Description
Book SynopsisThe Family Emotional System: An Integrative Concept for Theory, Science, and Practice presents an ongoing dialogue among scientists, family investigators, and clinicians related to a natural systems view of the family and human behavior that has been occurring over several decades. The concept of the family as an emotional system, as defined in Bowen theory, is presented as the principal integrative concept underlying this dialogue and an effort to move toward a science of human behavior. As a natural system, the family forms the immediate and most important context for individual development, and may be the most central and important environment shaping brain development across the lifetime of the individual. This book explains how the family system can serve as an integrative framework within which specific factual discoveries and hypotheses from many areas of science can be brought together and understood as various manifestations of a coherent whole. The Family Emotional System pro
Trade ReviewThis collection of fine papers is an impressive collaboration of Bowen theory scholars and eminent scientists—such a credible and exciting contribution! A must read for any who seek to better understand human functioning, the family system and its connection to the natural and biological sciences. -- Jenny Brown, Family Systems Institute & Practice and author of Growing Yourself Up
Murray Bowen developed a new theory of human behavior. It uses natural systems thinking to combine knowledge of man as a product of evolution with facts about human behavior derived from many disciplines. The book’s focus on the family emotional system as an integrative concept is precisely the right approach. Vigorous exchange between top-notch scientists and seasoned Bowen theorists/therapists has been happening for forty-odd years. Thank goodness this exchange has finally been reflected in a book. Each chapter by the scientists and Bowen theorists can stand alone, but the combination of authors from diverse fields makes for a very good read that generates a unique comprehension of the depth and breadth of Bowen family systems theory. -- Michael E. Kerr, Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, author of Family Evaluation
Table of ContentsPart I Bowen Theory and the Family Emotional System Chapter 1 Toward a Science of Human Behavior Robert J. Noone and Daniel V. Papero Chapter 2 The Family Emotional System Daniel V. Papero Chapter 3 Multigenerational Family Emotional Process as a Source of Individual Differences in Adaptiveness Robert J. Noone Chapter 4 The Predictability of the Family Emotional System Randall T. Frost Chapter 5 The Family as an Emotional Unit Concept: Origins and Early History John F. Butler Part IIScientific Contributions to an Emotional Systems Perspective Chapter 6 Epigenetic Effects of Parental Care within and across Generations Frances A. Champagne and James P. Curley Chapter 7 Early Context-Dependent Epigenetic Modifications and the Shaping of Brain and Behavior David Crews and Robert J. Noone Chapter 8Nonhuman Primate Models of Family Systems Charles T. Snowdon Chapter 9 The Instinctual Foundations of Infant Minds: How Primary Affects Guide the Construction of Their Higher Cognitive Proclivities and Abilities Jaak Panksepp & Marina Farinelli Chapter 10 Evolution of Psychological Mechanisms for Human Family Relationship Mark V. Flinn Chapter 11 The Family System of a Social Wasp Raghavendra Gadagkar Chapter 12 Ants and Families LeAnn S. Howard and Deborah M. Gordon Part IIIExamples of the Influence of a Family Emotional Systems Perspective on Research and Practice Chapter 13 Emotional Systems and the Regulation of Reproduction with Ovulation as an Illustration Victoria Harrison Chapter 14 Mating and Parental Care: The Influence of Gender on the Primary Triangle Margaret G. Donley Chapter 15 Understanding Autonomic Physiology and Relationship Processes in High-Risk Families Elizabeth Skowron About the Contributors
