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How Emotions Are Made

The Secret Life of the Brain

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Preeminent psychologist Lisa Barrett lays out how the brain constructs emotions in a way that could revolutionize psychology, health care, the legal system, and our understanding of the human mind.
"Fascinating . . . A thought-provoking journey into emotion science."—The Wall Street Journal
"A singular book, remarkable for the freshness of its ideas and the boldness and clarity with which they are presented."—Scientific American
"A brilliant and original book on the science of emotion, by the deepest thinker about this topic since Darwin."—Daniel Gilbert, best-selling author of Stumbling on Happiness
The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology. Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose research overturns the long-standing belief that emotions are automatic, universal, and hardwired in different brain regions. Instead, Barrett shows, we construct each instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture.
A lucid report from the cutting edge of emotion science, How Emotions Are Made reveals the profound real-world consequences of this breakthrough for everything from neuroscience and medicine to the legal system and even national security, laying bare the immense implications of our latest and most intimate scientific revolution.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 12, 2016
      Psychologist and neuroscientist Barrett painstakingly attempts to refute traditional thinking about human emotions as portrayed in the popular media, such as the TV show Lie To Me and Oscar-winning movie Inside Out. She argues that emotions aren’t a “fixed component of our biological nature,” but rather are constructed in our minds based on predictions. Emotions take form from how they are perceived, Barrett writes, and moreover, they take different forms in different cultures. Her ideas make intuitive sense and are convincing, though her presentation is often slow going as she painstakingly dissects every conceivable counterargument. Some of her ideas are, as she admits, speculative, though “informed by data.” The book includes possible implications of constructed emotions, Barrett’s prescriptions for emotional health—“eating healthfully, exercising, and getting enough sleep,” among others—and an investigation into whether animals experience emotions. Most startling is Barrett’s suggestion that chronic pain, stress, anxiety, and autism might be caused by errors in predicted, constructed emotions. The book is a challenging read and will offer the most rewards to researchers already familiar with the longstanding and apparently still unresolved arguments about what emotions are. Agent: Max Brockman, Brockman Inc.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from February 1, 2017
      A well-argued, entertaining disputation of the prevailing view that emotion and reason are at odds.As Barrett (Psychology/Northeastern Univ.; co-editor: The Psychological Construction of Emotion, 2014, etc.) writes, the "internal battle between emotion and reason is one of the great narratives of Western civilization. It helps define [us] as human." From this perspective, emotion is treated as "a kind of brute reflex, very often at odds with our rationality." To the contrary, the author, who also has appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, contends that our emotions are not hard-wired in our brains and triggered by circumstances. Instead, they are flexible and vary from culture to culture. During the course of our lifetimes, our brains wire and rewire themselves in response to upbringing and individual experiences. This argument puts Barrett at odds with the prevailing review of well-regarded scientists, such as Antonio Damasio, who emphasize that not only are our emotions shaped subconsciously, but also many of our actions. The author makes a convincing case that such explanations are too simplistic. She emphasizes that our brains respond flexibly to the circumstances of our lives. The degree to which we are responsible for actions that occur in the heat of passion, or prejudices of which we are unaware, may be arguable; that we share responsibility as parents and citizens for the social norms of our culture--e.g. racial prejudice and gender stereotyping--is not. We are responsible for our individual actions, of course, but we also bear responsibility for working to eliminate racial prejudice, gender stereotyping, and the like from our society. As Barrett points out, this has important legal as well as moral implications and leads into the thorny questions surrounding free will. A highly informative, readable, and wide-ranging discussion of "how psychology, neuroscience, and related disciplines are moving away from the search for emotion fingerprints and instead asking how emotions are constructed."

      COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from January 1, 2017

      Barrett (psychology, Northeastern Univ.) presents a new neuroscientific explanation of why people are more swayed by feelings than by facts. She offers an unintuitive theory that goes against not only the popular understanding but also that of traditional research: emotions don't arise; rather, we construct them on the fly. Furthermore, emotions are neither universal nor located in specific brain regions; they vary by culture and result from dynamic neuronal networks. These networks run nonstop simulations, making predictions and correcting them based on the environment rather than reacting to it. Tracing her own journey from the classical view of emotions, Barrett progressively builds her case, writing in a conversational tone and using down-to-earth metaphors, relegating the heaviest neuroscience to an appendix to keep the book accessible. Still, it is a lot to take in if one has not been exposed to these ideas before. VERDICT The theories of emotion and the human brain set forth here are revolutionary and have important implications. For readers interested in psychology and neuroscience as well as those involved in education and policy.--Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from February 15, 2017
      Prepare to have your brain twisted around as psychology professor Barrett takes it on a tour of itself. A brain learning about the brain via words on a page is clearly a concept Barrett relishes. Her enthusiasm for her topic brightens every amazing fact and theory about where our emotions come from. Hint: it's not what you think. Indeed, each chapter is chockablock with startling insights. The brain's neurotransmitters, plasticity, microwiring, degeneracy, multipurpose circuitry, and more comprise a complex system whose basic function is to balance our body budget, dispensing and apportioning what is necessary to keep us alive and healthy enough to reproduce. To accomplish this task, the brain must be both architect (of our individual and collective realities) and electrical engineer. And to pull that off, it must be continuously attuned to how we feel. It is affect loosely translated: physical feelingsthat rules the mind. With that bit of news, Barrett explodes the myth that we are rational beings. All this is quite a drastic turn from centuries of bad guessing, beginning with the ancient Egyptians, who pulled the brain out through the nose when preparing a body for burial because they believed it was a useless organ. Barrett's figurative selfie of the brain is brilliant.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

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