Lisa Feldman Barrett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lisa Feldman Barrett
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Barrett in 2024
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| Born | 1963 (age 61–62) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| Nationality | Canadian |
| Citizenship | United States, Canada |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Theory of constructed emotion |
| Spouse(s) | Daniel J. Barrett |
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| Thesis | On the failure to differentiate anxiety and depression in self-report (1992) |
| Doctoral advisor | Mike Ross |
| Doctoral students | Tamlin Conner |
Lisa Feldman Barrett is a Canadian-American psychologist. She is a top professor of psychology at Northeastern University. There, she studies how our brains create emotions. She also helps lead a special lab that looks at the science of emotions from many angles.
Dr. Barrett has won some of the highest awards in psychology. These include the William James Fellow Award and the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. She also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which is a special grant for talented people. She helped start the journal Emotion Review and co-founded the Society for Affective Science.
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About Lisa Feldman Barrett
Lisa Feldman Barrett was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1963. Her family did not have a lot of money. She was the first person in her family to go to university. She studied at the University of Toronto and then got her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Waterloo.
She wanted to become a therapist. But during her studies, she ran into a puzzle. She tried an experiment eight times, and it didn't work the way she expected. She then realized her "failures" were actually showing something new! This discovery changed her path. It led her to spend her life studying how emotions work in the brain.
Dr. Barrett has taught psychology at several universities. These include Penn State University, Boston College, and Northeastern University. Over time, she moved from helping people as a therapist to studying the brain. She now looks at emotions from many different science viewpoints.
She gets her ideas from famous thinkers like William James, Wilhelm Wundt, and Charles Darwin. From 2018 to 2025, she was named one of the top one percent of most-cited scientists in the world. This means many other scientists use her work in their own research.
Besides her university work, Dr. Barrett has written two books for everyone to read. They are How Emotions are Made (2017) and Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain (2020). Her TED Talk about emotions was also very popular in 2018.
Studying Human Emotions
Dr. Barrett's early research looked at how emotions are put together. She created new ways to study how people experience feelings. Her lab at Northeastern University studies emotions from many angles. They use ideas from social psychology, how our bodies react, brain science, and even philosophy. They also explore how emotions affect what we see and other parts of our minds.
She joined Northeastern University in 2010. Before that, she taught at Boston College and Pennsylvania State University. One of her notable students is Tamlin Conner.
Her research has focused on big questions about emotions, such as:
- What are the basic parts that make up our emotional lives?
- Why do we easily see anger, sadness, or fear in ourselves and others? But why is it hard for scientists to agree on how to define these emotions?
- How do language and what we already know affect how we see emotions?
- Are there real differences in how men and women experience emotions?
Theory of Constructed Emotion
Dr. Barrett developed her main idea about emotions during her graduate studies. This idea is called the "theory of constructed emotion."
She believes that emotions are not the same for everyone. They can change from one culture to another. She says that emotions are not just "triggered" by something. Instead, you "create" them. They come from a mix of your body's physical state and your brain. Your brain learns and changes based on your environment. Your culture and how you grew up also play a big part.
Dr. Barrett also points out interesting facts about how emotions are shown. For example, she says that smiling became popular only in the 1700s. This was when dentistry became more common and affordable.
Awards and Honors
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett has received many important awards for her work. Some of these include:
- Independent Scientist Research Award, National Institute of Mental Health, 2002–2007.
- Fellow, Association for Psychological Science, 2003.
- Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2005.
- Fellow, American Psychological Association, 2005.
- Career Trajectory Award, Society of Experimental Social Psychology, 2006.
- Cattell Fund Fellowship, 2007–2008.
- NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 2007–2012. This award helped her study how the brain creates emotion.
- Kavli Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, 2008.
- Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008.
- Arts in Academics award, University of Waterloo, 2010.
- Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award, Northeastern University, 2012.
- Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, 2012.
- Award for Distinguished Service in Psychological Science, American Psychological Association, 2013.
- Elected Fellow, Society of Experimental Psychologists, 2013.
- Diener Award in Social Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2014.
- Heritage Wall of Fame, Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology, 2016.
- Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement, Association for Psychological Science, 2018.
- Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2018.
- President, Association for Psychological Science, 2019–2020.
- Guggenheim Fellowship in neuroscience, 2019.
- John P. McGovern Award in the Behavioral Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020.
- APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, American Psychological Association, 2021.
- Mentorship Award in Affective Science, Society for Affective Science, 2022.
- Ruhr Award for Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum, 2024.
- Paul D. MacLean Award for Outstanding Neuroscience Research in Psychosomatic Medicine, American Psychosomatic Society, 2024.
- Laureat, Pufendorf Lectures, Department of Philosophy, Lund University, 2024.
- William James Fellow Award, Association for Psychological Science, 2025.
Books by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Dr. Barrett has written several books, including:
- Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. ISBN: 0358157145.
- How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. ISBN: 0544133315.
- Handbook of Emotions, Fourth Edition. Guilford Fubn, 2018.
- The Psychological Construction of Emotion, Guilford Fubn, 2014.
See also
In Spanish: Lisa Feldman Barrett para niños
- Sapir–Whorf hypothesis
- List of University of Waterloo people
