Oxford Library of Psychology – serie

Music therapy is growing internationally to be one of the leading evidence-based psychosocial allied health professions, meeting needs right across the lifespan. Music therapy is a relational therapy in which the therapist and client collaborate to discover how music can be used to strengthen positive relating skills, attending to the client's immediate and longer term needs through assessment, treatment planning, implementation, and evaluation of a music therapy programme. Music therapy is based upon the capacity of music provided by a trained and qualified practitioner to support, integrate, and heal trauma, pain, psychological distress, and to develop and extend the existing capacities of the client. In the Oxford Handbook of Music Therapy, international leaders in the field from 10 countries have contributed their expertise to showcase contemporary music therapy. They share knowledgable perspectives from multiple models of music therapy that have developed throughout the world, including Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, The Field of Play, Community Music Therapy, and Resource Oriented Music Therapy. There is extensive information provided as to how music therapists practice and with whom, as well as the techniques used in music therapy individually and in groups, the research basis for the work, and professional and training issues in the field. The book is clearly laid out in five sections; contexts and populations, models and approaches, methods and techniques, research methods, and training and professional issues. Course materials can be structured around the book, or the book can be used as a starting point for students' learning about a model or population. Music therapy students will enjoy the clear descriptions of practice, the clinical vignettes, and the helpful pointers and tips for developing placement work. Unequalled in depth and breadth, this landmark publication is an essential resource for those starting out in Music Therapy, as well as for experienced practitioners.

In recent years, the intersection of cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and neuroscience with regard to deaf individuals has received increasing attention from a variety of academic and educational audiences. Both research and pedagogy have addressed questions about whether deaf children learn in the same ways that hearing children learn, how signed languages and spoken languages might affect different aspects of cognition and cognitive development, and the ways in which hearing loss influences how the brain processes and retains information. There are now a number of preliminary answers to these questions, but there has been no single forum in which research into learning and cognition is brought together. The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies in Learning and Cognition aims to provide this shared forum, focusing exclusively on learning, cognition, and cognitive development from theoretical, psychological, biological, linguistic, social-emotional, and educational perspectives. Each chapter includes state-of-the-art research conducted and reviewed by international experts in the area. Drawing this research together, this volume allows for a synergy of ideas that possesses the potential to move research, theory, and practice forward.

Cultural neuroscience and global mental health is an interdisciplinary field of study that integrates theoretical, methodological, and empirical approaches in cultural neuroscience to address the major challenges in global mental health. The field is concerned with identifying the root causes, risks, and preventative factors in global mental health, with a view to improving and achieving health equity for all people across the world. The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience and Global Mental Health is the first ever comprehensive overview of this field. It explores how culture can influence the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mental health. The book is divided into 5 parts:Part I introduces theoretical foundations in cultural neuroscience and global mental health. The second part provides reviews investigating the etiology of mental health disorders across cultures. Part 3 discusses the societal and environmental influences that affect prevention and early intervention in global mental health. This is followed by a section examining strategies for the improvement of treatment and expansion of access to care in global mental health. The book ends with a review of the cultural and socioeconomic factors that affect the prevalence of mental disorders across ethnic groups. The book will be an essential educational resource for both training and practising mental health professionals, in addition to those in the fields of cultural neuroscience and public health.

In The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition, Stephen M. Garcia, Avishalom Tor, and Andrew J. Elliot review and organize the literature on the psychology of competition and bring together leading researchers studying competition across the field of psychology. The first section on Biological Approaches reviews findings on competition from the subfields of psychobiology, neuroscience, psycho-endocrinology, and evolutionary psychology. The section on Motivational and Emotional Approaches examines the opposing motivational forces in competition and describes how competitive motivation is influenced by goals, competitive arousal, and envy. Cognitive and Decision-Making Approaches showcases relevant findings from the literature on judgment and decision making, social dilemmas, cognitive biases, and risk-taking. The section on Social-Personality and Organizational Approaches includes chapters on trait competitiveness, gender differences in competition, rivalry, status competition, and social comparison. The volume concludes with a section in which the psychological study of competition is focused on specific contexts, such as sports, education, and culture. The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition is a crucial interdisciplinary investigation into the variety of perspectives and approaches to the psychology of competition, facilitating new research and integration in the field.

