Tall Tales about the Mind and Brain
Separating fact from fiction
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31 153 Ft
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 11 January 2007
- ISBN 9780198568773
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages552 pages
- Size 254x175x35 mm
- Weight 966 g
- Language English
- Illustrations numerous tables, line drawings, black and white illustrations and 2 colour plates 0
Categories
Short description:
Tall tales presents a sweeping survey of common myths about the mind and brain. In a lighthearted and accessible style, it exposes the truth behind these beliefs, how they are perpetuated, why people believe them, and why they might even exist in the first place.
MoreLong description:
Does listening to Mozart make us more intelligent? Is there such a thing as a gay gene? Does the size of the brain matter? Does the moon influence our behaviour? Can we communicate with the dead? Can graphology tell us anything about a person's character? Is the human brain clonable? What role do dreams have in cognition? Can mind conquer matter and diseases? Are out-of-body experiences possible? Can we trust our intuitions?
To some, the answer to all these questions might well be a resounding 'no', but to many people these represent serious beliefs about the mind and brain - beliefs that drive their everyday behaviour, beliefs that cost them huge amounts of money. Whole industries have developed founded on these dubious claims about the mind and brain. Even major corporations have dabbled with assessment methods such as those advocated by graphology, accepting and rejecting candidates on the basic of their handwriting. Expectant parents buy books and tapes by the dozen showing them how to improve the intelligence of their child by playing them classical music. People subscribe to expensive therapies founded on beliefs rather than science, or risk their health buying books that tell them how they can conquer illness through positive thinking, perhaps at the expense of more scientifically proven treatments.
Tall Tales about the Mind and Brain presents a sweeping survey of common myths about the mind and brain. In a lighthearted and accessible style, it exposes the truth behind these beliefs, how they are perpetuated, why people believe them, and why they might even exist in the first place.
...this book is so well written and balanced that it will make for enriching and entertaining reading for readers at any level. It manages to have a scientific foundation, yet presents clinically intriguing and practical, relevant cases. It is refreshing to see a group of authors put together a critical analysis of the rampant misinformation that thrives in popular culture.
Table of Contents:
Part I - Where Do Tall Tales about the Mind and the Brain Come From?
Introduction - the myth of 10% and other tall tales about the mind and the brain
Cognitive factors underlying paranormal beliefs and experiences
Critically thinking about paranormal belief
The magic in the brain; how conjuring works to deceive our minds
Part II - Tall Tales on Memory and Learning
The legend of the magical number seven
Setting the record (or video camera) straight on memory: the video camera model of memory and other memory myths
The myth of the incredible eyewitness
We've got the whole child witness thing figured out, or do we?
Part III - Tall Tales on Intelligence
Is bigger really better? The search for brain size and intelligence in the 21st century
Biology and intelligence: the race/IQ controversy
The refined Mozart effect: let's enjoy the music
The powers and perils of intuuition
Creative thinking: the mystery myth
Part IV - Tall Tales on Language and Communication
The more, the merrier: facts and beliefs about the bilingual mind
The Merry Vibes of Wintzer: the tale of foreign accent syndrome
Talking with the dead, communicating with the future and other myths created by cold reading
Graphology - a total write-off
The truth about deception
Part V - Tall Tales on the Brain
The dual-brain myth
The neurology of the weird: brain states and anamalous experience
The myth of the clonable human brain
Out on a limb: neglect and confabulation in the study of aplasic phantoms
Imagery and blindness
Something wicked this way comes: causes and interpretations of sleep paralysis
Part VI - Tall Tales on the Mind
The power of the full moon. Running on empty?
Ouija, dowsing, and other seductions of ideomotor action
Inducing out-of-body experiences
Can mind conquer cancer?
The elusive search for a "gay gene"
To sleep, perchance to REM? The rediscovered role of emotion and meaning in dreams
