Description
Caring is all around us and is manifested in diverse settings such as parenting, friendships, volunteering, altruism, mentoring, teaching, pet adoption, and gardening. The study of caring, the giving end of our relations, has been dispersed among a large variety of research paradigms (e.g., evolution, brain research, attachment theory, feminism, altruism, volunteering, parenting, social support, prosocial development, organizational citizenship behavior and sustainability) and this has impeded our understanding of caring. The Caring Motivation is a pioneering attempt to bring the diverse research on caring together and to examine caring as a motivation from a broad perspective that relies on these very diverse literatures. Author Ofra Mayseless underscores that we as a species have an innate, biologically driven and evolutionarily chosen, yet contextually sensitive, general motivation to care, tend, empower, and nurture. Several intriguing insights emerge, and a conceptual model of caring as a fundamental and encompassing human motivation is presented. This is the first time that such a model is discussed in detail and its presentation helps us understand core common processes of caring across diverse targets as well as unique adaptations. The model presents for the first time a comprehensive view on how caring is psychologically activated and sustained and underscores the importance of life meaning and purpose in its enactment. The book also introduces a preliminary and innovative model of the universal developmental course of the caring motivational system from infancy to adulthood. This novel and pioneering view opens up exciting new arenas for research and for applications in psychotherapy, education, human growth, spirituality and religions, leadership and organizational behavior, and human sciences in general and highlights the pivotal place of care in our lives.
About the Author
Ofra Mayseless, PhD, is a professor of developmental psychology at the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel and a certified clinical psychologist. She served as Dean of the Faculty of Education University of Haifa and as Head of the National Pedagogical Secretariat, at the Ministry of Education Israel. Her research spans over 80 published articles and chapters and two edited books focused on close relationships and children's, adolescents' and adults' attachment manifestations and caring.
Reviews
"The importance of care for education and society cannot be over emphasized. In her remarkable book Professor Mayseless has made a major contribution to the field. I recommend it to all with a concern for our future." --Arthur Zajonc, Past President, Mind & Life Institute, and Professor Emeritus of Physics, Amherst College "A comprehensive review and critique of research on the motivation to care. This is a wonderful addition to the literature on care theory." --Nel Noddings, PhD, Lee Jacks Professor of Education Emerita, Stanford University, and Author of Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education "This is a deep, important, and beautifully written book providing a multidisciplinary perspective on a core and definitional motive of the human essence-our capacity for empathy and compassion and to provide care to needy others. This book compels us to look at one character strength that transcends the selfish gene and provides an optimistic outlook about the future of humanity and planet Earth." --Mario Mikulincer, PhD, Founding Dean, School of Psychology, and Provost, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel "Care for others enriches our lives as human beings but is under-conceptualized in psychology. Ofra Mayseless offers a scholarly and passionate argument for care as a fundamental human motivational system. This lucid and informative book should be required reading for psychologists. It draws our attention to the origins and development of the good that people manifest in tending to others-in all its complexity." --Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University, and Author, The Space Between Us "[A]n extremely scholarly, informative, and thought-provoking book, filled with insights and extensive literature reviews. It will certainly help to put caring motivation more center stage and support those interested in promoting compassion in different social contexts. I learned much from it and highly recommend it." -- volume 61, issue 52 of PsycCRITIQUES
Book Information
ISBN 9780199913619
Author Ofra Mayseless
Format Hardback
Page Count 440
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 794g
Dimensions(mm) 157mm * 236mm * 33mm
About the Author
Ofra Mayseless, PhD, is a professor of developmental psychology at the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel and a certified clinical psychologist. She served as Dean of the Faculty of Education University of Haifa and as Head of the National Pedagogical Secretariat, at the Ministry of Education Israel. Her research spans over 80 published articles and chapters and two edited books focused on close relationships and children's, adolescents' and adults' attachment manifestations and caring.
Reviews
"The importance of care for education and society cannot be over emphasized. In her remarkable book Professor Mayseless has made a major contribution to the field. I recommend it to all with a concern for our future." --Arthur Zajonc, Past President, Mind & Life Institute, and Professor Emeritus of Physics, Amherst College "A comprehensive review and critique of research on the motivation to care. This is a wonderful addition to the literature on care theory." --Nel Noddings, PhD, Lee Jacks Professor of Education Emerita, Stanford University, and Author of Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education "This is a deep, important, and beautifully written book providing a multidisciplinary perspective on a core and definitional motive of the human essence-our capacity for empathy and compassion and to provide care to needy others. This book compels us to look at one character strength that transcends the selfish gene and provides an optimistic outlook about the future of humanity and planet Earth." --Mario Mikulincer, PhD, Founding Dean, School of Psychology, and Provost, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel "Care for others enriches our lives as human beings but is under-conceptualized in psychology. Ofra Mayseless offers a scholarly and passionate argument for care as a fundamental human motivational system. This lucid and informative book should be required reading for psychologists. It draws our attention to the origins and development of the good that people manifest in tending to others-in all its complexity." --Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University, and Author, The Space Between Us "[A]n extremely scholarly, informative, and thought-provoking book, filled with insights and extensive literature reviews. It will certainly help to put caring motivation more center stage and support those interested in promoting compassion in different social contexts. I learned much from it and highly recommend it." -- volume 61, issue 52 of PsycCRITIQUES
Book Information
ISBN 9780199913619
Author Ofra Mayseless
Format Hardback
Page Count 440
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 794g
Dimensions(mm) 157mm * 236mm * 33mm
