Cognitive Theory

Toward a Cognitive Theory of Narrative Acts brings together in one volume cutting-edge research that turns to recent findings in cognitive and neurobiological sciences, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and evolutionary biology, among other disciplines, to explore and understand more deeply various cultural phenomena, including art, music, literature, and film. The essays fulfilling this task for the general listener as well as the specialist are written by renowned authors.

This audiobook will seek to define cognitive dissonance as it relates to narcissists, toxic people, psychopaths, and other mentally ill or personality-disordered individuals. It will also define the cognitive dissonance that causes victims to stay with their narcissistic spouse or partner. The purpose of toxic and narcissistic people is seemingly to harm and take advantage of others. We look at them as being the "evil" side of humanity, but we often don't realize why they chose the "dark" side.

Why do we want to justify our decisions, even if they appear to be irrational? The answer lies in cognitive dissonance, the mental discomfort we experience when we hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time. In A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, first published in 1957, American social psychologist Leon Festinger investigates the problem. Festinger puts forward the idea that we have developed mechanisms to try to deal with the stress brought on by cognitive dissonance.

Consciousness and Shamanism is the result of the author's Ayahuasca voyage in 2004 to Ecuador, where he was drinking the sacred brew in the presence of an experienced Shuar shaman. He puts up the hypothesis that when the traditional Ayahuasca brew is ingested, it is not, or not directly, the plant's DMT that causes the spiritual voyage as it is assumed in the overwhelming part of the literature on shamanism and entheogens. It is the shaman's super-consciousness impacting directly upon the consciousness of the shaman's client, the seeker of truth who comes to drink the brew.

Cognitive psychology is at the heart of the human experience and helps explain why we perceive the world as we do. In this book, Shona Saul draws on the latest scientific research to present this hugely important subject in a new and exciting manner and brings the subject to life for the general listener.

Why are many readers drawn to stories that texture ethnic experiences and identities other than their own? How do authors such as Salman Rushdie and Maxine Hong Kingston, or filmmakers in Bollywood or Mexico City produce complex fiction that satisfies audiences worldwide? In Analyzing World Fiction, 15 renowned luminaries use tools of narratology and insights from cognitive science and neurobiology to provide answers to these questions and more.

Coscienza e Sciamanesimo: Esperienze Cognitive nella Trance Ayahuasca e Teorie della Loro Causa è il risultato del viaggio ayahuasca dell’autore nel 2004 in Ecuador, dove stava bevendo la sacra bevanda alla presenza di un esperto sciamano Shuar.