Nebraska Symposium - Böcker

Cross-Cultural Difference in Perspectives on the Self features the latest research in a dynamic area of inquiry and practice. Considered in these pages are cross-cultural differences in the idea of the person and in models of balancing obligations to the self, family, and community. Revisiting and questioning the concepts of self and self-worth, the authors investigate the extent to which factors traditionally associated with psychological effectiveness (intrinsic motivation; assuming personal responsibility for one's actions; and feeling in control, unique, hopeful, and optimistic) are culturally bound. Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama consider cultural differences in models of psychological agency; Joan Miller critiques the meaning of the term agency, analyzing the extent to which many popular theories in psychology rest on rather narrow Western models of behavior and effective functioning; Steven Heine calls into question the presumed universality of some forms of cognitive processing; Sheena Iyengar and Sanford DeVoe apply a cross-cultural perspective to better understand intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the value of choice; Kuo-shu Yang questions the universality of the pervasive and popular "theory of self-actualization" formulated by Abraham Maslow; and finally, Ype Poortinga reexamines not only the cultural boundaries of theory but also the very meaning of the concept of culture itself.

This volume marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, the longest continuously running symposium in the field of psychology. The motivational processes involved in drug abuse, the largest health problem in the United States, are the subject of eight thought-provoking essays that probe behavioral, cognitive, evolutionary, and physiological perspectives. George F. Koob discusses the implications of an allostatic view of motivation in psychopathology. Harriet de Witt considers the dual determinants of drug use in humans, reward and impulsivity, while R. D. Spealman and his research team assess the triggers of relapse in nonhuman primates. Jaak Panksepp and associates elucidate the role of emotional systems in addiction via a neuroethological perspective, while Michael T. Bardo and Linda Dwoskin describe the biological connection between novelty and drug-seeking motivational systems. Drive, incentive, and reinforcement, along with factors controlling the reinitiation of drug seeking and the environmental sources of motivation round out the remaining discussions by Roy A. Wise, Jane Stewart, and M. Vogel-Sprott.

Capturing the complexity of human behavior has been a recurring theme in the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. The contributors to this volume describe contemporary approaches to the modeling of complex cognitive and behavioral processes, ranging from molecular to molar phenomena. Although the essays reflect a wide range of theoretical and epistemic perspectives, they all incorporate complex frameworks of dynamic, systemlike relationships involving perception, learning, concept formation, emotion, motivation, intention, behavior, and the social context in which behavior occurs. The editors introduce the volume with a survey of the lifetime of the symposium, showing the development of ideas about behavioral and psychological complexity for over fifty years. A special feature of this collection is its emphasis on practical applications of the conceptual frameworks in which they work. The contributors provide examples of translational research ranging from clinical neuropsychology to self-actualization, from medical informatics to industrial psychology, from programmed learning to psychiatric rehabilitation.

Moral Motivation through the Life Span is the fifty-first volume in the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation series, the longest continuously running symposium in the field of psychology. This work focuses on moral development theory and research, an area of academic study that began early in the twentieth century but has never before been addressed by the Symposium. What is morality, such theorists ask, and what exactly makes a "moral person"? The contributors to this volume are of diverse theoretical orientations and take different stances on a number of major themes: What motivates moral behavior? Are there certain universal moral values, or are such values always subjective? Does an individual's will or an individual's environment play a greater role in determining moral conduct? What influence can we attribute to spirituality? Finally, the contributors explore the practical applications of their research on moral motivation: What implications do such theories have for child-rearing or our educational system? How do we raise the next generation to be empathetic toward their fellow human beings?