Panksepp was born in Estonia on June 5, 1943. His family escaped the ravages of post-WWII Russian occupation by moving to the United States when he was very young. He studied initially at University of Pittsburgh in 1964, and then did a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts.
Research
Panksepp conducted many experiments; in one with rats, he found that the rats showed signs of fear when cat hair was placed close to them, even though they had never been anywhere near a cat. Panksepp theorized from this experiment that it is possible laboratory research could routinely be skewed due to researchers with pet cats. He attempted to replicate the experiment using dog hair, but the rats displayed no signs of fear. In the 1999 documentary Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry, he is shown to comment on the research of joy in rats: the tickling of domesticated rats made them produce a high-pitch sound which was hypothetically identified as laughter. Panksepp is also well known for publishing a paper in 1979 suggesting that opioid peptides could play a role in the etiology of autism, which proposed that autism may be "an emotional disturbance arising from an upset in the opiate systems in the brain". In his book Affective Neuroscience, Panksepp described how efficient learning may be conceptually achieved through the generation of subjectively experienced neuroemotional states that provide simple internalized codes of biological value that correspond to major life priorities. Temple Grandin draws extensively on Panksepp's work in describing how an appreciation of the primal emotions of 'PLAY', 'PANIC/GRIEF', 'FEAR', 'RAGE', 'SEEKING', 'LUST' and 'CARE' and what triggers them can improve human care of stock animals and the welfare of companion animals.
Panksepp, J . Advances in Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 2, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Panksepp, J . Advances in Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 1, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Clynes, M. and Panksepp, J. . Emotions and Psychopathology, New York, Plenum Press.
Morgane, J. P., and Panksepp, J... Handbook of the Hypothalamus: Vol. 4 : Part B. Behavioral Studies of the Hypothalamus. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Morgane, J. P., and Panksepp, J... Handbook of the Hypothalamus: Vol. 3 : Part A. Behavioral Studies of the Hypothalamus. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Morgane, J. P., and Panksepp, J... Handbook of the Hypothalamus: Vol. 2 : Physiology of the Hypothalamus. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Morgane, J. P., and Panksepp, J... Handbook of the Hypothalamus: Vol. 1 : Anatomy of the Hypothalamus. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
