How Emotions Are Made
"Fascinating... A thought-provoking journey into emotion science." -- Wall Street Journal "A singular book, remarkable for the freshness of its ideas and the boldness and clarity with which they are presented." -- Scientific American "A brilliant and original book on the science of emotion, by the deepest thinker about this topic since Darwin." -- Daniel Gilbert, best-selling author of Stumbling on Happiness 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. Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose research overturns the long-standing belief that emotions are automatic, universal, and hardwired in different brain regions. Instead, Barrett shows, we construct each instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture. A lucid report from the cutting edge of emotion science, How Emotions Are Made reveals the profound real-world consequences of this breakthrough for everything from neuroscience and medicine to the legal system and even national security, laying bare the immense implications of our latest and most intimate scientific revolution. "Mind-blowing." -- Elle "Chock-full of startling, science-backed findings... An entertaining and engaging read. " -- Forbes
Stats for nerds
21recommend
32mentions
26people
2018–2026years
78% recommend19% neutral3% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Many people, especially in the tech field, have false perceptions about the inner workings of the human brain. We aren't rational automatons receiving exactly the data that has been sent out by the other automatons. That's for a multitude of reasons, the most obvious of that is the fact that only a very miniscule part of our thought is conscious (about 2% is the last number I've read about it). Even the fundamental inner workings of the brain differ from the idea you alluded to. Our brain isn't just a parser interpreting the data we receive - instead it is a black box constantly predicting what happens next, and only uses sensory input, both from the outside and from the inside of the body, to validate or falsify the prediction [1]. One of the obvious side effects if this is for example our tendency to ignore facts that don't fit to our current worldview.
So if I know that these things are as they are, and use them to communicate more successfully, is that manipulation? Then it would also be learning manipulation if kids are sent to school to learn how to write well, or how to do a presentation.
I had a situation with my kid a while ago. They were already tired, but had to take a shower. When I proposed that verbally, they denied. Then I showed them the warm water coming out of the showerhead, and they instantly agreed. So I got what I wanted (the kid getting clean), because I knew how to communicate successfully. But that isn't manipulation: I didn't lie, I didn't have a personal advantage at their cost etc. I just made it easier for them to anticipate what taking a shower would feel like.
So perhaps the distinction should be: If I can honestly and wholeheartedly argue to myself that my intentions are to the best of all participants, then that is communication. If I only care about my outcome, or even want to have adverserial outcome for the others, then that is manipulation.
But we can't use "not noticing" some mode of communication as part of the definition of manipulation simply because we all notice almost nothing consciously, compared to the sensory input we get every second of our lifes.
[1] A pretty approachable book about that, written from a researcher: How emotions are made, from Lisa Feldman Barret
- > Paul Ekman
Your knowledge of psychology seems to be outdated by... several decades.
I recommend reading "How Emotions Are Made" by Lisa Feldman Barret.
If you don't recognize the name Lisa Feldman Barret, please google her. She is very acclaimed in the scientific world.
I also highly recommend watching anything by Ember Green, especially this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnd74yyf4nQ
Realistically, I know what I am writing is not going to change your mind. It might cause you to get defensive if anything else. But the fact that you have an autistic child and are operating on very outdated scientific ideas make me wish I could somehow.
I mean it is not surprising. Those ideas by Paul Ekman are still extremely popular. There are many fraudsters that use them to this day to get government founding and the like. So note that I am not calling you a bad person for falling for this. I am just saying you could be a damn good parent if you updated your views with a bit of more modern psychology.
- I'll join sva_ with another book recomendation: How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett. I am not an academic, but as far as I can tell she is a leading authority on the matter and the books is extremely accessible for the layperson.
- This is simply false, a series of claims that have been disproven but refuse to die. See Lisa Feldman-Barrett’s How Emotions Are Made.
- You have taken my initial comment in isolation and twisted it into something negative which was not at all what i meant. Diet is an implicit requirement as i mention in my previous comments here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40978488. Also see others here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42138469
> Feelings are inherently irrational, we shouldn't advise people to act on them.
This is silly and wrong. Emotions and Feelings are fundamental to Mental Health and by extension to Physical Health. See the research by Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett and her book How Emotions are Made.
The Mind at Work: Lisa Feldman Barrett on the metabolism of emotion - https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/work-culture/the-mind-at-wor...
> The "feeling hungry" part is emergent, root cause largely being the diet.
This is silly and puts the cart before the horse. Raw Hunger is the root cause and search for food is the consequence from it. Humans have evolved to eat and digest a wide variety of foods but if you only eat harmful ultra-processed food as a lifestyle choice that's on you and needs to be changed. In addition to a proper diet, one should only eat when feeling raw hunger which can be helped with techniques like Time-Restricted Eating/Intermittent Fasting etc.
- Emotions/Feelings are fundamental to existence itself i.e. they are the drivers for everything else. There is a lot of fascinating research/understanding going on in this domain which is worth studying. You might find the following two books interesting;
1) The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life by Joseph Ledoux.
2) How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
