Tetsuro Matsuzawa – författare

Understanding the chimpanzee mind is akin to opening a window onto human consciousness. Many of our complex cognitive processes have origins that can be seen in the way that chimpanzees think, learn, and behave. The Mind of the Chimpanzee brings together scores of prominent scientists from around the world to share the most recent research into what goes on inside the mind of our closest living relative.

Intertwining a range of topics—including imitation, tool use, face recognition, culture, cooperation, and reconciliation—with critical commentaries on conservation and welfare, the collection aims to understand how chimpanzees learn, think, and feel, so that researchers can not only gain insight into the origins of human cognition, but also crystallize collective efforts to protect wild chimpanzee populations and ensure appropriate care in captive settings. With a breadth of material on cognition and culture from the lab and the field, The Mind of the Chimpanzee is a first-rate synthesis of contemporary studies of these fascinating mammals that will appeal to all those interested in animal minds and what we can learn from them.

Highlights from one of the most successful international psychology conferences since the beginning of this century

Diversity in Harmony distills the Proceedings of the 31st International Congress of Psychology into selected readings that highlight the Congress’s theme. The text includes research that offers recent insights gained from multidisciplinary perspectives and methodologies. The volume also contains chapters that put psychology at the center of our understanding and ability to address the many problems facing groups and individuals in modern society. As the contributors clearly show, the social problems often require multidisciplinary approaches. 

With contributions from experts from around the globe, the book explores a wealth of topics that examine new synergies such as artificial empathy, prosocial primates and understanding about others’ actions in chimpanzees and humans. The volume also contains readings on psychology confronting societal challenges with topics including: Culturally relevant personality assessment; Emotion-related self-regulation and Children''s social, psychological and academic functioning. This vital resource:

Written for professionals and students in the field, Diversity in Harmony is filled with contributions from noted experts and offers a reflection of the state of psychology in the second decade of the 21st century.

From an evolutionary perspective, understanding chimpanzees offers a way of understanding the basis of human nature. This book on cognitive development in chimpanzees is the first of its kind to focus on infants reared by their own mothers within a natural setting, illustrating various aspects of chimpanzee cognition and the developmental changes accompanying them. The subjects are chimpanzees of three generations inhabiting an enriched environment, as well as a wild community in West Africa. There is a foreword by Jane Goodall and 26 color photos of chimpanzees in the laboratory and in the field in West Africa are included.

The chimpanzees of Bossou in Guinea, West Africa, form a unique community which displays an exceptional array of tool use behaviors and behavioral adaptations to coexistence with humans. This community of Pan troglodytes verus has contributed more than three decades of data to the field of cultural primatology, especially chimpanzees’ flexible use of stones to crack open nuts and of perishable tools during foraging activities. The book highlights the special contribution of the long-term research at Bossou and more recent studies in surrounding areas, particularly in the Nimba Mountains and the forest of Diécké, to our understanding of wild chimpanzees’ tool use, cognitive development, lithic technology and culture. This compilation of research principally strives to uncover the complexity of the mind and behavioral flexibility of our closest living relatives. This work also reveals the necessity for ongoing efforts to conserve chimpanzees in the region. Chimpanzees have shed more light on our evolutionary origins than any other extant species in the world, yet their numbers in the wild are rapidly declining. In that sense, the Bossou chimpanzees and their neighbors clearly embody an invaluable cultural heritage for humanity as a whole.

Readers can enjoy video clips illustrating unique behaviors of Bossou chimpanzees, in an exclusive DVD accompanying the hardcover or at a dedicated website described in the softcover.