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You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them | Lisa Feldman Barrett
Your racing heart isn't a verdict. Your brain is guessing, and you can teach it better guesses. 🧠
Who it's for
Barrett argues that emotions are guesses the brain constructs from past experience and bodily sensations, not fixed circuits that fire automatically.
Feelings it meets
What it is
In this TED@IBM talk (December 2017), psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett draws on about 25 years of research, including studies of facial expressions, brain scans and physiology, to question common ideas about how emotions work. She asks whether faces reliably show what people feel and whether everyone experiences emotions the same way.
Where to find it
YouTube, official TED channel (free). Also on TED.com, which offers an interactive transcript.
Before you start
Heads up: References the Boston Marathon bombing.
Age: Ages 14+
And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, “On Time”
