* Psychology

Affects, Cognition, and Language As Foundations of Human Development by Paul C. Holinger Affects, Cognition, and Language as Foundations of Human Development considers human development from the three most basic systems-affects (our earliest feelings), cognition, and language. Holinger explores how these systems enhance potential and help prevent problems, both in individuals and in societies.

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Understanding the Female Phenotype by Luigi Mazzone (Editor); Martina Siracusano (Editor); Kevin A. Pelphrey (Editor) This book provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on autism in females, in order to help understand and clarify gender implications in the autistic female phenotype. Despite the reported higher risk of developing autism in males than in females, few studies have investigated the gender differences at the clinical and neurobiological level. Possible genetic protective factors, as well as differing neurobiological brain trajectories, could be responsible for the male/female discrepancy in prevalence rates (4:1). Moreover, a different clinical phenotype regarding the onset of symptoms, behavioral features and social motivation often skews diagnosis in women. Specifically, the phenomenon of camouflaging or hiding symptoms in high functioning females, due to behavioral coping strategies, contributes to incorrect or delayed diagnosis. In addition to addressing an important gap in the literature, this book provides concrete and specific diagnostic recommendations and intervention strategies. In addition, a dedicated chapter presents clinical case reports and shares the personal experiences of autistic women. Given its scope, the book will appeal to clinicians and practitioners, as well as researchers and students in the fields of child and adult psychiatry, psychology and neuropsychiatry.

Childhood Stress, Trauma and Synapse Loss by Maxwell R. Bennett This book is concerned with the extent to which childhood stress and trauma lead in relative maturity to major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The loss of synapses in the cortex, accompanying childhood maltreatment, is identified as a principal mechanism for developing these disorders. Considerable attention is given to identifying interventions that will restore lost synapses, so ameliorating these mental illnesses. The book describes the emergence of abnormal psychology in youth and adult life following childhood maltreatment. Of considerable immediate concern is the extent to which such maltreatment significantly enhances the tendency to suicide and suicidality. Next, consideration is given as to how personality disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, the very dangerous borderline personality disorder, and the publicly offensive narcissistic personality disorder, arise from childhood maltreatment. The classification or nosology of mental and personality disorders as well as the principal psychoanalytic approaches available for their treatment are sketched together with recent attempts to use novel constructs that bridge between symptoms (based on patients' behavior and self-descriptions). Recently, new techniques have been developed for brain imaging and non-invasive and localized brain stimulation. These show that nodes of the distributed brain network whose malfunction is closely related to major depressive disorders are likely to differ in their importance from patient to patient. Wonderfully, so-called 'closed-loop' stimulation techniques are now available for automatically adjusting the activity of individual nodes in individual patients, relieving them of their major depression. The results of our research, and that of others using magnetic resonance imaging of mature patients that have been maltreated as children, have been to identify the nodes that have lost gray matter. We have shown that this is likely due to the loss of synapses in these nodes. Finally, the central question of how synapses may be restored in these nodes to ameliorate major depressive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidality is considered, emphasizing the recent revolutionary discovery that the psychedelic ketamine restores synapses and has a therapeutic effect on mental health.

Climate Change and Mental Health Equity by Rhonda J. Moore (Editor) Climate change is a driver of poverty, poor mental health, inequity, and increased intersectional vulnerability, with significant differential global impacts on individual and community health and well-being. For example, people living in low resource settings in high income countries (HICs) and in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at greater risk, often experiencing fragile socioeconomic, political and health infrastructures, and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) that place them at greater risk and vulnerabilities to climate change related mental health impacts. The broad goal of this book is to place a social justice and inclusive lens on climate change and mental health equity focusing on these three key elements: people, place, and community. The book includes perspectives from the global North, the global South, and Indigenous perspectives to help provide greater insight into how we can better understand climate change and mental health equity across peoples, place, and community. This book's three-pronged approach will focus on certain trends in this emerging and growing field, also bridging some of the more extensive gaps, and is a tool for better understanding how mental health disparities might be addressed at this time.

Early Childhood Psychopathology: Developmental Models and Treatments by Karen R. Gouze; Joyce Hopkins; John V. Lavigne This book examines psychosocial risk factors contributing to the development and maintenance of psychopathology in early childhood. It draws on developmental psychopathology theory and research to discuss different approaches to the classification of early childhood emotional and behavioral disorders, address the importance of multidomain approaches to understanding risk factors for specific diagnoses, and examine the movement toward transdiagnostic conceptualizations. The book describes how multidomain models of risk factors can be integrated with transdiagnostic approaches to illuminate the development of general psychopathology, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and singular symptom clusters of the most common early childhood disorders, including oppositional disorders, ADHD, anxiety, and depression. In addition, the volume highlights the implications of this approach for clinical treatment, training of child clinicians, and the development of public policy. Key areas of coverage include: A developmental psychopathology approach to early childhood mental health disorders and the development of multi-domain models of risk factors. Risk factors contributing to the development and maintenance of emotional and behavioral symptoms in early childhood. Transdiagnostic approaches and risk factors for general psychopathology as well as specific types of symptoms. Current treatments for disorders in early childhood and a novel integrative approach to treatment based on research findings. Training of child clinicians and social policy implications derived from the research program detailed in the book. Early Childhood Psychopathology is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such fields as developmental, clinical child, and school psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry, social work, family studies, early childhood education, and all related disciplines.

