Affect, Imagery, and Consciousness Vol. 1 : The Positive Affects

Tomkins, Silvan S.

ISBN 10: 0826105416 / ISBN 13: 9780826105417

Published by springer, 1962

About this Item

volume 1,hardback book in fine condition,dust jacket is near fine,hale inch tear rear panel,top by spine,in clear mylar protective sleeve, 1992 reprint.

Seller Inventory # 170587

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Affect, Imagery, and Consciousness Vol. 1 : The Positive Affects
• Publisher: springer
• Publication Date: 1962
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826105416
• ISBN 13: 9780826105417
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Tomkins' magnum opus, Affect, Imagery, Consciousness, was published by Springer Publishing in four volumes over 30 years. When Tomkins began writing the book in the 1950's, American psychology was dominated by psychoanalytic and behaviorist theories - neither of which placed much importance on the role of basic emotions in everyday human behavior. Tomkins challenged the status quo by developing - over the span of nearly 2,000 pages -- a theory of consciousness and motivation that placed emotion at the core of the human experience. Because so few psychologists were studying emotion at that time, Tomkins drew liberally from other academic disciplines to help formulate his ideas and support his arguments: evolutionary biology, ethology, cybernetics, literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and neurophysiology, among others. In the process, Tomkins practically invented the field of "nonverbal behavior" through close observation of emotional expressions in people, including his own infant son. His work was a brilliantly eccentric pastiche of ideas that adhered to no strict disciplinary or ideological boundaries. In time, however, AIC came to prominence through the research of his disciples, notably Paul Ekman and Carroll Izzard, who went on to become major researchers in the psychology of emotion. Today, Tomkins book is influential not just in psychology but in philosophy, sociology, communication studies, even in "affective computing."

Springer Publishing is pleased to continue to offer this magisterial work in four volumes.