Peculiarities of Behavior


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Atti


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The Personality of Henry Cavendish - A Great Scientist with Extraordinary Peculiarities


Book Description

Profiles the eminent 18th century natural philosopher Henry Cavendish, best known for his work in chemistry and physics and one of the most baffling personalities in the history of science. In these chapters we are introduced to the psychology of science and of scientists and we learn about Cavendish’s life and times. His personality is examined from two perspectives: one is that he had a less severe form of autism, as has been claimed; the other is that he was eccentric and a psychological disorder was absent. Henry Cavendish lived a life of science, possibly more completely than any other figure in the history of science: a wealthy aristocrat, he became a dedicated scientist. This study brings new information and a new perspective to our understanding of the man. The scientific and non-scientific sides of his life are brought closer together, as the author traces topics including his appearance, speech, wealth, religion and death as well as Cavendish’s life of natural philosophy where objectivity and accuracy, writing and recognition all played a part. The author traces aspects of Cavendish’s personality, views and interpretations of him, and explores notions of eccentricity and autism before detailing relevant aspects of the travels made by our subject. The author considers the question “How do we talk about Cavendish?” and provides a useful summary of Cavendish’s travels. This book will appeal to a wide audience, from those interested in 18th century history or history of science, to those interested in incidences of autism in prominent figures from history. This volume contains ample relevant illustrations, several interesting appendices and it includes a useful index and bibliography.




The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment


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A definitive, authoritative and up-to-date resource for anyone interested in the theories, models and assessment methods used for understanding the many factes of Human personality and individual differences This brand new Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment 2-Volume Set constitutes an essential resource for shaping the future of the scientific foundation of personality research, measurement, and practice. There is need for an up-to-date and international Handbook that reviews the major contemporary personality models Vol. 1 and associated psychometric measurement instruments Vol. 2 that underpin the scientific study of this important area of individual differences psychology, and in these two Handbooks this is very much achieved. Made unique by its depth and breadth the Handbooks are internationally edited and authored by Professors Gregory J. Boyle, Gerald Matthews, and Donald H. Saklofske and authored by internationally known academics, this work will be an important reference work for a host of researchers and practitioners in the fields of individual differences and personality assessment, clinical psychology, educational psychology, work and organizational psychology, health psychology and other applied fields as well. Volume 2: Personality Measurement and Assessment. Covers psychometric measurement of personality and has coverage of the following broad topics, listed by section heading: " General Methodological Issues " Multidimensional Personality Instruments " Assessment of Biologically-Based Traits " Assessment of Self-Regulative Traits " Implicit, Projective And Objective Measures Of Personality " Abnormal Personality Trait Instruments " Applications of Psychological Testing




Curious Behavior


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Provine boldly goes where other scientists seldom tread—in search of hiccups, coughs, yawns, sneezes, and other lowly, undignified, human behaviors. Our earthiest instinctive acts bear the imprint of our evolutionary origins and can be valuable tools for understanding how the human brain works and what makes us different from other species.







The Cognitive Foundations of Personality Traits


Book Description

Hardly anything in psychology is as irking as the trait concept. Psychologists and laypersons alike use primarily adjective trait-names to characterize and even concep tualize the individuals they encounter. There are more than a hundred well-defined personality traits and a great many questionnaires for their assessment, some of which are designed to assess the same or very similar traits. Little is known about their ontogenetic development and even less about their underlying dynamics. Psy choanalytic theory was invoked for explaining the psychodynamics underlying a few personality traits without, however, presenting sufficient empirical evidence for the validity of these interpretations. In a reductionistic vein, behaviorally inclined psy chologists have propounded the thesis that all traits are acquired behaviors. Yet, this view neither reduces the number of personality tests nor explains the resistance of traits to modification by means of reward and punishment. Dissatisfied with these and some other less well-known approaches to person ality traits, we decided to explore whether applying our psychosemantic theory of cognition to the trait concept would do better. The way we had to follow was anything but easy.