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Psychology Press & Routledge Classic Editions
Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self
During the past decade a diverse group of disciplines have simultaneously intensified their attention upon the scientific study of emotion. This proliferation of research on affective phenomena has been paralleled by an acceleration of investigations of early human structural and functional development. Developmental neuroscience is now delving into the ontogeny of brain systems that evolve to support the psychobiological underpinnings of socioemotional functioning. Studies of the infant brain demonstrate that its maturation is influenced by the environment and is experience-dependent. Developmental psychological research emphasizes that the infant's expanding socioaffective functions are critically influenced by the affect-transacting experiences it has with the primary caregiver. Concurrent developmental psychoanalytic research suggests that the mother's affect regulatory functions permanently shape the emerging self's capacity for self-organization. Studies of incipient relational processes and their effects on developing structure are thus an excellent paradigm for the deeper apprehension of the organization and dynamics of affective phenomena.
This book brings together and presents the latest findings of socioemotional studies emerging from the developmental branches of various disciplines. It supplies psychological researchers and clinicians with relevant, up-to-date developmental neurobiological findings and insights, and exposes neuroscientists to recent developmental psychological and psychoanalytic studies of infants. The methodology of this theoretical research involves the integration of information that is being generated by the different fields that are studying the problem of socioaffective development--neurobiology, behavioral neurology, behavioral biology, sociobiology, social psychology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis, and infant psychiatry. A special emphasis is placed upon the application and incorporation of current developmental data from neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, and neuroendocrinology into the main body of developmental theory.
More than just a review of several literatures, the studies cited in this work are used as a multidisciplinary source pool of experimental data, theoretical concepts, and clinical observations that form the base and scaffolding of an overarching heuristic model of socioemotional development that is grounded in contemporary neuroscience. This psychoneurobiological model is then used to generate a number of heuristic hypotheses regarding the proximal causes of a wide array of affect-related phenomena--from the motive force that drives human attachment to the proximal causes of psychiatric disturbances and psychosomatic disorders, and indeed to the origin of the self.
This book brings together and presents the latest findings of socioemotional studies emerging from the developmental branches of various disciplines. It supplies psychological researchers and clinicians with relevant, up-to-date developmental neurobiological findings and insights, and exposes neuroscientists to recent developmental psychological and psychoanalytic studies of infants. The methodology of this theoretical research involves the integration of information that is being generated by the different fields that are studying the problem of socioaffective development--neurobiology, behavioral neurology, behavioral biology, sociobiology, social psychology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis, and infant psychiatry. A special emphasis is placed upon the application and incorporation of current developmental data from neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, and neuroendocrinology into the main body of developmental theory.
More than just a review of several literatures, the studies cited in this work are used as a multidisciplinary source pool of experimental data, theoretical concepts, and clinical observations that form the base and scaffolding of an overarching heuristic model of socioemotional development that is grounded in contemporary neuroscience. This psychoneurobiological model is then used to generate a number of heuristic hypotheses regarding the proximal causes of a wide array of affect-related phenomena--from the motive force that drives human attachment to the proximal causes of psychiatric disturbances and psychosomatic disorders, and indeed to the origin of the self.
700 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Allan N. Schore
37 books89 followersAllan N. Schore (/ʃɔr/; born February 20, 1943) is a leading researcher in the field of neuropsychology, whose contributions have influenced the fields of affective neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, trauma theory, developmental psychology, attachment theory, pediatrics, infant mental health, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and behavioral biology.
Schore is on the clinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and at the UCLA Center for Culture, Brain, and Development. He is author of the seminal volume Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self, now in its 11th printing, and two recent books Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self and Affect Regulation and the Repair of the Self, as well as numerous articles and chapters. Schore is Editor of the acclaimed Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology, and a reviewer or on the editorial staff of 27 journals.
Schore is on the clinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and at the UCLA Center for Culture, Brain, and Development. He is author of the seminal volume Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self, now in its 11th printing, and two recent books Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self and Affect Regulation and the Repair of the Self, as well as numerous articles and chapters. Schore is Editor of the acclaimed Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology, and a reviewer or on the editorial staff of 27 journals.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 16, 2021
Definitely not for the faint of heart. This is an excellent multidisciplinary compendium on the topic of development of affect regulation in early life, but not for the layman. I'm giving a 4-start rating because the redundancy of the writing probably doubled the size of this book unnecessarily.
May 18, 2021
A slog but completely changed the way I conceptualised the brain. So helped up for me. There’s a lot of repetition in it that blew out the page count. Not for a layperson but I’m still hoping I can take elements from it to use in helping my clients.
June 21, 2026
⭐⭐⭐ Essential Reading for Anyone Interested in Attachment, Development, and Human Relationships
Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self is one of the most ambitious and influential works ever written on the relationship between attachment, emotional development, and the brain.
