The Handbook of Solitude (eBook)

The Editors Robert J. Coplan is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University and Director of the Pickering Centre for Research in Human Development. Dr. Coplan is co-editor of Social Development in Childhood and Adolescence: A Contemporary Reader (Wiley Blackwell, 2011), and The Development of Shyness and Social Withdrawal (2010) and a former editor of the journal, Social Development. Julie C. Bowker is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Her research program focuses on the roles that close interpersonal relationships play in socio-emotional development and psychopathology during late childhood and early adolescence.

Solitude has had a bad name in our society, and in our
psychology: it is often equated with isolation, loneliness,
shyness, and social awkwardness. The Handbook discusses these, but
abundantly treats the other side solitude that fosters insight,
connection, creativity, introspection, healing, and enlightenment.
This is a badly needed and broadly focused antidote for the
negative approach, and its group of expert contributors provides a
fuller understanding of a state people often experience, and
sometimes need.

--Peter Suedfeld, Dean Emeritus of Graduate Studies
and Professor Emeritus of Psychology, The University of British
Columbia

This large volume is a veritable feast of information and
perspectives on the important topic of solitude. Scholars from
diverse sub-disciplines of psychology (e.g., developmental,
clinical, social, neuroscience, cultural psychology) and varied
disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, political science,
religious studies, computer science, biology) weigh in on this
complex topic. Even the most knowledgeable reader will learn much
about types and potential causes and outcomes of solitude and be
exposed to new theoretical frameworks.

--Nancy Eisenberg, Regents Professor of Psychology,
Arizona State University