The Sons of Emotion

The Sons of Emotion presents a new vision of the human condition based on the idea that emotion is the first biological inheritance of our species. Long before language, culture and fully developed reason, the brain was already communicating through the face, shaping survival, attachment, human relationships and evolution itself. In this pioneering work, Professor Freitas-Magalhães, regarded as one of the world's leading contemporary experts featured in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology and the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Elsevier, Oxford), takes the reader on an innovative journey into the neuroscience of emotion. Drawing on decades of scientific research, he presents an integrated understanding of the relationship between the brain, the face and behaviour through his original theoretical contributions—the Facial Brain Theory, the Survival Triangle Theory, the Face-Mirror Theory and the Neurocultural Theory—demonstrating how they provide a deeper understanding of human nature. The book also explores the concept of neuromicroexpressions as rapid, involuntary manifestations of emotional brain activity and introduces F-M FACS 6.0, a neurofunctional facial coding system that marks a new milestone in the scientific analysis of facial expressions of emotion. Throughout these pages, the reader discovers that every human being is, in one way or another, a son of emotion: we inherit ways of feeling, learn how to express them, and transmit them to future generations through biology, culture and interpersonal relationships. The face emerges as the place where this invisible inheritance becomes visible, revealing the extraordinary connection between the brain, emotion and life. Written with scientific rigour and profound humanistic insight, The Sons of Emotion is an innovative work for researchers, healthcare professionals, psychologists, neuroscientists, educators, and everyone seeking to understand why the capacity to feel remains the most deeply human characteristic of our existence.