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Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior

Written by: Mark Leary,The Great Courses
Narrated by: Mark Leary
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Publisher's Summary

Every day of your life is spent surrounded by mysteries that involve what appear to be rather ordinary human behaviors. What makes you happy? Where did your personality come from? Why do you have trouble controlling certain behaviors? Why do you behave differently as an adult than you did as an adolescent?

Since the start of recorded history, and probably even before, people have been interested in answering questions about why we behave the way we do. And many fields - including philosophy, psychology, and even theology - are focused on finding explanations. But it's only in recent decades that researchers can finally approach, understand, and solve the mysteries of emotion, thought, and behavior - solutions that help each of us to better know ourselves and the people around us. The result is not only a more solid understanding of what it means to be human, but a stronger foundation from which to live more effectively with others and to grasp their intricate behaviors and quirks.

Now you can gain those benefits through a series of 24 intriguing lectures from an award-winning teacher. Professor Leary takes you on a fascinating journey into the complex heart of who you are, using the latest theories, case studies, experiments, and stories to cast light on a wide variety of human behaviors, both ordinary and puzzling.

Throughout these lectures, you'll learn about the various interacting forces that influence your behavior. These include your genetic blueprint, your personal experiences, your upbringing, and the people and social groups that surround you.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

What listeners say about Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior

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Decent overview, but unsurprising and unoriginal

I usually love the Great Courses Plus, and human behaviour is one of my favourite topics, but I found this course really difficult to get though. If you have a basic understanding of biology/psychology most of it will be familiar, and at times it seems like the author forgets he's talking to a real person, assuming the reader has never once self reflected on their behaviour. What's most frustrating is that there are really cool ways of learning about this stuff - some really great books/movies about it - I would recommend that over this course. That being said, the lecturer is fairly engaging, better than many real profs I've had.

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16 people found this helpful

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Great summaries.

I enjoyed the topics covered and the summaries and evidence given per topic.. Great read .

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6 people found this helpful

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Disapointing: pseudoscience

Starts by intriguing subjects and boasting how the author having students do researching work. But i gradually found the reasoning is flawed. The author tries to show himself such an unbiased scientist but repeatedly manupulates the narratives to his favored conclusions. He tries to persuade the readers, mind reading and super-natural events are
proven beyond doubt, by sounding scientific.
I tried to continue reading (listening) a bit harder and to give author the benefit of the doubt, but finally in lecture 17 could not stand it any longer.
It is beyond my specialty and patience therefore, I leave it to more readers to verify or debunk the book. Specially hope to get some pier reviews of this,

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4 people found this helpful

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Fantastic

Mike Leary is a great presenter and creates vivid images that are clear and precise. A great listen all the way through.

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4 people found this helpful

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Excellent

Excellent book on human behavior, easy to listen to and great content. Well worth it

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3 people found this helpful

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It felt like a lecture hall with your best teacher

The narration is better than 90% of my teachers. I never got bored ever during this book. It was relevant, exciting and informative. I loved it!

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3 people found this helpful

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Thought provoking and interesting.

Very well presented and updated knowledge for myself. The chapters are well laid out and easy to review again. Loved the content.

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2 people found this helpful

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Excellent information!

This book is likely one of the best explanations behind Human Conscious.

Get it, you will be very pleased if you interested in the topic!

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2 people found this helpful

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excellent kectures

Fantastic series of lectures. I throughly enjoyed them. The author/narrator has a good voice that is easy to listen to and one that compelled attention.
Now, I am hooked to the Great Series!

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1 person found this helpful

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Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior

Excellent series of lectures. It is well researched and very informative and interesting. I would highly recommend it.

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