This handbook examines the new and rapidly growing field of the positive humanities--an area of academic research at the intersection of positive psychology and the arts and humanities. Written by leading experts across a wide range of academic disciplines, the volume begins with an overview of the science and culture of human flourishing, covering historical and current trends in this literature. Next, contributors consider the well-being benefits of engagement with the arts and humanities, marking out neurological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social pathways to human flourishing. These pathways lead to detailed investigations of individual fields within the arts and humanities, including music, the visual arts, philosophy, history, literature, religion, theater, and film. Along the way, the book thoroughly synthesizes theory, research, and exemplary practice, concluding with thought-provoking discussions of avenues for public engagement and policy.With its expansive coverage of both the field as a whole and specialized disciplinary and interdisciplinary drivers, The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities advances the literature on the theory and science of well-being and extends the scope of the arts and humanities.

The Oxford Handbook of Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health provides a comprehensive and authoritative review of research on the mental health of sexual minorities-defined as those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or same-gender attracted; as well as the mental health of gender minorities-defined as individuals who do not fully identify with their sex assigned at birth, including people who are transgender or gender non-binary. The twenty-first century has seen encouraging improvements in sampling, methods, and funding opportunities for research with sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations; nevertheless, a key purpose of this Handbook is to identify lingering gaps in research in order to motivate future scientists to expand knowledge about SGM mental health. The volume begins with a historical overview, followed by sections on mental health categories/diagnoses (such as anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, and suicide) and specific sexual and gender minority populations (including examinations of diverse ethnicities and orientations/identities). The handbook concludes with chapters on stigma, the role of resilience, and future directions for research with SGM groups. The volume is aimed at researchers conducting studies on the mental health of SGM populations, clinicians and researchers interested in psychiatric disorders that affect SGM populations, clinicians using evidence-based practice in the treatment of SGM patients/clients, students in mental health programs (clinical psychology, psychiatry, clinical social work, and psychiatric nursing), and policy makers.

The Oxford Handbook of Career Development provides a comprehensive overview of the career development field. It features contributions from 42 leading scholars, addressing the context, theory, and practice of career development in the contemporary world. The volume defines career development as an inclusive term that relates to all individuals regardless of class, gender, sexuality, ability, geography, or ethnicity. It contains cutting edge research, theory, and thinking which approach career development as a transdisciplinary field, drawing from sociology, psychology, education, and organizational studies as well as other areas. Chapters explore what personal, political, societal, economic, and cultural factors influence our careers and how a diverse range of theoretical traditions has sought to account for the phenomenon of career. It also addresses what can be done to improve and enhance people's careers through a range of educational, counselling, and employment interventions.

The experience of traumatic events is a near-universal, albeit unfortunate, part of the human experience. Given how many individuals are exposed to trauma, it is interesting to question why some individuals are resilient in the face of trauma while others go on to develop chronic post-traumatic stress. Throughout the relatively brief history of the psychological study of trauma, a number of themes have consistently emerged; many of these themes remain essential elements within our current study of traumatic stress disorders, as summarized within this volume. The Oxford Handbook of Traumatic Stress Disorders addresses the current landscape of research and clinical knowledge surrounding traumatic stress disorders. Bringing together a group of highly-regarded experts, this volume is divided into six sections, together summarizing the current state of knowledge about 1) classification and phenomenology, 2) epidemiology and special populations, 3) contributions from theory, 4) assessment, 5) prevention and early intervention efforts, and 6) treatment of individuals with post-trauma mental health symptoms. Throughout the volume, attention is paid to identifying current controversies in the literature and highlighting directions that hold promise for future work.In this new second edition, experts on traumatic stress contribute chapters on topics spanning classification, epidemiology and special populations, theory, assessment, prevention/early intervention, treatment, and dissemination and treatment. This expanded, updated volume provides research updates and highlights areas that need continued clarification through additional research. With new chapters on adverse childhood experiences, suicide following the experience of trauma, and evidence-based treatments, the second edition provides an up-to-date and valuable resource for clinicians and investigators with interest in traumatic stress disorders.

