New Releases by Barry Schwartz

Beschouwing over het psychologische probleem van het teveel aan keuzemogelijkheden voor de moderne mens, zowel bij de aanschaf van consumptiegoederen als bij de beantwoording van levensvragen en de inrichting van het eigen leven.

Whether we''re buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions -- both big and small -- have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice -- the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish -- becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice -- from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs -- has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse. By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

Now in its Fifth Edition, Psychology of Learning and Behavior is one of the most highly regarded texts in its field.

We all value freedom, family, friends, work, education, health, and leisure—“the best things in life.” But the pressure we experience to chase the dollar in order to satisfy both the demands of the bottom line and the demands of our seemingly insatiable desire to consume are eroding these best things in life. Our children now value profit centers, not sports heroes. Our educational system is fast becoming nothing more than a financial investment where students are encouraged to expend more energy on making the grade than on learning about their world. Our business leaders are turning young idealists into cynics when they cut corners and explain that “everybody’s doing it.” The need to achieve in our careers intrudes so greatly on our personal world that we find ourselves weighing the “costs” of enjoying friendships rather than working. In this book, psychologist Barry Schwartz unravels how market freedom has insidiously expanded its reach into domains where it does not belong. He shows how this trend developed from a misguided application of the American value of individuality and self-pursuit, and how it was aided by our turning away from the basic social institutions that once offered traditional community values. These developments have left us within an overall framework for living where worth is measured entirely by usefulness in the marketplace. The more we allow market considerations to guide our lives, the more we will continue to incur the real costs of living, among them disappointment and loneliness.We all value freedom, family, friends, work, education, health, and leisure—“the best things in life.” But the pressure we experience to chase the dollar in order to satisfy both the demands of the bottom line and the demands of our seemingly insatiable desire to consume are eroding these best things in life. Our children now value profit centers, not sports heroes. Our educational system is fast becoming nothing more than a financial investment where students are encouraged to expend more energy on making the grade than on learning about their world. Our business leaders are turning young idealists into cynics when they cut corners and explain that “everybody’s doing it.” The need to achieve in our careers intrudes so greatly on our personal world that we find ourselves weighing the “costs” of enjoying friendships rather than working. In this book, psychologist Barry Schwartz unravels how market freedom has insidiously expanded its reach into domains where it does not belong. He shows how this trend developed from a misguided application of the American value of individuality and self-pursuit, and how it was aided by our turning away from the basic social institutions that once offered traditional community values. These developments have left us within an overall framework for living where worth is measured entirely by usefulness in the marketplace. The more we allow market considerations to guide our lives, the more we will continue to incur the real costs of living, among them disappointment and loneliness.

Abraham Lincoln has long dominated the pantheon of American presidents. From his lavish memorial in Washington and immortalization on Mount Rushmore, one might assume he was a national hero rather than a controversial president who came close to losing his 1864 bid for reelection. In Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, Barry Schwartz aims at these contradictions in his study of Lincoln''s reputation, from the president''s death through the industrial revolution to his apotheosis during the Progressive Era and First World War. Schwartz draws on a wide array of materials—painting and sculpture, popular magazines and school textbooks, newspapers and oratory—to examine the role that Lincoln''s memory has played in American life. He explains, for example, how dramatic funeral rites elevated Lincoln''s reputation even while funeral eulogists questioned his presidential actions, and how his reputation diminished and grew over the next four decades. Schwartz links transformations of Lincoln''s image to changes in the society. Commemorating Lincoln helped Americans to think about their country''s development from a rural republic to an industrial democracy and to articulate the way economic and political reform, military power, ethnic and race relations, and nationalism enhanced their conception of themselves as one people. Lincoln''s memory assumed a double aspect of "mirror" and "lamp," acting at once as a reflection of the nation''s concerns and an illumination of its ideals, and Schwartz offers a fascinating view of these two functions as they were realized in the commemorative symbols of an ever-widening circle of ethnic, religious, political, and regional communities. The first part of a study that will continue through the present, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory is the story of how America has shaped its past selectively and imaginatively around images rooted in a real person whose character and achievements helped shape his country''s future.

From all corners of society we hear people ask: What''s become of honesty, loyalty, courage, hard work, compassion, discipline, and commitment? Dr. Schwartz contends that we are ready to consider a change in our traditional values and aspirations, but before we can re-establish them, we need to ask why they are disappearing.

