How Emotions Are Made
'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 The Tipping Point
When you feel anxious, angry, happy, or surprised, what's really going on inside of you?
Uncover fascinating insights into the human mind with How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett, a pioneer in neuroscience and psychology. This profound book will dismantle and reconstruct your understanding of your own emotions.
The world perceives our emotions as automatic and reactive, a response to the world around us. But How Emotions Are Made poses a compelling new perspective, suggesting emotions aren't universally pre-installed, rather they are unique psychological experiences constructed through our personal history, physiology, and environment.
This new view of emotions has serious implications:
- when judges issue lesser sentences for crimes of passion
- when police officers fire at threatening suspects
- when doctors choose between one diagnosis and another
They're all, in some way, relying on the ancient assumption that emotions are hardwired into our brains and bodies. Revising that conception of emotion isn't just good science, Barrett shows; it's vital to our well-being and the health of society itself.