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Dangerous Patients: A Psychodynamic Approach to Risk Assessment and Management (The Forensic Psychotherapy Monograph Series)
by Ronald DoctorThis thought-provoking new collection - the fourth volume in the Forensic Psychotherapy Monograph Series - investigates the inherent difficulties in risk assessment. We have all read the lurid headlines when things go wrong but what is it like for the professional who has to make such vital decisions? Ronald Doctor has assembled an impressive group of clinicians who specialise in various aspects of forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy to present their experiences and theories on this formidable subject. The book begins with a general overview of current psychodynamic approaches and covers various mental health settings, including medium- and high-security units, general medical hospitals and psychiatric wards. This collection will prove to be an indispensable guide to any healthcare professional and a fascinating insight for all into this highly-pressured environment.
A Dangerous Place to Be: Identity, Conflict, and Trauma in Higher Education
by Matthew H. Bowker David P. LevineOver the past several decades, colleges and universities in the United States and United Kingdom have made significant commitments to increasing diversity, most notably regarding race and gender. The result has not, however, been an amelioration of conflict over matters of difference. Instead, there has been continuing, if not increasing, conflict and strife in universities, often reflecting conflict in the larger society. A Dangerous Place to Be examines identity-based conflict in colleges and universities, analyzing the actions of students, teachers, administrators, and educational organizations as efforts to manage dilemmas and disturbances arising in the process of identity formation.
A Dangerous Place to Be: Identity, Conflict, and Trauma in Higher Education
by Matthew H. Bowker David P. LevineOver the past several decades, colleges and universities in the United States and United Kingdom have made significant commitments to increasing diversity, most notably regarding race and gender. The result has not, however, been an amelioration of conflict over matters of difference. Instead, there has been continuing, if not increasing, conflict and strife in universities, often reflecting conflict in the larger society. A Dangerous Place to Be examines identity-based conflict in colleges and universities, analyzing the actions of students, teachers, administrators, and educational organizations as efforts to manage dilemmas and disturbances arising in the process of identity formation.
Dankbarkeit: Grundprinzip der Menschlichkeit – Kraftquelle für ein gesundes Leben
by Hans-Arved WillbergDieses Sachbuch entdeckt das Phänomen der Dankbarkeit aus Sicht der positiven Psychologie – als Kraftquelle für unsere psychische Gesundheit und ein erfülltes Leben! Denn die Emotionsforschung hat in den vergangenen Jahren den Befund hervorgebracht: Nichts tut unserer seelischen Gesundheit so gut wie das nachhaltige Gefühl ehrlicher Dankbarkeit! Das Buch zeigt, was Dankbarkeit ist, woraus sie ihre Kraft schöpft und wie es gelingen kann, sie zu erlernen. Weil der Autor in den Disziplinen Psychologie, Philosophie und Theologie zu Hause und als Trainer und Coach tätig ist, erschließt sich dem Leser das Geheimnis der Dankbarkeit mehrdimensional, tiefgründig, aber auch praxisnah. Entdecken Sie die Kraftquelle dieser wunderbaren Emotion, deren große Bedeutung für die Gesundheit von Gesellschaft und Individuum schon seit Menschengedenken bekannt ist, aber erst durch die Trendwende der positiven Psychologie auch ernsthaftes wissenschaftliches Interesse erhalten hat.
