This new textbook is the first book to span fully the fast-growing field of research on emotions. It extends across a broad range of disciplines, covering the entire lifespan from infancy to adulthood. Its main theme is that emotions have functions: they set priorities among our concerns and they provide the underlying structure of social relationships from attachment in infancy, to the warmth of family life and friendships, to the excitement of sexuality.

Understanding Emotions is designed as a textbook for second- and third-year university courses, and the text itself is fully supported by introductions and summaries, suggestions for further reading, plus a comprehensive bibliography, and indexes and a glossary.