How Emotions Are Made
The Secret Life of the Brain
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- €7.99
Publisher Description
'How Emotions Are Made did what all great books do. It took a subject I thought I understood and turned my understanding upside down' – Malcolm Gladwell, author of Talking to Strangers
When you feel anxious, angry, happy, or surprised, what's really going on inside of you?
Perhaps you thought of your emotions as automatic and reactive, a response to the world around you. The thrill of seeing an old friend, the fear of losing someone you love – each of these sensations seems to arise automatically and uncontrollably.
But in How Emotions are Made pioneering neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett shatters everything you thought you knew with a compelling new argument: emotions aren't universally pre-programmed into our brains and bodies but, rather, are unique psychological experiences constructed through our personal history, physiology and environment.
Relationships, health, parenting, even national security – emotions have serious implications for them all. How Emotions are Made offers a radical new framework that finally explains what you’re feeling – and why it matters so much.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
