Behavioral Sciences Books - Page 3

Stumbling on Happiness

Daniel Gilbert

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 218 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

• Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink?

• Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight?

• Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want?

• Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the grocery store always slow down the moment we join it?

In this brilliant, witty, and accessible book, renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert describes the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause each of us to misconceive our tomorrows and misestimate our satisfactions. Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there. With penetrating insight and sparkling prose, Gilbert explains why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become.

Influence: Science and Practice

Robert B. Cialdini

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 128 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good Intro to Social Psych 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Its an older book so the information might be a bit dated. Its a lot of what you will learn in an intro psych course or soc psych course.

Good book for lay person though. Its entertaining and well orgainized.

Editorial Review:

Influence: Science and Practiceis an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say "yes" to another's request). Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say "yes." Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion. Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior

David R. Hawkins

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 243 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Practical Explanation of the Truth 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book was recommended to me time and time again, before I sat down and finally read it. I was thrilled to have another angle to the truths I was studying in many other areas.

I found Chapter 4 the most powerful and useful in my own personal life. I actually created a card in my wallet with all of the levels of consciousness written out so that I could see where I was on any given day. The utilization of this card has helped me see my way through many life challenges, and help to get me back up to the level of love and joy. The rest is still a work in progress, but I am thankful to have Hawkin's guidance to show me the way. If you want to understand human behavior, this book is a must read!

Andrea Samadi, author of The Secret for Teens Revealed: How Parents, Teachers, and Teenagers Can Inspire Leadership and Transform Lives

Editorial Review:

David R. Hawkins details how anyone may resolve the most crucial of all human dilemmas: how to instantly determine the truth or falsehood of any statement or supposed fact. Dr. Hawkins, who worked as a "healing psychiatrist" during his long and distinguished career, uses theoretical concepts from particle physics, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos theory to support his study of human behavior. This is a fascinating work that will intrigue readers from all walks of life!

Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think

Dennis Greenberger, Christine Padesky

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

it helped me 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book was recommended by my phychologist. He couldn't have been more right on. This is the first real help I have had in solving a lot of anxiety and stress in my life. It is so down to earth on what we know but what we so easily overlook in our fix for the human condition. The work pages allow you to really personalize the advice. I would buy it again and I would recommend to all who want to improve their life.

Editorial Review:

Developed by two master clinicians with extensive experience in cognitive therapy treatment and training, this popular workbook shows readers how to improve their lives using cognitive therapy--one of the most effective and widely practiced forms of psychotherapy. The book is designed to be used alone or in conjunction with professional treatment. Step-by-step worksheets teach specific skills that have helped thousands of people conquer depression, panic attacks, anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, low self-esteem, eating disorders, substance abuse and relationship problems. Readers learn to use mood questionnaires to identify, rate, and track changes in feelings; change the thoughts that contribute to problems; follow step-by-step strategies to improve moods; and take action to improve daily living and relationships. The book's large-size format facilitates reading and writing ease.

The Memory Book

Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas

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Total reviews: 79 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I wish I'd had this book in medical school! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book saved my career!
I was working 100 hours a week as an OB-GYN and needed to take my oral boards. I knew they would never ask the easy stuff- how to do a vaginal delivery. No, they were going to ask the crazy stuff. They did too, what anti-malarial drugs are safe in pregnancy, for example.
I had neither the time nor the energy to go over and memorize the hundreds of pages of notes I had gotten from my board review course.
After reading "The Memory Book", I was able to process and retain enough information to easily pass my exam. The techniques I learned have been very useful since. I can go to a party with twenty strangers and say goodbye to everyone by name. I'm now teaching anatomy and physiology, and I can remember lists of things so my lectures flow much better.
I suggest this book to all my students, as well as "Super Memory, Super Student" by the same author. My college is thinking of making the book a requirement!
Buy this book!! You will not regret it.
Russ Palmeri, MD, FACOG

Editorial Review:

Unleash the hidden power of your mind through Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas's simple, fail-safe memory system, and you can become more effective, more imaginative, and more powerful, at work, at school, in sports and play. Discover how easy it is to: file phone numbers, data, figures, and appointments right in your head; learn foreign words and phrases with ease; read with speed--and greater understanding; shine in the classroom--and shorten study hours; dominate social situations, and more.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions: And the Madness of Crowds (Great Minds Series)

Charles MacKay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 58 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Informative and entertaining - it earns its status as a classic 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

In the weeks before the election, as the financial crisis spun ever farther out of control and the pundits' shrieks grew ever more shrill, I browsed through "Popular Delusions.." and found solace. Charles Mackay's extraordinary survey of the various manifestations of mass hysteria throughout history cannot help but offer perspective. He reminds us that, no matter how battily crazy a particular fad might seem, it's already been done by our ancestors. There is truly nothing new under the sun; the catalog of human daftness, though entertainingly long and varied, is nonetheless finite.

