Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior

By: Mark Leary, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Mark Leary

Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins

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 Library section along with the audio.

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

Loved it!

This audiobook was phenomenal listen from beginning to end. It's the sort of course everyone should learn.

Extremely Informative

Where does Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Next to the lecture series on Critical Thinking, this is probably the best Great Course I have taken to date. There are many reasons, but chief among them is the lecturer himself. His medium pace and obvious excitement about sharing his knowledge made this series very engaging.

Very thought provoking

Narrator was engaging so it was an easy listen. Topic is interesting and very useful for self reflection. Some of the professor's bias needed to be filtered but great listen.

Fascinating!

I loved this course. I listened to the entire thing in a week! Fascinating insights into our common, everyday behaviors, as well as evolutionary explanations of more puzzling or bizarre behaviors. I look at life & behavior differently after listening and I learned a lot from this course. I highly recommend it!

Great listen

Filled with useful information. Definitely needs another listen. I can see some of the behaviors in myself.

Mysteries being demystified

Professor Mark Leary keeps us engaged in understanding mysteries of human behavior scientifically. He gives us lot of scientific proof and controversies involved. Human brain, mind, conscious seem to have been understood to a lower level compared the wide variety of amazing things they do. Narration is clear and interesting.

Interesting topics, great lecture

I found these lectures to be very interesting, well presented and explained. Worth the time!

A great learning experience

a very informative set of lectures. a very easy and enjoyable listen. thank you so much.

I enjoyed this book!

No complainants! A good refresher of past classes. Very interesting topic. The performance was excellent!

Well explained mysteries of human behavior

Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior by Mark Leary is one of the very interesting Psychology audio books that explains very well the general human behavior backed by the Science, data and various researches. The audio book is composed of 24 lectures and each lecture, about 30 minutes long, explores the human nature while trying to untangle various tangled human behavioral aspects such as emotions, happiness, self-control, forgetfulness, dreams and much more.

It was interesting to know the facts and the core reasons behind certain human behavior patterns which actually makes me feel much more compassionate not only towards my family, friends, other fellow beings but also towards myself. There were quite a few enlightening moments of realization in quite a few chapters. After listening to the book, it feels like everyone is trying to cope with life, environment and changes in general while genetics and evolution process sort of steers life to a certain extent.

Overall, this is a perfect audio book for anyone who is curious and inquisitive about the psychological understandings regarding human behavior. Appreciate the wonderful work by Mark Leary, including the audio book narration. :)