

Reviews (8)

Excellent for academic inquiry, not for bedside reading
In reference to the previous reviews, there is considerable critique of Hofstede's work throughout the academic community and Amazon.com is not the ideal place to get a feel for the value of this book. Also, the survey was not given in English around the world; it was translated into the appropriate languages and retranslated back into English just to ensure that the translation from English was accurate. However, this does not mean that other problems with the survey do not exist.

If you are seeking an understanding of what is currently known about culture and how to compare cultures, this book is essential. I don't mean that I think it is good. I mean that no reputable research on cultural values will fail to include Hofstede's work because it has been so influential, even for those who despise it. Those who agree use this to reinforce their perspectives. Those who disagree use this to frame counter-argument. It is essential.

It should be understood that this is academic literature. Only those committed to understanding the deep and complex issues associated with differences among cultures should even attempt to read thus. It is more like a reference book. I have only read probably half of it, myself. However, I learned more in that half than I have in many whole books.

For experienced readers and thinkers only.

Pure Garbage! Academic Quackery! A Joke! Cold Fusion!
Two important points: First, language and culture are inseparable. Second, this entire survey was done in English and therefore was flawed from the very beginning.

As for all of the reviewers, Amazon and otherwise:

1. No one has demonstrated any foreign language skills or published any peer-reviewed studies on this subject in native languages. Furthermore, who would trust a cross cultural survey performed on England or the U.S. but done completely in Michelin (French) or Nissan (Japanese) or Haier (Chinese) or Hyundai (Korean)and not in English and not outside of any one of these companies? (IBM and English language surveys)

2. Hofstede and Trompenaars try the "bigger is better" fallacy and both fail. Large numbers hide the truth and have NOTHING to do with the kind of people surveyed, the questions asked or the number of people surveyed in each group (sample sizes).

3.McSweeney points out in 1/02 Human Relations page 94 that the number of "respondents in 15 countries was less than 200". In the 1960's, the Philippines (part of this 15) had at least 30 million people on 6000 islands with 100 different dialects. Gallup polls in the U.S. alone are generally 5,000 people from a wide cross section, not a single company like IBM. His samples sizes are meaningless. Some samples were less than 100 people per country.

4. Those who think that any group of people can be reasonably described by 5 bipolar characteristics or even 10 simply are novices and have no place in academia. Furthermore, those who believe that the Russians, the Pakistanis, the Brazilians, the Irish and the Japanese can be characterized by a COMMON set of descriptors, have no language skills and no understanding of culture whatsoever.

5. It's doubtful if Hofstede or any commentators on either side have any significant overseas living experience outside of their home country's military, government, university or even home country company (i.e. subsidiary) using the local language and managing most affairs by themselves. They are all inexperienced and have no clue which questions to ask.

6. Those who believe that they have the capacity to do an analysis (survey instrument construction and collection/analysis) of more than 3 countries competently, except for a few Europeans working in Europe only, are delusional and possibly arrogant.

7. The belief that the one-dimensional analysis of country through one company, native or foreign, can yield any sort of reflection of even that one country's culture should be an obvious fallacy. Does anyone believe that Deal & Kennedy's 1977 survey instrument could be used outside of a Western country?

8. When respondents know the intent of a survey, the danger of bias is very high. When managers know the intent, the threat to the subordinate responders is even greater. Page 103 McSweeney 1/02 Human Relations, elucidates Hofstede's methods on this point.

9. The Confucianism dimension is nothing more than cultural condescension and severe academic laziness by Hofstede.

10. Hofstede and others have created a result and then found data to "prove??" their contrived result. Given the lack of qualifications, the unwillingness to ask the right questions and the unwillingness to even allow the IBM data speak the truth, there is nothing academic or reliable here.

The 1000 word limit is insufficient to detail all of the mistakes here. Suffice it to say, Hofstede's work is truly, the "Cold Fusion" of cross-cultural studies.

critiques of Hofstede
Pass the salt please. As already acknowledged in these reviews, there are sustained critiques of Hofstede. e.g.
Nigel Holden "Cross-Cultural Managment - a Knowledge Management Perspective" Harlow : Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2002.
"Hofstede's model of national cultural differences and their consequences: a triumph of faith - a failure of analysis." Brendan McSweeney in Human Relations, 2002, 55 (1)
"Beyond models of national culture in information systems research", by Michael Myers & Felix Tan in the Journal of Global Information Management,2002, 10 (1).
"Hofstede never studied culture" by Rachel Baskerville 2003 Accounting Organizations and Society 28 pages 1- 14
Those using this book should take it with a large grain of salt.

