This book, Encyclopedia of Emotion, was written to serve as a reference volume for all audiences, ranging from the general public to academics who study emotion. The 367 entries in this book cut across disciplines, representing research and theory from psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, neuroscience, biology, animal behavior, history, literature, and the arts. The entries of emotion terms describe emotions, mental disorders and symptoms involving emotion (e.g., anxiety disorders and mood disorders), treatments for emotional disorders, tests for assessing emotions and emotion-related personality traits, eminent emotion scholars and other individuals relevant to the history of emotion research, organizations devoted to emotion topics, and other general terms related to emotion. Quick facts (e.g., statistics, historical information, interesting trivia) are presented in fact boxes accompanying many of the entries. We have attempted to cover the domain in as representative a fashion as possible, however, as happens in projects that are limited by word count, some emotion topics have been excluded.

Encyclopedia of Emotion presents an introduction that traces the history of emotion from the ancient Greek period through the present. Emotion topics covered in the introduction are the general concept of emotion, the way that mental illness has been conceptualized, treatment of mental disorders, and assessment of emotions and emotion-related personality traits for practical purposes (e.g., clinical and employment purposes). The book concludes with three appendixes: psychopharmacology (listing medications for emotional symptoms), organizations, and suggested readings.