How Emotions Are Made — Book Review
The last time I posted on here, I opened up a little bit about what’s been going on in my mind and emotional state while trying to find my way through the process of grieving, healing, and well, just being. Some days it’s still difficult to make sense of how I feel, but through the difficultly, I have been provided the determination to open up my mind further to the psychology behind it all.
It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up an actual book on psychology. I wasn’t even sure where to start. That was until I found myself at one of my mother’s favourite places — the library. Even just going there has been healing in itself. This August marks 10 years since my mom left the physical world, and that’s been tough to come to terms with. With that said, I initially went in searching for books specifically related to grief, and I was met with
H O W E M O T I O N S A R E M A D E by Lisa Feldman Barrett
This is the book that first caught my attention and of course my the very first question I asked myself when reading the title was,
H O W A R E E M O T I O N S M A D E ?
If only it were that simple (to answer) . . .
I wish I had some sort of recipe for you, but a book review will have to suffice.
Let’s begin with the synopsis:
“EMOTIONS FEEL AUTOMATIC, like uncontrollable reactions to things we think and experience. Scientists have long supported this assumption by claiming that emotions are hardwired in the body or the brain. Today, however, 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 — and this paradigm shift has immense implications for us all. Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose theory of emotion is driving a deeper understanding of the mind and brain, and shedding new light on what it means to be human. Her research overturns the widely held belief that emotions live in distinct parts of the brain and are universally expressed and recognized. Instead, she has shown that emotion is constructed in the moment, by core systems that interact across the whole brain, aided by a lifetime of learning. This new theory means that you play a much greater role in your emotional life than you ever thought. It’s repercussions are already shaking the foundations not only of psychology but also of medicine, the legal system, child-rearing, meditation and even airport security.”
Now, I’m going to be completely honest here , I don’t remember the last time I was so mind blown over the writings on the other side of a book cover. This sparked my curiosity to not only read further into the book, but to really take in each chapter. In the coming paragraphs, I’ll be giving a brief summary of each, attached with some of my thoughts.
Chapter 1
The Search for Emotion’s “Fingerprints”
This chapter begins with a brief history of the Author’s schooling and what she had expected to experience in her Ph.D program, only to be surprised by what she actually learned through the experiments she conducted as part of her research on emotions.
Following the Author’s recount of experiments, this chapter goes on to challenge the depiction of emotion when using various photographs to showcase facial expression. Through this, we learn how quick people are to assume the emotion someone is feeling based on what their face looks like in the moment of a reaction.
However, studies have found that facial expression isn’t always what it may seem to represent on the inside. In fact, the patterns for even one facial expression can vary from person to person. This has been tested by measuring the movement of muscles in the face. And while one expression may be interpreted as say “sad” (for example), another interpretation could be “scared”, or something else, depending on the context of the situation.
The most fascinating part of this chapter (for me) was when the Author went on to explain how she had thought her experiments had failed, until she realized that the results weren’t actually meant to be what she had expected or was looking for… It was in fact meant to be exactly what it was — genuine discovery.
Chapter 2
Emotions Are Constructed
This is one of my favourite chapters, probably because it uses cake as an example pertaining to the construction of emotion. Cake is only one example though, as the Author uses various baked goods as examples when it comes to learning about emotion categories and instances. “If instances of emotion are like cookies, then the brain is like a kitchen, stocked with common ingredients such as flour, water, sugar, and salt. Beginning with these ingredients, we can create diverse foods such as cookies, bread, cake, muffins, biscuits, and scones. Likewise, your brain has “core” ingredients, which we call core systems… They combine complex ways, roughly analogous to recipes, to produce diverse instances of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and so on.” This is what the Author calls “Kitchen Analogy” and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m here for it. The way this is explained is equal parts fun and interesting.
Speaking of food, it is said that taste is not considered an objective encounter, for it is reconciled by concepts and what’s to be expected of the brain. For example, if someone gave me a slice of cheesecake without me knowing it’s cheesecake (as much as I would like to argue being able to detect the taste), I would honestly probably like it. However, the fact of the matter is I really don’t like cheesecake (crazy, I know), but it’s not necessarily the taste I don’t like, it’s that I cannot seem to wrap my mind around the idea of sweetened cream cheese. It is because of this psychological association that I mostly likely can’t “stomach” it. The same goes for many foods, depending on our perception of them or the way they are presented to us.
To go further into this, studies have shown that the brain has the ability to detect various types of internal sensation, depending on the context. Say you get an adrenaline rush from doing something frightening such as skydiving — this could very well mean you might feel “sick”, where as in another instance, an adrenaline rush could translate to feelings of excitement.