As one of psychology's oldest fields, personality assessment is one of the most extensively studied subsets of contemporary psychology. In this second edition of the Oxford Handbook of Personality Assessment, now titled The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Psychopathology Assessment, Joni L. Mihura brings together a respected group of international contributors to cover significant changes within the field of personality assessment. The Handbook is updated to cover a range of topics, focusing on four major goals: to integrate contemporary dimensional models of personality and psychopathology; to use a multimethod approach in which the method of assessment shapes the desired construct; to integrate collaborative/therapeutic assessment (C/TA) when possible; and to consider personality and psychopathology assessment through the lens of human diversity. Chapters highlight contemporary models of personality and psychopathology; psychometrics; diversity and inclusion (e.g. gender and gender identity, racial identity, and social justice); commonly used tests and personality assessment methods (e.g., PAIs, MMPIs, BASC, and Rorschach); the assessment of three key personality and psychopathology dimensions (internalizing, externalizing, and psychosis); and specific areas of assessment (e.g. suicide risk, violence risk, child custody, student threat assessment, and high risk assessments). The final chapter discusses key challenges and needed improvements, such as requiring construct validity meta-analyses for all test scales, improving insurance reimbursement for assessments, and the emergence of new technologies in assessment.Providing a thorough update on the contemporary practice of personality and pathology assessment, this edition offers an authoritative and field-encompassing resource for researchers and clinicians from across the medical health and psychology disciplines.

The Oxford Handbook of Acculturation and Health expertly brings together two very distinct, but complementary, streams of work and thought: theoretical and methodological work on acculturation, and the applied work linking acculturation to various health outcomes among international migrants and their families. In this important volume, the work of landmark acculturation theorists and methodologists come together to showcase applied epidemiologic and intervention work on the issues facing acculturation and public health today.Edited by Seth J. Schwartz and Jennifer B. Unger, this Handbook is divided into two important parts for readers. Part one features chapters that are dedicated to theoretical and methodological work on acculturation, including definitional issues, measurement issues, and procedures for studying acculturation across immigrant groups and national contexts. The second part focuses on the links between acculturation and various health outcomes, such as obesity, physical activity, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health, delinquency, and suicide.Notably, because a majority of the research on acculturation and health has been conducted on Hispanic immigration, this volume contextualizes that research and offers readers compelling insight for how to apply these principles to other immigrant groups in the United States and around the world.

Digital technology use, whether on smartphones, tablets, laptops, or other devices, is prevalent across cultures. Certain types and patterns of digital technology use have been associated with mental health concerns, but these technologies also have the potential to improve mental health through the gathering of information, by targeting interventions, and through delivery of care to remote areas. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technologies and Mental Health provides a comprehensive and authoritative review of the relationships between mental health and digital technology use, including how such technologies may be harnessed to improve mental health. Understanding the positive and negative correlates of the use of digital technologies has significant personal and public health implications, and as such this volume explores in unparalleled depth the historical and cultural contexts in which technology use has evolved; conceptual issues surrounding digital technologies; potential positive and potential negative impacts of such use; treatment, assessment, and legal considerations around digital technologies and mental health; technology use in specific populations; the use of digital technologies to treat psychosocial disorders; and the treatment of problematic internet use and gaming. With chapters contributed by leading scientists from around the world, this Handbook will be of interest to those in medical and university settings, students and clinicians, and policymakers.

The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Citizenship Behavior provides a broad and interdisciplinary review of state-of-the-art research on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and related constructs such as contextual performance, spontaneous organizational behavior, prosocial behavior, and proactive behavior in the workplace. Contributors address the conceptualization and measurement of OCBs; the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of these behaviors; and the methodological issues that are common when studying OCBs. In addition, this handbook pushes future scholarship in this and related areas by identifying substantive questions, methods, and issues for future research. The result is a single resource that will inform and inspire scholars, students, and practitioners of the origins of this construct, the current state of research on this topic, and potentially exciting avenues for future exploration.This handbook is designed to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of researchers and advanced undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of disciplines including management, organizational behavior, human resources management, and industrial and organizational psychology, as well as those interested in studying citizenship behavior in a variety of organizational contexts including marketing, nursing, engineering, sports, and education.

