The History of Emotions

Emotions are complex mental states that resist reduction. They are visceral reactions but also beliefs about the world; spontaneous outbursts but also culturally learned performances; intimate and private, yet gaining their substance and significance from interpersonal and social frameworks. And their history is plural rather than singular. In this Very Short Introduction, Thomas Dixon traces the historical ancestries of feelings, showing how the states we group together today as 'the emotions' are the product of long and varied historical changes in language, culture, beliefs, and ways of life.