Chapter 3
The Myth of Universal Emotions
I found this chapter to be somewhat similar to the first one, or perhaps even a continuation of it, as it once again touches on depiction of emotion using photos of various facial expressions. The main difference in this chapter is that culture and upbringing comes into play, which is very interesting. According to the Author, concept formation for emotions depend largely on which culture(s) we are surrounded by or are a part of as well as what we are subject to in our day to day lives. Her reasons to support this made sense to me as she put a lot into perspective, which in turn allowed me to reflect on my upbringing and the culture I was surrounded by through Indigenous teachings (on my father’s side), as well as spiritual teachings (from my mother’s side) . I very much believe that my concept formation has a lot to do with what I learned from what I was taught in my earlier years, along with the things (both good and bad) unrelated that were reoccurring in my life.
Chapter 4
The Origin of Feeling
This chapter gets deeper into the science of emotions, particularly brain activity, complete with maps of visual field, prediction loop structures, and a diagram showcasing the cortical regions of the interoceptive network. The visuals shown in this chapter compliment the idea that we as individuals compose our feelings from a sequence of unique sensory input, accompanied by predictions made in our brain. This theory challenges the “classical” view of emotion, for it explains how the brain’s creation of emotions isn’t so much spontaneous as it is more so based on the experience of each individual. For example, if two different people are experiencing the feeling of frustration, they may not necessarily react in the same manner. One may respond to their frustration by yelling, where as another may remain silent. Others may even mistake someone’s frustration for anger or something else. These reactions are based on the brain’s predictions, which are influenced by previous experiences and sensory input.
Needless to say, there was a lot to dissect here, but I appreciate that this chapter compelled me to go-back, re-read, and take notes, as the information presented here is of great value.
Chapter 5
Concepts, Goals, and Words
This is another one of my favourite chapters in this book. I found the examples provided were much easier to take in than previous chapters, yet still carry so much valuable info, including the break down of mental concepts.
While there were many quotes that stood out to me from this chapter, there are two in particular that I would like to go over…
“Everything you perceive around you is represented by concepts in your brain.”
This is so simply put, yet still leaves a lot of room to expand on, which is exactly what the Author does throughout this chapter. In the early pages of this chapter, she uses light and sound as examples of how the brain interprets the things we see and hear, then applies those examples to the way we view the world around us, which brings me to this second quote:
”Emotions are not reactions to the world; they are your constructions of the world.”
I can’t tell you know many times I’ve pondered this one. I’ve always thought emotions were just automatic reactions, but after reading (and re-reading) this quote and the words to follow it, I can see how the theory of “constructed” emotion makes sense. While emotion may not directly translate to reaction, reaction is very much driven by emotion, which brings us back to the point at which emotion is created (constructed). At least that’s how I’ve been able to make sense of this. Either way, I would love to know your input, so feel free let me know your thoughts on this!
Chapter 6
How the Brain Makes Emotions
This chapter goes into further detail about the science behind emotion and how emotional concepts form as the brain develops. From infancy to adulthood, the Author articulates the process of concept formation and when certain concepts begin to take place.
The information presented here gives the ultimate compare and contrast between that of a young developing mind and one that is fully developed, which is key when it comes to understanding emotional concepts. This also helps us to better understand why as adults we might react a certain way based on what we were subject to in younger years or during childhood.
Chapter 7
Emotions as Social Reality
At this point in the book, there have been many examples within the theory of “constructed” emotion, but it is important to note that while the Author challenges previous beliefs on emotion, she is not dismissing the reality of emotion. If anything, she is really just altering the view in which many of us have been initially taught. In this chapter, Lisa Feldman Barrett talks about social reality, and the influence culture and/or upbringing has on belief systems (as mentioned in Chapter 3). She also uses this time to go back and discuss the “classical” view of emotion and the ongoing debates between classical view theorists. Following this, the Author characterizes the functions of emotions on 3 ways:
1. How emotional concepts “make meaning”
This explains how categorizing an emotion concept in an instance of emotion helps to understand the sensations and actions present in the reaction of a situation. Past experience is noted here as well to make sense of a reaction to a current situation.
2. How concepts “prescribe action”
This is where the question of “how to react” comes in. Past experience is noted here as well and in conjunction with emotion constructed from prediction. For example, if there is a sudden physical change within the body, similar experiences from the past are often used as a guide on how to react in the current situation (the prediction).
3. A concept’s ability to “regulate your body budget”
How we react plays a major part in what happens next in a situation. For example, various reactions to a sudden physical change in the body (as noted above), can determine various outcomes for the person in that situation. Here the Author mentions the release of the hormone cortisol and how much may be released, depending on the (re)action taken.
Chapter 8
A New View of Human Nature
In this chapter, the Author further explains the “new view of human nature”, based on her theory of “constructed” emotion, in comparison to the traditional theory of “classical” emotion. In one section, she compares and contrasts the theories represented by the various works of Charles Darwin and the great influence he had on the classical view of emotion. However, through the contrast, she makes note of how his thoughts begin to alter in later years. This goes to show how even the most intelligent and influential people may change their minds, which is important to note, because often times, many of us just assume that those who are highly intelligent have all the answers, when in fact, it is those of high intelligence that actively make the most room for growth and knowledge — those who ask the most questions.
