How We Feel

by Giovanni Frazzetto

What neuroscience can - and can't - tell us about our emotions.What can a brain scan, or our reaction to a Caravaggio painting, reveal about the deep seat of guilt?How can reading Heidegger, or conducting experiments on rats, help us to cope with anxiety in the face of the world's economic crisis?Can ancient remedies fight sadness more effectively than anti-depressants?What does the neuroscience of acting tell us about how we feel empathy, and fall for an actor on stage?What can writing poetry tell us about how joy works?And how can a bizarre neurological syndrome or a Shakespearean sonnet explain love and intimacy?We live at a time when neuroscience is unlocking the secrets of our emotions. But is science ever enough to explain why we feel the way we feel?Giovanni Frazzetto takes us on a journey through our everyday lives and most common emotions. In each chapter, his scientific knowledge mixes with personal experience to offer a compelling account of the continual contrast between rationality and sentiment, science and poetry. And he shows us that by facing this contrast, we can more fully understand ourselves and how we feel.

Genres: Psychology, Science, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Giovanni Frazzetto grew up on the South-East coast of Sicily. After high school, he moved to the UK to study science at University College London and in 2002 he received a PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. In his work, Giovanni connects literature and science. He has contributed to the international magazines Nature and Science and has written for Haaretz, the Irish Times, the Financial Times, Village Magazine, the Huffingtom Post and Psychology Today.

In 2008, for his cross-disciplinary and science communication efforts he was awarded the John Kendrew Young Scientist Award. Giovanni loves the sea, cooking, multimedia storytelling, whistling and learning foreign languages. He is fluent in Italian, German and French, and has conversational Portuguese, Greek and Russian and basic Hebrew. He has started to learn Irish. He is not good at giving street directions.
He now lives in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.

Reviews

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

É muito giro e interessante durante o primeiro capítulo e metade do segundo. A partir daí começa-se a perceber que é sempre a mesma coisa, há alguma palha pelo meio e muitos lugares comuns (o que não esperava de todo num livro de um neurocientista!) e o entusiasmo reduz significativamente.
No geral o livro não é mau, mas ler os diferentes capítulos (raiva, ansiedade, amor, culpa, etc) só tem interesse quando atravessamos essas emoções em específico porque o autor não tornou, na minha opinião, o seu texto suficientemente interessante para agarrar o leitor.
Apesar de tudo isto, esta é uma leitura que proporciona algumas descobertas interessantes e por isso avalio o livro com 3*

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frazzetto’s book tells us what neuroscience can and can’t tell us about seven core emotions: anger, guilt, anxiety, grief, empathy, joy, and love. Doing so puts the neuroscience of emotion into a broader context of art, philosophy, the humanities, and the legal / political domains. Most often this serves to make the book more interesting by offering stories beyond the case files of neurologists and neuroscience researchers, but it does result in occasional editorializing.

The book consists of seven chapters, each of which is linked to one of the emotions listed in the preceding paragraph. These chapters always tell us the rudiments of what science has learned about the brain’s role in said emotion, but they often offer insights from other disciplines as well as providing more general information about the brain that the author found particularly relevant to the topic at hand.

The first chapter delves into anger. Besides the neuroscience of rage, we learn a bit about the expression of emotion (e.g. through facial appearance; a theme revisited in other chapters), and the degree to which genetics plays a role in proclivity towards anger. This chapter serves to set up general concepts, and so we also learn about what an absence of emotion looks like (e.g. indecisiveness.) And in compliance with the law that every pop science book on neuroscience tell the story of Phineas Gage (the foreman who got rebar shot through his brain and lived to tell the story—though in an uncharacteristically hostile way), Frazzetto knocks it out early.

Chapter two explores the topic of guilt. It should be noted that some of these chapters discuss more than one related emotion, and here we learn how shame and regret are differentiated from guilt. There’s an interesting story about Caravaggio and how his own guilt-ridden story influenced one of his most famous paintings.

Chapter three is about anxiety, and also takes on fear. In addition to the neuroscience, we get a discussion of relevant philosophy, specifically that of Heidegger. Here, the author also describes brain plasticity.

The next chapter investigates grief. As I suggested above, there are multiple points where emotional expression is discussed, and this chapter has one of the most extensive of such discussions. In terms of general concepts, Frazzetto introduces the reader to neurotransmitters. One also learns how grief is related to physical pain.

Chapter five elucidates empathy. A lot of this chapter discusses acting, and the need for actors and actresses to be able to acquire empathy from the audience. The reader learns the story of Stanislavski, and how he went about creating his self-named acting system which remains widely used. This chapter also explains mirror neurons that allow one to recognize expression and to mimic others.

