The outgrowth of a University of Chicago conference on the psychological and biological bases of behavior, this unique collection of papers integrates the biological consideration of emotion with current psychological approaches. As such, it includes studies of the coping process associated with emotion as well as those that focus on the appraisal process giving rise to emotion. The book approaches emotion from cognitive, developmental, and biological systems and psychopathological perspectives. Theories on the cognitive, biological, and developmental bases for interpreting, representing, and reacting to emotional situations are proposed. In addition, new studies on issues and questions regarding the roles of cognition, language, brain lateralization, socialization, psychopathology, and coping with affect are presented.

"This volume has already become one of the handy resources in my bookshelves, and it occupies a place within easy reach. The editors are to be congratulated on assembling a goodly and representative set of experts for the writing of the book's 17 chapters....The book contains exciting material on the role of positive and negative affect in cognitive organization....a valuable resource....the chapters that integrate many years of work from the same laboratory present interesting and insightful interpretations and inferences."—Contemporary Psychology"The contributions throughout are first-rate and will be useful to serious students of emotion as well as accessible to those seeking to acquaint themselves with current thinking in this area for the first time. This is an important contribution to the literature on emotion."—CHOICE