Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution [Hardcover]

Robert Plutchik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2002 | ISBN-10: 1557989494 | ISBN-13: 978-1557989499 | Edition: 1

Designed as a textbook for upper level undergraduate and graduate students of psychology, this book contains useful chapter previews and summary material and is richly illustrated. Starting with an overview of some of the challenges involved in studying emotion, Plutchik discusses how thinkers such as Darwin, James, Cannon and Freud have conceptualized emotion and then describes the views of many contemporary researchers and theoreticians concerning emotions. Subsequent chapters examine such topics as the links between emotions and cognitions, the linguistic problems involved in trying to describe emotions, key contemporary theories of emotion, measurement and assessment issues, the functions of facial expression, how emotional expressions and thinking develop and change over the lifespan, insights evolutionary theory offer into the nature and generality of emotions, how humans and other animals communicate emotion, and how brain mechanisms are related to emotions. Concluding chapters of the book provide a detailed examination of the literature on love and sadness, and fear and anger. The final chapter discusses the nature of emotional disorders and some of the ways clinicians attempt to deal with them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Plutchik, PhD, is professor emeritus of psychiatry and psychology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as well as adjunct professor at the University of South Florida. He has taught at Columbia, Rostra, Yeshiva, and Long Island Universities and lectured widely in the United States and in many countries around the world including New Zealand, Greece, Austria, China, Japan, Colombia, Germany, Israel, Argentina, and Canada. He spent two years at the National Institute of Mental Health participating in brain research. He has been Director of Program Development and Clinical Research at the Bronx Psychiatric Center in New York City, and he later became Associate Director of the Psychiatry Department at Jacoby Hospital, an affiliate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 381 pages
• Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA); 1 edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557989494
• ISBN-13: 978-1557989499
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,404,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book!, December 2, 2007

By 

D. MCDONALD (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution (Hardcover)

This book gives an extremely complete look at emotions from the perspectives it promises. While the section on evolution is somewhat speculative, the section on biology gives a comprehensive look at how emotions are manifested in the brain, with multiple complimentary models presented in the psychology section. The book is extremely well written and easy to read and understand, yielding an excellent primer on understanding emotions in life. I still find myself referring to it quite often in discussions about emotions months after I finished reading it.