Human Psychology

Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. Dimitris Xygalatas leads us on an enlightening tour through this shadowy realm of human behavior.

For centuries, economics was dominated by the idea that we are rational individuals who optimize our own “utility”. Then, in the 1970s, psychologists demonstrated that the reality is a lot messier. We don’t really know what our utility is, and we care about people other than ourselves. We are susceptible to external nudges. And far from being perfectly rational, we are prone to “cognitive biases” with complex effects on decision-making, such as forgetting to prepare for retirement.

Have you ever wondered how you can decode people's facial expressions? Are you interested in learning what different gestures and postures mean? Do you want to know how to detect lies and deceit? While you can’t read people’s minds, you can learn to read people like a book by observing and accurately interpreting their non-verbal cues. These skills are crucial if you wish to become a more effective communicator and gain insight into other people’s thoughts and feelings.

Many individuals are struggling to make sense of their unwanted sexual behaviors. In Treating Sexual Addiction: A Compassionate Approach to Recovery, Dr. Kevin Skinner begins by defining what sex addiction is and what it is not. Then, using the recovery capital model to explain what successful people do in recovery, the author provides suggestions and solutions on how to increase your recovery capital. Learn how to overcome common barriers to recovery such as loneliness, low self-worth, and stress.

Lessons from 15 sexual encounters for a sailor who learned pickup in order to date, and ended up finding so much more. This is a self-help book like you've never experienced. Rian doesn't hold back and talks about subjects you'd never see discussed in polite society, yet they are things that everyone deals with in their own lives.

From best selling author Barbara DeAngelis, the audiobook for both sexes that reveals everything women want men to know about loving and understanding the woman in their life.

Herein, the author states unequivocally, and for the record, that Vril has nothing to do with Nazism, fascism, racism, hate, or bigotry. Like most Venusians, Thor follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, Tecumseh, Krishna, and Buddha, which generally state that all men are created equal in God’s sight, and are loved equally by God. Today, in 2018, most everyone has heard about Vril, so Thor has no trouble stating that this book, edited for him by his brilliant human acolyte, Clement Wood, is about one of the key aspects of Vril: the sexual psychology of human beings.

The prevalence of low sexual desire ranges from 26.7 percent among premenopausal women to 52.4 percent among naturally menopausal women. That is an enormous segment of women who are frustrated about their lack of desire and wonder what's wrong. But in Woman on Fire, Amy Jo Goddard shows us that the more whole we are as sexual beings, the more fulfilled we are as human beings.

Throughout her 30-year career, Dr. Tammy Nelson found that couples therapists have traditionally been taught little about sex therapy, and sex therapists have minimal education in relationship systems. This leaves clinicians searching for more interventions for both couples and sexuality. To bridge the gap, Dr. Nelson, relationship expert and board-certified sexologist, has gathered the top authorities in the field of integrative treatment to create this groundbreaking book for all therapists looking for a comprehensive treatment resource.

Many people believe that, at its core, biological sex is a fundamental, diverging force in our development. According to this familiar story, differences between the sexes are shaped by past evolutionary pressures - women are more cautious and parenting-focused, men seek status to attract more mates - re-created in each generation by sex hormones and male and female brains. This, in turn, is the basis of supposedly entrenched inequalities in our modern societies.

Americans spend $13 billion a year on pornography, the regular viewing of which is linked to higher acceptance of violence against women and adversarial sexual beliefs. Therapists and pastors are not always adequately equipped to address the unique demands of competent care for those struggling with sexually addictive behaviors. Reclaiming Sexual Wholeness, edited by Todd Bowman, presents cutting-edge research from a diverse group of experts in a single, comprehensive resource intended for therapists, clergy, and others in helping professions.

Men Chase, Women Choose is the first book to offer cutting-edge research that explains how the brain works when two people first meet, start to date, fall in love, and then move into real long-term love. Maslar's unique approach brings together the latest and most relevant neurological, physiological, and biochemical research on the science of love while incorporating stories and examples of composite characters based on participants of her popular classes and seminars.

The first edition of this book tackled these important questions of interpersonal neurobiology - that the brain is a social organ built through experience - using poignant case examples from the author's years of clinical experience. Elegant explanations of social neuroscience wove together emerging findings from the research literature to bring neuroscience to the stories of our lives.

John Ratey, best-selling author and clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, lucidly explains the human brain's workings, and paves the way for a better understanding of how the brain affects who we are. Ratey provides insight into the basic structure and chemistry of the brain, and demonstrates how its systems shape our perceptions, emotions, and behavior. By giving us a greater understanding of how the brain responds to the guidance of its user, he provides us with knowledge that can enable us to improve our lives.

After getting a master’s degree in clinical psychology, Dasha Kiper became the live-in caregiver for a Holocaust survivor with Alzheimer’s disease. For a year, she endured the emotional strain of looking after a person whose condition disrupts the rules of time, order, and continuity. Inspired by her own experience and her work counseling caregivers in the subsequent decade, Kiper offers an entirely new way to understand the symbiotic relationship between patients and those tending to them.

The history of selling sex is a hidden one—and too often its practitioners are pushed to the margins of history. This book redresses the balance, revealing the history of the sex trade through the eyes of sex workers, from medieval streets to Wild West saloons, and from brothels to state bedrooms. Lister invites listeners to reconsider everything they thought they knew about the world's oldest profession. Together, these tales of sex workers from around the world and throughout history provide a powerful context to contemporary debates about sexuality and the empowerment of women.

Beyond Fifty Shades of Grey, there's an entire kinky world of BDSM, full of real-life dominants and submissives enjoying an intimacy and satisfaction in their relationships that vanilla folk only dream of. Whether you want to explore your own submissive fantasies, or you're just curious about what BDSM is really like, this book will answer all your questions, plus some you didn't know you had. Erotic author Kate Kinsey brings over a decade of experience as a submissive and kinky educator to this practical step-by-step guide to being a healthy and happy submissive.

Gay culture has become a nightmare of consumerism, whether it's an endless quest for Absolut vodka, Diesel jeans, rainbow Hummers, pec implants, or Pottery Barn. Whatever happened to sexual flamboyance and gender liberation, an end to marriage, the military, and the nuclear family? As backrooms are shut down to make way for wedding vows, and gay sexual culture morphs into “straight-acting dudes hangin’ out”, what are the possibilities for a defiant faggotry that challenges the assimilationist norms of a corporate-cozy lifestyle?

In Sex Outside the Lines, Dr. Chris Donaghue describes the holes in society's definition of "normal", taking a sharp eye to institutions such as marriage, cheating, virginity, identity, and sexual orientation. He also examines all the ways that accepting society's "truths" have led to the demise of long-term relationships and sexual pleasure. All of this misinformation is showing up in your bedroom and preventing you from having the sex life you're entitled to.

This is a cutting-edge tour de force that traces human family life from its origins in Africa over 20 million years ago to the Internet dating sites and bedrooms of today. It's got it all: the copulatory gaze and other natural courting ploys; the who, when, where, and why of adultery; love addictions; Fisher's discovery of four broad chemically based personality styles and what each seeks in romance; the newest data on worldwide (biologically based) patterns of divorce....