It's all here in Mackay's book, laid out with a kind of detached amusement that leaves no doubt as to where the author stands.

Market craziness got you down? It may cheer you up to read about the Mississippi scheme that wrought such havoc on the French treasury in the 18th century, while the South Sea Bubble engulfed the English, or to refresh your memory on Holland's infamous Tulipomanic excesses.

Three of the longer sections of the book are devoted to alchemy, the crusades, and witch-hunting. By the accumulation of examples and anecdotes across the geographical and historical spectrum (i.e. from different times and places), Mackay demonstrates that human folly remains a constant down the ages. He doesn't beat us over the head with this message - he simply assembles the data, with no overt analysis, and leaves us to draw the inevitable conclusion.

Most of your favorite targets are discussed in the book: eschatological prophets, fortune tellers, spiritualists, mediums, and the good Dr Mesmer and his imitators. The anecdotes are often hilarious, even more so because of Mackay's tone of dry amusement. But he knows when to administer the coup de grace, as for example, when he shows how easy it is to attribute post hoc meaning to the notoriously vague quatrains of Nostradamus. One can only wish that the folks at The History Channel would read these sections and take them to heart.

Shorter chapters are interspersed on topics as diverse as the wave of spouse-poisoning that swept through the courts of Europe in the 17th century, the influence of politics and religion on men's hair and beard styles, haunted houses, popular admiration of great thieves, duels, relics, and the sudden rise and fall of certain catchphrases or songs in big cities. (Yadda yadda yadda, anyone?)

This book is ideal for browsing. It's all pretty interesting stuff, presented clearly and wittily. You can learn quite a bit and enjoy yourself doing so - what's not to like?

Its classic status is well-deserved.

Editorial Review:

More than a century before Alan Greenspan coined the phrase 'irrational exuberance' to describe the speculative bubble inflating technology stocks, Charles Mackay was recording the history of 'tulipomania', a speculative madness surrounding the value of tulips in the 18th century that was the ruin of many Dutch and English investors. This is only one of the 'extraordinary popular delusions' documented by Mackay in a fascinating study of group psychology. He also describes notorious witch hunts, haunted houses, the Crusades, beliefs in fortune tellers and in the magical power of alchemy, veneration of relics, bogus health cures and health scares, and many other examples of human credulity and flights from reason. This work is a true classic in the study of paranormal beliefs, a funny, shocking, and unbelievable yet true history of human gullibility.

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

Judith S. Beck

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Total reviews: 92 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Beck Diet Solution is the Missing Ingredient in Weight Loss

Lose weight with confidence and keep it off for a lifetime!

Battle your sabotaging habits!

Resist tempting food - even if it's right in front of you!

Confidently say, "No, thank you" to food pushers!

Put an end to emotional eating!

Confidently say, "No, thank you" to food pushers!

Conquer every excuse you've ever used to overeat, binge, or backslide!

Any sensible diet will help you lose weight, but the challenge for 90% of Americans is actually staying on the diet they choose. Enter Dr. Judith Beck and The Beck Diet Solution. Dr. Beck, one of the foremost authorities in the field of Cognitive Therapy, has created a six-week plan that will help people stick with their diet, lose weight with confidence, and keep weight off for a lifetime. This program is not only based on the author's personal success and on her success with her many clients, but also on published research. It all starts with how you think. With other programs, you think about nothing but food: counting, weighing, and worst of all, food you can't have. This way of thinking inevitably contributes to diet failure. The Beck Diet Solution is the only program that helps dieters use Cognitive Therapy methods--scientifically proven over 20 years--to forever change those treacherous thought patterns that lead to overeating, cheating, excuses, and other dieting downfalls.

Features

This breakthrough six-week plan assures success by helping you assess the advantages of weight loss, pick a sensible diet and exercise program, set a goal, line up support, and prepare your environment--all this before starting any diet. This unique approach is key to preventing the downfalls that so often lead to failure.

A new task is presented each day to build psychological skills to deal with the challenges of hunger and craving, overeating, alcohol, eating out, special occasions, vacations, stress, and much more. Healthy habits are established with to-do lists, reasons and ways to do the tasks, and how to deal with negative thoughts. One day a week is designated to "Take a Breather."

Easy-to-use, flexible, and proven tools are found throughout the program, including daily goals; weekly planner pages; and motivational coping cards for handling time/energy hurdles, eating out, and other high-risk situations.

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body

Neil Shubin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 78 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Could have used an Inner Editor 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I should confess up front that my not loving this book is partly my own fault. Given Shubin's academic pedigree -- and it is impressive -- I expected the work to be more substantive. That he decided to write for a more general audience is not so much a problem as a simple disappointment.

But that's only part of my issue with the book. Simply put, it's poorly written. While literary style is not the forte of the majority of scientists, you'd expect them to have at least relied on a competent editor. Most offensive of all was his labored redundancy; important sentences were deemed so important that they were sometimes used -- essentially verbatim -- multiple times; if a point could be made in a short paragraph, Shubin used three.

