a psychological foundation for the science of everyday life /
Brendan Markey-Towler.
New York, NY :
Routledge,
2018.
1 online resource
Includes bibliographical references and index.
A fundamental question : what is the mind, how does it function? -- Philosophical considerations : the nature of the mind -- The psychology of behaviour : operating within and upon the architecture of mind -- Reasons, rules, society and motivation in the psychological process -- Substitutability and behavioural change in quasi-fixed environments -- Properties of the psyche and their influence on behaviour : explanations and predictions.
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An Architecture of the Mind proposes a mathematically logical and rigorous theory of lived experience, and a comprehensive and coherent theory of psychology. It is also remarkably simple. Building on the core proposition that the mind is a network structure, it proposes a theory of the psychological process as operating within and upon that structure, and a theory of behaviour as determined by that process. The theory presents a view of the mind which reveals a new perspective on the process of reasoning in thinking and how it may coexist with processes more akin to simple rule-following and computation. It allows us to understand the impact of social factors on psychological processes by revealing their role in and influence on mental networks. It reveals the place of motivations in the psyche as complexes in mental networks from whence aesthetics, preference and value judgements arise and demonstrates their necessity for behaviour. This book is especially useful for the perspective it offers on behavioural change. It reveals the conditions under which traditional economic theories of incentives will be appropriate, and the conditions under which they will not be. This book draws on psychology, social science, cultural science, neuroscience and economics to offer an interdisciplinary contribution which resists the tendency for disciplines to become over-specialised and fragmented. It represents an important work for anyone interested in the functioning of the human mind and the government of human behaviour.