In this book, Lisa Feldman Barrett presents a new neuroscientific explanation of emotions, overturning the widely held belief that emotions are automatic, universal, and hardwired in different brain regions. Instead, she argues that emotions are constructed in the moment through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture. Barrett's theory, known as the 'Theory of Constructed Emotions,' suggests that emotions are highly individualized and vary by culture. The book explores how this new understanding has significant implications for fields such as psychology, medicine, law, parenting, and national security. Barrett uses clear, readable prose and practical examples to make her complex theories accessible to a broad audience.
Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd's "Not By Genes Alone" explores the significant role of culture in shaping human evolution. The book argues that cultural transmission, alongside genetic inheritance, has driven human adaptation and diversification. It examines various mechanisms of cultural evolution, including mutation, drift, and selection, and how these processes interact to produce the vast cultural diversity observed across human societies. The authors challenge traditional views that emphasize genetic determinism, highlighting the unique capacity of culture to facilitate rapid adaptation and innovation. The book provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the interplay between biology and culture in shaping human history and behavior.
In this book, Lisa Feldman Barrett demystifies the brain through seven short essays and a brief story on its evolution. She explains where brains came from, their structure, and how they function in tandem with other brains. The book dispels myths such as the 'lizard brain' and the battle between thoughts and emotions or nature and nurture. Barrett highlights the brain's primary role in controlling the body, discusses brain development, and emphasizes the social and cultural aspects of cognition and consciousness.
In this episode, my guest is Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University who is a world expert in the science of emotions. She explains what emotions are and how the brain represents and integrates signals from our body and the environment around us to create our unique emotional states. We discuss the relationship between emotions and language, how our specificity of language impacts our emotional processing, the role of facial expressions in emotions, and how emotions relate to sleep, movement, nutrition and the building and reinforcement of social bonds. We also discuss actionable tools for how to regulate feelings of uncertainty and tools to better understand the emotional states of others. This episode ought to be of interest to anyone curious about the neuroscience and psychology underlying emotions and for those who seek to better understand themselves and relate to others and the world in richer, more adaptive ways.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett
(00:03:18) Sponsors: LMNT & Waking Up
(00:05:46) Core Components of Emotions
(00:10:42) Facial Movement & Interpretation, Emotion
(00:19:33) Facial Expressions & Emotion, Individualization
(00:31:03) Emotion Categories, Culture & Child Development
(00:37:10) Sponsor: AG1
(00:37:50) Legal System, ‘Universal’ Emotions & Caution
(00:41:07) Language Descriptions, Differences & Emotion
(00:48:18) Questions & Assumptions; Language, Emotions & Nervous System
(00:53:40) Brain, Uncertainty & Categories
(01:03:57) Brain & Summaries; Emotions as “Multimodal Summaries”
(01:14:45) Emotional Granularity, Library Analogy
(01:19:40) Brain & Compression, Planning
(01:29:04) Labels & Generalization
(01:34:29) Movement, Sensation, Prediction & Learning
(01:42:44) Feelings of Discomfort & Action
(01:50:32) Tool: Feelings of Uncertainty, Emotion, “Affect”
(02:01:18) Tool: Experience Dimensions & Attention; Individualization
(02:08:36) Affect, Allostasis & Body Budget Analogy
(02:15:41) Depression, “Emotional Flu”
(02:20:20) Tool: Positively Shift Affect; Alcohol & Drugs; SSRIs
(02:27:40) Relationships: Savings or Taxes, Kindness
(02:36:50) Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter
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