For the last month I have been reading a book titled "How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett (published March 2017).
One of the reasons I love this book so much is because psychologist Lisa Barrett explains many functions of the brain along with scientific evidence and findings of others as well as her own team, in order to support the theory of constructed emotion. I'll get into more of what that theory is later.
So yes, this book is scientific, factual, and considerably boring to many young people; but think of it this way: all people feel and experience emotion, but how are these emotions made and where do they come from? So many times in American society, we see people getting taken over by their emotions and finding no grip on them. Knowing and understanding what emotions are and how they're created in our minds is something I would consider very necessary to everybody. If I asked you to share how your emotions are created, would you be able to confidently answer? If not, then this book is for you.
Barrett supports the theory of constructed emotion in this book, and she presents different studies, scientific evidence, and explanations to back up this theory. What is really interesting is that she has her own lab with researchers and has done plenty of her own research and experiments. She also is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University. The theory of constructed emotion believes claims that emotions are not all experienced the same by everyone, as well as not universally recognized. That is to say that scowling does not always imply angry, and angry does not always imply scowling. The way emotions are experienced from individual to individual are formed by past experiences as wiring and training the brain to react the way it does. In many cultures, there are similar emotion recognitions because the people are raised in similar environments.
Whilst arguing for this theory, she also argues against the classical view of emotion. This view suggests that all emotions are universal and universally recognized. Barrett provides sufficient evidence against this view and I suppose I'll leave all that up to you to read the book.
Bottom line is that this book is incredible. If you are someone who doesn't completely understand where your emotions come from and you want to know, then I highly recommend this book. I can say for myself after reading this, that I feel so much more informed and I understand myself even better. I have enjoyed sharing all I have learned from this reading with my peers because it is such important information to know, but so many people do not know. "How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain" provides information for brain functions that support findings regarding emotion, provides different studies and much scientific evidence. If you don't know how emotions are made in your brain, I recommend you read this book. It can be a tough read at points, but it's worth it.
Also, if you want just a little taste of the ideas presented in the book or the main topics before devoting yourself to reading the entire book, Lisa Feldman Barrett is in a podcast through The Art Of Charm (Episode 616, May 11th). It's amazing, good questions, easy to follow, and you can simply listen to it while you drive or walk or eat! So take a look into this book and everything you can learn about yourself and where your emotions come from!
