Hope & despair
Subtitle: how perceptions of the future shape human behavior
By: Anthony Reading.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Baltimore, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 234
Subjects: Expectation (Psychology); Hope
Other titles: Hope and despair.
Description: "For psychiatrist Anthony Reading, hope's power to shape human behavior provides a remarkable opportunity to understand the relationship between mind and brain. Hope and despair dramatically illustrate the capability of the human brain to construct imaginary representations of the universe, allowing us to disengage from the present, recall the past, and forecast the future independent of any current sensory input. Consciousness then enables us to choose among these past, present, and future scenarios and integrate them into coherent plans for action." "Reading's work addresses the ways we process sensory information and their implications for our current understanding of memory, learning, and consciousness; how the brain's ability to transcend time affects our language, emotions, evolution, and individual development; and the light that hope and despair shed on important aspects of our function as individuals and as a species."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-225) and index.
Table of contents: title: The anatomy of expectation. The nature of hope; title: Predicting the future; title: The internal representation of the external world; title: The machinery of the mind. The processing of information; title: The role of learning and memory; title: The impact of consciousness; title: Emotion as information; title: A blueprint for uniqueness. The evolution of human behavior; title: The gift of language; title: The development of symbolic thought; title: The concept of time; title: The human condition. Science and religion as ways of knowing; title: Shared expectations; title: Despair; title: Human nature: it's about time.