In their volume Universalism without Uniformity, anthropologists Julia Cassaniti and Usha Menon bring together a set of distinguished papers to address the interconnections between culture and mind. As the title suggests, they seek to understand how one can conceive of a shared humanity while also doing justice to cross-cultural psychological diversity. The chapters investigate topics such as emotion, identity, mental health, and conflict, among others. Through the construction of a new approach that focuses squarely on the interrelationship of culture and mind, this volume questions old, entrenched disciplinary assumptions. Geared toward students of anthropology, psychology, and ethnic studies, Universalism without Uniformity seeks to uncover the intricate connections and mechanisms of psyche and culture.
This insightful book offers a critical reflection on the sustainability and effectiveness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its legacy over the last 70 years. Exploring the problems surrounding universality, proliferation and costs, it asks the provocative question, can we still afford human rights?
Despite broad interest in how children and youth cope with stress and how others can support their coping, this is the first Handbook to consolidate the many theories and large bodies of research that contribute to the study of the development of coping. The Handbook's goal is field building - it brings together theory and research from across the spectrum of psychological, developmental, and related sciences to inform our understanding of coping and its development across the lifespan. Hence, it is of interest not only to psychologists, but also to neuroscientists, sociologists, and public health experts. Moreover, work on stress and coping touches many areas of applied social science, including prevention and intervention science, education, clinical practice, and youth development, making this Handbook a vital interdisciplinary resource for parents, teachers, clinical practitioners, social workers, and anyone interested in improving the lives of children.
Advances in Motivation Science, Volume Eight, the latest release in Elsevier's serial on the topic of motivation science, contains interesting articles that cover topics such as The functional architecture of human motivation: Personality systems interactions theory, Teacher motivational messages used prior to examinations: What are they, how are they evaluated, and what are their educational outcomes?, Understanding peer relationships during childhood and adolescence through the lens of social motivation, Self-efficacy and human motivation, The creation and curation of all things worthy: Inspiration as vital force in persons and cultures, and Motivational decision-making in achievement settings: A competence-in-context approach. - Presents new research in the field of motivation science and research - Provides a timely overview of important research programs conducted by the most respected scholars in psychology - Gives special attention to directions for future research
The book is ambitious and easy to read, has many "rich descriptions," that would be good for undergraduates and graduate students interested in mindfulness, Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhism, and the anthropology of Buddhism. ― Religious Studies Review What is mindfulness, and how does it vary as a concept across different cultures? How does mindfulness find expression in practice in the Buddhist cultures of Southeast Asia? What role does mindfulness play in everyday life? J. L. Cassaniti answers these fundamental questions and more through an engaged ethnographic investigation of what it means to "remember the present" in a region strongly influenced by Buddhist thought. Focusing on Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, Remembering the Present examines the meanings, practices, and purposes of mindfulness. Using the experiences of people in Buddhist monasteries, hospitals, markets, and homes in the region, Cassaniti shows how an attention to memory informs how people live today and how mindfulness is intimately tied to local constructions of time, affect, power, emotion, and selfhood. By looking at how these people incorporate Theravada Buddhism into their daily lives, Cassaniti provides a signal contribution to the psychological anthropology of religious experience. Remembering the Present heeds the call made by researchers in the psychological sciences and the Buddhist side of mindfulness studies for better understandings of what mindfulness is and can be. Cassaniti addresses fundamental questions about selfhood, identity, and how a deeper appreciation of the many contexts and complexities intrinsic in sati (mindfulness in the Pali language) can help people lead richer, fuller, and healthier lives. Remembering the Present shows how mindfulness needs to be understood within the cultural and historical influences from which it has emerged.
Guided by developmental cultural psychology, this volume focuses on understandings and responses to disability and stigmatization from the perspectives of educators practicing in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Synthesizing research that spanned over a decade, this volume seeks to understand disabilities in different developmental and cultural contexts. The research presented in this book found that educators from all four cultural groups expressed strikingly similar concerns about the impact of stigmatization on the emerging cultural self, both with children with disabilities and their typically developing peers, while also describing culturally nuanced socialization goals and practices pertaining to inclusive education. In providing a multicultural view of common challenges in classrooms from around the world, this book provides important lessons for the improvement of children's lives, as well as the development of theory, policy, and programs that are culturally sensitive and sustainable.
Cognitive Archaeology is a relatively young though fast growing discipline. The intellectual heart of cognitive archaeology is archaeology, the discipline that investigates the only direct evidence of the actions and decisions of prehistoric people. Its theories and methods are an eclectic mix of psychological, neuroscientific, paleoneurological, philosophical, anthropological, ethnographic, comparative, aesthetic, and experimental theories, methods, and models, united only by their focus on cognition. The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology is a landmark publication, showcasing the theories, methods, and accomplishments of archaeologists who investigate the human mind, including its evolutionary development, its ideation (thoughts and beliefs), and its very nature-through material forms. The volume encompasses the wide spectrum of the discipline, showcasing contributions from more than 50 established and emerging scholars from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Prominent among these are contributions that discuss the epistemological frameworks of both the evolutionary and ideational approaches and the leading theories that ground interpretations. Significantly, the majority of chapters deliver substantive contributions that analyze specific examples of material culture, from the oldest known stone tools to ceramic and rock art traditions of the recent millennium. These examples include the gamut of methods and techniques, including typology, replication studies, cha?nes operatoires, neuroarchaeology, ethnographic comparison, and the direct historical approach. In addition, the book begins with retrospective essays by several of the pioneers of cognitive archaeology, presenting a broad range of state-of-the-art investigations into cognitive abilities, tackling thorny issues like the cognitive status of Neandertals, and concluding with speculative essays about the future of an archaeology of mind, and of the mind itself.
"Self-determination theory (SDT) represents a comprehensive framework for the study of human motivation, personality development and wellness as evidenced by the breadth and variety of chapters in this handbook. In introducing this collection, we review the basic assumptions, philosophy of science, methods, and mission of SDT. We also provide a brief history of SDT, linking various developments within the theory to the contributions found in this volume. Finally, we attempt to place SDT within the landscape of past and contemporary theoretical psychology, as well as modern historical and cultural developments, in part explaining the continued growth of SDT's basic research and real-world applications"--
