How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Barrett, Lisa Feldman

When you feel anxious, angry, happy or surprised, what's really going on inside you?

'Fascinating . . . a thought-provoking journey into emotion science' Wall Street Journal

Pioneering psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett draws on the latest scientific evidence to reveal a radical truth - that emotions aren't universally pre-programmed in our brain and bodies, as common sense tells us. Shockingly, they are unique experiences and formed out of our individual environment and personal history. From lust to anger, relationships, health, parenting and even national security, How Emotions Are Made finally explains why this matters and what it means for what you feel and why you feel it.

'Most of us make our way through the world without thinking a lot about what we bring to our encounters with it. Lisa Feldman Barrett does - and what she has to say about our perceptions and emotions is pretty mind-blowing' Elle

'A brilliant and original book on the science of emotions' Daniel Gilbert, author of the bestseller Stumbling on Happiness

'Meticulous, well-researched and deeply thought out . . . 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, bestselling author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Psychiatry and Radiology. She is the author of How Emotions Are Made and received a NIH Director's Pioneer Award for her research on emotion in the brain. She lives in Boston.

Introduction - i: Introduction: The Two Thousand Year Old Assumption Chapter - 1: The Search For Emotion's ''Fingerprints'' Chapter - 2: Emotions Are Constructed Chapter - 3: The Myth of Universal Emotions Chapter - 4: The Origin of Feeling Chapter - 5: Concepts, Goals, and Words Chapter - 6: How the Brain Makes Emotions Chapter - 7: Emotions As A Social Reality Chapter - 8: A New View of Human Nature Chapter - 9: Mastering Your Emotions Chapter - 10: Emotions and Illness Chapter - 11: Emotion and the Law Chapter - 12: Is a Growling Dog Angry? Chapter - 13: From Brain to Mind: The New Frontier Acknowledgements - ii: Acknowledgments Section - iii: Appendix A: Brain Basics Section - iv: Appendix B: Supplement for Chapter 2 Section - v: Appendix C: Supplement for Chapter 3 Section - vi: Appendix D: Evidence for the Concept Cascade Section - vii: Bibliography Section - viii: Notes Section - ix: Illustration Credits Index - x: Index