What Lies Beneath
From earlier reviews it is clear that Hofstede's research claims are controversial. The reviews have been extraordinarly laudatory or have very sharply questioned the verasity of Hofstede's research. So, I decided to read the book and the journal article cited in one of the reviews. The conclusions of that article are clear from its title: B.McSweeney "Hofstede's model of national cultural research: A triumph of faith - a failure of analysis", Human Relations, 2002 Vol.55,(January) pp.89-117. Human Relations is, I know, a very highly rated scholarly journal. All articles published in it are independently refereed, so there must be some merit in McSweeney's critique! I found his article to be very clearly and carefully written and to be very convincing. Whilst looking for a copy of the article, I discovered that Hofstede had replied and McSweeney had responed. Both reply and response were published in Human Relations in November last year (Vol.55, No.11). In my view it's "game, set, and match" to McSweeney. His demonstrations in his response of the flaws in Hofstede's "validations" are I think devastating. So, my recommendation is, if you plan to read Hofstede's book make sure you also read the three articles in Human Relations: McSweeney's critique; Hofstede's reply; McSweeney's response.

IBM Defines Your Nation's Culture ?
I'm kind of surprised by the voting on the reviews thus far. The glowing tributes which don't address the book critically are classified as helpful; the one which point to Hofstede's methodological problems, and cited further information in a leading management journal is seen as unhelpful. What should a review do ?

Well, how about this for food for thought. IBM, which is the organization Hofstede built his theory around, is now being accused of being complicit in sustaining apartheid in South Africa in the period of his research. Are we happy that this kind of a company is defining our understanding of nations' culture ? And how accurate a picture of South Africa's culture it presents ? And what about the other countries ? ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (14)

Read it with a grain of salt...
This book offers an insightful perspective on some of the "male" behaviors that are complexing to many women. In general, the author's assertions ring very true. I will certainly approach my relationships with men differently having read this book. However, the author makes strong suggestions that women avoid certain sexual activities when dating. This goes back to the old adage that a woman is solely responsible for chastity and I think that's archaic and demeaning to women and men. It implies that men have no control over their sexual urges and are not part of the process of deciding when and if they want to become intimate with someone. So, read this book with a grain of salt. It's always beneficial to relationships when you attempt to understand someone and respect their differences. This book gives some pointers on beginning that process.

Enlightening and Informative
I heard the author speak on a radio talk show a few months ago, and his book sounded good. I found it quite informative. Maybe I've missed something in my long marriage, but some of his revelations were new to me. I suspected many of the differences were true but didn't have the supported facts until now.

I particularly enjoyed such topics as intimate separateness, "earn this", the heart vs life journey, "wouldn't have war" remark (pg. 61), the current decades long dominance of the woman's view, and stages of marriage, among many others. One could quibble with the stages, but it is nevertheless food for thought and gives some good insight into most marriages. Don't miss chapter 7 on the male at home.

... Martin Gardner, a science writer of some considerable note and talent, put together something of a quack detection list of 10 or so items. I don't think the term quack has any place here. Gurian does at least give very specific material that one can go to for additional information on sex difference research. This or Gurian's interpretation of it doesn't look like quack information to me. If one can question something about the sex difference argument, it is some educators' views (I think female organiaztion driven) that girl's are equivalent of boys and should be treated as such. There seems to a view that nearly two million years of evolution has not produced brain and other differences between the sexes. That view comes a lot closer to quackery than anything else on this subject.

My biggest beef about the books is about some of the organization. Some of the last few chapters seem out of place, but still useful. I did find myself skimming a few sections of the book, since they really do not apply to me. Rearing children, for example. For some reason, he did not include any index. There are plenty of times when I wanted to refer back to info and an index would have been valuable--also for future reference. One saving point on this is that thankfully Amazon has a facility to search the entire book. There's also an abundance of brain terminology that would be served well in an appendix. I finally resorted to taking notes and found a good web site to get additional info ...

