ABSTRACT
George Brown’s work contains a constant interplay between close attention to empirical detail and theoretical development, extended by a remarkable ability to translate and develop new ideas into empirically-based concepts. This is well illustrated in the links between certain areas of his work and theories of human socio-emotional behaviour framed in terms of evolved, species-typical, core motivational systems. This chapter discusses how this material has been incorporated and refined within his research into the aetiology of depression, and, in turn, how it can fertilise further theoretical development.
