How Perceptions of the Future Shape Human Behavior
The book introduces a radically new way of thinking about information and the important role it plays in living systems. It opens up new avenues for exploring how cells and organisms change and adapt, since the ability to detect and respond to mea...
A lifetime of professional activity in research and practice, sparked by an early, intense interest in what makes people tick, has convinced Anthony Reading that the power of hope can change human behavior. Science & Theology News Wide-ranging book... Readers who are unfamiliar with these subjects... will find the book's ideas and arguments immediately accessible and Dr. Reading's world view comfortably humane. -- Allan Young, PhD Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2005 Manages to say quite a lot about the state of our understanding of how the brain perceives and organizes its response to its environment. -- Timothy B. Sullivan, M.D. Psychiatric Services 2007
Anthony Reading, M.B., B.S., M.P.H., Sc.D., is a professor emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the University of South Florida.
Preface Introduction Part I: The Anatomy of Expectation Chapter 1. The Nature of Hope Chapter 2. Predicting the Future Chapter 3. The Internal Representation of the External World Part II: The Machinery of the Mind Chapter 4. The Processing of Information Chapter 5. The Role of Learning and Memory Chapter 6. The Impact of Consciousness Chapter 7. Emotion as Information Part III: A Blueprint for Uniqueness Chapter 8. The Evolution of Human Behavior Chapter 9. The Gift of Language Chapter 10. The Development of Symbolic Thought Chapter 11. The Concept of Time Part IV: The Human Condition Chapter 12. Science and Religion as Ways of Knowing Chapter 13. Shared Expectations Chapter 14. Despair Chapter 15. Human Nature-It's About Time Notes References Index