The penultimate chapter is about joy, and here we learn more about expression of emotions and, specifically, the seeming universality of smiles. There is a discussion of poetry as it pertains to the emotion at hand. Having introduced neurotransmitters earlier, the reader learns about dopamine, its role in happiness, and how a number of drugs have been created that increase our natural dopamine’s effect or mimic it.

The last chapter is about love. Of course, we learn about oxytocin and vasopressin, two neurochemicals famously associated with loving behavior. There is also a fascinating discussion of Capgras Syndrome. In this condition, the patient feels that his loved ones have been replaced by impostors. That may not seem relevant until one realizes that the proposed mechanism for this illness is damage to parts of the brain that control emotional connection. Without an emotional connection, the person feels that said individuals can’t be his / her dearest friends and family—though his senses register that they are exact duplicates in every way. The brain builds a rationalization that they must be impostors. Of course, no emotion evokes more resentment towards materialist explanations rooted entirely in biology than that of love.

The book is extensively annotated and also has a bibliography. There are many graphics throughout the book from line drawn diagrams of brains to photos of brain scans to the artwork “David with the Head of Goliath” mentioned relative to the discussion of Caravaggio’s guilt.

There are a number of books in this domain (i.e. the neuroscience of emotion) and if you were only going to read one, I don’t think I’d recommend this one as it. However, if you are into this topic, it is definitely worth a read. It’s interesting and insightful, and has a unique approach.

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πολύ ωραίο, δύσκολη γραφή, επιστημονική. Το προτείνω.

[Catarina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Foi um livro um bocado secante, not gonna lie. Mas também teve algumas partes interessantes. Em geral, a estrutura não me prendeu muito. It was okay.

[Juan de Soden Bonilla Jimenez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro bonito, de un neurocientífico, que explica como funcionan algunas emociones, desde su rama claramente...pero con ejemplos y anécdotas sumados a lo largo de la lectura, esto lo hace interesante.

Algunas de mis notas mientras lo leía antes de dormir:

La lógica del que sufre: si no sufro le daré la razón a mi agresor, cuando me dijo, que no era nada.

[7:13 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: El dolor disminuyó cuando existía un grupo que le diera sentido.
[7:14 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: Merecía la pena
[7:29 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: Las heridas pueden hacernos heridores o altruistas
[7:30 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: Tiene sentido cuando adquiere un compromiso social
[7:34 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: Si nos aislamos nos perdemos la oportunidad de dar sentido
[9:03 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: Si pensamos en un mundo sin eso, eso se convierte en inaceptable
[9:04 p. m., 18/7/2023] Juan カ: Debo imaginar una realidad correcta para ver así la precariedad
En la corteza prefrontal medial se almacena como en un disco de vinilo lo emocional de ciertas vivencias
[1:42 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: La corteza prefontal dañada le da a la amígdala libre paso, ojo ahí si se caen de chiquitillos jaja
[2:13 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: Gen violento: monoaminooxidasa a
[7:53 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: No se debe caer en las provocaciones

[8:59 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: **La culpa*
[8:59 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: Sobre los sueños, sobre su cualidad de satisfacción de deseos
[9:05 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: La ira es la respuesta a un ataque, así está escrito...
[9:18 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: Es diferente de la culpa
[9:21 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ: Culpa: privado, vergüenza: pública
[9:32 p. m., 24/7/2023] Juan カ:Esta busca la postergación de la especie

La angustia se da por la falta de algo, o por tener algo equivocado

[8:52 p. m., 3/8/2023] Juan カ: El duelo, este es proporcional a lo que emos perdido, no es mercantil
[4:08 p. m., 4/8/2023] Juan カ: Mucho lo que se hablaba en el capítulo de la luto es que existe una categorización de enfermedades que podría ser llamado psicológicas el tdp que desde sus inicios ha venido identificando una serie de enfermedades cada cierto tiempo se duplicaban por lo que el libro hacen llamado a no sobreestimar el luto como una enfermedad y muchas otras ya que el desarrollo de la psicofarmacología está causando que se suministren fármacos por enfermedades que tal vez requieren solo darse un tiempo un poco de empatía rememoración y compasión

[8:18 p. m., 6/8/2023] Juan カ: El teatro es un ritual de muerte como lo es de nacimiento
[8:18 p. m., 6/8/2023] Juan カ: Neuronas espejo y su uso en el teatro
[8:26 p. m., 6/8/2023] Juan カ: ALEGRÍA
[8:27 p. m., 6/8/2023] Juan カ: En forma poética hasta la desgracia parece bella,wao