The second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology beautifully captures the history, current status, and future prospects of personality and social psychology. Building on the successes and strengths of the first edition, this second edition of the Handbook combines the two fields of personality and social psychology into a single, integrated volume, offering readers a unique and generative agenda for psychology. Over their history, personality and social psychology have had varying relationships with each other-sometimes highly overlapping and intertwined, other times contrasting and competing. Edited by Kay Deaux and Mark Snyder, this Handbook is dedicated to the proposition that personality and social psychology are best viewed in conjunction with one another and that the synergy to be gained from considering links between the two fields can do much to move both areas of research forward in order to better enrich our collective understanding of human nature.Contributors to this Handbook not only offer readers fascinating examples of work that cross the boundaries of personality and social psychology, but present their work in such a way that thinks deeply about the ways in which a unified social-personality perspective can provide us with a greater understanding of the phenomena that concern psychological investigators. The chapters of this Handbook effortlessly weave together work from both disciplines, not only in areas of longstanding concern, but also in newly emerging fields of inquiry, addressing both distinctive contributions and common ground. In so doing, they offer compelling evidence for the power and the potential of an integrated approach to personality and social psychology today.

Work is a central aspect of life, providing a source of structure, a means of survival, connection to others, and optimally a means of self-determination. Across the globe, people devote considerable time and effort to preparing for, adjusting to, and managing their work lives. Many of the major crises affecting people and communities--including wars, famines, poverty, and risks to personal safety--have been and continue to be related to working. At the same time, working, when it is dignified and meaningful, can create the foundation for a satisfying life that allows people to support themselves and their families, and to find an outlet for their values and interests in the world of work. This handbook is designed to expand and deepen a growing discourse about the psychological nature of working. Building on critiques of psychology's traditional assumptions and practices about work and career, the psychology of working perspective has been advanced as an inclusive, broad-reaching framework that explores the nature of working for the full spectrum of people who work and who want to work. This volume is characterized by disciplinary pluralism with contributions from a wide range of scholars and practitioners interested in the role of work in people's lives. Chapters explore theoretical foundations, the context of working, counseling and psychotherapy, organizational implications, community-based interventions, and public policy. As a major resource in the psychology of working field, this book is a must-have for counseling and clinical psychologists, I/O psychologists, mental-health counselors, social workers, management consultants, and a wide array of researchers and students who are concerned with the nature of work in the 21st century, transformative scholarship, public policy, and inclusive psychological practice.

Roughly 54 million people with disabilities live in the U.S., and there are many more millions of people with disabilities around the world. Not surprisingly, differences among people with disabilities are often as notable as differences between people with and without disabilities. And, while the lack of homogeneity among people with disabilities makes creating a valid taxonomy under this term difficult if not impossible, there is commonality among people with disabilities that justifies an authoritative resource on positive psychology and disability; that is, they have experienced discrimination and marginalization as a function of their disability. This volume assembles chapters by leading scholars in disability and positive psychology to provide a comprehensive synthesis of the state of the field. Chapters are organized into thematic sections, beginning with an introductory section on overarching themes in positive psychology and disability. The second section highlights the application of positive psychological constructs to disability. These constructs includes quality of life, self-determination, adaptive behavior, optimism, hope, problem solving, forgiveness, gratitude, and spirituality. The following section addresses systemic issues in disability that impact on positive psychology, again turning to disciplines beyond psychology (special education, rehabilitation sciences, and family and disability policy) to address areas in which positive psychology can be applied. A fourth section examines positive psychology in populations with specific disabilities, including physical disabilities, cognitive and developmental disabilities, severe multiple disabilities, emotional and behavioral disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders. Disability has always been associated with "differentness" and, consequently, people with disabilities have throughout time been treated as such. As the first handbook to consider disability from a strengths-based perspective, this volume provides a catalyst to accelerate the application of positive psychology to how disability is understood.

Language development, and the challenges it can present for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, have long been a focus of research, theory, and practice in D/deaf studies and deaf education. Over the past 150 years, but most especially near the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, advances in the acquisition and development of language competencies and skills have been increasing rapidly. This volume addresses many of those accomplishments as well as remaining challenges and new questions that have arisen from multiple perspectives: theoretical, linguistic, social-emotional, neuro-biological, and socio-cultural. The contributors comprise an international group of prominent scholars and practitioners from a variety of academic and clinical backgrounds. The result is a volume that addresses, in detail, current knowledge, emerging questions, and innovative educational practice in a variety of contexts. The volume takes on topics such as discussion of the transformation of efforts to identify a "best" language approach (the "sign" versus "speech" debate) to a stronger focus on individual strengths, potentials, and choices for selecting and even combining approaches; the effects of language on other areas of development as well as effects from other domains on language itself; and how neurological, socio-cognitive, and linguistic bases of learning are leading to more specialized approaches to instruction that address the challenges that remain for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. This volume both complements and extends The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Volumes 1 and 2, going further into the unique challenges and demands for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals than any other text and providing not only compilations of what is known but setting the course for investigating what is still to be learned.

