This book introduces a theoretical framework for studying the mind. Specifically, an attempt is made to frame ideas from psychoanalysis and cognitive-social psychology so that they can be taken readily into a realm of neurobiology. Psychoanalytic Theory still represents a very comprehensive theory of the human mind. It includes cognitive, emotional and behavioral variables, plus the idea of unconscious mental operations. The 'pleasure principle and 'repetition compulsion' were Freud's most general concepts of mental functioning. These concepts are renovated to get them "on the same page" with ideas from social cognition and neurobiology.

This book introduces a theoretical framework for studying the mind. Specifically, an attempt is made to frame ideas from psychoanalysis and cognitive-social psychology so that they can be taken readily into a realm of neurobiology. Psychoanalytic Theory still represents a very comprehensive theory of the human mind. It includes cognitive, emotional and behavioral variables, plus the idea of unconscious mental operations. The pleasure principle and repetition compulsion were Freud's most general concepts of mental functioning; here, the author renovates these concepts to get them to work with ideas from social cognition and neurobiology.