San Antonio College Library

The notions of purpose, goal, end and function are used (and abused) in descriptions of a very wide range of human, animal and machine behaviour. Andrew Woodfield provides here a unified account of such teleological descriptions and explanations, their varieties, their logical structure and their proper uses. He concentrates his argument on the concepts of 'goal-directed behaviour' and 'natural function', and combines original philosophical criticism...

"Few people have a problem with the idea that humans are descended from apes. But while people believe that our general shape and structure are derived from other creatures, few consider, let alone accept, the psychological implications. Man not only looks, moves and breathes like an ape, he also thinks like one. It is back in our primeval past that we find the first clues to the understanding of our human instincts." "But how well do instincts equip...

Books about sports, even those written by scholars, are frequently little more than hagiography. They extol the virtue of athletics for participant and spectator alike. Of greater rarity are those that look critically at the political, social, economic, and psychological underpinnings of contemporary sports. Violence in sports is among the relatively neglected issues of serious study. Sports Violence is perhaps the first collection of scholarly theory...

Computer technologies in general and the Internet in particular have had a massive impact on the type and scope of offences being committed, and on the organisation of the policing and detection of criminal and deviant behaviour. Yet the complexities of these new developments and their wider social impact are little understood. This book has the aim of shedding light on the nature of the relationship between crime, deviance and the Internet. Cyberspace...

"Some children are prone to a particular kind of aggression when they are with their peers. For these children, any harm done to them-even something as inconsequential as a jostle in the lunch line-is perceived as intentional. Their style of social information processing, termed "hostile attributional bias," increases the likelihood that they will retaliate with excessive and inappropriate physical aggression. In this valuable book, parents and professionals...

"In the latter part of this century, an increasingly vigorous and sophisticated scientific study of antisocial behavior has emerged. This new science has offered partial answers to some very important questions which will lead to better understanding and prevention of antisocial behavior. In 50 chapters, more than 100 leading scientists, clinicians, and scholars review the research in their area of expertise to provide extraordinary extensive and...

This book is a thought-provoking critique of the basic premises underlying the explanations of human behavior frequently offered by psychologists. Despite its avowed shift away from behavioristic ways of thinking, psychology today, according to Rychlak, is essentially mechanistic. But while biological and automatic processes clearly have vital uses, they are unable to fully account for such phenomena as free will and agency--the very qualities that...

"Every day on eBay, millions of people buy and sell a vast array of goods, from rare collectibles and antiques to used cars and celebrity memorabilia. The internet auction site is remarkably easy to use, which accounts in part for its huge popularity. But how dies eBay really work, and how does it compare to other kinds of auctions? These are questions that led Ken Steiglitz - computer scientist, collector of ancient coins, and a regular eBay user...