Positions emotion in the social world by arguing that its central function is to align relations between people.

Brian Parkinson is Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Oxford. He has served as Chief Editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology and Associate Editor of Cognition and Emotion and Transactions in Affective Computing.

1. What's at the heart of emotions?; 2. Words and concepts; 3. Facial activity and emotion expression; 4. Explaining emotional influence; 5. Regulating emotions; 6. Social functions; 7. Groups, teams, and crowds; 8. Working with emotions; 9. Reorientation; References.