Biological Psychology

How did humans, a species of self-centered apes, come to care about others? Since Darwin, scientists have tried to answer this question using evolutionary theory. In The Kindness of Strangers, psychologist Michael E. McCullough shows why they have failed and offers a new explanation instead. From the moment nomadic humans first settled down until the aftermath of the Second World War, our species has confronted repeated crises that we could only survive by changing our behavior.

Spotting a face in a crowd is so easy, you take it for granted. But how you do it is one of science's great mysteries. And vision is involved with so much of everything your brain does. Explaining how it works reveals more than just how you see. In We Know It When We See It, Harvard neuroscientist Richard Masland tackles vital questions about how the brain processes information - how it perceives, learns, and remembers - through a careful study of the inner life of the eye.

In Life Finds a Way, biologist Andreas Wagner reveals the deep symmetry between innovation in biological evolution and human cultural creativity. Rarely is either a linear climb to perfection - instead, "progress" is typically marked by a sequence of peaks, plateaus, and pitfalls. For instance, in Picasso's 40-some iterations of Guernica, we see the same combination of small steps, incessant reshuffling, and large, almost reckless, leaps that characterize the way evolution transformed a dinosaur's grasping claw into a condor's soaring wing.

Con el ser humano termina el proceso de evolución natural, automático. El ser humano es el último producto de la evolución inconsciente. Con él se inicia la evolución consciente. Primero, la evolución inconsciente es mecánica y natural. Ocurre por sí sola. A través de este tipo de evolución, la consciencia se desarrolla. Pero en el momento en que la consciencia comienza a manifestarse, la evolución inconsciente se detiene porque ha alcanzado su objetivo. La evolución inconsciente es necesaria solo hasta el momento en que lo consciente nace.

The emerging field of evolutionary psychology remains controversial, perhaps especially among Christians. Yet according to Justin Barrett and Pamela Ebstyne King, it can be a powerful tool for understanding human nature and our distinctively human purpose. Thriving with Stone Age Minds provides an introduction to evolutionary psychology, explaining key concepts like hyper-sociality, information gathering, and self-control.

El rasgo más distintivo del cerebro de los mamíferos, especialmente relevante en los humanos, es la corteza cerebral. Este libro del profesor Pedro Maldonado, autor del exitoso Por qué tenemos el cerebro en la cabeza explora cómo su expansión durante la evolución permitió un aumento significativo en la cantidad de neuronas y el desarrollo de habilidades cognitivas complejas. A pesar de que este crecimiento cerebral no estuvo acompañado de cambios corporales significativos, dotó a los humanos de capacidades avanzadas como el lenguaje y la fabricación de herramientas.

As human beings, we are fascinated by what makes us tick. We know that nature gave us certain biological appetites to ensure our survival, among those the need for water, food, sex, and love, but meeting these alone is not enough to ensure happiness. Scientists, and now managers, are realizing that people have a biological need to experience social rewards like praise, the thrill of innovation, and the satisfaction of acquiring new skills.

To many, the brain is the seat of personal identity and autonomy. But the way we talk about the brain is often rooted more in mystical conceptions of the soul than in scientific fact.

The Social Paradox has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.Why do people who have so much—leading comfortable lives filled with unprecedented freedom, choice, and abundance—often feel so unhappy and unfulfilled? This phenomenon is a defining paradox of our time and one we endlessly seek to solve. In The Social Paradox, psychologist William von Hippel argues that we need to think about this problem in a new way. By changing our perspective, we might finally see the solution, bringing us greater happiness and more satisfying relationships.

Propositions about artificial intelligence are being debated seriously in the 21st Century, but machines, unlike plants, are not even living organisms. So, are plants sentient beings, like humans? Do they feel? Can they communicate? Plant sentience is a subject that has intrigued mankind over the ages—from the ancient Greeks, Plato and Aristotle, through to modern day philosophers and psychologists. In this extraordinary book, Australia's Dr Terence McMullen presents an engaging, systematic and thorough study of plant psychology.

In What Do Animals Think and Feel?, the biologist Karsten Brensing has something astonishing to tell us about the animal kingdom: namely that animals, by any reasonable assessment, have developed the sophisticated systems of social organisation and behaviour that human beings call 'culture'. Dolphins call one another by name and orcas inhabit a culture that is over 700,000 years old. Chimpanzees wage strategic warfare while bonobos delight in dirty talk. Ravens enjoy snowboarding on snow-covered roofs, and snails like to spin on hamster exercise wheels.

This is an audio summary of Brain Rules, a book that explores how brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work.

"The best way to activate positive-emotion circuits in the brain is through generosity," Davidson, who founded the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at University of Wisconsin, Madison, said in a talk at the Aspen Ideas Festival. "This is really a kind of exciting neuroscientific finding because there are pearls of wisdom in the contemplative tradition - the Dalai Lama frequently talks about this - that the best way for us to be happy is to be generous to others."

John Homans adopted his dog, Stella, from a shelter for all the usual reasons: fond memories of dogs from his past, a companion for his son, an excuse for long walks around the neighborhood. Soon enough, she is happily ensconced in the daily workings of his family. And not only that: Stella is treated like a family member - in ways that dogs of his youth were not. Spending humanlike sums on vet bills, questioning her diet and exercise regimens, contemplating her happiness - how had this all come to pass, when the dogs from Homans's childhood seemed quite content living mostly out in the yard?

In her extraordinary work with dolphins, Patricia St. John has broken new ground in opening little-known worlds, all in pursuit of what she fiercely believes in: learning the languages of those who have been unreachable. Using what she has discovered from her years of work with dolphins, St. John is able to break through to autistic children. Her story is a remarkable one.

Who are you? It’s the most fundamental of human questions. Are you the type of person who tilts at windmills, or the one who prefers to view them from the comfort of an air-conditioned motorcoach? Our personalities are endlessly fascinating—not just to ourselves but also to our spouses, our parents, our children, our co-workers, our neighbors. As a highly social species, humans have to navigate among an astonishing variety of personalities.

This is the audio summary of Head Strong, a book that takes a deep-dive into some of the latest findings from the world of neuroscience, all in an effort to teach us how to boost brain performance.

Why spend countless hours indoors in front of screens when being in nature feels so good? In learning why and how to nurture our emotional connection with nature, we can also regenerate the ecosystems on which we depend for our survival. Renewal explores the science behind why being in nature makes us feel alive and helps us thrive.

Insekten führen ihn zum Täter. Aus vielen Krimis und Serien ist das bekannt: Wenn jemand stirbt, feiert die Natur ein Festbankett. Aber können die natürlichen Gegebenheiten tatsächlich wichtige Fakten liefern, die zur Aufklärung beitragen? Wie bestimmt man den Todeszeitpunkt mithilfe von Insekten? Und wie lange lag die Leiche wirklich am See? ZDFInfo urteilt über den deutschlandweit bekannten Entomologen und Forensiker Marcus Schwarz: "Von ihm kam der entscheidende Hinweis."

We humans tend to think that we are unique in our intelligence, social skill, and depth of emotion, but we think too much of ourselves. The animal kingdom teems with hidden stories of the weird and fascinating, and in Amazing Animals, we gather recent research on animal behavior, including surprising discoveries of how animals think and feel, from man’s best friend to some of the earth’s oddest creatures.