How scientific studies of human behavior can be replicated with the consistency and rigor characteristic of the physical sciences, yielding scientific ""laws.""
How scientific studies of human behavior can be replicated with the consistency and rigor characteristic of the physical sciences, yielding scientific ""laws.""
In Laws of Human Behavior, Donald Pfaff and Sandra Sherman argue that many behavioral and neural discoveries-verified over the years through precise, reliable measurement-are tantamount to ""laws,"" comparable in rigor and replicability to physical laws such as gravity and the second law of thermodynamics. Drawing on research in areas including psychophysics, various types of conditioning and habit formation, and even social behaviors, they show how important aspects of the behavioral sciences contribute to laws that should be celebrated now. Responding to what some commentators have called a crisis in reliability, the authors make a compelling case for the progress that experimental work in areas, formerly labeled as ""soft"" science, has achieved.
The book is international in scope. References range from the early nineteenth-century work of Weber to papers published in 2023. In particular, the authors cite important accomplishments in the behavioral and neural sciences of the past few decades that support the characterization of these sciences as ""exact."" Each chapter of the book has three parts- examples of the law's manifestations in everyday life, examples of the laboratory science that supports the law, and neurobiological results that further support the validity of the law. The book also offers clues for understanding where the field of behavioral science is headed.
The authors intend for the book to be accessible to interested nonscientists.
By:
Donald Pfaff,
Sandra Sherman
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262550895
ISBN 10: 026255089X
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 08 April 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Dedication Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Sensation, Perception 1. Psychophysics 2. Stimulus Generalization 3. Signal Detection is a Function of Stimulus and Criterion for Positive Responses 4. Perception is Selective Part II: Movement 5. Motor Responsiveness 6. Principle of Least Effort 7. Habituation Part III: Conditioning 8. Pavlovian (“Classical”) Conditioning 9. Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning 10. Delay of Reinforcement Gradient Part IV: Cognition 11. Information Load Determines Retention of that Information 12. We Forget 13. Slow Deliberative Decision Making Uses Different Cortical Mechanisms Compared to Fast Perceptual Decision Making 14. We Reduce Cognitive Dissonance Part V: Changes of State 15. Hormones Change Behavioral States 16. Human Behavior is Regulated by a Circadian Rhythm 17. Optimum Level of Arousal (Yerkes-Dodson Law) Part VI: Social Behaviors 18. Humans Seek Social Contact 19. In Groups, Humans Form Hierarchies 20. Humans Behave Altruistically Conclusion and Perspective Further Reading
Donald Pfaff is Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University. His books include Hormonal Factors in Brain Function (MIT Press), Drive (MIT Press), and The Altruistic Brain. Sandra Sherman is a former Senior Attorney for the US government and a retired Professor of English. She is a coauthor of several books in neuroscience.
