Overview

Delta Theory establishes the foundation for a true scientific applied psychology, a theory of how human influence induces change in others. Delta Theory is unified and universal, applying to all cultures, historical periods and goals for change. It integrates concepts and research from psychology, sociology, anthropology, evolution theory, philosophy, psychoneurology, cognitive science and cultural-historical-activity theory. Yet Delta Theory is clear, economical and elegant, with a full exposition of tactics for its practices. Rich examples are drawn from professional practices, but also from the creation and operations of criminals, healing ceremonies of indigenous peoples, and cross-species comparisons. This book ultimately seeks to describe how influence works, how it could be improved and how it can be resisted.

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9781139056199

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A psychologist by training and a poet in spirit, Tharp reaches across multiple disciplines and applications to weave a compelling theory of behavior influence and change. Delta Theory answers critics who dismiss modern behavioral and social science as a bundle of facts in search of conceptualization. Tharp has delivered what many have called for: a grand and testable theory. A generation of researchers and graduate students will find hypotheses aplenty to quarrel over and put to the test. Let the disputation and testing begin! -Ronald Gallimore, University of California, Los Angeles ...overall, the book is written in a stylized scientific manner... offers helpful illustrations of how delta theory can be used; examples range from how schools operate to effectively teach cohorts of children to how pimps recruit new young prostitutes... Recommended... --C. J. Jones, California State University, Fresno, CHOICE ...One learns a lot by reading [his] book... This relatively brief book has range, and the author knows many things, most of which he cites and uses to explain his universal theory. -Dr. Kurt Salzinger, Senior Scholar in Residence, Hofstra University, PsycCRITIQUES

A psychologist by training and a poet in spirit, Tharp reaches across multiple disciplines and applications to weave a compelling theory of behavior influence and change. Delta Theory answers critics who dismiss modern behavioral and social science as a bundle of facts in search of conceptualization. Tharp has delivered what many have called for: a grand and testable theory. A generation of researchers and graduate students will find hypotheses aplenty to quarrel over and put to the test. Let the disputation and testing begin! - Ronald Gallimore, University of California, Los Angeles

Author Information

Roland Tharp is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the Universities of Hawaii, Manoa and California, Santa Cruz. He has also taught at the University of Arizona, Stanford University and the University of Greenland. Tharp is the director of the national Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence. He has done extensive fieldwork with indigenous people, including Mayan, Polynesian, Navajo, Zuni and Inuit. Tharp is the author or co-author of the books Behavior Modification in the Natural Environment, Rousing Minds to Life, Teaching Transformed and Self-Directed Behavior. His articles have appeared in such journals as American Psychologist, American Anthropologist and Psychological Bulletin, among others. He is the laureate of the Grawemeyer Prize in Education, the Hopwood Award (Major, in Poetry), the University of Michigan and has held the Frost Fellowship of the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College.

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