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Do humans have a free choice of which actions to perform? Three recent developments of modern science can help us to answer this question. First, new investigative tools have enabled us to study the processes in our brains which accompanying our decisions. The pioneer work of Benjamin Libet has led many neuroscientists to hold the view that our conscious intentions do not cause our bodily movements but merely accompany them. Then, Quantum Theory suggests that not all physical events are fully determined by their causes, and so opens the possibility that not all brain events may be fully determined by their causes, and so maybe — if neuroscience does not rule this out — there is a role for intentions after all. Finally, a theorem of mathematics, Gödel's theory, has been interpreted to suggest that the initial conditions and laws of development of a mathematician's brain could not fully determine which mathematical conjectures he sees to be true. The extent to which human behaviour is determined by brain events may well depend on whether conscious events, such as intentions, are themselves merely brain events, or whether they are separate events which interact with brain events (perhaps in the radical form that intentions are events in our soul, and not in our body). This book considers what kind of free will we need in order to be morally responsible for our actions or be held guilty in a court of law. Is it sufficient merely that our actions are uncaused by brain events?

This book draws from a foundation of positive psychology and recently emerging positive organizational behavior (POB). Its purpose is to introduce the untapped human resource capacity of psychological capital, or simply PsyCap. This PsyCap goes beyond traditionally recognized human and social capital and must meet the scientific criteria of theory, research, and valid measurement. To distinguish from other constructs in positive psychology and organizational behavior, to be included in PsyCap the resource capacity must also be “state-like” and thus open to development (as opposed to momentary states or fixed traits) and have performance impact. The positive psychological resource capacities that meet these PsyCap criteria — efficacy (confidence), hope, optimism, and resilience — are covered in separate chapters. These four resource capacities are conceptually and empirically distinct, but also have underlying common processes for striving to succeed and when in combination contribute to a higher-order, core construct of psychological capital. Besides these four, other potential positive constructs such as creativity, wisdom, well being, flow, humor, gratitude, forgiveness, emotional intelligence, spirituality, authenticity, and courage are covered in Chapters 6 and 7. The concluding Chapter 8 summarizes and presents the research demonstrating the performance impact of PsyCap, the PsyCap questionnaire (PCQ) for measurement and the PsyCap Intervention (PCI) for development. Utility analysis indicates that investing in the development of PsyCap can result in a very substantial return. In total, this book provides the theory, research, measure, and method of application for the new resource of Psychological Capital that can be developed and sustained for competitive advantage.

Rarely have humans been as threatened by viruses as they are today. It almost seems as if a virus invasion is taking place. Viruses have lately been coming out of nowhere and appearing in the strangest places — exotic viruses about which no one had ever heard before. Many human viruses have started out in the animal world. Are these viruses maybe escaping from their natural hosts? Are human beings simply available as easy prey? Why is all this happening now, and what does it mean for our future? What can we do to defend ourselves? This book addresses viral adaptation as a general phenomenon and examines the implications for public health of human behavior altering viral ecosystems. This book discusses the phenomenon of viral emergence.

The basic goal of an inverse eigenvalue problem is to reconstruct the physical parameters of a certain system from the knowledge or desire of its dynamical behavior. Depending on the application, inverse eigenvalue problems appear in many different forms. This book discusses the fundamental questions, some known results, many applications, mathematical properties, a variety of numerical techniques, as well as several open problems.

This book reviews a variety of evolutionary themes and uses the small terrestrial orchids of Australia to introduce and illustrate these themes. Among the topics explored are the competing ideas of biologists who use the theory of natural selection when examining possible adaptations (such as the ability of orchid flowers to attract special pollinators) and those who reject this approach, including creationists as well as the late Stephen Jay Gould. Darwin’s own ideas on the topic are reviewed as his work on adaptive plant behavior, given that orchids provide examples of flowers with moving parts. In addition, the book outlines the ability of evolutionary biologists to trace the origin and subsequent modification of complex traits like the extraordinarily unusual flowers of certain orchids. The book also employs Australian orchids to demonstrate the challenges of determining what a species is and how to preserve the biodiversity that still exists in the world.

This book analyzes the concept of theological incorrectness, namely, why people believe what they shouldn’t? It takes off from Justin Barrett’s notion of “theological correctness”, which contends that while religious believers produce theologically correct ideas in situations that allow them the time and space to reflect symmetrically on their beliefs, the same people can stray from those ideological beliefs in situations that require them to solve problems rapidly. It also puts forward a cognitive approach to studying religion.

This volume of essays examines the psychological processes that underlie judicial decision making. Chapters in the first section of the book take as their starting point the fact that judges make many of the same judgments and decisions that ordinary people make and consider how our knowledge about judgment and decision-making in general applies to the case of legal judges. Chapters in the second section focus on the specific tasks that judges perform within a unique social setting and examine the expertise and particular modes of reasoning that judges develop to deal with their tasks in this unique setting. Chapters in the third section raise questions about whether and how we can evaluate judicial performance, with implications for the possibility of improving judging through the selection and training of judges and structuring of judicial institutions. Together the essays apply a wide range of psychological insights to help us better understand how judges make decisions and to open new avenues of inquiry into the influences on judicial behavior.

