But the larger story is about how emotion concepts have evolved through human history and why changing ingrained attitudes about emotion is so hard, even for the willing.įrom all directions in science, not just those Barrett touches directly, there is an emerging consensus that in nature and modern society, variation is more the rule than the exception. If emotions are constructed, then each of us bear some responsibility for how our own brains construct emotions, and how our actions contribute to the construction process in other people’s brains. She thinks understanding the neuroscience of emotion is a key to building better relationships with other people, and ultimately creating a fairer, more just world. And it is indeed because they are so real that they serve their evolutionary function-and sometimes get us into trouble.īarrett is University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University and author of How Emotions are Made and the recently published Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. They are also, she’s careful to point out, as real as anything we see, hear, or taste. Instead, as psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett has demonstrated in her research, emotions are constructions that our brains create to guide our actions and explain how we’re feeling in a specific situation. But how angry are you really? Are you vexed, perturbed, irate, annoyed, or just plain pissed? The point is that anger isn’t a singular event, and in any given situation, your anger might not feel or look the same.
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