Emotions and Life
by Robert Plutchik
First published 2002
Emotions and Life attempts to shed light on the nature and
function of emotions, drawing on theories in evolutionary psychology and
cognitive neuroscience, as well as the older, established motivational and
psychodynamic traditions. Robert Plutchik demonstrates the fundamental
importance of emotions to all living creatures, and their crucial role in
ensuring both bodily and genetic survival. With chapter previews, summary
material and illustrations it starts with an overview of some of the challenges
involved in studying emotion, before 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