Behavioral Psychology Books

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

Amazon Price: $17.16 List Price: $26.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Yale University Press Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $16.21

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Marketing & Sales -> Consumer Behavior
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.

 

Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful “choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new take—from neither the left nor the right—on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike. This is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in many years.

 

(20080518)

Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman

List Price: $7.50 By: Bantam Dell Pub Group (P) Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $3.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Foreign Language Nonfiction -> French

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 245 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until the discoveries of modern brain researchers, theorists could only guess why. Daniel Goleman's fascinating report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers us startling new insight into our "two minds" -- the rational and the emotional -- and how they together shape our destiny. Beginning deep in the brain, Emotional Intelligence shows us the exact mechanism of an "emotional hijack," when passion overcomes reason. Through vivid examples, Goleman then delineates the crucial skills of emotional intelligence, and shows how they determine our success in relationships and work, and even our physical well-being. What emerges is a crucial new way to talk about being smart. The final chapters reveal the possibilities -- and limits -- of "emotional literary," as it is taught by both parents and educators. The book concludes with a compelling vision of what true emotional intelligence means for us both as individuals and as a society. The message of this eye-opening book is one we must take to heart: the true "bell curve" for a democracy must measure emotional intelligence. Daniel Goleman offers a new vision of excellence and a vital new curriculum for life that can change the future for us and our children.

The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition

Edmund J. Bourne

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Harbinger Publications Amazon Marketplace: 71 new & used starting at $11.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> Anxiety Disorders
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> Mood Disorders
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 111 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since its first edition in 1990, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook has sold more than 600,000 copies. Its engaging exercises and worksheets have helped millions of readers make real progress in overcoming problems with anxiety and phobic disorders. The Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health (Norcross, et al., 2003) gave the book its highest rating and praised it as "a highly regarded and widely known resource." Thousands of mental health and medical professionals recommend this book to their clients and patients every year. Simply put, it is the single finest source of self-help information on its topic available anywhere.

The text of this fourth edition has been fully revised and expanded and includes two new chapters: a discussion of physical conditions that can aggravate anxiety and an overview of the use of mindfulness practice in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and some forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. As in previous editions, the book offers the most up-to-date information on medications, natural supplements, and complementary strategies that can alleviate anxiety symptoms. The sections on relaxation, nutrition, and exercise have all been updated and broadened.

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life, 8-CD set: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

Wayne W. Dyer

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hay House Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $23.69

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> By Topic -> Motivation
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Motivational

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 201 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a God-realized being named Lao-tzu in ancient China dictated 81 verses, which are regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of our existence. The classic text of these 81 verses, called the Tao Te Ching or the Great Way, offers advice and guidance that is balanced, moral, spiritual, and always concerned with working for the good.

In this set, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has reviewed hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching and has created 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom of Lao-tzu to today’s modern world. This work contains the entire 81 verses of the Tao, compiled from Wayne’s researching of 12 of the most well-respected translations of text that have survived for more than 25 centuries. Each chapter is designed for actually living the Tao or the Great Way today. Some of the chapter titles are “Living with Flexibility,” “Living Without Enemies,” and “Living by Letting Go.” Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao and concludes with a section called “Doing the Tao Now.”

        Wayne spent one entire year reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them each day and ultimately writing down these essays as he felt Lao-tzu wanted you to know them.

This is a work to be followed slowly, one essay a day. As Wayne says, “This will forever change the way you look at your life, and the result will be that you’ll live in a new world aligned with nature. Writing this book changed me forever, too. I now live in accord with the natural world and feel the greatest sense of peace I’ve ever experienced. I’m so proud to present this interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, and offer the same opportunity for change that it has brought me.”

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams (One Hour of Wisdom)

Deepak Chopra

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Amber-Allen Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $5.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> General AAS
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 231 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Chopra's seven spiritual steps to success and prosperity 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Chopra as a coach shows you seven steps which puts you on a spiritual path that leads you to success and prosperity. Having studied with Deepak Chopra, as I read his books, I can hear his resonant voice revealing the treasures found simply employing spiritual wisdom.

Healing the Rift

There should be no rift between a spiritual path and success and, indeed, Chopra reveals the surest laws of success. But it is a challege to first understand the laws but to practice them will eventually get you to your prize.Healing the Rift: Merging Science and Spirituality

Editorial Review:

In this abridged edition of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Chopra gathers the most powerful pearls of wisdom from his classic bestselling book, and offers his readers a life-altering perspective on the attainment of success. Based on natural laws that govern all of creation, this book shatters the myth that success is the result of hard work, exacting plans, or driving ambition.
       This pocketbook edition of his most popular title ever, distills the essence of Chopra’s teachings into seven simple, yet powerful principles that can easily be applied to create success in all areas of your life. Filled with timeless wisdom and practical steps you can apply right away, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a book you will want to read and refer to again and again.

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

Charles MacKay

Amazon Price: $15.94 List Price: $20.98 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prometheus Books Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $11.19

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Social Psychology & Interactions
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS

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 Power of Intention 2-CD Set: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way

Wayne W. Dyer

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hay House Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $8.47

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Applied Psychology
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Movements -> Behaviorism
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Motivational

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 292 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Wow...this book is perfect in every way 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I just bought this book in cd version and I'm LOVING it. I'm getting over a Power Of Now trip that I had been on which basically involved thinking that the present is all there is and nothing else matters. I actually owed this book and threw it away along with many others because of my spiritual breakthrough with Echarts work.