Stigma leads to poorer health. Edited by Brenda Major, John F. Dovidio, and Bruce G. Link, The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health provides compelling evidence from various disciplines in support of this thesis and explains how and why health disparities exist and persist. Stigmatization involves distinguishing people by a socially conferred "mark," seeing them as deviant, and devaluing and socially excluding them. The core insight of this book is that the social processes of stigma reliably translate into the biology of disease and death. Contributors elucidate this insight by showing exactly how stigma negatively affects health and creates health disparities through multiple mechanisms operating at different levels of influence. Understanding the causes and consequences of health disparities requires a multi-level analysis that considers structural forces, psychological processes, and biological mechanisms. This volume's unique multidisciplinary approach brings together social and health psychologists, sociologists, public health scholars, and medical ethicists to comprehensively assess stigma's impact on health. It goes beyond the common practice of studying one stigmatized group at a time to examine the stigma-health link across multiple stigmatized groups. This broad, multidisciplinary framework not only illuminates the significant effects stigma has when aggregated across the health of many groups but also increases understanding of which stigma processes are general across groups and which are particular to specific groups. Here, a compendium of leading international experts point readers toward potential policy responses and possibilities for intervention as well as to the large gaps in understanding that remain. This book is the definitive source of scholarship on stigma and physical health for established and emerging scholars, practitioners, and students in psychology, sociology, public health, medicine, law, political science, geography, and the allied disciplines.

The role of play in human development has long been the subject of controversy. Despite being championed by many of the foremost scholars of the twentieth century, play has been dogged by underrepresentation and marginalization in literature across the scientific disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Play marks the first attempt to examine the development of children's play through a rigorous and multidisciplinary approach. Comprising chapters from the foremost scholars in psychology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology, this handbook resets the landscape of developmental science and makes a compelling case for the benefits of play. Edited by respected play researcher Anthony D. Pellegrini, The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Play is both a scientific accomplishment and a shot across the bow for parents, educators, and policymakers regarding the importance of children's play in both development and learning.

What is the human essence? Although typically viewed as one of the big questions in philosophy, exploring the human essence requires a deep and comprehensive understanding of the human condition and thus social psychological perspectives are pivotal. Advances in social-psychological theorizing and research suggest that humans can be viewed as biological beings as well as cultural creatures, rational reasoners as well as emotional enigmas, moral minds as well as amoral agents.In this volume, talented scholars come together to present a fascinating array of insight into such topics ranging from evolutionary approaches to social constructivist accounts that essentially deny the existence of a human essence altogether. As such, this volume showcases the various shades of human essence that social psychology has discovered.Through these novel chapters, edited by Martijn van Zomeren and John F. Dovidio, The Oxford Handbook of the Human Essence expertly articulates both what social psychology can tell us about the human essence, and the astonishing range of perspectives reflected within this field. Consequently, this volume also raises important questions about the future of social psychology and the role of the notion of the human essence.

Situations matter. They let people express their personalities and values; provoke motivations, emotions, and behaviors; and are the contexts in which people reason and act. The psychological assessment of situations is a new and rapidly developing area of research, particularly within the fields of personality and social psychology. This volume compiles state-of-the-art knowledge on psychological situations in chapters written by experts in their respective research areas. Bringing together historical reviews, theoretical pieces, methodological descriptions, and empirical applications, this volume is the definitive, go-to source for a psychology of situations.