Dare to Be Human: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Journey (Relational Perspectives Book Series #Vol. 39)
by Michael Shoshani RosenbaumDaniel is 35, successful, a high level professional and an accomplished academic - yet he is also a virgin, who fears that he will spend the rest of his life alone. More importantly, Daniel has existed in an emotional bubble all of his life, and has had no intimate friendships. In other words, he is not fully alive, and seeks psychotherapy because he is haunted by not understanding what is wrong with him. He is attractive to women, yet as soon as a woman tries to get close to him, he runs away. Lacking an inner foundation, he fears that women will annihilate him, like his overbearing mother who abused him as a child. Quite simply, this book is an unprecedented achievement, taking the reader into actual psychoanalytic sessions and sharing with the reader Michael Shoshani Rosenbaum’s dialogues with Daniel, vividly illustrating his pain and struggle to transcend his existential plight. Furthermore, as the author of two sections of the book, Daniel himself provides a rare, insightful view from the other side of the couch, illuminating the challenge and change experienced within the other half of the therapeutic relationship. It is a compelling psychological adventure, fusing together the intimacy of the therapy with an account of the revolutionary changes that have occurred in the practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis over the last decades. Daniel is like no one else, and yet he is everyone, making this book a must for every person searching for self-knowledge, allowing the reader to identify with Daniel and his struggle to become human.
Dare to Be Human: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Journey (Relational Perspectives Book Series)
by Michael Shoshani RosenbaumDaniel is 35, successful, a high level professional and an accomplished academic - yet he is also a virgin, who fears that he will spend the rest of his life alone. More importantly, Daniel has existed in an emotional bubble all of his life, and has had no intimate friendships. In other words, he is not fully alive, and seeks psychotherapy because he is haunted by not understanding what is wrong with him. He is attractive to women, yet as soon as a woman tries to get close to him, he runs away. Lacking an inner foundation, he fears that women will annihilate him, like his overbearing mother who abused him as a child. Quite simply, this book is an unprecedented achievement, taking the reader into actual psychoanalytic sessions and sharing with the reader Michael Shoshani Rosenbaum’s dialogues with Daniel, vividly illustrating his pain and struggle to transcend his existential plight. Furthermore, as the author of two sections of the book, Daniel himself provides a rare, insightful view from the other side of the couch, illuminating the challenge and change experienced within the other half of the therapeutic relationship. It is a compelling psychological adventure, fusing together the intimacy of the therapy with an account of the revolutionary changes that have occurred in the practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis over the last decades. Daniel is like no one else, and yet he is everyone, making this book a must for every person searching for self-knowledge, allowing the reader to identify with Daniel and his struggle to become human.
DARE To Be You: A Systems Approach to the Early Prevention of Problem Behaviors (Prevention in Practice Library)
by Jan Miller-Heyl David MacPhee Janet J. FritzDARE To Be You (DTBY) is a program that has both a conceptual foundation and is demonstrably effective in building assets linked to a decrease in problem behaviors. Its success is based on working not only with the individual child, but also with multiple systems that affect the child. These systems include family, peers, school and the broader community. The DTBY curricula is age-appropriate and adapted to account for changing developmental needs. While this volume focuses on the DTBY program for families with 2 to 5 year old children, references are made to the programs for school aged children and teens. This program has proven effective in diverse settings including a Native American community; an urban setting of mixed cultures; a traditional Hispanic and Anglo rural community; and a poor, isolated agricultural region.
Dare to Change Your Life: Find Your Ambition And Make Your Dreams Real With This Book
by Lawrence Okolie'If I can go from obesity to the Olympics in four years, and then become a professional boxer, then anything is possible in your life.' Lawrence OkolieDREAM BIG. FOCUS. CHANGE YOUR LIFE.Lawrence shares 40 short life lessons and explains what you should do to focus your mind on your goals, however ambitious they are, so you can make your pipe dreams real too.'An inspiration' Anthony Joshua 'A relatable and important role model' Guvna B
Daring Wives: Insight into Women's Desires for Extramarital Affairs
by Frances Cohen PraverRiveting vignettes show the inner and outer lives of women engaged in extramarital affairs. In spotlighting the many influences that spur women to cheat—from marital discord, childhood histories and sociopolitical history to pop and postmodern culture—Dr. Praver neither condemns nor condones such affairs. Instead, she aims to help wives and husbands question their own desires and actions, recognize their own roles in marital problems, and become inspired to find creative solutions. This work is an intimate and comprehensive examination of wives' desires for extramarital affairs. It includes vignettes from younger and older wives, as well as working, stay-at-home and remarried wives, from those with and without children, and from those who turn to same-sex affairs. The authoritative and scholary underpinnings are presented in a reader-friendly style that will appeal to all women, as well as to clinicians and academics.Readers who are involved in or considering extramarital affairs will feel supported, validated, and inspired to enter into a dialogue for change. This book and its vivid case studies, filled with dialogue that allows readers a front-row seat in the therapy room, inspire one to listen and learn without harsh perjorative judgments. While the issues here are profound, the book is always evocative and enjoyable.