For epidemiologists and public health professionals, the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has provoked a fundamental re-examination of infectious disease prevention and the research needed to support it. This book documents and explains a breakthrough in behavioural research design that has emerged to confront this new challenge: the network survey. It represents a paradigm shift in epidemiology, broadening the focus from the traditional “knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP)” of individuals to mapping the relational networks that spread infection, and constrain behavioural change. Eight pioneering network studies from around the world are reviewed, with extensive detail on the sampling strategy, questionnaire development, fieldwork experiences, and key findings. In addition, there is an introduction that lays out the basics of network survey design, and a glossary of network terminology. This is a unique resource for all who wish to understand or undertake a network study.

The book links the analysis of the brain mechanisms of emotion and motivation to the wider context of what emotions are, what their functions are, how emotions evolved, and the larger issue of why emotional and motivational feelings and consciousness might arise in a system organized like the brain. The topics in motivation covered are hunger, thirst, sexual behaviour, brain-stimulation reward, and addiction. The book proposes a theory of what emotions are, and an evolutionary, Darwinian, theory of the adaptive value of emotion, and then describes the brain mechanisms of emotion. The book examines how cognitive states can influence emotions, and in turn, how emotions can influence cognitive states. The book also examines emotion and decision-making, with links to the burgeoning field of neuroeconomics. The book describes the brain mechanisms that underlie both emotion and motivation in a scientific form that can be used by both students and scientists in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, biology, physiology, psychiatry, and medicine.

This book offers a fundamental new theory of motor cortex organization: the rendering of the movement repertoire onto the cortex. The action repertoire of an animal is highly dimensional, whereas the cortical sheet is two-dimensional. Rendering the action space onto the cortex therefore results in a complex pattern, explaining the otherwise inexplicable details of motor cortex organization. This book includes a complete history of motor cortex research from its discovery to the present, a discussion of the major issues in motor cortex research, and an account of recent experiments that led to the book's “action map” view. Though focused on motor cortex, the book includes a range of topics from an explanation of how primates put food in their mouths, to the origins of social behavior such as smiling and laughing, to the mysterious link between movement disorders and autism.

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is an important element in developing effective behavior interventions in schools. By understanding how the environment predicts and maintains problem behavior, school social workers can change those environmental conditions and facilitate positive behavior. Although FBA has traditionally been applied within the context of special education, it is relevant to supporting behavior of all students in a school. In this book, the authors explore how FBA can be applied in a three-tiered model of prevention and provide tools and case examples to facilitate application. This process is described as occurring within a team context wherein the school social worker serves as a facilitator and contributor with behavioral expertise. In Tier 1, FBA is applied to the behavior of all students in a school and leads to the development of school-wide behavior interventions that are intended to prevent students from developing more serious patterns of problem behavior. In Tier 2 FBAs, the behaviour of at-risk students is assessed in an efficient manner to determine which available evidence-based interventions will be effective in improving their behavior. In Tier 3, FBAs involve extensive individual assessments of the conditions that maintain the problem behaviour students with significant behavior problems. This book provides detailed information about conducting FBAs at each tier of prevention and reviews the process of developing interventions from the FBA information at each tier. As initiatives encouraging positive behavior support in schools proliferate, this book will help school social workers develop the skill-set necessary to maintain their role as important contributors to student outcomes.

This book describes the solid state behaviour of organic materials based the polymethylene chain, i.e., the functional molecular component of polyethylenes, soaps, detergents, edible fats, lipids, oils, greases, and waxes. Along with chain unsaturation and branching, polydispersity, i.e., the aggregation of several polymethylene chain lengths, is shown to control various physical properties, including the preservation of metastable phases (polymorphic as well as ‘rotator’ forms). Using linear chain waxes as model materials, this book explores how solid solutions are stabilized and what structures are possible. Strictly linear molecules are compared to those functionalized with ‘head-groups’. The onset of fractionation, followed by formation of eutectic phases, is discussed, again describing the structures of favoured molecular assemblies. The rationale for polydisperse aggregation derives from the early work of A. I. Kitaigorodskii, demonstrating how certain homeomorphic parameters such as relative molecular shape and volume, as well as favoured crystalline polymorphs, lead to stable solid solutions. Relevant to high-molecular weight polymers, the influence of chain-folding is also discussed. A comprehensive review of known linear chain single crystal structures, including the alkanes, cycloalkanes, perfluoroalkanes, fatty alcohols, fatty acids, fatty acid esters, and cholesteryl esters, is presented to show how molecular shape, including chain branching, influences layer packing and co-solubility. Finally, a critique of previously suggested models for petroleum and natural wax assemblies is given, based on current crystallographic and spectroscopic information. This includes single crystal structures based on electron diffraction data. Although constrained to single chain molecules in the examples discussed, cited behaviour can be generalized to multiple chain-containing fats and lipids.

This is a book about how people change their minds and how mental health practitioners can help this process along. It addresses a gap in the literature on cognitive therapy that results from an almost exclusive focus on the constructed aspects of personal meaning, and a lack of attention to the ways in which information that we pick up from life circumstances also influences what we know, feel, and do. Conceptions that ignore the role that current life conditions and interpersonal events play in creating or revising meanings limit the utility of cognitive therapy approaches for clients whose lives are marked by ongoing deprivation, threat, and vulnerability. In laying out a broader perspective, a Cognitive-Integrative perspective, the book expands the internal focus of traditional cognitive therapies to take more account of the role of information generated by environmental events and conditions in impeding or promoting change. It contends that mind draws on organized memories of previous experiences as well as currently available information to generate cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses. The theoretical grounding for this perspective is drawn from a range of cognitive, neurological, social, psychological, and social work theories. Theoretical explanations are laid out. They are balanced with practice guidelines and grounded in an offering of clinical examples.