Customer Reviews

The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are

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As the founding editor of an academic literature review journal, I must say that Siegel's book is a masterpiece. Both the field of developmental psychology and neurobiology are fraught with discrepant theories, but Siegel (professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles) manages to accurately represent the findings in both fields and integrate them in a way that will profoundly affect the way therapists and doctors will view their client's problems. In particular, he shows how our sense of self is intimately interconnected with the development of the brain, the processing of emotional circuits, the construction of cognitive frameworks (the "mind") and our interactions with parents, peers and society. But this book is not for the faint of heart since Siegel presumes the reader has a general understanding of psychodynamic theory.

The essence of this book is captured in its very first paragraph, "the mind emerges at the interface of interpersonal experience and the structure and function of the brain." It goes on to explain how this is so in the various chapters that cover memory, emotion, construction of reality (via internal representations), states of mind, self regulation, interpersonal connection and integration.

The material is dense, but readable for most professionals and many educated laymen. It is particularly good at describing the integrative functions of the prefrontal areas of the brain, how they develop through social interpersonal experience and what the implications are when the right kind of developmental experiences are not present for the mind to develop to its full potential. As such, it considers the role of attachment in shaping the self, future relationships and the ability to manage emotions. The book does a very deep dive around all of these areas.

Dr. Siegel is a good writer and he packs a lot of information into this good in a highly digestible form. The most important points are repeated or mentioned parenthetically. Therefore, you can read this book and pick it up later without losing much in terms of flow. His examples are good and he doesn't sacrifice thick content. In other words, he says just enough to make his point and then moves on.

This book presents a strong argument for an "open-ended" nervous system. This notion is extended to love in another interesting book by three UCSF psychiatrists -- A GENERAL THEORY OF LOVE. Many of the concepts in this latter more accessible book are elaborated upon in detail in the Developing Mind. Lay readers, therefore, may want to start with this title and read The DEVELOPING MIND slowly as a companion text.

What this book doesn't address is the possibility of something that transcends the brain. For this, I would consider looking at THE ATMAN PROJECT by Ken Wilber. This book is more philosophical than scientific, but it presents a plausible model of transpersonal development with a lot of good psychological content. In particular, I like the way that Wilber presents the interior experience of a babies, infants, toddlers, etc. This is something that is not as clear in Dr. Siegel's book. Wilber also brings in our relationship to the physical environment and the entire universe. In short, it's a thought provoking extension to the subject of this review.

The Developing Mind is rigorous and it provides excellent references on every concept. The book hangs together well and it is written in a style that relates concepts back to day-to-day life very well. There are also good summaries of important points and useful quotes that help illustrate critical points.

If you want a quick bedside read, this is most likely not the book for you. However, if you want to understand how the mind develops and are willing to put in your time to contemplate the necessary detail to go beyond superficial explanations, you won't be disappointed. This is also a thoroughly researched and scientifically grounded text.

Some other books to consider that I feel compliment this work are Vital Lies, Simple Truths by Goleman (on the psychology of self deception), The Feeling of What Happens (by Damasio) and Philosophy in the Flesh by Lakoff and Johnson (on the embodied mind). The latter two books are more speculative, but they round out a theory of mind and are thoughtful theories worth exploring. The first book is easier to digest and will also appeal to a lay audience. The latter two challenge our traditional paradigm of the relationship of mind to body.

I can't say enough good things about THE DEVELOPING MIND. I have already read it three times and every time I pick it up I learn something new. It's a must own book for any mental health professional and should be of great interest to physicians particularly psychiatrists and pediatricians.

This is an accessible book. I'm still in the process of reading, but NOTE: This is paperback edition is subtitled differently than the hardback:
The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience
but the copyright page states these two are the same book. Since the Amazon page for the hardback (innocently) suggests you buy both together to save, I thought I'd point out: Save even more: just buy the paperback edition! Hope this helps prospective readers.

In the meantime, the book confirms what years as a manager in large corporations has lead me to suspect - a healthy work culture affects the business in tangible ways! Still reading...

