Generative Mental Processes and Cognitive Resources: Integrative Research on Adaptation and Control - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792365623 ISBN 13: 9780792365624

Publisher: Springer, 2000

Synopsis

In recent years, a booming research interest has been observed in linking basic cognitive processes with a variety of social and clinical phenomena. Evidence comes from the increasing popularity of psychological paradigms such as social cognition, cognitive psychopathology or cognitive aging. What links those paradigms is their special focus on explaining cognitive phenomena by use of the concept of mental resources. Immediate reasons for such a focus are found in the growing emphasis on understanding everyday dynamics of thinking and acting within a complex world, as well as within personal constraints. Obviously, our current goals and choice of activities constrain and influence our reasoning as well as the processes of input to and retrieval from memory. Situational demands will act to the same effect, and the interplay between both, internal and external constraints, makes apparent a first and straightforward relevance of the resource notion in action-oriented cognitive research. For example, person perception is a dynamic process depending on what my goals in perception are, what the perceiving situation is that I find myself in, and how complex the target characteristics are. In fact, the amount of resources spent in this process may be reflected in its speed, the quality of the perceptual or mnemonic trace which is being created, or the kind of social or non-social behavior that can be supported.

About this title

Product Description

Generative Mental Processes And Cognitive Resources: Integrative Research On Adaptation And Control by Grzegorz Sedek, Stephan Dutke, Ulrich Hecker, 9780792365624, Springer

Synopsis

This volume presents contributions of European and North American researchers sharing an interest in generative forms of thinking and in deployable mental resources. The special emphasis of this book is highlighting the close links that exist between apparently heterogeneous psychological domains such as basis research on memory and reasoning strategies, social cognition studies on knowledge activation and use, and research on cognitive processes in aging, depression, and anxiety. These integrative chapters not only deal with many intriguing topics concerning generative mental processes and their situational and individual constraints but also inform the reader about a variety of modern methodological instruments.The book is directed to advanced students and to active researchers in many psychological disciplines (cognitive, social, and clinical) who will appreciate this sourcebook for a deeper understanding of how higher order mental strategies may serve adaptive functions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792365623
• ISBN 13: 9780792365624
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 397
• Editor: Hecker U., Dutke Stefan, Sedek Grzegorz