This book is linking up unseen events and really confirms my feelings of the unknown. Things just seem to work out for me and my life gets better and better because I'm going against the grain. Thought is very powerful...I had thought that it was useless to a large degree, but now I'm back on track. This book is beyond valuable...worth more than its weight in gold.

Please get this book and allow your mind to soak in the wisdom and guidance.

Editorial Review:

In Dr. Wayne Dyer’s public television special, taped live in front of a thousand fans in Boston’s historic theater district, he transforms conventional thinking about making things happen in our lives into a profound understanding of how each person possesses the infinite potential and power to co-create the life he or she desires.

To accomplish this, Dr. Dyer takes the audience through a journey into the seven faces of intention: (1) creativity, (2) kindness; (3) love, (4) beauty, (5) expansiveness, (6) abundance, and (7) receptivity.

      Throughout the program, Dr. Dyer illustrates his points with signature stories that move the audience to tears—as well as abundant laughter.

Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!

Anthony Robbins

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Free Press Amazon Marketplace: 378 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> Guides
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> General AAS
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Motivational

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 291 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Worth Your Time? 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It's clear why Tony has become so successful. His theories are sound and his methodology is extremely effective. Those who never reached their goals either failed to apply his techniques or simpy gave up.

Definitely worth your time and money!

Finding Your Costa Rica : 5 Powerful Steps to Personal, Professional and Financial Success

Awaken The Giant Within 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have not finished the book but so far I have liked what I have read. He is funny, personnable, and yet he has a meaning behind the words of the book. He writes so you understand just what he is saying just like you were talking to him face to face.

Editorial Review:

Wake Up and Take Control of Your Life!

Anthony Robbins, the nation's leader in the science of peak performance, shows you his most effective strategies and techniques for mastering your emotions, your body, your relationships, your finances, and your life. The acknowledged expert in the psychology of change, Anthony Robbins provides a step-by-step program teaching the fundamental lessons of self-mastery that will enable you to discover your true purpose, take control of your life and harness the forces that shape your destiny.

Man's Search for Meaning : An Introduction to Logotherapy

Viktor E. Frankl

By: Simon&Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 224 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Logotherapy
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Psychoanalysis
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 288 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

How to find happiness in a dismal situation 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book because I was searching for yet another book on workplace bullying and another book came up in my search based on Frankl's book. I read the customer reviews on that book and one reviewer said something to the effect of, "If you want to read a book based on Viktor Frankl's opinion of how to get along at a bad work environment (like a Nazi death camp), why don't you just read Frankl's book?" So, that's where I started. I read it. Twice. Then I got out my computer and typed in passages that had meaning to me so I could re-read them during difficult times. I compressed the entire book down to about 10 pages, single spaced. I must admit that I consider myself a negative, often depressed sort of person, mostly because my work situation is so demoralizing. I was amazed by Frankl's coping mechanisms on how to get along in a difficult situation; every day meant multiple incidents of having to choose the correct path to avoid death or worse, making the choice to give up on your own life (suicide). He went through 5 years of that and lived to tell about it. It is a must read for everyone, particularly when you are having the hardest time of your life. I could tell that if I had read it as a college student, it wouldn't have the same meaning as now, when I am 50 and have had many ups and downs. I see everything at such a deeper level and appreciated this book so much more than I would have if I were younger. Briefly, the lessons in the book written 50 years ago still apply today. Here they are: Let luck be your guide. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Network with the equivalent of a one-step-up lateral (not your own) middle manager and they will help you when they can. Schmooze. Be kind to others. Don't complain, it doesn't help. You can't fix, deal with or appeal to a sadist, so don't try. Avoid sadists at all costs. Keep your mouth shut unless asked for your opinion and then be short and to the point. Praise, even when praise isn't deserved. Keep criticisms to yourself. Be inconspicuous. Work hard for the sake of doing a good job. Fantasize for escape. Everything can be taken away from you except for your past, so relish in it. When something good happens to you, write it down (keep a gratitude journal). Don't do anything that compromises your own values so you won't have regrets. Be careful who you abuse today because tomorrow they may be your master. You are not your job, your title or your position. You are a unique person loved by others. The only thing in life that really matters is the people you love and the people who love and need you. Love shared is eternal. Treat everyone with respect. The meaning of life is not what life can do for you, but what life expects of you; how you make the world a better place with your presence. The purpose of life is not happiness. The purpose of life is discovering what you can contribute to it. Save a slice of bread (or whatever is the only material thing that matters to you when there is nothing left) for later when you are really depressed and it's the only thing left that can get you through that difficult moment. (For me it's chocolate and a dark beer at the same time.) Apathy is the signaling of the beginning of the end of one's life. Everyone that you respect and look up to has human failings. Even tough guys cry. Suffering without purpose is meaningless. The larger the suffering, the bigger the lesson. There's lots more in the book for you to discover and it's an easy read.

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Steven Pinker

List Price: $27.95 By: Viking Adult Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $6.85

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Personality

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 200 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Our conceptions of human nature affect everything aspect of our lives, from child-rearing to politics to morality to the arts. Yet many fear that scientific discoveries about innate patterns of thinking and feeling may be used to justify inequality, to subvert social change, and to dissolve personal responsibility.

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature and instead have embraced three dogmas: The Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), The Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and The Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them.

Pinker provides calm in the stormy debate by disentangling the political and moral issues from the scientific ones. He shows that equality, compassion, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about an innately organized psyche. Pinker shows that the new sciences of mind, brain, genes, and evolution, far from being dangerous, are complementing observations about the human condition made by millennia of artists and philosophers. All this is done in the style that earned his previous books many prizes and worldwide acclaim: irreverent wit, lucid exposition, and startling insight on matters great and small.