Skip to main content

A Personal BOOK REVIEW: How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett


5 stars
Highly highly recommend this book!
This book taught me so much about not only how emotions are made but how our environment and past experiences can affect the way that we perceive the world and, as a result, act on it. To be quite honest, I had a very essentialist view on perception and emotion before this. I had a habit of seeking specific brain regions that regulate certain emotions or concepts or behavior rather than viewing emotions as involving various regions and circuits within the complex system of the brain. I love how this book also links all of these findings and the theory of constructed emotion to areas that relate to ‘everyday life’ such as lifestyle, law and the way we view nonhuman animals. Understanding that we can shape the way that we predict our surroundings (and therefore the reactions we have) is a liberating thought. It reminds me to be mindful of the things that I am choosing to surround myself with and taking a step back and truly reflect on what it is that is happening to me (rather than blaming it on instinct or categorizing it to a common broad emotion concept)
It definitely had me overwhelmed as to the amount of uncertainty surrounding the science of emotion, but the author encourages curiosity rather than hopelessness within this uncertainty.
I will need to re-read this book a couple times in the future since it was quite information heavy, and now that I understand the overarching idea it might change the way that I interpret the information!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

theories on brain localization

There are three major theories on how the brain is organized, in terms of its structure and function. Phrenology was proposed by Gall in the late 18th century who thought it was possible to determine character traits by examining the external bumps on the head. All behavior/mental function was assigned a location in the brain, and using more or less of these regions determined these bumps. The aggregate field view was raised by Flourens (1920s) using experimental evidence that showed that all areas are important for each mental function. So any part can perform all functions and there was no localization. Cellular connectionism (supported by Hughlings Jackson, Wernicke, Sherrington, Ramon y Cajal) states that individual neurons are signalling units that are arranged in groups, each having a particular function. References  E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, T. Jessell, Principles of Neural Science (McGraw-Hill, New York, ed. 4, 2000).
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there an emotional brain? (arguments against)

The limbic system has been commonly referred to in scientific literature as the emotional brain. But we know now with more information and advanced technologies that the limbic system is an ambiguous concept, it is what LeDoux says is just a “useful anatomical shorthand”. One evidence that challenges this theory is that areas that are considered unique to mammals (therefore termed the “mammalian brain”) is also present in ‘primitive’ creatures such as reptiles and amphibians. For example, a study conducted by Gilles Laurent and colleagues in 2018 using single cell RNA-sequencing technology showed that the neurons of the pallium of reptiles had similar genetic makeup to that of the hippocampus and amygdala of mouse and humans! These areas are what MacLean included in the limbic system theory, yet they are present in these ‘lower’ animals. Moreover, the same study showed that the anterior dorsal cortex of the pallium in reptiles was similar to the human neocortex, which is a layer ...
Post a Comment
Read more

departure

Maybe its meant to be The passing of time Seems to let us free Makes us more carefree Farewell to a friend Hoping for the best That in some other world This journey won't end But long paved roads Take hours to walk down A dragging trip Complacence is found If we can refresh The origin of our motives Healthy company In each other, we'll notice.
Post a Comment
Read more