Let me preface my review by stating that I have read this book for a neuroscience course, and although I have a tentative grasp of the subject I am by no means a professional, thus my interpretation of the book may be slightly biased. That being said, I will now discuss my opinions on The Developing Mind, by first giving a rough overview of the content, and then my opinions on how the author conveyed it.

This book thoroughly covers many aspect of the brain and how the mind develops as it ages and interacts with its environment. It begins by giving a basic introduction into the subject in the first chapter which can largely be glossed over by those familiar with the subject matter. The next few chapters, Memory, Attachment, and Emotion, establish the foundation of the author's ideas, and enhance the reader's understanding of how the brain works. In Memory, the author describes what memory is (as apposed to what people commonly describe as memory), and describes that two types of memory exist: implicit and explicit. Implicit memory is defined as memories that are not actively recalled, but rather emotions and associations involved with certain events that we are not conscious of, whereas explicit memory is the conscious act of remembering facts and experiences. He then goes on to describe how these memories form and how they impact the early developing brain. In Attachment, he describes the relationship formed between parent and child in terms of their attachment, and how important this is in later year, with the role that attachment plays in certain stress responses and attachments later in life. Emotion is about our emotions, how we feel them, both consciously and not, and how these emotions tie into our development and responses to situations. A decent portion of this chapter is also devoted to how emotions and the perception of emotions influence how we respond in social situations and affect our relationships.

The later chapters of the book, Representations, States of Mind, Self-Regulation, Interpersonal Connection, and Integration, are the `structure' of the book, tying the previous foundation chapters together and delving into more complex maters of mind and relationships interact, presenting the authors ideas on more advanced mental development. In Representations he talks about how the mind makes complex ideas and information, such as concepts, into symbols, or representations, and how the mind places value on these representations. He also discusses the difference between the right and left hemispheres of the brain and their importance in mental development and associations. States of Mind is about just that, how they are organized, and how changes in state of mind influence the mind. Self-Regulation is about how the brain regulates its own behavior and regulates emotion in its reception and expression of emotions. Interpersonal Connections is where the author discusses how early relationships affect future relationships and emotional regulation and how trauma can affect relationships. The final chapter, Integration, discusses how the brain integrates many processes, such as experience, emotion, and how all of these processes come together to form the mind and sense of self.

Now I will discuss some of the things that I think stood out about this book. Earlier I stated that the author wrote thoroughly on the subject material and the information is quite thorough. I think the author explained what was necessary to understand the idea, and then kept on going. He covers each topic with a lot of extraneous information that is more than necessary to convey the concepts he wishes to, so much so that it is easy to get lost in the details. He also restates certain concepts or ideas more than once, which gave me the feeling that he was saying the same thing over and over again. His overly verbose manner of discussing some of the (relatively) simple concepts in the book definitely makes the book harder to follow for the non-technical reader and make it more difficult to fully digest his more important points. At the author's own admission, the books subject material can be difficult to digest for the lay-person, and he would strive to use simple language in order to make the book concise and clear. This is hardly the case; even from the first chapter I knew I was in for a long haul, as his `basic' introduction the subject was fairly in depth. Between the repetition of ideas and overly-complicated explanations I felt like the book was dragging on, being unnecessarily long.

Despite these negative qualities the book was very interesting. A lot of the author's thoughts on how emotions and early development impact later behaviors I found especially interesting, and his approach to a combined nature-nurture approach to be a more logical than a nature versus nurture approach. His coverage of the subject matter is very comprehensive, and a lot of it was new to me. Although somewhat difficult to digest at times, he more than adequately explains all of his connections and associations.

Do I ultimately recommend this book? Yes, but with a few caveats. Like most books of a more technical nature, this book is a bit `dry' and does seem to drag on, but ultimately interesting despite that if these qualities doesn't turn you away from it. I think this book is perfect for people interested in the field and have some idea of what they are getting into, as well as some basic understanding of how the brain works. I do not recommend this book for the lay-person, as it is very comprehensive and perhaps a bit much for the lay-person to digest, and despite its relevance, would probably be of little use to them.

