‘ Human beings regulate each ’ other's nervous system
LISA FELDMAN BARRETT speaks to Down To Earth
What could be the impact of your "Theory of Constructed Emotions" on related disciplines?
The book deliberately integrates psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy (as well as a bit of biology and anthropology) to understand how emotions are made—it is a multidisciplinary approach. I use the science of emotion as a lens to explore some of the unanswered questions about what it means to be human, including consciousness, knowledge formation, responsibility and our relationship to other animals.
Does your theory throw light on how we form bonds?
Yes. An infant brain is not a miniature adult brain—it is a brain waiting for wiring instructions from the world, including caregivers. An infant depends on caregivers to balance her body budget, and this sets up the conditions for bonding (and also for knowledge formation).
What explains the rise of physiological changes when one receives the news of the loss of a family member as against the relative detachments with which one can process the death of an acquaintance?
Humans are social animals. We regulate each other's nervous systems. Often without knowing it, we assist one another with the necessary body budget regulation to meet the changing demands of life. A close family member or someone you are bonded with is a person who helps to regulate your nervous system as you help to regulate theirs. When you lose that person, it feels as if you are losing a part of yourself. This is not true when you learn about the death of someone who plays less of a role in your body budget management.
You have authored academic books and peer-reviewed articles. What made you reach out to readers outside the academia?
People are being harmed when physicians, policymakers and the law use a classical view of emotion. Opportunities in parenting, education and industry are being missed. Understanding how emotions are made—as a way of understanding how your brain functions in the context of the brains of other people around you, as well as a means to understanding how science works—can be a game changer. Knowledge is power.