For example, the authors retell at length the notorious experiments of Harry Harlow establishing the importance of physical contact and affection in social and cognitive development of rhesus monkeys.
[4] They also make extensive use of subsequent research by Tiffany Field in mother/infant contact,[5][6] Paul D. MacLean on the triune brain (reptilian, limbic, and neocortex),[7] and the work of G.W.
They condemn the focus on cerebral insight, and the ideal of a cold, emotionless analyst, as negating the very benefit that psychotherapy can confer by virtue of the empathetic bond and neurological reconditioning that can occur in the course of sustained therapeutic sessions.
Many promising young therapists have their responsiveness expunged, as they are taught to be dutifully neutral observers, avoiding emotional contact....But since therapy is limbic relatedness, emotional neutrality drains life out of the process..."[3]: 184 A General Theory of Love is scarcely more sympathetic to Dr. Benjamin Spock and his "monumentally influential volume" Baby and Child Care, especially given Spock's role in promoting the movement against co-sleeping, or allowing infants to sleep in the same bed as their parents.
In "A handbook of Psychology" (2003) a clear path is traced from Winnicott 1965 identifying the concept of mother and child as a relational organism or dyad[10][11]: 92 [12] and goes on to examine the interrelation of social and emotional responding with neurological development and the role of the limbic system in regulating response to stress.
[14] In The Wise Heart, Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield echoes the musical metaphor of the original definition of "limbic resonance" offered by authors Lewis, Amini and Lannon of A General Theory of Love, and correlates these findings of Western psychology with the tenets of Buddhism: "Each time we meet another human being and honor their dignity, we help those around us.
"[15] In March 2010, citing A General Theory of Love, Kevin Slavin referred to limbic resonance in considering the dynamics of Social television.
The marginal effectiveness of placing a ticking clock in the puppy's bed is based on a universal need in mammals to synchronize to the rhythms of their fellow creatures.
Barsade and colleagues at the Yale School of Management build on research in social cognition, and find that some emotions, especially positive ones, are spread more easily than others through such "interpersonal limbic regulation".
[14] Author Daniel Goleman has explored similar terrain across several works: in Emotional Intelligence (1995), an international best seller, The Joy Of Living, coauthored with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and the Harvard Business Review on Breakthrough Leadership.
[17] In Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking (2003) author Staphine Kaza defines the term as follows: "Limbic regulation is a mutual simultaneous exchange of body signals that unfolds between people who are deeply involved with each other, especially parents and children."
[19] Dr. Allan Schore, of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, has explored related ideas beginning with his book Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self published in 1994.