Most of what you know about emotions is just plain wrong — and sometimes harmful!
How emotions are made -- the secret life of the brain (updated book review)
On June, 14, 2024, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures released Inside Out 2 — the sequel to Inside Out (2015). Inside Out (2015) introduced five emotions, and Inside Out 2 (2024) expanded from 5 to 27 emotions, including anxiety.
Question: How many human emotions exist?
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Beyond the Book club is reading How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Professor Lisa Feldman Barrett. This book is heavy on science and research findings, so she published a much easier book to read Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. Because of the immense popularity of Inside Out 2, the critical importance of understanding the science of emotions and how our brains work, and to support those who embrace the challenge of reading How Emotions are Made (HEAM), I am updating my book review of HEAM.
Question: What is the definition of an emotion?
Most of what we know about our emotions (and how our brains work) is just plain wrong—and sometimes harmful! Myth: our emotions are hard-wired by evolution in our “limbic” (“reptilian”) brain and emotions are “triggered.” Myth: across the globe humans have universal facial expressions for core emotions (eg, joy causes smiling). Myth: we control our emotions with our “rational” (neocortex) brain. Myth: the amygdala is the “fear center” of the brain. Myth: we can learn to read others’ emotions with reliability. Myth: seeing is believing. Myth: we cannot go wrong trusting our “gut” feeling (ie, intuition). Myth: there is a finite number of emotions (5, 27, etc.).
For me, reading Lisa Feldman Barrett’s How Emotions are Made: The secret life of the brain was transformative. Our emotions, brain, and body do not function as depicted by brain science myths that have been debunked, but persist because scientists, health professionals, and the “emotion,” “emotional-intelligence,” and “brain science” industries are not current on the latest neuroscience. This book will set you on the right course.
At birth, the brain is a blank slate awaiting “wiring instructions” from a caregiver. Every second we are alive the brain processes “big data” of sensory input from our body (called interoception) and sensory input from the external world (called exteroception, and via our senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste). Through evolution, humans solved a neurobio-engineering problem: how do we efficiently procure and balance energy and accumulate learnings on how to survive and procreate. The brain evolved into a predictive learning machine. The memories we accumulate through experiences become the predictions (“hypotheses” or “priors”) that the brain compares to new sensory input (“evidence”). The gap between prediction and sensory input is prediction error. If the prediction error is small or negligible the brain accepts the prediction, thereby saving cognitive energy expenditure. If the prediction error is large (eg, cognitive dissonance), the brain must choose either to accept the prediction (cognitively and energy efficient, so our brain strongly prefers this), or to learn (cognitively and energy inefficient, so our brain strongly resists this — especially as adults).
The brain must make meaning of this sensory input in order to prepare for what the body needs to do next (based on prior experiences) to survive, etc. The brain prepares the body to respond through our nervous, cardiovascular, immune, endocrine, and musculoskeletal systems. Emotions are the on-the-spot meanings the brain gives to these external and internal sensory input (bodily sensations). “In other words, emotions are your brain’s best guess of how you should feel in the moment. Emotions aren’t wired into your brain like little circuits; they’re made on demand. As a result, you have more control over your emotions than you might think.”1
All of this happens automatically at a nonconscious level: that is why it “feels” like our emotions are “triggered.” In fact, our emotions are constructed in the moment based on:
prediction (our brains are “Bayesian” predictive learning machines)
affect (or “mood” are now we “feel” based on interoception — sensory input from our body)
concepts (how we deploy predictions through our perceptions of our sensory input from our bodies and environments, and based on language, culture, and individual and shared experiences)2
“Emotions are created from concepts which are the predictions that give meaning to your affect in your environment.”
Our brain operates 24/7 to keep us alive. Our brain monitors our body systems through internal sensory input called interoception. When we are awake we are conscious of our interoception through our affect (also called “mood”). Affect is not an emotion. Figure 1 depicts two key dimensions of affect: valence and arousal.
Concepts are how our predictive brains have learned to perceive and navigate the environment. Over our life course, concepts emerge based on culture, language, and personal and collective experiences. Concepts are not reality; they are our perceptions of reality deployed by our predictive brains. Human can share and develop consensus on concepts, including abstract concepts (eg, democracy). This is how humans construct social reality and it’s a human superpower not available to animals. This is why we can transform our environment, send rockets into space, and fight senseless wars based on ideological concepts.
Emotions, then, are created in the moment from concepts which are the predictions that give meaning to your affect in your environment. Emotions are a form of on-the-spot causal inferences that prepare our bodies to deploy our thoughts, decisions, and actions to navigate the situation or environment.
Our emotions can be constrained, inappropriate, or dysfunctional because our
predictions are wrong (prediction error) or faulty (intoxicated, mental illness, etc.), or
concepts are inadequate for the situation or environment (limited concepts due to young age or poor education, or language or cultural incongruence)
Emotions, then, are created in the moment from concepts which are the predictions that give meaning to your affect in your environment. Emotions are a form of on-the-spot causal inferences that prepare our bodies to deploy our thoughts, decisions, and actions to navigate the situation or environment.
The Mood Meter — How are you feeling?
The Mood Meter is a popular tool to label your “emotions” (Figure 2). Unrecognized by most is that the Mood Meter consists of affect (valence and arousal) and emotions (created in the moment from concepts which are the predictions that give meaning to your affect in your environment).
Although this Mood Meter has 100 emotion labels, we know that the number of emotions are not finite and are only limited by our vocabulary. Having a larger vocabulary to describe the diversity and complexity of emotions is described as increased “emotional granularity.”3
The Mood Meter is used by Professor Marc Brackett to as tool to help persons learn how to recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate their emotions (aka, The RULER Method).4 5
Designing an emotionally fulfilling life
Even today, we are taught, incorrectly, that emotions are hardwired by evolution and that we should “control” (i.e., suppress), accept (i.e., embrace), or release emotions. For example, someone or something “triggers” an emotion and a stress response in us (“fight-flight-freeze-submit”), and we can use mindfulness to notice, acknowledge, and “release” this emotion. Yes, mindfulness works; however, mindfulness is much more powerful when we understand that emotions are actually constructed rather than “triggered.”
We have the power to design and build an emotionally fulfilling life by the experiences we choose to have and by the cognitive and motor memories we choose to encode in our brains. This explains how “doing” rewires the brain! Interestingly, Buddhism practices (eg, mindfulness meditation) align nicely with this modern scientific understanding of brain and emotions. For example, Dr. Barrett studies and describes how Buddhism can strengthen interpersonal relationships and improve your brain and body health.6
We have the power to design and build an emotionally fulfilling life by the experiences we choose to have and by the cognitive and motor memories we to choose to encode in our brains
Mindfulness promotes stillness, awareness, and being in the moment without judgment or expectation. Then, we can exercise curiosity about what contributed or is contributing to our mood (affect) and emotions (meaning). This is critical because our brains are quick to draw false conclusions to save cognitive energy rather than to “get it right.” Interestingly, the more vocabulary we have to describe affect and emotions, the more ability we have to recognize these in ourselves and hypothesize about these in others. This is called emotional granularity and is the actual basis of emotional intelligence.7
A concrete way to improve your emotions is to consider your
body,
surroundings, and
experiences.
From Professor Feldman-Barrett:8
Body: “To change the signals coming from your body, try to get more sleep, eat healthfully and exercise. A stronger, healthier body promotes a healthier emotional life.”
Surroundings: “Whatever you’re seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching in the moment influences your brain’s guesses for the next moment, which in turn influences your emotion.”
“So, the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, try changing your current situation. Leave the room. Take a walk. Shut off your phone. If you don’t have the flexibility to move around at that time, try paying attention to a different part of your surroundings. Pay mindful attention to some small detail. Each of these changes has the potential to influence your brain’s unconscious guesses and change your emotion.”
Experiences: “Your past experience is the toughest ingredient to change, because obviously you can’t modify your past! However, you can change your present, and this seeds your brain to guess differently in the future. A quick way to change your present is to cultivate new experiences. For example, some people keep a written journal of things they’re grateful for every day. Other people meditate, which teaches them to be compassionate.”
Dr. Barrett’s How Emotions are Made covers many practical applications of this emerging science, including contributing to our understanding of implicit bias.9
Key resources from Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett
Dr. Feldman Barrett’s book covers a lot of content. To get you oriented, I recommend watching the three videos below. If your time is limited, the documentary (first video) is the most comprehensive and current.
1 How Emotions are Made (40 min — the best!)
“Emotions don’t happen to you. They are made by your predictive brain, in specific situations: a brain that feels affect and makes concepts absorbed from your life experience while conversing with your body and the world around you.
This cinematic lecture by Professor Lisa Feldman Barrett is based off her book of the same name.”
2 (TED talk): You aren’t at the mercy of your emotions: Your brain creates them
“Can you look at someone’s face and know what they’re feeling? Does everyone experience happiness, sadness and anxiety the same way? What are emotions anyway? For the past 25 years, psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett has mapped facial expressions, scanned brains and analyzed hundreds of physiology studies to understand what emotions really are. She shares the results of her exhaustive research—and explains how we may have more control over our emotions than we think.”
See reading list for above TED talk.
3 (TED talk): Cultivating Wisdom: The Power of Mood
“Do you believe that what you see influences how you feel? Actually, the opposite is true: What you feel—your affect—influences what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett shares the groundbreaking discovery that you experience the world through affect-colored glasses. She also reveals how affect can be a source of wisdom that helps you to make better, wiser choices”
LFB’s website (includes numerous academic lectures)
Here is her website with a wealth of material:
https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/.
Footnotes
.
Barrett LF. The science of making emotions: Three main ingredients contribute to how and why the brain creates feelings. HealthyLivingMadeSimple.com. Available from: https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/11/ScienceOfMakingEmotions.pdf
For example, implicit bias is a biased concept-prediction stereotype that operates at a nonconscious level.
Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, First Mariner Books edition (Boston New York: Mariner Books, 2018), https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/how-emotions-are-made/.
The RULER method. See https://marcbrackett.com/ruler/
Marc Brackett, Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive, First edition (New York: Celadon Books, 2019), https://marcbrackett.com/permission-to-feel/.
Barrett LF. Buddhists in love: Lovers crave intensity, Buddhists say craving causes suffering. Is it possible to be deeply in love yet truly detached? Aeon (website). June, 4, 2018. Available from: https://aeon.co/essays/does-buddhist-detachment-allow-for-a-healthier-togetherness.
Barrett LF. Emotional Intelligence Needs a Rewrite: Think you can read people’s emotions? Think again. Nautilus (website). August 3, 2017. Available from: http://nautil.us/issue/51/limits/emotional-intelligence-needs-a-rewrite.
Barrett LF. The science of making emotions: Three main ingredients contribute to how and why the brain creates feelings. HealthyLivingMadeSimple.com. Available from: https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/11/ScienceOfMakingEmotions.pdf
Jennifer K. Elek and Andrea L. Miller. The Evolving Science on Implicit Bias: An Updated Resource for the State Court Community. National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Report. March, 2021. Available from: https://www.ncsc.org/consulting-and-research/areas-of-expertise/court-management-and-performance/ibeducation