Still, he has some interesting stories to tell, and while their connections to broader concepts are sometimes forced in rather painful transitions, the episode and ideas should hold the attention of most general readers.

There Really is Nothing (Entirely) New 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is a somewhat breezy overview of the deep links between humans and all other animals that have lived on earth, including not merely fish but worms, jellyfish and even the earliest one-celled creatures. Choosing different aspects of the human body (e. g. hands, heads, sense of smell, hearing, vision etc) Shubin describes how they developed from features present in ancient forms. The earlier forms often served quite different functions but were modified over eons of time in ways quite traceable through the fossil record or DNA. Indeed one of Shubin's main points is that the ancient forms were not replaced but were virtually endlessly modified over time to assume and support (often awkwardly) new functions and support different ways of life. The bodies of living animals (including humans) are thus in many respects Rube Goldberg devices, jury rigged amalgams of various parts, many of which originally served far different purposes.

Shubin writes clearly and with obvious enthusiasm for his subject. The book is short and is an overview intended for a general audience. It does not presume any scientific background nor does it present detailed argument or evidence for its positions. It is not aimed at those who are familiar with the field. There is a subtext against intelligent design, but this position is never explicitly articulated much less argued. It is present only in the implications that follow from Shubin pointing out how many of the modern forms fit their current functions clumsily. The drawings in the book, unfortunately, are only sometimes helpful. The book also has fairly extensive suggestions for further reading. Overall a very good, and very basic, work of popular biology.

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 244 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not my kind of philosophy 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is boring. It doesn't really tell you anything, kind of "all form, no substance". A cloud of a book.

I approached it a few times in the past, seeing it on top of many bestseller charts, but each time got scared away by apparent lack of clarity - when you open this book at random, you always face something unexpected - math, music, art, insects, human brains, DNA, viruses, zen, artificial intelligence, talking turtles, you name it, and always in different form.

Anyway, I thought to myself one day - it still must be a special book, it is rated so high, and it looks mysteriously clever, and so I have to read it through to understand. And I did. Geez, was it boring.

This book is 800 pages of chasing its own tail. It is full of curiousities, but no rigor, no plot, no structure. For the first 200 pages or so, reading tales seems fascinating, just imagine (you think to yourself) what the author has to offer when it gets to the point ! Never happens. As you reach page 600, you clench your teeth still hoping that there must be some sort of revelation ahead, even if on the last page. None.

These three things is this book about:

1. Self-reference. The great deal of the book is dedicated to approaching the proof of the Godel's theorem which in some sense says that a system cannot understand itself.

2. Form vs. substance. This ranges from extracting meanings from messages on different levels, to having different levels of interpreting the situation.

3. Infinity and different sorts of infinities. This only helps to fog things up. Can't spit without hitting a paradox. And this is presented rather informally.

Speaking of which, EVERYTHING in this book is presented informally. There is no facts, no proofs, no math, no logical reasoning, no conclusions, just a stream of consciousness, which twirls around and around.

It doesn't ask nor answer any single question straight. It's a philosophy, I see, but even a philosopher has to take sides, but the author does not. There is no side here really.

The discussed topics are indeed interesting and mind-provoking, for the first 200 pages even fascinating, like I said, but then it becomes pointless and boring. The only thing I want to ask after reading this book is "SO WHAT ?".

I wish I spent the time on some other book. Something with a plot.

Editorial Review:

Douglas Hofstadter’s book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel Escher and Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

The Complete Vision Board Kit: Using the Power of Intention and Visualization to Achieve Your Dreams

John Assaraf

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Few Materials -- Little Content 1 out of 5 stars.
9 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Assaraf's Vision Board Kit:
Wow, completely UNDERWHELMED...
This guy is living-off one story about his home, expanding it [to the hilt], running while he's "haute"; offering NO content, NO unique ideas, NO real platform of existing concepts/ ideas...
Don't waste your money; a HUGE disappointment.

I really liked the first 30-seconds of Assaraf [on The Secret], but outside that...he's a poor speaker, appears desperately running to maximize revenue from his only "story", while the overall content just is NOT there.

Assaraf is a Tony Robbins wannabe, with a weak/ no platform. The Vision Kit is a $5 value. If you've seen Assaraf in The Secret -- that's all he's got!

Editorial Review:

A vision board is a powerful tool that anyone can use to shape an ideal future through the power of intention and visualization. Learning how to vividly imagine your desired results--attracting your perfect soul mate, radiant health, abundant career opportunities, or building personal and community relationships to give back--is the first step on the path to making them happen. Break through unconscious, limiting beliefs and get ready to transform your future now. If you can envision it, you're halfway there! This book will explain and walk you through exactly how to create a vision board in conjunction with how to retrain your brain to actually start believing that you can achieve all your goals and dreams. Then, the universe will work its magic! This is a great personal gift and one your friends and family will love.