Groups and organizations vary dramatically in their ability to learn. Some acquire substantial knowledge as a function of experience, while others do not. In groups, learning can occur at the level of the individual member and/or the group as a whole. In organizations, learning can occur at both of these levels as well as that of the wider collective. Besides varying in the amount and kind of information they acquire, groups and organizations also vary regarding their success in retaining knowledge and transferring it to other units. In general, groups and organizations that are proficient in acquiring, retaining, and transfering knowledge are more productive and more enduring than their less able counterparts. The goal of this handbook is to bring together cutting-edge theoretical and empirical work on group and organizational learning by leading scholars from several disciplines. Because many of the same processes influence learning in groups and organizations, including both kinds of learning in the same volume has the potential to facilitate the integration of knowledge and the cross-fertilization of ideas. These benefits are reciprocal, in that research at the group level can shed light on how organizations learn whereas research at the organizational level can illuminate how groups learn. By clarifying similarities and differences in the processes that underlie learning in groups and organizations, the handbook advances understanding of the causes and consequences of learning in collectives of varying size and complexity.

Self-determination theory is a theory of human motivation that increasingly is being used by organizations to make strategic HR decisions and train managers. It argues for a focus on the quality of workers' motivation over quantity. Motivation that is based on meaning and interest is shown to be superior to motivation that is based on pressure and rewards. Work environments that make workers feel competent, autonomous, and related to others foster the right type of motivation, goals, and work values. The Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation, and Self-Determination Theory aims to give current and future organizational researchers ideas for future research using self-determination theory as a framework, and to give practitioners ideas on how to adjust their programs and practices using self-determination theory principles. The book brings together self-determination theory experts and organizational psychology experts to talk about past and future applications of the theory to the field of organizational psychology. The book covers a wide range of topics, including how to bring about commitment, engagement, and passion in the workplace; how to manage stress, health, emotions, and violence at work; how to encourage safe and sustainable behavior in organizations; how factors like attachment styles, self-esteem, person-environment fit, job design, leadership, compensation, and training affect work motivation; and how work-related values and goals are forged by the work environment and affect work outcomes.

How do we define compassion? Is it an emotional state, a motivation, a dispositional trait, or a cultivated attitude? How does it compare to altruism and empathy? Chapters in this Handbook present critical scientific evidence about compassion in numerous conceptions. All of these approaches to thinking about compassion are valid and contribute importantly to understanding how we respond to others who are suffering. Covering multiple levels of our lives and self-concept, from the individual, to the group, to the organization and culture, The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science gathers evidence and models of compassion that treat the subject of compassion science with careful scientific scrutiny and concern. It explores the motivators of compassion, the effect on physiology, the co-occurrence of wellbeing, and compassion training interventions. Sectioned by thematic approaches, it pulls together basic and clinical research ranging across neurobiological, developmental, evolutionary, social, clinical, and applied areas in psychology such as business and education. In this sense, it comprises one of the first multidisciplinary and systematic approaches to examining compassion from multiple perspectives and frames of reference.With contributions from well-established scholars as well as young rising stars in the field, this Handbook bridges a wide variety of diverse perspectives, research methodologies, and theory, and provides a foundation for this new and rapidly growing field. It should be of great value to the new generation of basic and applied researchers examining compassion, and serve as a catalyst for academic researchers and students to support and develop the modern world.

Where do spontaneous thoughts come from? It may be surprising that the seemingly straightforward answers "from the mind" or "from the brain" are in fact an incredibly recent understanding of the origins of spontaneous thought. For nearly all of human history, our thoughts - especially the most sudden, insightful, and important - were almost universally ascribed to divine or other external sources. Only in the past few centuries have we truly taken responsibility for their own mental content, and finally localized thought to the central nervous system - laying the foundations for a protoscience of spontaneous thought. But enormous questions still loom: what, exactly, is spontaneous thought? Why does our brain engage in spontaneous forms of thinking, and when is this most likely to occur? And perhaps the question most interesting and accessible from a scientific perspective: how does the brain generate and evaluate its own spontaneous creations?Spontaneous thought includes our daytime fantasies and mind-wandering; the flashes of insight and inspiration familiar to the artist, scientist, and inventor; the nighttime visions we call dreams; and clinical phenomena such as repetitive depressive rumination.This Handbook brings together views from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, phenomenology, history, education, contemplative traditions, and clinical practice to begin to address the ubiquitous but poorly understood mental phenomena that we collectively call 'spontaneous thought.'In studying such an abstruse and seemingly impractical subject, we should remember that our capacity for spontaneity, originality, and creativity defines us as a species - and as individuals. Spontaneous forms of thought enable us to transcend not only the here and now of perceptual experience, but also the bonds of our deliberately-controlled and goal-directed cognition; they allow the space for us to be other than who we are, and for our minds to think beyond the limitations of our current viewpoints and beliefs.

