The brain constructs and predicts reality based on past experiences, shaping our emotional experiences.
Mindfulness meditation can deconstruct experiences and change our conceptualizations, leading to more flexibility and meaning.
Emotions are not fixed but constructed by the brain, influenced by contextual information and past experiences.
Deep dives
The Brain's Predictive Function
The brain's main function is to predict and regulate the body's responses based on past experiences. It creates models of the world and constantly makes guesses about what will happen next. These predictions are based on the brain's past encounters with similar situations and are used to prepare the body for action. Sensory information is either confirming or correcting these predictions. The brain's predictions and categorizations shape our emotional experiences.
Mindfulness and Deconstructing Experience
Practicing mindfulness meditation can help deconstruct our experiences and change our conceptualizations of them. By focusing on sense data and paying attention to the present moment, we can categorize sensations differently and perceive them in a way that is closer to the low-level sensory features. Mindfulness expands our conceptual system and allows for more flexibility in how we construct meaning from our sensory inputs.
Emotions as Constructed Concepts
Emotions are not fixed or pre-determined states that happen to us. Instead, they are constructed by our brains based on the contextual information and our past experiences. The brain categorizes the sensations from our body and interprets them as different emotions depending on the context. Emotions are malleable and can be influenced by changing the ingredients, such as managing physical states, and altering our conceptualizations through mindfulness or other practices.
The Nature of Emotions and Responsibility
Emotions and the perception of responsibility are closely interconnected. Emotions have historically been seen as uncontrollable, animalistic instincts that limit personal responsibility. However, scientific findings suggest that individuals have more control over their emotions than previously assumed. While individuals cannot choose how they feel, they can exert control by setting up situations to reduce stress or by making the best of their circumstances. The traditional view of emotions as uncontrollable undermines the understanding of personal responsibility, which is actually enhanced by recognizing one's ability to influence and transform their emotions.
The Construction and Variation of Emotions
Emotions are not singular, fixed experiences, but rather multifaceted and context-dependent. While societal views often classify emotions into distinct categories, such as anger, there is actually a wide range of experiences within each emotion. For example, anger can manifest as pleasant or unpleasant, and individuals may exhibit various facial expressions or bodily patterns. Emotions are constructed by the brain, which predicts and interprets incoming sensations based on past experiences. The brain's interpretation process is influenced by the body's physiological state, its need to conserve metabolic resources, and social norms. Recognizing the complexity and fluidity of emotions allows for a more authentic understanding of oneself and enables a deeper empathetic connection in interpersonal relationships.
We launch our second season featuring a conversation with psychologist, neuroscientist, and emotion researcher Lisa Feldman Barrett. She and Wendy discuss a broad range of topics about the mind, including:
her unexpected path into studying emotions;
how our brains construct and predict our reality;
the brain's essential role in regulating the body;
emotions as interpretations of our bodily state;
how our past shapes and filters our present experience;
the difference between affective feelings (mood) and emotions;
our capacity to influence our own emotions;
deconstructing our experience through mindfulness;
how to improve our emotional lives;
connections with Buddhist theories of mind;
implications for our understanding of the self;
how we regulate not only our own, but others' nervous systems;
and how stress and modernity might lead to clinging to entrenched views.
