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Psychiatrists, like the rest of the world, have
been accustomed to the idea that reason and emotion are 2 separate
and opposite functions. During the past 10 years, the barriers between
these functions have been breaking down gradually. Perhaps the most
visible symptom of this change has been cognitive psychotherapy,
which was developed on a rather novel assumption that thinking can
significantly alter abnormal feelings. The arguments for a more
integrated functioning of “the head and the heart” have
since been steadily growing. Antonio Damasio, whose books have been
reviewed earlier in this journal, has best articulated the support
for integration from the neuroscience side. Dylan Evans summarizes
some of the psychological and anthropological support in a popular
version.
The book is a useful introduction to what is taking place in psychological
thinking and research on emotions. Reminiscent of ideas from the
enlightenment and romanticism ages, the emotions are back as one
of the central processes, and Evans provides a nice, lean, and rich
survey that both enlightens and surprises. His small-looking book
is often a surprisingly large account of an aspect of our mental
activity that has often been neglected. Evans argues for a return
to the view that was favoured a couple of centuries ago—the
view of emotions as reason’s ally, not its enemy. He wants
the readers to achieve this by learning about the recent scientific
advances in our understanding of emotions.
Written in an introductory manner, the book touches on the issues
that have recently become important again—issues such as the
origins of emotions, how far they can be controlled, and why they
are important to us. Evans makes a strong case for the idea that
human emotion embodies a socially adjusted wisdom that is of equal
value to—and sometimes even deeper and broader than—conscious
rationality.
Some of the questions about the emotions are intriguing indeed:
Was the emotion of love invented by European poets in the Middle
Ages, or is it part of human nature? Is it possible to build robots
that have feelings? Would there be adverse consequences of such
technologies? Will winning the lottery really make you happy?
While the book was probably meant primarily for a popular audience,
it will interest psychiatrists because of the tremendous emphasis
on mood in recent psychiatry. For much of the 20th century, research
in emotions was confined to a few psychologists; emotion and moods
have now become hot topics in several other disciplines.
While most of the quoted material is of experimental psychological
nature, he also draws on a wide range of research from anthropology,
artificial intelligence and, at times, neuroscience. Evans’
examples from belles-lettres are particularly appealing.
Drawing on anthropological and psychological research, Evans concludes
that basic emotions are our common heritage, a universal language.
While there are some cultural differences in expressing emotions,
the differences between emotional experiences around the world are
minor when compared with the similarities. He describes at length
“the technologies of mood,” ranging from psychotherapy
and art to drugs and meditation and promising to provide us with
shortcuts to positive emotions and happiness. He discusses the dangers
that have troubled some of the attempts to circumvent the more reliable
paths to happiness.
In a separate chapter, Evans explains how emotions affect memory,
attention, and perception. He describes how this impact enables
those with technologies exploiting emotions to abuse this relation,
for example, advertisers and politicians. The last chapter deals
with questions raised about emotions in the field of artificial
intelligence. Evans appreciates that a solid theory of emotions
is still beyond our grasp.
The book is well-written, interesting, imaginative, and entertaining.
The simplification has gone a bit too far in neuroanatomy and neurochemistry,
and for my taste, the emphasis on evolutionary benefits of having
emotions is somewhat overdone. But these points do not detract from
the value of this book. The basic argument about an integral interconnectedness
of “the reason and the passions” is very timely. The sections
that discuss further reading and source material are excellent and
valuable. The book is a stimulating contribution to the current
rethinking of our basic concepts.
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