Illusions of Human Thinking PDF Download

Author: Gabriel Vacariu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3658104449
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The book illustrates that the traditional philosophical concept of the "Universe”, the "World” has led to anomalies and paradoxes in the realm of knowledge. The author replaces this notion by the EDWs perspective, i.e. a new axiomatic hyperontological framework of Epistemologically Different Worlds” (EDWs). Thus it becomes possible to find a more appropriate approach to different branches of science, such as cognitive neuroscience, physics, biology and the philosophy of mind. The consequences are a better understanding of the mind-body problem, quantum physics non-locality or entanglement, the measurement problem, Einstein’s theory of relativity and the binding problem in cognitive neuroscience.

Author: Rüdiger F Pohl
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1317448286
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
Cognitive Illusions explores a wide range of fascinating psychological effects in the way we think, judge and remember in our everyday lives. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, the book defines what cognitive illusions are and discusses their theoretical status: are such illusions proof for a faulty human information-processing system, or do they only represent by-products of otherwise adaptive cognitive mechanisms? Throughout the book, background to phenomena such as illusions of control, overconfidence and hindsight bias are discussed, before considering the respective empirical research, potential explanations of the phenomenon, and relevant applied perspectives. Each chapter also features the detailed description of an experiment that can be used as classroom demonstration. Featuring six new chapters, this edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to reflect recent research and changes of focus within the field. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of cognitive illusions, specifically, those focusing on thinking, reasoning, decision-making and memory.

Author: Malcolm Jeeves
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599473550
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion is the second title published in the new Templeton Science and Religion Series. In this volume, Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown provide an overview of the relationship between neuroscience, psychology, and religion that is academically sophisticated, yet accessible to the general reader. The authors introduce key terms; thoroughly chart the histories of both neuroscience and psychology, with a particular focus on how these disciplines have interfaced religion through the ages; and explore contemporary approaches to both fields, reviewing how current science/religion controversies are playing out today. Throughout, they cover issues like consciousness, morality, concepts of the soul, and theories of mind. Their examination of topics like brain imaging research, evolutionary psychology, and primate studies show how recent advances in these areas can blend harmoniously with religious belief, since they offer much to our understanding of humanity's place in the world. Jeeves and Brown conclude their comprehensive and inclusive survey by providing an interdisciplinary model for shaping the ongoing dialogue. Sure to be of interest to both academics and curious intellectuals, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion addresses important age-old questions and demonstrates how modern scientific techniques can provide a much more nuanced range of potential answers to those questions.

Author: Bruce Hood
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199969892
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we? The idea of a "self" has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this notion of the independent, coherent self is an illusion - it is not what it seems. Reality as we perceive it is not something that objectively exists, but something that our brains construct from moment to moment, interpreting, summarizing, and substituting information along the way. Like a science fiction movie, we are living in a matrix that is our mind. In The Self Illusion, Dr. Bruce Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. He explains that self is the product of our relationships and interactions with others, and it exists only in our brains. The author argues, however, that though the self is an illusion, it is one that humans cannot live without. But things are changing as our technology develops and shapes society. The social bonds and relationships that used to take time and effort to form are now undergoing a revolution as we start to put our self online. Social networking activities such as blogging, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter threaten to change the way we behave. Social networking is fast becoming socialization on steroids. The speed and ease at which we can form alliances and relationships is outstripping the same selection processes that shaped our self prior to the internet era. This book ventures into unchartered territory to explain how the idea of the self will never be the same again in the online social world.

Author: Rüdiger F Pohl
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 113584495X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Cognitive Illusions investigates a wide range of fascinating psychological effects in the way we think, judge and remember in our everyday lives. At the beginning of each chapter, leading researchers in the field introduce the background to phenomena such as illusions of control, overconfidence and hindsight bias. This is followed by an explanation of the experimental context in which these illusions can be investigated and a theoretical discussion drawing conclusions about the wider implications of these fallacy and bias effects. Written with researchers and instructors in mind, this tightly edited, reader-friendly text provides both an overview of research in the area and many lively pedagogic features such as chapter summaries, further reading lists and suggestions for classroom demonstrations.