Dark Academe: Capitalism, Theory, and the Death Drive in Higher Education (Palgrave Studies on Global Policy and Critical Futures in Education)
by Jeffrey R. Di LeoThis book argues that a critical understanding of dark academe is vital to the futures of democracy and education. Drawing upon contemporary literary and cultural theory, particularly, affect theory, queer epistemology, and critical race theory as well as critiques of capitalism and accounts of the death drive, it builds a case for identifying dark academe as anything that prohibits the pursuit of democratic education and critical citizenship. It also argues that dark times require a reassessment of the ways theory and knowledge are approached in the humanities. This is necessary if the aim is to truly understand the darkness at the heart of the higher education today. Dark academe works to negate education and learning by continuously telling us that the quest for knowledge is empty, and the pursuit of critique is blind. In this educational darkness, the death drive of neoliberal academe becomes a force that works against intellectual transformation and the deepening of critical sights.
Dark Cognition: Evidence for Psi and its Implications for Consciousness
by David VernonOutlining the scientific evidence behind psi research, Dark Cognition expertly reveals that such anomalous phenomena clearly exist, highlighting that the prevailing view of consciousness, purely as a phenomenon of the brain, fails to account for the empirical findings. David Vernon provides essential coverage of information and evidence for a variety of anomalous psi phenomena, calling for a paradigm shift in how we view consciousness: from seeing it as something solely reliant on the brain to something that is enigmatic, fundamental and all pervasive. The book examines the nature of psi research showing that, despite claims to the contrary, it is clearly a scientific endeavour. It explores evidence from telepathy and scopaesthesia, clairvoyance and remote viewing, precognition, psychokinesis, fields of consciousness, energy healing, out of body experiences, near-death experiences and post death phenomena, showing that not only do these phenomena exist, but that they have significant implications for our understanding of consciousness. Featuring discussion on scientific research methods, reflections on the fields of dark cognition and end-of-chapter questions that encourage critical thinking, this book is an essential text for those interested in parapsychology, consciousness and cognitive psychology.
Dark Cognition: Evidence for Psi and its Implications for Consciousness
by David VernonOutlining the scientific evidence behind psi research, Dark Cognition expertly reveals that such anomalous phenomena clearly exist, highlighting that the prevailing view of consciousness, purely as a phenomenon of the brain, fails to account for the empirical findings. David Vernon provides essential coverage of information and evidence for a variety of anomalous psi phenomena, calling for a paradigm shift in how we view consciousness: from seeing it as something solely reliant on the brain to something that is enigmatic, fundamental and all pervasive. The book examines the nature of psi research showing that, despite claims to the contrary, it is clearly a scientific endeavour. It explores evidence from telepathy and scopaesthesia, clairvoyance and remote viewing, precognition, psychokinesis, fields of consciousness, energy healing, out of body experiences, near-death experiences and post death phenomena, showing that not only do these phenomena exist, but that they have significant implications for our understanding of consciousness. Featuring discussion on scientific research methods, reflections on the fields of dark cognition and end-of-chapter questions that encourage critical thinking, this book is an essential text for those interested in parapsychology, consciousness and cognitive psychology.
