The Emotional Foundations of Personality

This book presents the wealth of scientific evidence that our personality

emerges from evolved primary emotions shared by all mammals. Yes, your dog

feels love—and many other things too. These subcortically generated emotions

bias our actions, alter our perceptions, guide our learning, provide the basis

for our thoughts and memories, and become regulated over the course of our

lives.

Understanding personality development from the perspective of mammals is a

groundbreaking approach, and one that sheds new light on the ways in which we

as humans respond to life events, both good and bad.

Jaak Panksepp, famous for discovering laughter in rats and for creating the

field of affective neuroscience, died in April 2017. This book forms part of

his lasting legacy and impact on a wide range of scientific and humanistic

disciplines. It will be essential reading for anyone trying to understand how

we act in the world, and the world’s impact on us.