Product Description

Some investigators have argued that emotions, especially animal emotions, are illusory concepts outside the realm of scientific inquiry. However, with advances in neurobiology and neuroscience, researchers are demonstrating that this position is wrong as they move closer to a lasting understanding of the biology and psychology of emotion. In Affective Neuroscience, Jaak Panksepp provides the most up-to-date information about the brain-operating systems that organize the fundamental emotional tendencies of all mammals. Presenting complex material in a readable manner, the book offers a comprehensive summary of the fundamental neural sources of human and animal feelings, as well as a conceptual framework for studying emotional systems of the brain. Panksepp approaches emotions from the perspective of basic emotion theory but does not fail to address the complex issues raised by constructionist approaches. These issues include relations to human consciousness and the psychiatric implications of this knowledge. The book includes chapters on sleep and arousal, pleasure and fear systems, the sources of rage and anger, and the neural control of sexuality, as well as the more subtle emotions related to maternal care, social loss, and playfulness. Representing a synthetic integration of vast amounts of neurobehavioural knowledge, including relevant neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neurochemistry, this book will be one of the most important contributions to understanding the biology of emotions since Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #231514 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Customer Reviews

Beware - not as up to date as you might imagine
This book is a perfectly readable book, and one that I have been meaning to purchase for some time. My only criticism is that it is considerably older than I realised, and I would not have paid this price for it had I known. Amazon describe the year of publication as 2004. That is in fact when this issue was published, but this edition (it has not been revised to my knowledge) was first published in 1998, appears to have been written in 1994-95. That basically makes it 10 years older than I thought, and I probably would not have bought it had I realised this, as an awful lot has changed in neuroscience since 1995.

This is really a criticism of Amazon rather than the book itself, as their product descriptions of books do not show the year of first publication, which is actually the important thing when considering whether to buy any technical book. I have been caught out like this several times by Amazon, but I do take some of the blame this time, as one of the reviews here is from 1998!

I need to be more careful in future about taking Amazon product descriptions at face value.

Excellent book, Must Read
This is one of the top researchers, and also a very readable book. Good, hard science that is enjoyable to read & essential for those interested in these areas. A keeper.

Fascinating, very readable
A stimulating balance between fact and hypothesis; the two always clearly distinguished. Should be read by everyone who has emotions and wants to know why.