butters

I think Italy is a good example - men and women are both socialised to express their emotions more naturally than other countries.

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?

That’s it exactly I think. There’s no difference between genders as to how the brain creates these emotions, but the expression of them is culturally learned. It’s been a while since I read the book so I hope I’ve got that right.

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:

1. The Classical View vs. The Theory of Constructed Emotion

• Classical View: Emotions like anger, fear, sadness, etc., are innate, universal, and triggered automatically by specific stimuli.
• Barrett’s Theory: Emotions are not universal biological responses, but rather concepts constructed by the brain using past experiences, cultural knowledge, and context.

2. The Brain Predicts, Not Reacts

• The brain is a prediction machine, constantly guessing what will happen next based on past experiences.
• Emotions are predictions your brain makes to make sense of bodily sensations in context.

3. Concepts and Language Shape Emotion

• We learn emotional concepts from our environment, especially through language.
• Your culture gives you the emotional categories that your brain uses to construct experiences (e.g., some cultures have words for emotions we don’t name in English).
• What people feel and how they express emotions is shaped more by gender norms and socialization than by biological sex. For example: Women are often encouraged to express vulnerability or sadness. Men are often encouraged to express anger but discouraged from showing fear or sadness.
• These differences are learned, not biologically programmed.

4. Emotions are not hardwired or universal

• There is no specific brain region for each emotion.
• Physiological responses (like heart rate) vary widely even within the same emotion category.

5. Interoception: The Basis of Emotion

• Emotions begin with interoception—your brain’s perception of internal bodily states (like hunger, fatigue, or arousal).
• Your brain interprets these signals based on context and past experience and labels them as an emotion.

Practical Takeaways:

• You can reshape your emotional experiences by:
• Learning new emotion concepts.
• Becoming more aware of your bodily sensations (interoception).
• Expanding your emotional vocabulary (“emotional granularity”).
• Emotional intelligence involves managing predictions, not just reactions.

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.