Author: Steven Sloman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399184341
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
“The Knowledge Illusion is filled with insights on how we should deal with our individual ignorance and collective wisdom.” —Steven Pinker We all think we know more than we actually do. Humans have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don’t even know how a pen or a toilet works. How have we achieved so much despite understanding so little? Cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. We’re constantly drawing on information and expertise stored outside our heads: in our bodies, our environment, our possessions, and the community with which we interact—and usually we don’t even realize we’re doing it. The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. The fundamentally communal nature of intelligence and knowledge explains why we often assume we know more than we really do, why political opinions and false beliefs are so hard to change, and why individual-oriented approaches to education and management frequently fail. But our collaborative minds also enable us to do amazing things. The Knowledge Illusion contends that true genius can be found in the ways we create intelligence using the community around us.

Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262290553
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 743

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Book Description
A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

Author: Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 9780471159629
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
"Fascinating and insightful. . . . I cannot recall a book that has made me think more about the nature of thinking." -- Richard C. Lewontin Harvard University Everyone knows that optical illusions trick us because of the way we see. Now scientists have discovered that cognitive illusions, a set of biases deeply embedded in the human mind, can actually distort the way we think. In Inevitable Illusions, distinguished cognitive researcher Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini takes us on a provocative, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining exploration of the games our minds play. He opens the doors onto the newly charted realm of the cognitive unconscious to reveal the full range of illusions, showing how they inhibit our ability to reason--no matter what our educational background or IQ. Inevitable Illusions is stimulating, eye-opening food for thought.

Author: Heinz Kaletsch
Publisher: tredition
ISBN: 3347281381
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
Illusion human You are much more than your body! The fascinating book of Heinz Kaletsch – now available: Who or what exactly is a human being? Are we just a body with a brain that has a consciousness and a spirit for the time of our earthly life and then vanishes? Is our consciousness immortal and what exactly is its purpose? Do we have a free will? Is there good and evil? What about the ego? And is today's knowledge about our brain the last word on the subject? Not only the personal experiences of the author over many decades, but also the astonishing parallels between ancient spiritual traditions and new findings of modern mortality research and genetics, theology, medicine and quantum physics provide convincing evidence that we are much more than our human body suggests. We are immortal beings on the way to experience ourselves, in this and in still hidden worlds. Our worldview will change completely in the next decades and lead us out of the world of mysticism into real reality and to our true selves. Be there and renew your perspective, rethink your values and accompany the author on a journey that gives an inkling that we are something much greater than a materialistic worldview can convey. This richly illustrated book is written for those who like to be inspired, who are open to new models and who want to get a complete perspective on life. Break with the paradigm of inevitable death. We are all one with the universe and together creators of something new and even greater. Let yourself be inspired. You will change.

Author: Gaurav Garg
Publisher: Gaurav Garg
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
As humans, we rely on our senses to perceive the world around us. We trust that what we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell is an accurate representation of reality. But what if our senses are not as reliable as we think? "The Illusion of Perception: How Our Minds Trick Us" explores the fascinating and sometimes unsettling ways in which our minds can deceive us. Through the lens of psychology and neuroscience, this book examines the many ways in which our perceptions can be influenced by factors such as expectation, context, memory, and emotion. From optical illusions that challenge our visual system to the ways in which our memories can be altered, "The Illusion of Perception" uncovers the complexities of our perceptual experience. We'll explore the surprising ways in which our senses can be fooled, and the implications of these illusions for our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Ultimately, this book offers a thought-provoking exploration of the relationship between perception and reality. It challenges readers to consider the ways in which their own perceptions may be influenced by factors beyond their conscious awareness, and to think critically about the world they inhabit.