Growing Points Ethology

Growing Points Ethology
Author: P. P. G. Bateson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 564
Release: 1976-10-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780521212878

First published in 1976, this volume is a collection of essays by some of the most prominent and active ethologists. It is organized into four sections: motivation and perception, function and evolution, development, and human social relationships. The first three sections reflect the four questions which are basic to ethology: what were the immediate causes of a behaviour pattern; what is its biological function; how did it evolve; and how did it develop in the individual? The last section involves questions of all four types. The sections are introduced and linked by editorials and the book concludes with an important statement on asking the right questions. The essays are forward looking and identify areas of importance for the study of behaviour. The volume is a source of formative ideas for students, their teachers and research workers in a wide variety of disciplines in the biological psychological and social sciences.

Social Competence in Developmental Perspective

Social Competence in Developmental Perspective
Author: B.H. Schneider
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9400924429

What determines the focus of a researcher's interest, the sources of inspiration for a study, or the variables scrutinized? If we were to examine the antecedents of these decisions, they would surely emerge as accidents of circumstance--the personal experiences of the researcher, the inspiration of early mentors, the influence of contemporary colleagues--all tempered by the intellectual currents that nurture the researcher's hypotheses. Among the accidents that mold the careers of researchers is geographic location. The culture in which a research program emerges helps determine both its very subject and its method. The primary purpose of this book is to assist those interested in the scientific study of children's social competence in transcending the boundaries imposed both by geography and by selective exposure to the highly diverse schools of thought that have led to interest in this field. Most of these ideas were presented and exchanged at an Advanced Study Institute entitled "Social Competence in Developmental Perspective" held in Savoie, France, in July 1988. This Institute was attended by scholars from France, England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Canada, the United States and Brazil. Those who participated will recognize that the metamorphosis from lecture to chapter has necessitated many changes. In order to accommodate the reader who may be unfamiliar with the field, more attention has been paid here to identifying the theoretical contexts of the research described.

Cognitive Technology: Instruments of Mind

Cognitive Technology: Instruments of Mind
Author: Meurig Beynon
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2003-05-15
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3540446176

Cognitive Technology: Instruments of Mind Cognitive Technology is the study of the impact of technology on human cog- tion, the externalization of technology from the human mind, and the pragmatics of tools. It promotes the view that human beings should develop methods to p- dict, analyse, and optimize aspects of human-tool relationship in a manner that respects human wholeness. In particular the development of new tools such as virtual environments, new computer devices, and software tools has been too little concerned with the impacts these technologies will have on human cog- tive and social capacities. Our tools change what we are and how we relate to the world around us. They need to be developed in a manner that both extends human capabilities while ensuring an appropriate cognitive t between organism and instrument. The principal theme of the CT 2001 conference and volume is declared in its title: Instruments of Mind. Cognitive Technology is concerned with the interaction between two worlds: that of the mind and that of the machine. In science and engineering, this - teraction is often explored by posing the question: how can technology be best tailored to human cognition? But as the history of technological developments has consistently shown, cognition is also fashioned by technology. Technologies as diverse as writing, electricity generation, and the silicon chip all illustrate the profound and dynamic impact of technology upon ourselves and our conceptions of the world.

Nurturing the Premature Infant

Nurturing the Premature Infant
Author: Edward Goldson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 214
Release: 1999-04-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0199748772

Traditionally, non-medical, developmental intervention with premature infants has been a controversial topic in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). However, a small but growing band of researchers have been pushing for the acceptance of alternative interventions, such as kangaroo care and massage therapy, that do not resort to surgical or other medical practices. Edward Goldson, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Colorado, has assembled the top researchers in the field to contribute to this comprehensive volume that deals with non-medical intervention with premature infants. Nurturing the Premature Infant is the first to combine the innovative research in this growing area and present it in a single volume. Not only will it be indispensable to professionals in the field, but it will also be of interest to parents of premature infants.

