‘Without feeling we would not be moved to do anything’

How did a theoretical physicist come to write about emotion?

I have been interested in psychology and neuroscience for 10 years now and have written two prior books on the topic. The scientific study of emotions is now being revolutionised and so it is a very exciting topic, and obviously very relevant to all of us!

The subtitle of your book is 'The new thinking about feelings': what's the most exciting new aspect from the last decade of research and practice, to your mind?

It is the idea that everything we thought we knew about emotions is all wrong. In particular, not only are they not counterproductive, they are a necessary part of our thinking and cannot even be separated from logical/rational thought. All of our thought is affected by emotion at all times.

You point out that the word 'emotion' derived from the Latin movere, 'to move'. That's a central part of your argument, right?

Our brain takes in data and performs calculations to determine our actions. That is 'motion'. Emotion is central to those decisions. Without feeling we would not be moved to do anything. We would just sit still like a computer that has not been given any instructions.

"I think it is important to tell stories and to write about how the science is illustrated in people's lives."

Emotions are perhaps often considered reflexive, but you show how they actually allow for a delay between the event that triggers the emotion, and the response?

Emotion may be considered reflexive, but it is not. It is wrong to think that there are standard triggers that will always produce the same emotion. Emotion is superior to reflexive behaviour. In reflexive behaviour, a trigger leads to a fixed behaviour. If emotions are involved, then a trigger leads to an emotion, and then to behaviour. Along the way the emotion and other factors are taken into account before the behaviour is set into motion. That is a more sophisticated way of responding.

Your section on head transplants led to a lively discussion in our house. 

As I write, 'That the connection of a brain to a body to which it is not accustomed could lead to death, no matter how technically splendid the merger, is perhaps the greatest sign of the intimacy and importance of the mind-body connection.' Your head is not accustomed to having the input from that other body!

Do you feel you've become more in tune with your own emotional profile through writing the book? Are there techniques you have learned and put into practice in your everyday life?

I have definitely become more in tune with my own emotions. I am more aware of them and also of the emotions of people around me. And I find the techniques that I talk about in the emotion management chapter to be very useful… especially reappraisal.

'The Goodbye' to your mother was a really powerful chapter, and a great example of how psychology research can come to us at such key points in our lives. In hindsight, do you think that decision in the midst of Covid – to send her to the hospital rather than 'stay in her home to die in peace' – was one made with 'head' or 'heart'?

I had made a decision with my head, but then overrode it with the decision that my heart made. And I think it was the right one.

How did you find reading about psychology / talking to psychologists for this book? Perhaps particularly in terms of the reliability and validity of the research, when it comes to trying to study such an ineffable thing in a lab? 

I enjoyed having long talks with psychology researchers for this book. And it helped that Ralph Adolphs and Lisa Feldman Barrett, eminent emotion researchers, are friends of mine. I had many long hours of talk with them, especially Ralph. Such discussions were key because I could clarify points that were not clear from reading the literature. I read several hundred academic papers in writing this book. There often was not agreement, so I had to untangle things and try to decide who was right!

For you, what are the main ingredients of a strong story about science?

I think it is important to tell stories and to write about how the science is illustrated in people's lives. And how the principles that I talk about affect people's lives. And of course it is always good to have a sense of humour. I like my books to be entertaining as well as informative, and to be useful in people's lives.

What do you hope for next in terms of psychologists' understanding of emotion?

My first hope is for society, not science. I hope that people learn more about emotion and how it affects their thinking, and thus become more emotionally intelligent. As for the science, I look forward to a time when the mechanisms involved are better understood, leading to better treatments for emotion disorders. And a better understanding of the gut brain axis and the role of nutrition in a healthy emotional life.

Emotional: The New Thinking Around Feelings, by Len Mlodinow, was published in January 2022 by Penguin.