WomensStuff

I read an interesting book called “How Emotions are Made” by Lisa Barrett which talks about how emotions are created by the brain - they’re not things you have; they’re things you make and they’re influenced by culture, your past experiences, and what your body is experiencing right now.

There was a few key takeaways (this is generated by GPT bc it does a better job at summarising).

Core Argument: Barrett argues that emotions are not hardwired, universal reactions to the world. Instead, they are constructed by our brains, much like perceptions or thoughts.

Key Concepts:

1. The Classical View vs. The Theory of Constructed Emotion

• Classical View: Emotions like anger, fear, sadness, etc., are innate, universal, and triggered automatically by specific stimuli.
• Barrett’s Theory: Emotions are not universal biological responses, but rather concepts constructed by the brain using past experiences, cultural knowledge, and context.

2. The Brain Predicts, Not Reacts

• The brain is a prediction machine, constantly guessing what will happen next based on past experiences.
• Emotions are predictions your brain makes to make sense of bodily sensations in context.

3. Concepts and Language Shape Emotion

• We learn emotional concepts from our environment, especially through language.
• Your culture gives you the emotional categories that your brain uses to construct experiences (e.g., some cultures have words for emotions we don’t name in English).
• What people feel and how they express emotions is shaped more by gender norms and socialization than by biological sex. For example: Women are often encouraged to express vulnerability or sadness. Men are often encouraged to express anger but discouraged from showing fear or sadness.
• These differences are learned, not biologically programmed.

4. Emotions are not hardwired or universal

• There is no specific brain region for each emotion.
• Physiological responses (like heart rate) vary widely even within the same emotion category.

5. Interoception: The Basis of Emotion

• Emotions begin with interoception—your brain’s perception of internal bodily states (like hunger, fatigue, or arousal).
• Your brain interprets these signals based on context and past experience and labels them as an emotion.

Practical Takeaways:

• You can reshape your emotional experiences by:
• Learning new emotion concepts.
• Becoming more aware of your bodily sensations (interoception).
• Expanding your emotional vocabulary (“emotional granularity”).
• Emotional intelligence involves managing predictions, not just reactions.

Barrett’s theory reframes emotion as a highly individual and cultural phenomenon, shaped by your brain’s predictions, concepts, and social context—not a universal biological blueprint.

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I went down a whole rabbit whole of “your brain is a prediction machine” after this and it was super cool.