Abstract
Since Babel, the idea of constructing a tower of stones as a means of entering into heaven has given way to the idea of constructing a tower of understanding. Philosophers since the ancient Greeks and psychologists for at least 100 years have tried to reach the paradise of everlasting epistemological bliss by unlocking the secrets of the mind. In that struggle and despite the vicissitudes of psychological fashion, the study of emotion has played an essential, if not always explicit, role. In virtually every text we have examined, emotion is assumed, mistakenly and unscientifically, to be a term that is mutually understood (cf. Quine, 1960) or, attempting to foil the gods much space is devoted to the problem of definition. That is where our story starts.
When all men formed a single unit and began their wanderings over the earth they arrived at the Plain of Shinar and conceived the idea of a structure which would enable them to reach Heaven. The gods were alarmed at this suggested intrusion and, descending to the earth, struck terror to the hearts of men by confounding their speech so that no man could understand his neighbour.... The site of the tower is now but a hole in the ground.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1959, p. 839—after Genesis XI
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders ( 3rd ed. ). Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders ( 4th ed. ). Washington, DC: Author.
Bloom, E E. (1995). Cellular mechanisms active in emotion. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1063–1070 ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Brothers, L. (1995). Neurophysiology of the perception of intentions by primates. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1107–1115). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Brown, T. (1990). The biological significance of affectivity. In N. L. Stein, B. Leventhal, and T. Trabasso (Eds.), Psychological and biological approaches to emotion (pp. 405–434 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brown, T. (1991). Psychiatry’s unholy marriage: Psychoanalysis and neuroscience. In D. Offer and M. Sabshin (Eds.), The diversity of normal behavior (pp. 305–355 ). New York: Basic Books.
Brown, T. (1994). Affective dimensions of meaning. In W. F. Overton and D. S. Palermo (Eds.), The nature and ontogenesis of meaning (pp. 167–190 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brown, T. (1996). Values, knowledge, and Piaget. In E. Reed, E. Turiel, and T. Brown (Eds.), Values and knowledge (pp. 137–170). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. (An abbreviated version of this paper will also appear in L. Smith (Ed.). (In press). Jean Piaget: Critical assessments ( 2nd ed. ). London: Routledge. )
Brown, T., and Weiss, L. (1987). Structures, procedures, heuristics, and affectivity. Archives de Psychologie (Geneva), 55, 59–94.
Campbell, D. T. (1987). Evolutionary epistemology. In G. Radnitzky and W. W. Bartley III (Eds.), Evolutionary epistemology, theory of rationality, and the sociology of knowledge (pp. 48–89 ). LaSalle, IL: Open Court.
Cannon, W. B. (1915). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage: An account of recent researches into the function of emotional excitement. New York: Appleton-Century.
Cannon, W. B. (1927a). The James-Lange theory of emotions: A critical examination and an alternative theory. American Journal of Psychology, 39, 106–124.
Cannon, W. B. (19276). Neural organization for emotional expression. In M: L. Reymert (Ed.), Feelings and emotions (pp. 257–269). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Cellérier, G. (1983). The historical genesis of cybernetics: Is teleonomy a category of understand ing? (T. Brown, trans.). Nature and System, 5, 211–225. (Original published 1976) Churchland, P. S. (1986). Neurophilosophy: Toward a unified science of mind/brain. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Coyle, J. P. (1988). Neuroscience and psychiatry. In J. A. Talbott, R. E. Hales, and S. C. Yudofsky (Eds.), The American Psychiatric Press textbook of psychiatry (pp. 3–32 ). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Drevets, W. C., and Raichle, M. E. (1995). Positron emission tomographic imaging studies of human emotional disorders. In M S Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1153–1164 ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ekman, P., and Davidson, R. J. (1994). The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions New York: Oxford University Press. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1959). Vol. 2, p. 839-after Genesis XI.