I'd suggest this book be required reading for men and women.

What could he be thinking
This book is not P/C. But even Newsweek says men and women are different so it must be okay to read heretical books like this.

If you are a feminist, or male in denial about what testosterone does to your brain when in utero, you will not enjoy the time reading this book. As a husband I am now at peace with myself on many issues, including why I can't ever load the dishwasher correctly.

As a father I am now far more able to parent my teenage sons because I realize how we are the same. Further, as a result of my confidence from this book, and insights from "Every Mans Battle' (stoker and arterburn) I am intervening and helping shape my teeneage sons lives on on issues of sexuality, pornography and other behaviour traps that face them daily.

As a husband I have better understanding of my wifes view of work, the home, and what she values in a elationship. There are countless communication and value styles, and day to day, head to head issues in our relationship where this book has helped me. This proves you are never too old, or too married to learn.

This book is chock full of "aha's" as you realize why things work the way they do, either in a male to female or female to male manner. Here are a few of mine. Why I seem to go blank, look for a quick summary or resolution, or am unable to concentrate and get frustrated when discussing complex relationship topics after 30-45 minutes (women have more parts of their brains dedicated to speech and cache information more quickly). Why my wife can remember staggering deatils about the times she's been hurt or happy (its not because I'm stupid its because of how womens memory is structured).

If you are a guy and thinking about reading this, buy it and quit wasting time.

If you are a women in a "relationship" buy it for your man and tell him it is only one of three books you'll ever ask him to read, even if you have to use sex to get it read. You already know the chances are slim he'll never buy a book like this (self help books are like directions - you don't buy them and you don't ask for them).

What could Gurian be thinking?
What could Gurian be thinking? The back cover begins with a list of cultural stereotypes about men, beginning with "Why do men have to control the TV remote and channel-surf?" Some men do, and some women do, but many men don't. Throughout the book Gurian uses contemporary psychobabble to justify and reinforce all the men-negative stereotypes that a female dominated culture has promoted over the past 50 years. Despite the title he continually digresses to talking about women and women's brains frequently throughout the book. Occasionally Gurian approaches toward some real insight about men, but each time quickly backs away into a morass of jargon and the same old stuff in a new wrapper. He describes himself as a "bridge" man, which he defines as a man who thinks much like a woman. If you're a woman wanting to have your stereotypes reinforced, this is the book for you. If you're a man wanting to learn more about men, or a woman who really wants to know what a man might be thinking, you may think twice.

doctors criticizing doctors...
I am not a doctor, but I did stay in a holiday inn express last night, so I guess that qualifies me to be an expert on EVERYTHING - just like all doctors are...right. But seriously, here is the two cents of a major league skeptic who thinks this book has a lot of value.

I think it is fine to be skeptical about some of this science, as the doctor from San Jose points out, but it doesn't logically follow that just because the science isn't perfect that the ideas in this book are wrong (which seems to be the implication). In fact, I would say that empirical evidence tends to support the author's ideas, and that the idea that men and women think totally differently is not a particularly wild one. Focusing only on the science misses the point, and I couldn't disagree more with the statement, "If you want a healthy relationship you don't need to read a book to learn how." EVERYONE struggles with relationships, and if reading books or talking to friends or, god forbid, even talking to a shrink doctor, helps you, then that is great and you should go for it. Books can provide perspective, advice and understanding, and, in this particular case they can shed light on behaviours, and it is easier to tolerate a behavior if you understand why.

Now I agree with the good doctor's opinion that it is easy to use "that's just the way I am" as an excuse for bad behavior, but the differences in memory, emotional tendencies and other things discussed in this book are not all behaviors, but in many cases really are "just the way we are." I would go further to argue that communication styles are also "just the way we are," because even if they are learned behaviors, they are totally ingrained by adulthood, so you have to learn to translate what people say from their way of thinking to yours in order to respond properly and have a meaningful dialog.

And this does filter into such everyday things as channel flipping and a host of other things that women don't understand about men. I think it filters into everything. My wife is finally understanding that when it takes me 10 or 20 seconds to process what she says when I am watching something interesting on TV, it is not because I am purposely ignoring her or am not interested in what she has to say. It's just that I can only concentrate on one thing at a time, and it takes a bit to change gears.