The Dark Door (Death Sentences: Short Stories to Die For)
by Lisa UngerThe exciting new title in the Death Sentences series of mysteries set in the world of books. Lisa Unger explores themes of grief, loss, and mental health in this thrilling novella.In the weeks after the death of her father, bestselling horror writer Rene Duke, Pip Duke's inner demons have become too much to bear. She hears voices constantly, babbling and contradicting each other from one moment to the next. One voice tells her she deserves to inherit everything from her father's estate; another says she's guilty of his death. One voice tells her that the people with whom her father surrounded himself are nothing but vultures, out for his rare book collection and immense wealth; another says the cops suspect her of his murder.Overwhelmed by uncontrollable thoughts, Pip has checked herself into Sheltering Oaks, an in-patient therapy center, but the staff there is every bit as suspicious and untrustworthy as the people she hoped to escape. Some people would prefer she stayed in the hospital indefinitely, since her mental incapacity could serve as grounds for relinquishing her inheritance; others – her father's publishers, for example – want Pip released as soon as possible, to lend credibility to the 'lost manuscripts' they hope to produce to keep the cash from the Duke franchise rolling in.In order to separate the truth from all those whispering lies, Pip will have to untangle her most sordid memories and unlock the dark door in her psyche; only then will she discover long-buried secrets capable of freeing her from her past once and for all.
Dark Emotions: Difficult Emotional Experiences in Social and Everyday Life (ISSN)
by Michael Hviid JacobsenDark Emotions is a book about a range of emotional experiences that are often regarded or characterized as ‘negative’, ‘disturbing’ or ‘dark’ as contrasted with emotions that are ‘positive’, ‘pleasant’ or ‘light’.Each chapter in the book is devoted to introducing different ‘dark emotions’ such as disappointment, betrayal, worry, regret, resentment and alienation and seeks to show – through conceptual, theoretical and empirical examples – how these emotions influence peoples’ lives and their relations to self, others and society. The book thus provides an overview of some dark emotions that are recognizable in our everyday lives and culture. It contains accessible introductions and relevant theoretical and empirical research on 12 different kinds of ‘dark emotions’. The chapters are highly useful for teaching sessions and research contexts. Additionally, they provide extensive lists of references for further reading.The book will be particularly useful for students or scholars with an interest in emotion research or related areas, and the book may inspire further investigation of the often- overlooked emotions presented in this volume.
Dark Emotions: Difficult Emotional Experiences in Social and Everyday Life (ISSN)
Dark Emotions is a book about a range of emotional experiences that are often regarded or characterized as ‘negative’, ‘disturbing’ or ‘dark’ as contrasted with emotions that are ‘positive’, ‘pleasant’ or ‘light’.Each chapter in the book is devoted to introducing different ‘dark emotions’ such as disappointment, betrayal, worry, regret, resentment and alienation and seeks to show – through conceptual, theoretical and empirical examples – how these emotions influence peoples’ lives and their relations to self, others and society. The book thus provides an overview of some dark emotions that are recognizable in our everyday lives and culture. It contains accessible introductions and relevant theoretical and empirical research on 12 different kinds of ‘dark emotions’. The chapters are highly useful for teaching sessions and research contexts. Additionally, they provide extensive lists of references for further reading.The book will be particularly useful for students or scholars with an interest in emotion research or related areas, and the book may inspire further investigation of the often- overlooked emotions presented in this volume.
Dark Fantasy: Regressive Movements and the Search for Meaning in Politics
by David P. LevineRecent trends in politics culminating in the US with the election of Donald Trump both provoked and expressed a troubling intensification of emotion in the body politic. Heightened levels of anger, frustration, and distrust, the dismissal of the norms of politics and policy making, and the prevalence of intractable conflict indicated an increase in the power of regressive forces. The power of these forces takes the form of dark fantasies involving the loss, indeed the destruction, of safe space, the prevalence of existential threat, and the corrosion of the kinds of relationships that make living in the world tolerable. This book explores the emotional meaning of regressive movements in contemporary politics with special reference to Trump and his supporters. Its main hypothesis is that the primary goal of these movements is not to restore a lost world of safety and wellbeing as they claim it is, but to make their members' experience of the destruction and loss of that world universal.
