The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought PDF Author: Kalina Christoff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780190464776
Category : Cognition
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
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, modern 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. Scientific understanding of spontaneous thought has progressed by leaps and bounds in recent years, but big questions still loom: What, exactly, is spontaneous thought? How does the human brain generate, elaborate, and evaluate its own spontaneous creations? And why do spontaneous thoughts feature so prominently in mental life? This volume brings together views from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, history, education, contemplative traditions, and clinical practice.

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought PDF Author: Kalina Christoff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780190464776
Category : Cognition
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description
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, modern 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. Scientific understanding of spontaneous thought has progressed by leaps and bounds in recent years, but big questions still loom: What, exactly, is spontaneous thought? How does the human brain generate, elaborate, and evaluate its own spontaneous creations? And why do spontaneous thoughts feature so prominently in mental life? This volume brings together views from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, history, education, contemplative traditions, and clinical practice.

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought PDF Author: Kieran C.R. Fox
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190464763
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
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; and the nighttime visions we call dreams. 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.

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought

The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought PDF Author: Kieran C.R. Fox
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190464755
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 528

Get Book

Book Description
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; and the nighttime visions we call dreams. 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.

The Oxford Handbook of Adam Smith

The Oxford Handbook of Adam Smith PDF Author: Christopher J. Berry
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0199605068
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 645

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Book Description
This Handbook provides an accessible survey of the whole of Smith's thought with chapters written by leading experts that will allow all readers to gain a sense of the breadth and depth of the thought of this world historical figure.

The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning

The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning PDF Author: Keith J. Holyoak
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199313792
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning brings together the contributions of many of the leading researchers in thinking and reasoning to create the most comprehensive overview of research on thinking and reasoning that has ever been available.

Oxford Handbook of Developmental Behavioral Neuroscience

Oxford Handbook of Developmental Behavioral Neuroscience PDF Author: Mark S. Blumberg
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195314735
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 784

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Book Description
This is a seminal reference work in the field of developmental behavioural neuroscience, which has emerged in recent years as an important sister discipline to developmental psychobiology. The handbook provides an introduction to recent advances in research at the intersection of developmental science and behavioural neuroscience.

The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics

The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics PDF Author: Peter J. Boettke
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks
ISBN: 0199811768
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 833

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Book Description
'The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics' provides an overview of the main methodological, analytical, and practical implications of the Austrian school of economics. This intellectual tradition in economics and political economy has a long history that dates back to Carl Menger in the late nineteenth century. The various contributions discussed in this book all reflect this 'tension' of an orthodox argumentative structure (rational choice and invisible hand) to address heterodox problem situations (uncertainty, differential knowledge, ceaseless change).

The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition

The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition PDF Author: Donal E. Carlston
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199730016
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 967

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Book Description
This handbook provides a comprehensive review of social cognition, ranging from its history and core research areas to its relationships with other fields. The 43 chapters included are written by eminent researchers in the field of social cognition, and are designed to be understandable and informative to readers with a wide range of backgrounds.

The Emergence of Dreaming

The Emergence of Dreaming PDF Author: G. William Domhoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190673427
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
This new neurocognitive theory documents the unexpected similarities of dreaming to waking thought, demonstrates personal psychological meaning can be found in a majority of dreams reports, has a strong developmental psychology dimension, pinpoints the neural substrate for dreaming, and shows it is very unlikely that dreaming has any adaptive function.

The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination

The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination PDF Author: Anna Abraham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108429246
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
The human imagination manifests in countless different forms. We imagine the possible and the impossible. How do we do this so effortlessly? Why did the capacity for imagination evolve and manifest with undeniably manifold complexity uniquely in human beings? This handbook reflects on such questions by collecting perspectives on imagination from leading experts. It showcases a rich and detailed analysis on how the imagination is understood across several disciplines of study, including anthropology, archaeology, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and the arts. An integrated theoretical-empirical-applied picture of the field is presented, which stands to inform researchers, students, and practitioners about the issues of relevance across the board when considering the imagination. With each chapter, the nature of human imagination is examined - what it entails, how it evolved, and why it singularly defines us as a species.