On a final note, the doctor closes by saying nobody changes and that you need to find someone rational, good and loving. OK, I believe that to be true, but in my limited experience, on the rationality front, women have the same capacity for rationality as men, but they are 100 times more likely to throw it by the wayside if it conflicts with their emotions. Most women I know don't make personal decisions after a rational thought process weighing all the factors. But because I know and accept that, it doesn't bother me that my wife is so irrational sometimes, and I don't try to solve all her problems with reason, like I try to do for myself. I do try to separate out the emotional issues from the logical ones sometimes, but most of the time she just needs someone to stand by her, listen, care and suppport her. My best advice to men is that to learn how to do that, and to women, is to learn how to forgive and understand us when we don't, because this isn't our natural tendency. ... Read more

Book Description

"Treatment Planning for Person-Centered Care puts the entire concept of individualized service planning into understandable language for all readers. The authors have captured the essence of active involvement of the persons served in the identification of needs (as well as strengths) and the development of a plan that will address those needs. This book is definitely in concert with and supports the CARF Behavioral Health standards, and would be an excellent resource to better understand how to move towards a person-centered assessment and planning process."
-Nikki Migas, M.P.A., Managing Director, Behavioral Health Customer Service Unit, CARF. the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission

"This book encourages the field to turn a very important corner. It clarifies the goals and the processes that Mental Health and Alcohol/Drug systems presently need to focus on: joining with clients to help them enter/re-enter their communities and successfully exit the treatment systems. This book will help practitioners develop the necessary conceptual overview as well as individual components of service plans that will significantly enhance our clients' chances for real world success."
-Ed Diksa, California Institute for Mental Health

"The authors take what for many clinicians is irritating paperwork requirement, treatment planning, that is a diversion from their "real" work of therapy and turn it into a valuable tool. By placing the person, the client at the center of planning, Adams and Grieder take the reader step by step through a transforming process. They lead us to re-think whose goals we are trying to achieve in treatment. This book could precipitate many fruitful seminar discussions during clinical training."
-Eric Goplerud, Ph.D., George Washington University Medical Center

Treatment Planning for Person-Centered Care is a process-oriented book, guiding therapists in how to engage clients in building collaborative treatment plans that result in better outcomes. Suitable as both a reference tool and as a text for pre-degree training programs, the book addresses the entire process of treatment, from assessment through outcome evaluation. The book is relevant to providers in all settings, with a practical approach and case examples throughout.

About the authors:Neal Adams, MD, PhD is past president of the American College of Mental health Administration and board certified in general psychiatry. Diane Grieder, M.Ed, has over 20 years experience consulting on improved mental health delivery systems. A prologue and epilogue are included by Dr. Wilma Townsend, a leading consumer advocate, consultant, and trainer in the field.

* Enhance the reader's understanding of the value and role of treatment planning in responding to the needs of adults, children and families with mental health and substance abuse treatment needs
* Build the skills necessary to provide quality, person-centered, culturally competent and recovery / resiliency-orientated care in a changing service delivery system
* Provide readers with sample documents, examples of how to write a plan, etc.
* Provide a text and educational tool for course work and training as well as a reference for established practioners
* Assist mental health and addictive disorders providers / programs in meeting external requirements, improve the quality of services and outcomes, and maintain optimum reimbursement ... Read more

Book Description

"In this comprehensive and insightful work, Dr. Sharon K. Farber provides an invaluable resource for the mental health professional who is struggling to understand self-harm and its origins. Using attachment theory to explain how addictive connections to pain and suffering develop, she discusses various kinds and functions of self-harm behavior." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A high school teacher.
This is an impressive and fascinating book. As a high school teacher for well over 20 years, I picked it up because one hears so much nowadays about these disorders among adolescents.Since I have no specialized knowledge in this field (nor any personal issues here), I was apprehensive about my ability to read what I assumed would be highly technical material. To my delight, I found the writing style itself extremely clear, and the material deeply engrossing. I feel I've gained enormous understanding of an area that was not at all clear to me before, and, even better, new ways of thinking about people and myself in general. What a treat!

Lucid and insig