Dark Fantasy: Regressive Movements and the Search for Meaning in Politics
by David P. LevineRecent trends in politics culminating in the US with the election of Donald Trump both provoked and expressed a troubling intensification of emotion in the body politic. Heightened levels of anger, frustration, and distrust, the dismissal of the norms of politics and policy making, and the prevalence of intractable conflict indicated an increase in the power of regressive forces. The power of these forces takes the form of dark fantasies involving the loss, indeed the destruction, of safe space, the prevalence of existential threat, and the corrosion of the kinds of relationships that make living in the world tolerable. This book explores the emotional meaning of regressive movements in contemporary politics with special reference to Trump and his supporters. Its main hypothesis is that the primary goal of these movements is not to restore a lost world of safety and wellbeing as they claim it is, but to make their members' experience of the destruction and loss of that world universal.
The Dark Ground of Spirit: Schelling and the Unconscious
by S. J. McGrathFriedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling is widely regarded as one of the most difficult and influential of German philosophers. In this book, S. J. McGrath not only makes Schelling's ideas accessible to a general audience, he uncovers the romantic philosopher's seminal role as the creator of a concept which shaped and defined late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century psychology: the concept of the unconscious. McGrath shows how the unconscious originally functioned in Schelling's philosophy as a bridge between nature and spirit. Before Freud revised the concept to fit his psychopathology, the unconscious was understood largely along Schellingian lines as primarily a source of creative power. Schelling's life-long effort to understand intuitive and non-reflective forms of intelligence in nature, humankind and the divine has been revitalised by Jungians, as well as by archetypal and trans-personal psychologists. With the new interest in the unconscious today, Schelling's ideas have never been more relevant. The Dark Ground of Spirit will therefore be essential reading for those involved in psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and philosophy, as well as anyone with an interest in the history of ideas.
The Dark Ground of Spirit: Schelling and the Unconscious
by S. J. McGrathFriedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling is widely regarded as one of the most difficult and influential of German philosophers. In this book, S. J. McGrath not only makes Schelling's ideas accessible to a general audience, he uncovers the romantic philosopher's seminal role as the creator of a concept which shaped and defined late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century psychology: the concept of the unconscious. McGrath shows how the unconscious originally functioned in Schelling's philosophy as a bridge between nature and spirit. Before Freud revised the concept to fit his psychopathology, the unconscious was understood largely along Schellingian lines as primarily a source of creative power. Schelling's life-long effort to understand intuitive and non-reflective forms of intelligence in nature, humankind and the divine has been revitalised by Jungians, as well as by archetypal and trans-personal psychologists. With the new interest in the unconscious today, Schelling's ideas have never been more relevant. The Dark Ground of Spirit will therefore be essential reading for those involved in psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and philosophy, as well as anyone with an interest in the history of ideas.
The Dark Interval: Letters for the Grieving Heart (Modern Library Classics Ser.)
by Rainer Maria Rilke Ulrich BaerFrom one of the most famous poets in history comes a new selection of writings to bereaved friends and acquaintances, providing comfort in a time of grief and words to soothe the soul.'A treasure. The solace Rilke offers is uncommon, uplifting and necessary' GUARDIANThroughout his life, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke addressed letters to individuals who were close to him, who had contacted him after reading his works, or who he had met briefly – anyone with whom he felt an inner connection. Within his vast correspondence, there are about two dozen letters of condolence. In these direct, personal and practical letters, Rilke writes about loss and mortality, assuming the role of a sensitive, serious and uplifting guide through life's difficulties. He consoles a friend on the loss of her nephew, which she experienced like the loss of her own child; a mentor on the death of her dog; and an acquaintance struggling to cope with the end of a friendship. The result is a profound vision of mourning and a meditation on the role of pain in our lives, as well as a soothing guide for how to get through it.Where things become truly difficult and unbearable, we find ourselves in a place already very close to its transformation...
Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious
by Daniel L. EverettIs it in our nature to be altruistic, or evil, to make art, use tools, or create language? Is it in our nature to think in any particular way? For Daniel L. Everett, the answer is a resounding no: it isn’t in our nature to do any of these things because human nature does not exist—at least not as we usually think of it. Flying in the face of major trends in Evolutionary Psychology and related fields, he offers a provocative and compelling argument in this book that the only thing humans are hardwired for is freedom: freedom from evolutionary instinct and freedom to adapt to a variety of environmental and cultural contexts. Everett sketches a blank-slate picture of human cognition that focuses not on what is in the mind but, rather, what the mind is in—namely, culture. He draws on years of field research among the Amazonian people of the Pirahã in order to carefully scrutinize various theories of cognitive instinct, including Noam Chomsky’s foundational concept of universal grammar, Freud’s notions of unconscious forces, Adolf Bastian’s psychic unity of mankind, and works on massive modularity by evolutionary psychologists such as Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Jerry Fodor, and Steven Pinker. Illuminating unique characteristics of the Pirahã language, he demonstrates just how differently various cultures can make us think and how vital culture is to our cognitive flexibility. Outlining the ways culture and individual psychology operate symbiotically, he posits a Buddhist-like conception of the cultural self as a set of experiences united by various apperceptions, episodic memories, ranked values, knowledge structures, and social roles—and not, in any shape or form, biological instinct. The result is fascinating portrait of the “dark matter of the mind,” one that shows that our greatest evolutionary adaptation is adaptability itself.
Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious
by Daniel L. EverettIs it in our nature to be altruistic, or evil, to make art, use tools, or create language? Is it in our nature to think in any particular way? For Daniel L. Everett, the answer is a resounding no: it isn’t in our nature to do any of these things because human nature does not exist—at least not as we usually think of it. Flying in the face of major trends in Evolutionary Psychology and related fields, he offers a provocative and compelling argument in this book that the only thing humans are hardwired for is freedom: freedom from evolutionary instinct and freedom to adapt to a variety of environmental and cultural contexts. Everett sketches a blank-slate picture of human cognition that focuses not on what is in the mind but, rather, what the mind is in—namely, culture. He draws on years of field research among the Amazonian people of the Pirahã in order to carefully scrutinize various theories of cognitive instinct, including Noam Chomsky’s foundational concept of universal grammar, Freud’s notions of unconscious forces, Adolf Bastian’s psychic unity of mankind, and works on massive modularity by evolutionary psychologists such as Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Jerry Fodor, and Steven Pinker. Illuminating unique characteristics of the Pirahã language, he demonstrates just how differently various cultures can make us think and how vital culture is to our cognitive flexibility. Outlining the ways culture and individual psychology operate symbiotically, he posits a Buddhist-like conception of the cultural self as a set of experiences united by various apperceptions, episodic memories, ranked values, knowledge structures, and social roles—and not, in any shape or form, biological instinct. The result is fascinating portrait of the “dark matter of the mind,” one that shows that our greatest evolutionary adaptation is adaptability itself.
Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious
by Daniel L. EverettIs it in our nature to be altruistic, or evil, to make art, use tools, or create language? Is it in our nature to think in any particular way? For Daniel L. Everett, the answer is a resounding no: it isn’t in our nature to do any of these things because human nature does not exist—at least not as we usually think of it. Flying in the face of major trends in Evolutionary Psychology and related fields, he offers a provocative and compelling argument in this book that the only thing humans are hardwired for is freedom: freedom from evolutionary instinct and freedom to adapt to a variety of environmental and cultural contexts. Everett sketches a blank-slate picture of human cognition that focuses not on what is in the mind but, rather, what the mind is in—namely, culture. He draws on years of field research among the Amazonian people of the Pirahã in order to carefully scrutinize various theories of cognitive instinct, including Noam Chomsky’s foundational concept of universal grammar, Freud’s notions of unconscious forces, Adolf Bastian’s psychic unity of mankind, and works on massive modularity by evolutionary psychologists such as Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Jerry Fodor, and Steven Pinker. Illuminating unique characteristics of the Pirahã language, he demonstrates just how differently various cultures can make us think and how vital culture is to our cognitive flexibility. Outlining the ways culture and individual psychology operate symbiotically, he posits a Buddhist-like conception of the cultural self as a set of experiences united by various apperceptions, episodic memories, ranked values, knowledge structures, and social roles—and not, in any shape or form, biological instinct. The result is fascinating portrait of the “dark matter of the mind,” one that shows that our greatest evolutionary adaptation is adaptability itself.
Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious
by Daniel L. EverettIs it in our nature to be altruistic, or evil, to make art, use tools, or create language? Is it in our nature to think in any particular way? For Daniel L. Everett, the answer is a resounding no: it isn’t in our nature to do any of these things because human nature does not exist—at least not as we usually think of it. Flying in the face of major trends in Evolutionary Psychology and related fields, he offers a provocative and compelling argument in this book that the only thing humans are hardwired for is freedom: freedom from evolutionary instinct and freedom to adapt to a variety of environmental and cultural contexts. Everett sketches a blank-slate picture of human cognition that focuses not on what is in the mind but, rather, what the mind is in—namely, culture. He draws on years of field research among the Amazonian people of the Pirahã in order to carefully scrutinize various theories of cognitive instinct, including Noam Chomsky’s foundational concept of universal grammar, Freud’s notions of unconscious forces, Adolf Bastian’s psychic unity of mankind, and works on massive modularity by evolutionary psychologists such as Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Jerry Fodor, and Steven Pinker. Illuminating unique characteristics of the Pirahã language, he demonstrates just how differently various cultures can make us think and how vital culture is to our cognitive flexibility. Outlining the ways culture and individual psychology operate symbiotically, he posits a Buddhist-like conception of the cultural self as a set of experiences united by various apperceptions, episodic memories, ranked values, knowledge structures, and social roles—and not, in any shape or form, biological instinct. The result is fascinating portrait of the “dark matter of the mind,” one that shows that our greatest evolutionary adaptation is adaptability itself.
Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious
by Daniel L. EverettIs it in our nature to be altruistic, or evil, to make art, use tools, or create language? Is it in our nature to think in any particular way? For Daniel L. Everett, the answer is a resounding no: it isn’t in our nature to do any of these things because human nature does not exist—at least not as we usually think of it. Flying in the face of major trends in Evolutionary Psychology and related fields, he offers a provocative and compelling argument in this book that the only thing humans are hardwired for is freedom: freedom from evolutionary instinct and freedom to adapt to a variety of environmental and cultural contexts. Everett sketches a blank-slate picture of human cognition that focuses not on what is in the mind but, rather, what the mind is in—namely, culture. He draws on years of field research among the Amazonian people of the Pirahã in order to carefully scrutinize various theories of cognitive instinct, including Noam Chomsky’s foundational concept of universal grammar, Freud’s notions of unconscious forces, Adolf Bastian’s psychic unity of mankind, and works on massive modularity by evolutionary psychologists such as Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Jerry Fodor, and Steven Pinker. Illuminating unique characteristics of the Pirahã language, he demonstrates just how differently various cultures can make us think and how vital culture is to our cognitive flexibility. Outlining the ways culture and individual psychology operate symbiotically, he posits a Buddhist-like conception of the cultural self as a set of experiences united by various apperceptions, episodic memories, ranked values, knowledge structures, and social roles—and not, in any shape or form, biological instinct. The result is fascinating portrait of the “dark matter of the mind,” one that shows that our greatest evolutionary adaptation is adaptability itself.