Resumo de Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals

You can open to just about any page and discover yet another gem. Whether you find a bit to read by chance, or whether you like to be guided by the fascinating table of contents and index, or whether you prefer to begin at the beginning, Darwin is always interesting and accessible. In view of our troubled world, I find it helpful to remember that empathy is an essential part of human and animal nature. It seems the study of emotion must lead us toward a deeper understanding of these universal, powerful forces that energize and transform our lives. Expression is really an old friend. As a young dance therapist in the 1960s, I was impressed first by Darwins ability to describe the dynamic process of expressive movement. Obviously it is the emotions that motivate and shape the way we move. I learned then that his observations were gathered over a period of 30 years. His subjects included not only all kinds of animals, but also human infants, children and adults from every walk of life and from many different cultures. He approached the study of emotional expression from the perspective of art, literature and inner experience, as well as from muscles and the nervous system. Although it was first published over 125 years ago (1872) Darwins work continues to inspire and inform contemporary research in many fields. The new edition is simply outstanding. Paul Ekmans editing is clearly a labor of love, and at the same time a thorough, original scholarly contribution. I particularly like the way he places Darwins work in a cultural and social/political context. Ekmans commentary offers rich resources as he quietly updates, re-frames or differs, yet more than anything, confirms and extends Darwins observations. It is as if Ekman and Darwin were engaged in a kind of dialogue, each learning from the other. Thereader is a privileged witness.

This is the main contribution to interdisciplinary studies that converge in psychology and biology. It is a key piece inside Darwin `s work. If the well known decay of the compared psychology at the early years of the XX Century- when the evolutionism followers forgot about the behaviors and the psychologists did without anatomy and physiology- diminished briefly influence to the actual contributions, the culmination of the modern etiology has acted in favor for rediscover this extraordinary and even singular text.

What Darwin considers as true expressions are precisely, the reflexes and instincts that suppose not only the innate capacity to react of a determined way, but also the innate acknowledgement of that expression in the others.

A fundamental and unfairly not so known book that deserves to be recognized with major value.

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