The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind by Steven Pinker

$10.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: good

Describes various facets of human language - its biological origin, its uniqueness to humanity, it acquisition by children, its grammatical structure, the production and perception of speech, the pathology of language disorders and the unstoppable evolution of languages and dialects.

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

$12.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

"Presented with extraordinary lucidity, cogency and panache...Powerful and gripping...To have read [the book] is to have consulted a first draft of the structural plan of the human psyche...a glittering tour de force" - "Spectator". "Why do memories fade? Why do we lose our tempers? Why do fools fall in love? Pinker's objective in this erudite account is to explore the nature and history of the human mind...He explores computations and evolutions, and then considers how the mind lets us "see, think, feel, interact, and pursue higher callings like art, religion and philosophy" - "Sunday Times". ...Show more

Stories for the Third Ear - Using Hypnotic Fables in Psychotherapy by Lee Wallas

$12.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: good

The Examined Life : How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz

$14.00 NZD

Category: Self-help | Reading Level: very good

As heard on Book of the Week, Radio 4. 'This book is about change.' We are all storytellers - we make stories to make sense of our lives. But it is not enough to tell tales. There must be someone to listen. In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years unc overing the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon. This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient. These are stories about our everyday lives: they are about the people we love and the lies that we tell; the changes we bear, and the grief. Ultimately, they show us not only how we lose ourselves but how we might find ourselves too. ...Show more

Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills by Rhona Flin et al.

$16.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

Many 21st century operations are characterised by teams of workers dealing with significant risks and complex technology, in competitive, commercially-driven environments. Informed managers in such sectors have realised the necessity of understanding the human dimension to their operations if they hope to improve production and safety performance. While organisational safety culture is a key determinant of workplace safety, it is also essential to focus on the non-technical skills of the system operators based at the 'sharp end' of the organisation. These skills are the cognitive and social skills required for efficient and safe operations, often termed Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills. In industries such as civil aviation, it has long been appreciated that the majority of accidents could have been prevented if better non-technical skills had been demonstrated by personnel operating and maintaining the system. As a result, the aviation industry has pioneered the development of CRM training. Many other organisations are now introducing non-technical skills training, most notably within the healthcare sector. Safety at the Sharp End is a general guide to the theory and practice of non-technical skills for safety. It covers the identification, training and evaluation of non-technical skills and has been written for use by individuals who are studying or training these skills on CRM and other safety or human factors courses. The material is also suitable for undergraduate and post-experience students studying human factors or industrial safety programmes. ...Show more

On Forgiveness by Richard Holloway

$8.00 NZD

Category: Religion | Series: Canons | Reading Level: very good

"Full of human wisdom, this is a psychologically acute and absorbing approach to a very important subject". (Philip Pullman). In this inspiring work, Richard Holloway tackles the great theme of forgiveness. One of the most important books on this essential topic, On Forgiveness draws on the great philos ophers and writers such as Frederick Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida and Nelson Mandela. Both timely and a timeless modern classic, On Forgiveness is a pertinent and fascinating discourse on how forgiveness works, where it came from and how the need to embrace it is greater than ever if we are to free ourselves from the binds of the past. ...Show more

Knots by R.D. Laing

$6.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

Understanding Genocide - The Social Psychology of the Holocaust by Leonard S. Newman (Editor); Ralph Erber (Editor)

$25.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

When and why do groups target each other for extermination? How do seemingly normal people become participants in genocide? Why do some individuals come to the rescue of members of targeted groups, while others just passively observe their victimization? And how do perpetrators and bystanders later come to terms with the choices that they made? These questions have long vexed scholars and laypeople alike, and they have not decreased in urgency as we enter the twenty-first century. In this book--the first collection of essays representing social psychological perspectives on genocide and the Holocaust-- prominent social psychologists use the principles derived from contemporary research in their field to try to shed light on the behavior of the perpetrators of genocide. The primary focus of this volume is on the Holocaust, but the conclusions reached have relevance for attempts to understand any episode of mass killing. Among the topics covered are how crises and difficult life conditions might set the stage for violent intergroup conflict; why some groups are more likely than others to be selected as scapegoats; how certain cultural values and beliefs could facilitate the initiation of genocide; the roles of conformity and obedience to authority in shaping behavior; how engaging in violent behavior makes it easier to for one to aggress again; the evidence for a "genocide-prone" personality; and how perpetrators deceive themselves about what they have done. The book does not culminate in a grand theory of intergroup violence; instead, it seeks to provide the reader with new ways of making sense of the horrors of genocide. In other words, the goal of all of the contributors is to provide us with at least some of the knowledge that we will need to anticipate and prevent future such tragic episodes. ...Show more

