Understanding Emotions

Keith Oatley and Jennifer M. Jenkins s best–selling book onthe psychology of emotions is the most highly regarded and engagingtext for the emotions course. While retaining its interdisciplinarybreadth, historical insights, and engaging format, this new editionadds the expertise of outstanding researcher and dedicated teacherDacher Keltner. The second edition has been thoroughly updated toreflect the latest research and developments in emotions andincludes the following features: Cohesive synthesis of evolutionary and cultural approaches toemotion New chapters on communication of emotion, bodily changes, andappraisal Increased emphasis on interpersonal implications of emotions,including studies of newly discovered expressions and systems ofcommunication New coverage of moral judgment, individual differences,gene–environment interactions, and positive emotions New coverage of subjective well–being and pro–social emotionslike gratitude and compassion Updated references throughout reflect current research anddata, including research on affective neuroscience A new design and pedagogical features including new integratedboxes that depict historical landmarks and historical figures,updated tables, boldfaced terms, and end–of–chapter summaries An Instructor s Manual with lecture notes, chapteroutlines, and multiple–choice test questions available uponrequest. Please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/oatley.

Figures.

Tables.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Part I: Perspectives on Emotion:.

1. Approaches to Understanding Emotions.

2. Evolution of Emotions.

3. Cultural Understandings of Emotions.

Part II: Elements of emotion:.

4. The Communication of Emotion.

5. Bodily Changes and Emotion.

6. Brain Mechanisms of Emotion.

7. Appraisal, Knowledge, and Experience.

Part III: Emotions and Social Life:.

8. Development of Emotions in Childhood.

9. Emotions in Social Relationships.

10. Emotion and Cognition.

Part IV: Emotions and the Individual:.

11. Individual Differences and Personality.

12. Emotion and Mental Health in Childhood.

13. Emotions and Mental Health in Adulthood.

14. Psychotherapy, Consciousness, and Well–being.

Glossary.

References.

Subject Index.

Author Index.

Keith Oatley is Director of the Cognitive Science Program,University of Toronto. He is the author of more than 130 scholarlyarticles and seven books, including Emotions: A BriefHistory (Blackwell, 2004), and two novels.

Dacher Keltner is professor of psychology at Universityof California at Berkeley, and the author of more than 80 scholarlyarticles and one book. He received the 2000 Templeton PositivePsychology Prize for Excellence in Research, and twouniversity–wide teaching awards at UC Berkeley.

Jennifer M. Jenkins is Professor in the Department ofHuman Development and Applied Psychology at the University ofToronto. She is co–editor, with Keith Oatley, of Human Emotions:A Reader (Blackwell, 1998). She now heads a large researchproject on gene–environment interactions in children.

This new edition is as delightful and informative as itspredecessor. It includes the important advancements in researchmade over the past 10 years, and carries the clear fruits of itsenlarged authorship. Nico Frijda, University ofAmsterdam

Understanding Emotions provides an admirabletheoretical integration of empirical research and, at the sametime, makes emotion research relevant to our everyday lives. It isthe perfect book for both undergraduate and graduate–level courseson emotion. Batja Mesquita, Wake ForestUniversity