Chapter 9
Mastering Your Emotions
We often hear about ways we can improve mental and physical health, but it isn’t too often we hear of the effect these improvements have on emotional health. At least not in great detail. This chapter essentially acts as a guide on how to improve or maintain the state of emotional health by connecting mind, body, and soul (as I like to put it).
Some of the suggestions here are fairly straight forward, while others are more challenging. I can appreciate the variety here, because for many people it’s easy to lose sight of the “straight forward” things, such as adequate sleep or healthy eating. Therefore, it’s nice to have these little reminders. And for those who don’t need those reminders, tackling something new for any which reason can be extremely beneficial to overall wellness as well.
Chapter 10
Emotion and Illness
This chapter compares mental and physical illnesses and the diverse symptoms within each. Here, the “constructed” theory of emotion is applied to make sense of the diversity. The Author gives many examples of these illnesses, ranging from anxiety, to depression, chronic pain, chronic stress, colds, flus, etc, and how poor emotional health may worsen any symptoms associated with these illnesses.
Something you may not know that relates to the above, is that impaired emotional health has the ability to weaken the body’s immune system, and emotionally difficult times may increase the likelihood of obtaining a cold and/or other infection. In addition, feelings of stress or anxiety (for example) may cause someone to not take their health as seriously as they should. Poor diet and lack of exercise are just two examples of this. Substance abuse is another.
I think the information in this chapter is important to take note of, not only for emotional well being, but for the mental and physical as well. It’s also important to remember the connection between the three. If something feels off in one aspect of health, it could very well be because another aspect is suffering.
Chapter 11
Emotion and the Law
This chapter explains the acceptance (or lack there of) for certain emotions within different societies. As stated on page 218, “The ultimate rules for emotion in any society are set by it’s legal system.” The Author goes on to say how “this claim might be surprising”, but when you begin to pick apart the various laws in various countries, etc around the world, everything starts to unfold. When rules are in place, people will often act a certain way, because they already know the consequences that follow. This compliments the theory of constructed emotion once again for what is deemed as “acceptable” based on our surroundings (societal views / laws), as well as the influence these rules have on how people react.
I’ll be completely honest here, I didn’t particularly care for this chapter. This is nothing against the Author. More so just personal preference on subject matter within subject matter. However, for those who have major interest in the study of law, this chapter would probably be more enjoyable to read. Or maybe not. I don’t know. Don’t ask me about it.
Chapter 12
Is a Growling Dog Angry
This chapter views different theories of emotion in animals. There are some scientists who believe that animals don’t actually experience emotions and that their (re)actions to situations are merely illusions to what a lot of people would predict as an emotional response. There are also scientists who argue this theory all together. The author tends to agree with the first theory mentioned above, but I’m not sure I do. I personally felt like there wasn’t enough information to suggest either or, therefore I thought the content in this chapter wasn’t all that valuable. Maybe it’s because I’m more of a cat person, and the Author talks more about dogs. Just kitting (kind of) — sorry couldn’t help myself.
Chapter 13
From Brian to Mind: The New Frontier
In the final chapter of this book, the Author looks back on all the chapters before to gather information on the theory of “constructed” emotion. This theory is then applied to the greater issues of brain and mind.
The chapter concludes with the Author leaving room for further discussion in hopes that a new reality is forged. The last sentence reads, “If you’ve learned within these pages that you are an architect of your experience — and the experiences of those around you — then we’re building that new reality together.”
Appendix A – D
Here the Author has sectioned the Appendix in 4 parts — Brain Basics, Supplement for Chapter 2, Supplement for Chapter 3, and Evidence for Concept Cascade. These are extremely beneficial to read if you want a better understanding of how the brain works. These are also helpful when referring to notes and/or certain content within the book for a better overall comprehension.
Final thoughts:
I know we’re at the end, but I’m not even sure where to begin with how I feel about this book. I was definitely mind blown in more ways than one. At the same time, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around all this new found information that challenges previous theories of emotion. Chapters 1 through 10, I was most intrigued with, however, the chapters to follow didn’t quite keep me as captivated as I would have liked. Again, nothing against the Author, something was just missing for me in those chapters. This could very well be from the lingering questions I still have that I had hoped to gain more insight on, which isn’t a bad thing. With where I’m at now, I would rate this book 7/10 — an abundance of valuable information, provided by many well thought out examples and references. Lots of room to expand perspective. I would definitely recommend reading (with a very open mind).
If anyone reading this post has also read this book, let me know your thoughts! And for those of you who have been asking for more video content, I have uploaded a flip through of this book via IGTV. I hope you enjoy!
Please note, I am not a scientist or doctor of any sort, nor is this content sponsored. All opinions expressed are my own and any writings from the Author have been quoted. Credits of this book go to Lisa Feldman Barrett and anyone she has referenced and/or consented commendation.