Identity is defined in many different ways in various disciplines in the social sciences and sub-disciplines within psychology. The developmental psychological approach to identity is characterized by a focus on developing a sense of the self that is temporally continuous and unified across the different life spaces that individuals inhabit. Erikson proposed that the task of adolescence and young adulthood was to define the self by answering the question: Who Am I? There have been many advances in theory and research on identity development since Erikson's writing over fifty years ago, and the time has come to consolidate our knowledge and set an agenda for future research.The Oxford Handbook of Identity Development represents a turning point in the field of identity development research. Various, and disparate, groups of researchers are brought together to debate, extend, and apply Erikson's theory to contemporary problems and empirical issues. The result is a comprehensive and state-of-the-art examination of identity development that pushes the field in provocative new directions. Scholars of identity development, adolescent and adult development, and related fields, as well as graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and practitioners will find this to be an innovative, unique, and exciting look at identity development.

The proposal to vaccinate adolescent girls against the human papilloma virus ignited political controversy, as did the advent of fracking and a host of other emerging technologies. These disputes attest to the persistent gap between expert and public perceptions. Complicating the communication of sound science and the debates that surround the societal applications of that science is a changing media environment in which misinformation can elicit belief without corrective context and likeminded individuals are prone to seek ideologically comforting information within their own self-constructed media enclaves. Drawing on the expertise of leading science communication scholars from six countries, The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication not only charts the media landscape-from news and entertainment to blogs and films-but also examines the powers and perils of human biases-from the disposition to seek confirming evidence to the inclination to overweight endpoints in a trend line. In the process, it draws together the best available social science on ways to communicate science while also minimizing the pernicious effects of human bias. The Handbook adds case studies exploring instances in which communication undercut or facilitated the access to scientific evidence. The range of topics addressed is wide, from genetically engineered organisms and nanotechnology to vaccination controversies and climate change. Also unique to this book is a focus on the complexities of involving the public in decision making about the uses of science, the regulations that should govern its application, and the ethical boundaries within which science should operate. The Handbook is an invaluable resource for researchers in the communication fields, particularly in science and health communication, as well as to scholars involved in research on scientific topics susceptible to distortion in partisan debate.

Research-based investigations of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship have the potential to inform each other and enrich our knowledge of each of these areas, particularly with regard to cognitive processes and effective behaviors. Yet, while these research streams have increasingly received a great deal of attention, they have developed largely independently of one another. The Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship addresses the critical need to integrate these three interrelated literatures.The Handbook features contributions from the leading scholars in these research areas. As a group, the chapters examine the intersections of these topics to synthesize contemporary research and provide direction and stimulation for further interdisciplinary investigations of organizational creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

The Oxford Handbook of Human Development and Culture provides a comprehensive synopsis of theory and research on human development, with every chapter drawing together findings from cultures around the world. This includes a focus on cultural diversity within nations, cultural change, and globalization. Expertly edited by Lene Arnett Jensen, the Handbook covers the entire lifespan from the prenatal period to old age. It delves deeply into topics such as the development of emotion, language, cognition, morality, creativity, and religion, as well as developmental contexts such as family, friends, civic institutions, school, media, and work. Written by an international group of eminent and cutting-edge experts, chapters showcase the burgeoning interdisciplinary approach to scholarship that bridges universal and cultural perspectives on human development. This "cultural-developmental approach" is a multifaceted, flexible, and dynamic way to conceptualize theory and research that is in step with the cultural and global realities of human development in the 21st century.

The Oxford Handbook of Eating Disorders provides current insights from established experts into the phenomenology, epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of eating disorders. Fully revised to reflect new DSM-5 classification and diagnostic criteria, each chapter of the Second Edition has been updated to feature the latest clinical research findings, applications, and approaches to understanding eating disorders. An additional chapter on emerging issues explores critical questions pertaining to ethics and the use of technology in treating eating disorders. With information on newly documented syndromes and a new section on bariatric surgery, this handbook not only encapsulates where the field is at but also offers astute perspectives on how the field is changing. Including both practical specifics, like literature reviews and clinical applications, as well as a broad view of foundational topics, this handbook is essential for scientists, clinicians, experts, and students alike.