When The Developing Mind was published in 1999, the ideas the author Dr. Daniel Siegel presented were relatively new. In the book he proposes that the mind develops at the interface of neurophysiological processes and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Siegel examined experimental research from several areas to support his assertions. He discusses research and concepts from areas such as neurobiology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology. This is an undertaking that is more difficult than it may seem to someone who has never had to read a lot of journal articles. I'm glad that he did it for me so I could enjoy the fruits of his labor. Although other authors and researchers have generated new books and research on the topics investigated in this book, it is still a good overview of the connection between mind, body, and experience, and a great jumping off point for further reading in these areas. The rest of my review describes and/or analyzes the content of each chapter.

Chapter One is an overview of the connection between mind, brain, and experience so you understand Dr. Siegel's ideas and how he connects the dots in later chapters. I liked his suggestion of using a model of the brain (your fist) to represent the different parts of the brain so someone not familiar with them can learn about them and how they function. Plus, you don't realy neeed to know too much about the brain to understand Dr. Siegel's argument and claims. He focuses more on describing patterns of activation in the brain than matching up the structures in the brain with cognitive functioning. Dr. Siegel also spends time in this chapter on the old nature-nurture debate. He asserts that it takes both your genetic material/body and experience to show physical and behavioral characteristics. I think he does a good job supporting that claim by what he says in the rest of the book.

In Chapter Two the author discusses memory. This is the only chapter with which I have some problems. I think more research could have been presented and a better explanation given to clarify concepts. These problems could lead to confusion in those who may not know memory research and disappointment in those that do. Dr. Siegel starts with a general definition of memory and helpful and non-helpful assumptions people make about it. He defines memory as "the binding together of various aspects of neuronal activation patterns." That could be defining just about any brain process, but he does try to refine the concept more. He discusses explicit and implicit memory, and how they are formed. However, here we encounter a problem. Dr. Siegel tells us that mental models are "the basic components of implicit memory." However, he does not mention them when he discusses the formation of explicit memory. According to cognitive psychology research, the area in which most research on mental models has been conducted, mental representations are developed in the formation of both. In fact, they are more fully developed in explicit memories. Now why did I switch between the term mental representation and mental model? After this chapter Dr Siegel switches to the term mental representation in the rest of the book. It doesn't really matter-they both essentially mean the same- but he never gives as good definition of either one. Then, because of how he organized the sections in this chapter, Dr. Siegel makes it seem that the difference between implicit and explicit memory is due to age and sense of self. He asserted that the main qualitative difference in memory between infants and toddlers are that toddlers have the capacity for the the feeling of remembrance. This may be true, but it is true irrespective of implicit versus explicit memory. Implicit memory is when you remember things to which you were not consciously attending, which is why ones mental representation is usually not as well developed as someone who has an explicit memory of the same event. Therefore, it would make sense that a toddler remembers more than an infant because he or she has a better (if limited) attention span and knows what to do with it (to a certain degree). However, the implicit-explicit dichotomy does not adequately explain the feeling of remembering.

Why might Dr. Siegel have created this false dichotomy? Perhaps to support his implication that mental representations (implicit memory) are so basic to human thought processes that even infants create them. However, it is more likely that he set up this dichotomy to present a cognitive explanation for the neurological research comparing infant and toddler memories. The feeling of remembrance is a qualitative difference between infants and toddlers, but without a better definition you could just as easily describe it as resulting from implicit (nonconscious) and explicit (conscious) attention. Therefore, another explanation for the source of the feeling of remembering is necessary. I also would like better and more explicit definitions of mental models/representations and explicit and implicit memory. Dr. Siegel discusses mental models more in depth in the chapter titled Representations, but still does not provide an adequate definition. Furthermore, not directly citing cognitive psychology research seems an oversight because the concept of mental models/ representations is so important to Dr. Siegel's ideas throughout the book. However, I feel that most of his assertions about mental representations, states of mind, and the processes that shape them are valid despite my problems with this chapter.

Chapter Three is about attachment. The author states that attachment "is an inborn system in the brain that evolves in ways that influence and organize motivational, emotional, and memory processes with respect to significant care-giving figures." Attachment is based on "the parental sensitivity and responsivity to the child's signals, which allow for collaborative parent-child communication." He presents seminal work in attachment theory, but also adds the idea of using mental models to explain how attachment is formed. He primarily supports his ideas with research conducted using the Adult Attachment Interview. He proposes that it is not loss or trauma, but unresolved loss and trauma that lead to disorganized response patterns and poor attachment. However, these response patterns can be change if the situation is resolved in some manner. Dr. Siegel discusses attachment because of how crucial emotion is to patterns of activations in the brain. He states that the brain responds to experience with the establishment of connections among neurons, and that emotions can affect the connections.

The topic of Chapter Four is emotion. Dr. Siegel defines a state of mind as "the clustering of a profile of activation within the brain's neural network." He states that the appraisal of stimuli and the creation of meaning are central functions of the mind, and that they occur with the arousal process of emotion. To support that assertion Dr. Siegel discusses approaches to emotion, how to categorize them, the difference between affect and mood, the convergence of social processing and emotion, nonconscious and conscious emotion, emotion as a value system for the appraisal of meaning, and emotional communication to name a few sections.

Chapters Five - Nine are the meat of the new concepts that Dr. Siegel presents. Chapters Five and Six flesh out Dr. Siegel's ideas about mental presentations and states of mind. He discusses information processing and the construction of reality. He describes different types of representations and representational processes, attachment, emotion, gender, experience, and how they influence each other to create states of mind, like ways of knowing and sense of self and reality. Dr. Siegel asserts that "states of mind allow the brain to achieve cohesion in functioning." He defines a state of mind as "the total pattern of neuronal activations in the brain at a particular moment in time." The ways in which individuals assemble particular neuronal activations within themselves or in interaction with other people determine the nature of their subjective experience of reality. In the rest of the book Dr. Siegel describes self-regulation, interpersonal connection, and integration. He shows how emotion is an integral part of these processes, and these processes are an integral part of a person's sense of self.

Overall, I think that the author was successful at pulling research from different areas and conecting the dots to show the mind-body-experence connection. I think that the explanations he gives are not always as cut and dried as he presents, but Dr. Siegel did a good job of covering new ground. I'd like to see an update in a few years.

I am a psychology graduate student and this book was used as a text book in my program for a developmental class. I must say that at first I was a little concerned over the professor's choice of material, but after I started digesting this material, I realized how brillant this book is. I have never seen anyone try to explain how brain structures create consciousness. Dr. Siegel utilizes neurobiology in a most profound way. This is a top notch book, and one I am not selling back at the end of the term.

This is one of the best books that I have read regarding emotions and the physiology of the brain. I work with children who have autism and this was a great resource for helping me to put early childhood development and neuroanatomy together

I've only read about 50 pages so far and already this book has answered questions I've wondered about all my life (I'm 73 years old). Most of us wonder, at some time, why we do some things the way we do, or why we think a certain way about something important to us. And we often wonder similar things about others who are impotant to us. This book will help you answer those questions. The subject matter is complex, but Dr. Siegel and his editor, Kitty Moore (Dr. Siegel credits his editor with having helped him expand the scope of the book and make the information more accessible, p. xiv) jointly have made access to the information in the book possible for readers who are not experts in neuroanatomy and neuropsychology. I look forward, pleasantly, to reading the remainder of the book, and if allowed, would like to submit an addendum to my review when I have finished reading. I hope you will read it too. I know you won't be disappointed.

Addendum:Finished the book, and I double evereything I said about the book above. Very insightful, well written and filled with things you'd like to know about yourself and others.

The study of human development is one of the requirements for completing my doctorate in early education. Daniel Spiegel's book, The Developing Mind, is an excellent primer for a graduate study who is not an expert in this field.

A great book. Clear, precise, well documented. A joy to read. As a psychoterapist it is the book I was waiting. At the end all problems come from the brain function, and the book helps to understand why some people have problems that resist "normal" therapy, and what to do. I read it as a mistery novel with surprises at every page.