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Psychology Press & Routledge Classic Editions

Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self

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During the past decade a diverse group of disciplines have simultaneously intensified their attention upon the scientific study of emotion. This proliferation of research on affective phenomena has been paralleled by an acceleration of investigations of early human structural and functional development. Developmental neuroscience is now delving into the ontogeny of brain systems that evolve to support the psychobiological underpinnings of socioemotional functioning. Studies of the infant brain demonstrate that its maturation is influenced by the environment and is experience-dependent. Developmental psychological research emphasizes that the infant's expanding socioaffective functions are critically influenced by the affect-transacting experiences it has with the primary caregiver. Concurrent developmental psychoanalytic research suggests that the mother's affect regulatory functions permanently shape the emerging self's capacity for self-organization. Studies of incipient relational processes and their effects on developing structure are thus an excellent paradigm for the deeper apprehension of the organization and dynamics of affective phenomena.

This book brings together and presents the latest findings of socioemotional studies emerging from the developmental branches of various disciplines. It supplies psychological researchers and clinicians with relevant, up-to-date developmental neurobiological findings and insights, and exposes neuroscientists to recent developmental psychological and psychoanalytic studies of infants. The methodology of this theoretical research involves the integration of information that is being generated by the different fields that are studying the problem of socioaffective development--neurobiology, behavioral neurology, behavioral biology, sociobiology, social psychology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis, and infant psychiatry. A special emphasis is placed upon the application and incorporation of current developmental data from neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, and neuroendocrinology into the main body of developmental theory.

More than just a review of several literatures, the studies cited in this work are used as a multidisciplinary source pool of experimental data, theoretical concepts, and clinical observations that form the base and scaffolding of an overarching heuristic model of socioemotional development that is grounded in contemporary neuroscience. This psychoneurobiological model is then used to generate a number of heuristic hypotheses regarding the proximal causes of a wide array of affect-related phenomena--from the motive force that drives human attachment to the proximal causes of psychiatric disturbances and psychosomatic disorders, and indeed to the origin of the self.

700 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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About the author

Allan N. Schore

38 books59 followers
Allan N. Schore (/ʃɔr/; born February 20, 1943) is a leading researcher in the field of neuropsychology, whose contributions have influenced the fields of affective neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, trauma theory, developmental psychology, attachment theory, pediatrics, infant mental health, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and behavioral biology.

Schore is on the clinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and at the UCLA Center for Culture, Brain, and Development. He is author of the seminal volume Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self, now in its 11th printing, and two recent books Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self and Affect Regulation and the Repair of the Self, as well as numerous articles and chapters. Schore is Editor of the acclaimed Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology, and a reviewer or on the editorial staff of 27 journals.

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Alicia Joy.
75 reviews
December 16, 2021
Definitely not for the faint of heart. This is an excellent multidisciplinary compendium on the topic of development of affect regulation in early life, but not for the layman. I'm giving a 4-start rating because the redundancy of the writing probably doubled the size of this book unnecessarily.
134 reviews
May 18, 2021
A slog but completely changed the way I conceptualised the brain. So helped up for me. There’s a lot of repetition in it that blew out the page count. Not for a layperson but I’m still hoping I can take elements from it to use in helping my clients.
Profile Image for Roxanna Kahrel.
28 reviews
October 30, 2010
OMG! This is very academic, often boring, hard to follow (like your worse required class in a college for braniacs). Retention? Well, not likely. I'm giving it two because the author covered the material and clearly knows his stuff---but just like that college professor, possessing knowledge and the capacity to transfer it to others in a meaningful way are two gifts that do not always collide.
Profile Image for Ryan.
12 reviews2 followers
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May 21, 2011
BF720.E45 S36 1994
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