ABSTRACT
There is a tendency in contemporary psychology for the field to divide into smaller and smaller independent subspecialties. Given the sheer volume and diversity of research, investigators are ever more inclined to limit the enterprise, by employing a short list of basic paradigms, reading and writing for a restricted set of journals, and interacting with and responding to a small club of investigators. The problem areas of greatest interest, on the other hand, show little respect for these self-protective barriers. They casually penetrate the formal division of science, depositing new intellectual spores, and thus, even the most parochial researcher runs the risk of being surprised by a larger vision. This danger is now acute among students of emotion, as the research area explodes across disciplines. Emotion is currently a central topic for psychopathologists and social psychologists-it has more recently been addressed by cognitive psychologists-and defines a major research effort in animal behavior, neurology, and the neurosciences.