How the Brain Works: What Psychology Students Need to Know by Michael S. C. Thomas; Simon Green Delve into the intricacies of the human mind with this engaging and insightful guide to how the brain works. Written in a playful style and beautifully illustrated, this book is designed to support you as you embark on the beginning of your psychology degree. It provides an accessible guide to how the brain's structures and functions determine how the mind works, and how this fits into the bigger picture of our evolution and biology as a species. From focus boxes that delve into specific topics to entertaining puzzles that bring the subject to life, this book will captivate your imagination while building your understanding of biological and cognitive psychology. This is an essential read for undergraduate psychology students.

How the Child's Mind Develops, 4th ed. by David Cohen How do we get from helpless baby to knowing teenager? What impact do iPads, social media, video games, and evolving technology have on the way children's minds develop? How we learn to think, perceive, remember, talk, reason, and learn is a central topic in psychology - and one that sees constant new research. How the Child's Mind Develops discusses the latest studies and covers all the controversies that have dogged the subject for nearly 150 years. David Cohen examines the fundamental issues of how children learn to read and write, of how their intellectual abilities are measured and the development of their morality. This fully updated Fourth Edition incorporates issues of cultural differences in brain development and skin-to-skin contact, and how they effect development, addiction to social media, the effect of trauma and stress, and emotional development. This book is an integrated and thought-provoking account of the central issues in child development. Students, parents, and professionals will find it an invaluable introduction.

The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition by Stephen M. Garcia (Editor); Avishalom Tor (Editor); Andrew J. Elliot (Editor) 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.

Parasocial Experiences: Psychological Theory and Application by David C. Giles; Gayle S. Stever This book covers key aspects of parasocial relationships (PSRs), or the relationships people have with media personalities, including fictional characters. The principal feature of a PSR is that it is not individually reciprocated although when the parasocial object is a real person, usually a celebrity, that celebrity often has a reciprocal relationship with their audience as a group. The authors begin by addressing the many instances where relationships exist in a gray area that is neither fully social and reciprocated nor parasocial and non-reciprocated. In describing parasocial experience, the authors address social relationships vs. parasocial relationships as a continuum rather than a dichotomy. They also discuss prominent theories in psychology and how they should be applied to parasocial theory, as well as psychoanalytic theory and the role of the unconscious in parasocial relationships. This is followed by chapters on applications of evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and the effects of social media on PSRs, particularly a very new social media service, Cameo. Through a meaningful exploration of social theories as they influence parasocial experiences, this book unveils areas for future study and opens up pathways for new, more sophisticated research.

Racism and African American Mental Health by Janeé M. Steele Racism and African American Mental Health examines the psychological impacts of racism within the African American community and offers a culturally adapted model of cognitive behavior therapy for more culturally relevant case conceptualization and treatment planning with this population.

The Science of Sadness: A New Understanding of Emotion by David. Huron An accessible, scientific account of grief, melancholy, and nostalgia in human life and their broader lessons for understanding emotions in general. The Science of Sadness proposes an original scientific account of grief, melancholy, and nostalgia, advocating a unique ethological approach to these familiar, woeful emotions. One of the leading scholars in the psychology of music and music cognition, David Huron draws on hundreds of studies from physiology, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, and the arts to resolve long-standing problems that have stymied modern emotion research. A careful examination of sadness-related behaviors reveals their biological and social functions, which Huron uses to formulate a new theory about how emotions in general are displayed and interpreted. We've all shed tears of joy, tears of grief, tears of pain. While different emotions often share the same weepy display, Huron identifies the single function that unites them. He suggests how weeping emerged over the course of human evolution, explores the contrasting cultural manifestations of sadness, and chronicles humanity's changing interpretations of sadness over time. Huron also explains the various ways cultures recruit and reshape involuntary emotional displays for different social purposes, and he offers a compelling narrative of what makes tragic arts so appealing. Though sadness is typically regarded as the very antithesis of happiness, The Science of Sadness draws attention to the important roles that grief, melancholy, and nostalgia play in human well-being.

Virtual Reality: Unlocking Emotions and Cognitive Marvels by Davide Maria Marchioro; Aimée Argüero Fonseca; Fabio Benatti; Marco Zuin This book is an invaluable resource for researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts interested in unraveling the potential and promises of virtual reality, delving into its applications, challenges, and the exciting path that lies ahead. In the age of rapidly advancing technology, the intersection of psychology and virtual reality (VR) has opened doors to a world of unprecedented possibilities. This introduction sets the stage for an exploration of the potential of virtual reality within the field of psychology and its intriguing relationship with cyberpsychology. In this book, the authors aim to utilize the transformative power of VR to enhance our understanding of the human mind and emotions, ultimately contributing to the betterment of psychological science and the human experience. The ability to simulate environments, elicit emotional responses, and assess cognitive functions in a controlled, replicable manner presents a paradigm shift in psychological research and practice.