This new textbook offers at once an introduction to learning, its early Pavlovian and operant origins up through the most recent developments, and complete coverage of the psychology of human memory from acquisition and storage to retrieval and forgetting. But unlike other textbook authors who rely primarily on an historical associationist linkage between learning and memory, Barry Schwartz and Daniel Reisberg take a cognitive approach to integrating the two fields.

“Provocative and richly textured. . . .Schwartz’s analyses of the inadequacies of contemporary scientific views of human nature are compelling, but the consequences are even more worthy of note.” —Los Angeles Times Out of the investigations and speculations of contemporary science, a challenging view of human behavior and society has emerged and gained strength. It is a view that equates “human nature” utterly and unalterably with the pursuit of self-interest. Influenced by this view, people increasingly appeal to natural imperatives, instead of moral ones, to explain and justify their actions and those of others.

Examines the use of research in animal learning to develop theories of human behavior and analyzes the applications of these theories in management and other areas.

Now in its Fifth Edition, Psychology of Learning and Behavior is one of the most highly regarded texts in its field.

ù đó là quyết định lựa chọn quần jeans, hãng hàng không, bác sỹ khám bệnh hay kế hoạch hưu trí, những quyết định hàng ngày của chúng ta - những quyết định từ nhỏ nhặt đến quan trọng như cân bằng nhu cầu cá nhân, gia đình và nghề nghiệp - đang ngày càng trở nên phức tạp hơn bởi sự thừa thãi của những lựa chọn mà chúng ta phải đối mặt. Chúng ta giả định rằng nhiều lựa chọn hơn sẽ tốt hơn và giúp chúng ta thoả mãn hơn. Nhưng hãy xem chừng sự quá tải của những lựa chọn: nó có thể khiến cho bạn nghi vấn về những quyết định của bạn ngay cả khi bạn chưa thực hiện quyết định đó, khiến cho bạn có những kỳ vọng quá cao không có thực, và khiến cho bạn cứ trách móc chính mình cho mọi thất bại xảy ra. Trong cuốn "Nghịch lý của sự lựa chọn" Swartz giải thích tại sao một điều gì đó quá tốt lại không tốt cho chúng ta về mặt tâm lý và cảm xúc. Tổng hợp những nghiên cứu mới nhất của khoa học xã hội, ông cho rằng loại bớt những lựa chọn có thể giúp giảm rất nhiều những căng thẳng, lo lắng và bận rộn trong cuộc sống. Với cách viết dễ hiểu, hấp dẫn và sống động với những giai thoại, ông đã đưa ra những hướng dẫn thực tiễn về cách thức hạn chế sự lựa chọn để dễ quản lý hơn, cách thức khép mình vào kỷ luật để chỉ tập trung vào những điều quan trọng và phớt lờ phần còn lại, và cách thức để hài lòng hơn với những lựa chọn của bạn. "Thật xuất sắc .... Những lập luận của Schwartz về mối tương quan giữa trạng thái cảm xúc và cái ông gọi là "sự chuyên chế của sự lựa chọn" thật hấp dẫn và những gợi ý của nó thì rất đáng quan tâm.... Một cuốn sách sâu sắc" (Tạp chí Christian Science Monitor) "Một cuốn sách đột phá và quyến rũ lý giải sự thừa thãi các lựa chọn có thể khiến cho người tiêu dùng bất mãn. Một cuốn sách phải đọc." (Martin Seligman, tác giả cuốn Authentic Happiness) "Nghịch lý của sự lựa chọn thật xác thực và hữu dụng. Cuốn sách có những lập luận vững chắc với những nghiên cứu đáng tin cậy" (Tờ New York Observer) Mục lục: Lời nói đầu Phần 1: Khi chúng ta lựa chọn Chương 1: Hãy đi mua sắm Chương 2: Sự lựa chọn mới Phần 2: Chúng ta lựa chọn như thế nào Chương 3: Quyết định và lựa chọn Chương 4: Khi chỉ có cái tối ưu là đáng kể Phần 3: Tại sao chúng ta đau khổ Chương 5: Lựa chọn và hạnh phúc Chương 6: Những cơ hội bỏ lỡ Chương 7: "Giá mà..." Vấn đề của sự hối tiếc Chương 8: Tại sao quyết định có thể gây thất vọng? Đó là vấn đề thuộc về tính thích nghi Chương 9: Tại sao mọi thứ đều phải bị so sánh Chương 10: Nguyên nhân do đâu? Lựa chọn, thất vọng và chán nản Phần 4: Chúng ta có thể làm gì Chương 11: Phải làm gì với lựa chọn Mời bạn đón đọc.