In this landmark text, Allan Schore brings together developmental psychology, attachment theory, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, physiology, and infant research to argue a powerful central idea: our earliest relationships shape the development of the brain systems responsible for regulating emotion, stress, self-esteem, and human connection.
Written in 1994, many of Schore’s core insights have proven remarkably influential. Readers familiar with the work of Dan Siegel, Diane Poole Heller, Sue Johnson, Stan Tatkin, Peter Fonagy, Stephen Porges, and modern attachment researchers will recognise many of the foundations laid here.
Schore’s emphasis on affect regulation, right-brain development, attunement, rupture and repair, shame, and the lifelong impact of early caregiving helped shape much of the attachment-informed thinking that followed.
The book’s greatest strength is its extraordinary breadth. Schore does not simply describe attachment patterns; he attempts to explain how early relational experiences become embedded within developing neurobiological systems and continue to influence emotional life throughout adulthood. His exploration of shame, self-regulation, psychotherapy, and the emergence of the self remains thought-provoking even decades after publication.
However, this is not an easy read. Schore writes with the density and complexity of an academic determined to leave no citation unused.
Readers looking for a practical self-help book or an introductory guide to attachment theory may find themselves overwhelmed. The prose can be highly technical, repetitive, and at times challenging to navigate. Patience is required, and many readers will benefit from approaching the book slowly and in stages.
Yet for those willing to persist, the reward is substantial. Beneath the academic language lies a profound and compassionate vision of human development: that our capacity to regulate emotions, form relationships, and maintain a stable sense of self grows out of countless moments of attunement, repair, and connection with others.
This is not a book most people will read for pleasure. It is a book many serious students of attachment, psychotherapy, child development, and human flourishing will be grateful they read.
I would, therefore, highly recommended it to clinicians, researchers, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how relationships shape the human mind.
Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self is one of the most ambitious and influential works ever written on the relationship between attachment, emotional development, and the brain.
In this landmark text, Allan Schore brings together developmental psychology, attachment theory, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, physiology, and infant research to argue a powerful central idea: our earliest relationships shape the development of the brain systems responsible for regulating emotion, stress, self-esteem, and human connection.
Written in 1994, many of Schore’s core insights have proven remarkably influential. Readers familiar with the work of Dan Siegel, Diane Poole Heller, Sue Johnson, Stan Tatkin, Peter Fonagy, Stephen Porges, and modern attachment researchers will recognise many of the foundations laid here.
Schore’s emphasis on affect regulation, right-brain development, attunement, rupture and repair, shame, and the lifelong impact of early caregiving helped shape much of the attachment-informed thinking that followed.
The book’s greatest strength is its extraordinary breadth. Schore does not simply describe attachment patterns; he attempts to explain how early relational experiences become embedded within developing neurobiological systems and continue to influence emotional life throughout adulthood. His exploration of shame, self-regulation, psychotherapy, and the emergence of the self remains thought-provoking even decades after publication.
However, this is not an easy read. Schore writes with the density and complexity of an academic determined to leave no citation unused.
Readers looking for a practical self-help book or an introductory guide to attachment theory may find themselves overwhelmed. The prose can be highly technical, repetitive, and at times challenging to navigate. Patience is required, and many readers will benefit from approaching the book slowly and in stages.
Yet for those willing to persist, the reward is substantial. Beneath the academic language lies a profound and compassionate vision of human development: that our capacity to regulate emotions, form relationships, and maintain a stable sense of self grows out of countless moments of attunement, repair, and connection with others.
This is not a book most people will read for pleasure. It is a book many serious students of attachment, psychotherapy, child development, and human flourishing will be grateful they read.
I would, therefore, highly recommended it to clinicians, researchers, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how relationships shape the human mind.
December 6, 2025
Schore provides a monumental synthesis of psychology and neuroscience organized around a critical periods hypothesis. It is a book of hypotheses, not conclusions. Schore combines observations with light regard for theoretical framework. For example, he combines Mahler with Bowlby even though they are incompatible (Fonagy, 2001). In doing so, however, Schore pulls together observations from disciplines that rarely cross, an example being attachment and shame. (Robert Karen, 1994 notes that the fields of attachment and shame overlap in content but not in researchers.) Duschinsky (2020) observes that Schore has had little effect on attachment. This may be because Schore is a standalone work and not a part of the attachment discipline. Even though Schore lists more than 2000 references, he is heavily dependent on a small number such as Tucker and Emde. Students may do well to read those references first (easily found in the author index).
February 16, 2026
But wait, there's more... Information overload! An extremely in depth tome on the subject but I feel like they tried to fit too much into the one book rather than break down each concept in more detail with fleshed out narratives to guide explanation.
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May 21, 2011BF720.E45 S36 1994
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews