How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain

Why do emotions feel automatic and uncontrollable? Does rational thought really control emotion? How does emotion affect disease? How can you make your children more emotionally intelligent? How Emotions Are Made answers these questions and many more, revealing the latest research and intriguing practical applications of the new science of emotion, mind, and brain.

“This meticulous, well-researched, and deeply thought out book reveals new insights about our emotions—what they are, where they come from, why we have them.  For anyone who has struggled to reconcile brain and heart, this book will be a treasure; it explains the science without short-changing the humanism of its topic.”

— Andrew Solomon, best-selling author of Far From the Tree 

“Ever wonder where your emotions come from? Lisa Barrett, a world expert in the psychology of emotion, has written the definitive field guide to feelings and the neuroscience behind them.”

—Angela Duckworth, best-selling author of Grit

“Everything you thought you knew about what you feel and why you feel it turns out to be stunningly wrong. Lisa Barrett illuminates the fascinating new science of our emotions, offering real-world examples of why it matters in realms as diverse as  health, parenting, romantic relationships and national security.”

—Peggy Orenstein, author of Girls & Sex

“After reading How Emotions Are Made, I will never think about emotions the same way again. Lisa Barrett opens up a whole new terrain for fighting gender stereotypes and making better policy.”

—Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business

We all harbor an intuition about emotions: that the way you experience joy, fear or anger happens automatically and is pretty much the same as a Kalahari hunter-gatherer.  In this excellent new book, Lisa Barrett draws on contemporary research to offer a radically different picture: that the experience of emotion is highly individualized, neurobiologically idiosyncratic, and inseparable from cognition.  This is a provocative, accessible, important book.”

—Robert Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers

“Lisa Barrett masterfully integrates discoveries from affective science, neuroscience, social psychology, and philosophy to make sense of the many instances of emotion that you experience and witness each day. How Emotions are Made will help you remake your life, giving you new lenses to see familiar feelings—from anxiety to love—anew.”

—Barbara Fredrickson, author of Positivity and Love 2.0

Writer: Barrett Lisa Feldman

Scientific Editing: Theodosios Palaskas, Chrysostomos Stoforos, Cleopatra Avdellidou

Translation: Chryssa Tsirimokou

Papazissi Publications

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