this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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I read an interesting book called “How Emotions are Made” by Lisa Barrett which talks about how emotions are created by the brain - they’re not things you have; they’re things you make and they’re influenced by culture, your past experiences, and what your body is experiencing right now.
There was a few key takeaways (this is generated by GPT bc it does a better job at summarising).
Core Argument: Barrett argues that emotions are not hardwired, universal reactions to the world. Instead, they are constructed by our brains, much like perceptions or thoughts.
Key Concepts:
Practical Takeaways:
Barrett’s theory reframes emotion as a highly individual and cultural phenomenon, shaped by your brain’s predictions, concepts, and social context—not a universal biological blueprint.
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I went down a whole rabbit whole of “your brain is a prediction machine” after this and it was super cool.
I think there's a big difference between conscious perception of one's emotions and one's actual emotional state. How emotions are processed, expressed, and understood are very culturally influenced. But idk that you can socialize people to feel or not feel particular emotions. Like, if emotions were cultural, and men are socialized against sadness or fear, then does that mean that men don't feel those things? Or is it that they do feel those emotions, but are either consciously unaware of them, or try to suppress them or express them in a culturally acceptable way?
For example, judges are more likely to pass harsh sentences just before lunch, when they're most hungry. I don't think that's learned behavior, and I would expect the trend to cut across culture, in many times and places.
Very good points. Furthermore, if men are socialized against fear or sadness but in favour of anger and if emotions are not universal then shouldn’t there be examples of the opposite? Are there cultures where men are socialized to express vulnerability and women socialized to express anger?
Maybe subcultures?
I'd say, e.g. Maggie Thatcher, plus many other women I've worked with in positions of power in govt or civil service seem to me to have (or fake?) similar behaviors to men in the same positions.
Its very possible that the business leaders thing is just a selection effect. Those traits exist in some men and some women and those people are likely to select into those roles. But then I think these subcultures may reward and reinforce traits in the long run.
It'd be interesting to hear the experience of say women in traditionally male dominated roles like the army. Or men who work in the traditionally female dominated roles roles like nursing or childcare.
There must be some twin-studies on this type of thing.