Cuando pensamos cosas feas miramos a la izquierda porque el cerebro derecho procesa lo feo, y así al contrario

Edonismo: satisfacción de placeres (a fin con lo biológico) eudodemonismo descubrir y cultivar virtudes

[7:48 p. m., 7/8/2023] Juan カ: AMOR
[7:48 p. m., 7/8/2023] Juan カ: El amor es por encima de todo, locura

[8:24 p. m., 7/8/2023] Juan カ: Cuando estamos enamorados la atención predominante es el ser amado
[8:42 p. m., 7/8/2023] Juan カ: Cuando descubrimiento defectos en quien amábamos poco a poco se van convirtiendo en desconocidos

[Nelly Habib · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books i have ever read

[George Araman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ideas, great explanation from a neuroscience perspective and some good examples.

[Kareen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy uen libro, gran trabajo del autor, aprendí bastante sobre estos temas en profundidad también con la ayuda de las experiencias que nos brinda el autor, a leerlo todos.

[Michael Moseley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting scientific look at the bran and some of the science of how we feel. The source and the method to which the brain uses and controls emotions. Some interesting bits from the book:
Kant’s ‘innate morality’ Morality Intergrated in biology or behaviour pattens that demand regulation.
Networks for emotions rather than regions. Anxiety is the interest paid on troubles before it is due William Ralph Image. Perhaps I should read W H Auden’s poem “The Age of Anxiety”
What is the difference between fear and anxiety; fear specific ie lion, snakes or flying and anxiety is the fear of undefined fear looking for a reason.
Look at existential philosophy; reject universal lens, we are born to seek and choose.

So much going on in this book that I want to follow up.

[عبدالرحمن عقاب · Rating 3 out of 5]

ما يدفعني لقراءة مثل هذا الكتاب هو بحثي في المشاعر البشرية وكيفية تداخلها مع عملية التفكير وإصدار الأحكام.
والكتاب من هذه الزاوية جيد بعمومه يحتوي بعض المعلومات المهمة والمثيرة غير أنها منثورة بين كم أكبر من الكلام الفائض عن حاجة القاريء برأيي.
وتتفاوت فصول الكتب من حيث أهمية الطرح وعمق تناول الفكرة على الرغم من تساوي عدد صفحاتها بشكل أظنه مفتعل. فعني لقراءة مثل هذا الكتاب هو بحثي في المشاعر البشرية وكيفية تداخلها مع عملية التفكير وإصدار الأحكام.
والكتاب من هذه الزاوية جيد بعمومه يحتوي بعض المعلومات المهمة والمثيرة غير أنها منثورة بين كم أكبر من الكلام الفائض عن حاجة القاريء برأيي.
وتتفاوت فصول الكتب من حيث أهمية الطرح وعمق تناول الفكرة على الرغم من تساوي عدد صفحاتها بشكل أظنه مفتعل

[Bron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it must say something about me, rather than this book, that I steamed through the chapters on negative emotions but stalled on the one entitled joy. The author is a.neuroscientist and explains what is going on in the brain when we experience different emotions so it's science, not self help. But he also writes very engagingly about his personal experiences so it's nowhere near as dry as you might expect. The people I feel huge respect for are those who volunteered to recreate various emotions whilst inside an mri scanner! The only emotion I felt in those circumstances was abject terror and claustrophobia, and I didn't actually have my head inside the tunnel.

[Stephen Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, for sure, and well written, but some things to be disappointed with: trotting out the formula that emotions affect reason (ie negatively), and the usual stuff about crying as a state of "confusion" and "paralysis", when actually the opposite is true. Also, an empty, bland and very disappointing final chapter. But full marks for teasing out the importance of the communicative quality of emotion. A welcome book, then, but one to argue with.

[Sukanta Kumar Hazra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good subject and attempt at explaining the neurological basis of our feelings, however, on the whole I didn't find it a bit lacking in depth. The chapters start off well and are interesting in the beginning, however, the matter becomes dry and peters out quickly. Could make it more interesting by better illustrations and engaging material.

[PeterB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I knew a fair bit about the subjects he covers especially Wittgenstein, Brecht, Caravaggio and Heidegger, however it did give me a bit of insight into how some people's minds may work. I now have my friends pegged, but I don't really care since I'm obviously a psychopath ;)

[Kamran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, if you are interested in the subject