Fraisse, P. (1963). Les emotions. In P. Fraisse and J. Piaget (Eds.), Traite de psychologie experimentale, tome V: Motivation, emotion et personalitie, pp. V-97-V-181. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Fraisse, P. (1968). The emotions. In P. Fraisse and J. Piaget (Eds.), Experimental psychology: Its scope and method. V. Motivation, emotion, and personality (A. Spillmann, Trans.). New York: Basic Books. (Original published 1963 )
Freud, A. (1946). The ego and the mechanisms of defence. New York: International Universities Press. (Original published 1936 )
Gazzaniga, M. S. (Ed.). (1995). The cognitive neurosciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Harris, P. H. (1989). Children and emotion: The development of psychological understanding. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
Inhelder, B., Garcia, R., and Vonèche, J. (Eds.). (1976). Epistémologie Génétique et Equilibration. Paris: Delachaux et Niestlé.
Izard, C. E., Kagan, J., and Zajonc, R. B. (1984). Introduction. In C. E. Izard, J. Kagan, and R. B. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotions, cognition, and behavior (pp. 1–14 ). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
James, W. (1884). What is emotion? Mind, 9, 188–205.
Janet, P. (1928). De l’Angoisse a l’Extase. II. Les Sentiments Fondamentaux. Paris: Librairie Félix Alcan.
Kagan, J. (1984). The idea of emotion in human development. In C. E. Izard, J. Kagan, and R. B. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotions, cognition, and behavior (pp. 38–72 ). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Lange, C. (1895). Les émotions (G. Dumas, trans.). Paris: Alcan.
LeDoux, J. E. (1995). In search of an emotional system in the brain: Leaping from fear to emotion and consciousness. In M S Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1049–1061 ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lévy-Bruhl, L. (1976). La Mentalité Primitive. Paris: Retz.
Lindsley, D. B. (1951). Emotion. In S. S. Stevens (Ed.), Handbook of experimental psychology (pp. 473516 ). New York: Wiley.
Masters, J. C., and Carlson, C. R. (1984). Children’s and adults’ understanding of the causes and consequences of emotional states. In C. E. Izard, J. Kagan, and R. B. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotions, cognition, and behavior (pp. 438–463 ). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
McEwen, B. S. (1995). Stressful experience, brain, and emotions: Developmental, genetic, and hormonal influences. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1117–1135 ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Montangero, J., and Maurice-Naville, D. (1994). Piaget ou l’intelligence en marche. Liège, Belgium: Mardaga.
Panksepp, J. (1994). The basics of basic emotion. In P. Ekman and R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 20–24 ). New York: Oxford University Press.
Piaget, J. (1950). Introduction a l’epistémologie génétique. I: La pensée mathématique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Piaget, J. (1965). The moral judgment of the child (M. Gabain, trans.). New York: Free Press. ( Original published 1932 )
Piaget, J. (1972). Insights and illusions of philosophy (W. Mays, trans.). New York: World. ( Original published 1965 )
Piaget, J. (1971). Biology and knowledge (B. Walsh, trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ( Original published 1967 )
Piaget, J. (1974). La Prise de Conscience. Paris: Universitaires de France.
Piaget, J. (1980). Adaptation and intelligence: Organic selection and phenocopy (S. Eames, trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ( Original published 1974 )
Piaget, J. (1981). Intelligence and affectivity: Their relationship during child development (T. A. Brown and C. E. Kaegi, trans. and eds.). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. (Original published 1953–1954 )
Piaget, J. (1985). The equilibration of cognitive structures (T. Brown and K. J. Thampy, trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ( Original published 1972 )
Pugh, G. E. (1977). The biological origins of human values. New York: Basic Books. Quine, W. van O. (1960). Word and object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rolls, E. T. (1995). A theory of emotion and consciousness, and its application to understanding the neural basis of emotion. In M S Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 10911106 ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ross, C. A., and Pam, A. (1995). Pseudoscience in biological psychiatry: Blaming the person. New York: Wiley.
Schwartz, R. M., and Trabasso, T. (1984). Children’s understanding of emotion. In C. E. Izard, J. Kagan, and R. B. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotions, cognition, and behavior (pp. 409–437 ). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Stern, D N. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant New York: Basic Books.
Weinberger, N. M. (1995). Returning the brain by fear conditioning. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1071–1089 ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Young, P. T. (1961). Motivation and emotion. New York: Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brown, T., Kozak, A. (1998). Emotion and the Possibility of Psychologists Entering into Heaven. In: Mascolo, M.F., Griffin, S. (eds) What Develops in Emotional Development?. Emotions, Personality, and Psychotherapy. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1939-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1939-7_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-1941-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-1939-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive