Our minds, our selves: a brief history of psychology

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Publication Date
[2018]
Language
English

Description

An original history of psychology told through the stories of its most important breakthroughs and the people who made themAdvances in psychology have revolutionized our understanding of the human mind. Imaging technology allows researchers to monitor brain activity, letting us see what happens when we perceive, think, and feel. But technology is only part of how ideas about the mind and brain have developed over the past century and a half. In Our Minds, Our Selves, distinguished psychologist and writer Keith Oatley provides an engaging, original, and authoritative history of modern psychology told through the stories of its most important breakthroughs and the men and women who made them.Our Minds, Our Selves traverses a fascinating terrain: forms of conscious and unconscious knowledge; brain physiology; emotion; stages of mental development from infancy to adulthood; language acquisition and use; the nature of memory; mental illness; morality; free will; creativity; the mind at work in art and literature; and, most important, our ability to cooperate with one another. Controversial experiments--such as Stanley Milgram's investigation of our willingness to obey authority and inflict pain and Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues' study of behavior in a simulated prison—are covered in detail. Biographical sketches illuminate the thinkers behind key insights and turning points: historical figures such as Hermann Helmholtz, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, B. F. Skinner, and Alan Turing; leading contemporaries such as Geoffrey Hinton, Michael Tomasello, and Tania Singer; and influential people from other fields, including Margaret Mead, Noam Chomsky, Jane Goodall, and Gabrielle Starr.Enhancing our understanding of ourselves and others, psychology holds the potential to create a better world. Our Minds, Our Selves tells the story of this most important of sciences in a new and appealing way.

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ISBN
9780691175089
069117508

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Choice Review

What should an educated person know about psychology? There is no simple answer to this question, but in Our Minds, Our Selves, Oatley (emer., Univ. of Toronto) strives to provide a useful one as he highlights the fundamentally important areas that characterize psychology. His narrative showcases the breadth and importance of the discipline with lively writing that enhances the flow of ideas. The subtitle of the book identifies it as a brief history, but its real strength is the way Oatley presents the complexity of current psychological thought. The path through the book broadens from elements of neuroscientific issues on the individual level to cognitive and, ultimately, social and cultural dimensions. Throughout the book, the author cites highly relevant and important research pertaining to the topics he discusses, enhancing the context in which the ideas have evolved; he also shows that dealing with human thought and behavior is never simple. To answer the question posed at the start of this review, readers who understand the ideas developed in this book will have a good introduction to what psychology is all about. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates and general readers. --Bernard C. Beins, Ithaca College

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
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