Your Rainforest Mind - A Guide to the Well-Being of Gifted Adults and Youth by Paula Prober; Sarah Wilson (Editor)

$14.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

Do you long to drive a Ferrari at top speed on the open road, but find yourself always stuck on the freeway during rush hour? Do you wonder how you can feel like "not enough" and "too much" at the same time? Like the rain forest, are you sometimes intense, multilayered, colorful, creative, overwhelming, highly sensitive, complex, and/or idealistic? And, like the rain forest, have you met too many chainsaws? Enter Paula Prober, M.S., M.Ed., who understands the diversity and complexity of minds like yours. In "Your Rainforest Mind: A Guide to the Well-Being of Gifted Youths and Adults," Paula explores the challenges faced by gifted adults of all ages. Through case studies and extensive research, Paula will help you tap into your inner creativity, find peace, and discover the limitless potential that comes with your Rainforest Mind. ...Show more

Psychology for a Better World by Niki Harre

$15.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

Can you save the planet and have some fun along the way? Aimed at the teacher who updates students on the latest climate change negotiations, the conservationist who works to protect endangered species, the office manager who buys fair-trade coffee, or the city counselor who lobbies for cycle lanes, thi s book is a guide for everyone who is trying to create a more sustainable planet. Based on the latest psychological research, Niki Harré shows which strategies work (drawing on positive emotions, role modeling, and social identity), which don't, and why. The book ends with a self-help guide for sustainability advocates that outlines how we can work for change at the personal, group, and civic level. This edition is fully revised and updated with new material on hope, sadness, worldview and climate change, behavioral contagion, moral foundations, and more. The book is now accompanied by a free online manual with exercises to illustrate the key concepts and apply them to real world sustainability issues. ...Show more

The Technique and Practice of Listening in Intensive Psychotherapy by Richard D. Chessick

$16.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Series: G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Ser. | Reading Level: very good

Dr Chessick uses the metaphor of a television set in order to illustrate Freud's notion of the therapist's unconscious as a receptive organ for the transmitting unconscious of the patient. The therapist listens to the patient's transmissions on five different channels, represented by five orientations, stances, modes, or models, among which the therapist must switch back and forth on the patient's initiative. Furthermore, Dr. Chessick shows how to validate interventions in order to be sure that the therapist has indeed heard correctly. The five channels are: Freud's drive/conflict/defence orientation, still primary and preferred; the object relations approach of Klein and Bion and others; the phenomenological or sociocultural approach of Fromm, Sartre, Lacan, Foucault and others; Kohut's self psychology and the works of Fairbairn, Winnicott, Gedo, R.D. Laing and others; and the interactional school, exemplified by the work of Sullivan and Gill. ...Show more

Memory Distortion - How Minds, Brains, and Societies Reconstruct the Past by Daniel L. Schacter; Joseph T. Coyle; Gerald D. Fischbach; Marek-marsel Mesulam; Lawrence E. Sullivan

$25.00 NZD

Category: Psychology | Reading Level: very good

Hypnosis, confabulation, source amnesia, flashbulb memories, repression--these and numerous additional topics are explored in this timely collection of essays by eminent scholars in a range of disciplines. This is the first book on memory distortion to unite contributions from cognitive psychology, psyc hopathology, psychiatry, neurobiology, sociology, history, and religious studies. It brings the most relevant group of perspectives to bear on some key contemporary issues, including the value of eyewitness testimony and the accuracy of recovered memories of sexual abuse.The distinguished contributors to this volume explore the full range of biological phenomena and social ideas relevant to understanding memory distortion, including the reliability of children's recollections, the effects of hypnosis on memory, and confabulation in brain-injured patients. They also look into the activity and role of brain systems, cellular bases of memory distortion, and the effects of emotion and trauma on the accuracy of memory. In a section devoted to the social aspects of memory distortion, additional essays analyze the media's part in distorting social memory, factors influencing historical reconstruction of the collective past, and memory distortion in religion and other cultural constructs. Daniel Schacter launches the collection with a history of psychological memory distortions. Subsequent highlights include new empirical findings on memory retrieval by a pioneer in the field, some of the foremost research on computational models, studies of the relationship between emotion and memory, new findings on amnesia by a premier neuroscientist, and reflections on the power of collective amnesia in U.S. history, the Nazi Holocaust, and ancient Egypt. ...Show more