How Emotions Are Made
The Secret Life of the Brain
Published on 8. February 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-1-5098-3752-6 (ISBN)
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
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 <i>Revenge of the Tipping Point</i> The definitive field guide to feelings and the neuroscience behind them -- Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of <i>Grit</i> A brilliant and original book on the science of emotion, by the deepest thinker about this topic since Darwin -- Daniel Gilbert, author of the bestseller <i>Stumbling on Happiness</i> Meticulous, well-researched, and deeply thought out . . . For anyone who has struggled to reconcile brain and heart, this book will be a treasure; it explains the science without short-changing the humanism of its topic -- Andrew Solomon, bestselling author of <i>Far from the Tree</i> and <i>The Noonday Demon</i> Radical and fascinating ... How Emotions are Made defends a bold new vision of the most central aspects of human nature -- Paul Bloom, author of <i>Against Empathy</i> and <i>How Pleasure Works</i> Every lawyer and judge doing serious criminal trials should read this book -- Baroness Helena Kennedy QC House of Lords, U.K. Barrett's figurative selfie of the brain is brilliant * Booklist * A provocative, insightful, and engaging analysis . . . You won't think about emotions in the same way after you read this important book -- Daniel L. Schacter, author of <i>The Seven Sins of Memory</i> The implications of Lisa Barrett's work (which 'only' challenges two-thousand-year-old assumptions about the brain) are nothing short of stunning. Even more stunning is how extraordinarily well she succeeds -- Nancy Gertner, Senior Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School, and former U.S. federal judge for the United States District Court of Massachusetts This is a provocative, accessible, important book -- Robert Sapolsky, author of <i>Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers</i> and <i>A Primate's Memoir</i> Lisa Feldman Barrett illuminates the fascinating new science of our emotions -- Peggy Orenstein, author of <i>Girls & Sex</i> Lisa Barrett masterfully integrates discoveries from affective science, neuroscience, social psychology, and philosophy to make sense of the many instances of emotion that you experience and witness each day -- Barbara Fredrickson, author of <i>Positivity</i> and<i> Love 2.0</i> Fascinating . . . a thought-provoking journey into emotion science * The Wall Street Journal * Lisa Barrett writes with great clarity about how your emotions are not merely about what you're born with, but also about how your brain pieces your feelings together, and how you can contribute to the process. She tells a compelling story -- Joseph Le Doux, author of <i>Anxious</i> and <i>Synaptic Self</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
318 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5098-3752-6 (9781509837526)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2017
Picador
€18.49
Available for download
Person
Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Psychiatry and Radiology. She is the author of How Emotions Are Made, and Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain (2020). She has received a NIH Director's Pioneer Award for her research on emotion in the brain, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, the APS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, and the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in Psychology in 2021. She lives in Boston.
Content
Introduction - i: Introduction: The Two Thousand Year Old Assumption Chapter - 1: The Search For Emotion's ''Fingerprints'' Chapter - 2: Emotions Are Constructed Chapter - 3: The Myth of Universal Emotions Chapter - 4: The Origin of Feeling Chapter - 5: Concepts, Goals, and Words Chapter - 6: How the Brain Makes Emotions Chapter - 7: Emotions As A Social Reality Chapter - 8: A New View of Human Nature Chapter - 9: Mastering Your Emotions Chapter - 10: Emotions and Illness Chapter - 11: Emotion and the Law Chapter - 12: Is a Growling Dog Angry? Chapter - 13: From Brain to Mind: The New Frontier Acknowledgements - ii: Acknowledgments Section - iii: Appendix A: Brain Basics Section - iv: Appendix B: Supplement for Chapter 2 Section - v: Appendix C: Supplement for Chapter 3 Section - vi: Appendix D: Evidence for the Concept Cascade Section - vii: Bibliography Section - viii: Notes Section - ix: Illustration Credits Index - x: Index