Developmental Psychobiology and Behavioral Ecology

Developmental Psychobiology and Behavioral Ecology
Author: Elliott M. Blass
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1468454218

The previous volume in this series (Blass, 1986) focused on the interface between developmental psychobiology and developmental neurobiology. The volume emphasized that an understanding of central nervous system development and function can be obtained only with reference to the behaviors that it manages, and it emphasized how those behaviors, in tum, shape central development. The present volume explores another natural interface of developmental psy chobiology; behavioral ecology. It documents the progress made by developmental psychobiologists since the mid-1970s in identifying capacities of learning and con ditioning in birds and mammals during the very moments following birth-indeed, during the antenatal period. These breakthroughs in a field that had previously lain dormant reflect the need to "meet the infant where it is" in order for behavior to emerge. Accordingly, studies have been conducted at nest temperature; infants have been rewarded by opportunities to huddle, suckle, or obtain milk, behaviors that are normally engaged in the nest. In addition, there was rejection of the exces sive deprivation, extreme handling, and traumatic manipulation studies of the 1950s and 1960s that yielded information on how animals could respond to trauma but did not reveal mechanisms of normal development. In their place has arisen a series of analyses of how naturally occurring stimuli and situations gain control over behavior and how specifiable experiences impose limitations on subsequent development. Constraints were identified on the range of interactions that remained available to developing animals as a result of particular events.

The Development and Integration of Behaviour

The Development and Integration of Behaviour
Author: Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 520
Release: 1991-05-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780521407090

What regularities lie behind the development and organization of behaviour in animals and humans? One theme emerging from this book is that ideas have to flow in both directions between the different levels of analysis - between the neural and behavioural levels and between the individual and the social group. Another theme is that it is not enough to identify the many factors operating in the development and integration of behaviour. The processes must also be studied directly. Bringing together work at different levels and studying behavioural dynamics require more knowledge and expertise than any one person can usually command. Links have to be made between different disciplines and specialists have to learn to work with others who speak with what at first seem to be mutually incomprehensible scientific languages. The book illustrates how this may be achieved. The themes of this book are strongly related to the approach of Robert Hinde, in whose honour the chapters were written.

Perspectives in Ethology

Perspectives in Ethology
Author: Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1993-09-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780306443985

The current volume focuses on behavioral similarities and differences within individual animals, larger populations, and species as a whole. Research from ecological, social ontogenetic, physiological, and other perspectives is presented to explicate specific behaviors, as well as to provide a more profound understanding of how behavior work influences thought about evolutionary processes.

The Physiological Mechanisms of Motivation

The Physiological Mechanisms of Motivation
Author: D.W. Pfaff
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1461256925

To scientists engaged in research on the cellular mechanisms in the mammalian brain, concepts of "motivation" seem to be a logical neces sity, even if they are not fashionable. Immersed in the detailed, time consuming research required to deal with mammalian nerve cells, we usually pay scant attention to the more global brain -behavior questions that have arisen from decades of biological and psychological studies. We felt it was time to confront these issues-namely, how far has neuro biological investigation come in uncovering mechanisms by which moti vational signals influence behavior? At Rockefeller University, we have recently held a course on this subject. We restricted our treatment to those motivational systems most tractable to physiological approaches, and invited scientists skilled in both behavioral issues and physiological techniques to participate. This volume results from that course. The deans and administration at Rockefeller University provided much help in planning the course, and the staff of Springer-Verlag assisted in planning the book. Gabriele Zummer helped organize both the course and the processing of book chapters. They all deserve our thanks. December 1981 Donald W. Pfaff Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior Rockefeller University Contents Part One: Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 1 Donald W. Pfaff Motivational Concepts: Definitions and Distinctions . . . . . . . . . . 3 Motivation: A Brief Review of Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Reinforcement, Reward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Incentive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Arousal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Motivation Is a Unitary Behavioral Concept with Multiple Neurophysiological Mechanisms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Chapter 2 Alan N.