演讲者：Lisa Feldman Barrett
演讲题目:You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them
核心观点：
你可能会觉得你的情绪是天生的，它们就是会被触发，然后你就会有情绪，但不是这样的。
情绪到底是什么？情绪是猜测。情绪是你的大脑在当下建立的猜测，在大脑中，数十亿个脑细胞合作进行，而你能控制那些猜测的程度比你想像的还要高。
情绪看似是发生在你身上的，但其实情绪是你制造的。你对你的情绪有更高的控制权，比你想的还高。你的大脑是设定好的，如果你能改变你的大脑用来制造情绪的原料，那么你就可以转变你的情绪生活。如果你今天就改变那些原料，基本上，你是在教你的大脑如何用不同的方式预测明天，我称之为：成为建造你自身经验的建筑师。
你比你想像中的还要更能掌控你的情绪，且你有能力把情绪上的苦恼给调低一点，因而降低它对你人生造成的后果，做法就是要学习如何用不同的方式来建立你自己的经验。我们所有人都能办到，透过一点练习，我们还能够精通它，就像开车一样。一开始，要很努力去做，最终，会变成像是自动的一样。
参考要点：
（本参考只为意译，不妥之处欢迎指正。）
Now, when a jury has to make the decision between life in prison and the death penalty, they base their decision largely on whether or not the defendant feels remorseful for his actions.
当陪审团要做决定，选择要判终生监禁或死刑时，他们的决定基础主要是看被告是否对他的行为有悔意。
But as a scientist, I have to tell you that jurors do not and cannot detect remorse or any other emotion in anybody ever.
但身为科学家，我必须告诉你们，陪审团永远不能，也不可能，侦测任何人的悔意或任何其他情绪。
Neither can I, and neither can you, and that's because emotions are not what we think they are.
我也不行，你们也不行，那是因为情绪和我们所想的不一样。
They are not universally expressed and recognized. They are not hardwired brain reactions that are uncontrollable.
它们并没有普遍的表现方式，也没有被普遍认可。它们并不是无法控制的天生大脑反应。
We have misunderstood the nature of emotion for a very long time, and understanding what emotions really are has important consequences for all of us.
我们误解了情绪的天性，长年以来一直如此，了解情绪到底是什么，对我们所有人来说，都有很重要的后果。
It may feel to you like your emotions are hardwired and they just trigger and happen to you, but they don't.
你可能会觉得你的情绪是天生的，它们就是会被触发，然后你就会有情绪，但不是这样的。
You might believe that your brain is prewired with emotion circuits, that you're born with emotion circuits, but you're not.
你可能会认为你的大脑内建有情绪电路，你生出来就有情绪电路，但实情并非如此。
They are guesses that your brain constructs in the moment where billions of brain cells are working together, and you have more control over those guesses than you might imagine that you do.
情绪是你的大脑在当下建立的猜测，在大脑中，数十亿个脑细胞合作进行，而你能控制那些猜测的程度比你想像的还要高。
Now, if that sounds preposterous to you, or, you know, kind of crazy, I'm right there with you, because frankly, if I hadn't seen the evidence for myself, decades of evidence for myself, I am fairly sure that I wouldn't believe it either.
如果你觉得这听起来很荒谬，或是有点疯狂，我也有同感，因为坦白说，如果没亲自看过证据，数十年来的证据，我很确定我自己也不会相信。
But the bottom line is that emotions are not built into your brain at birth. They are just built.
但结果就是，情绪并不是你出生时就内建在你的大脑中的。情绪只是被建立起来。
So your brain does not react to the world. Using past experience, your brain predicts and constructs your experience of the world.
所以，你的大脑并不是对这个世界做出反应。你的大脑使用过去的经验，预测并建立出你对于世界的经验。
So the lesson here is that emotions that you seem to detect in other people actually come in part from what's inside your own head.
所以，这里的教训是，当你似乎从别人身上察觉到情绪时，那情绪其实有部分来自你自己的脑袋。
Now, if I haven't already gone out on a limb, I'll just edge out on that limb a little further and tell you that the way that you experience your own emotion is exactly the same process.
如果这番话还没吓跑你，那我要再进一步告诉各位，你经历你自己情绪的方式，是完全一样的过程。
Predictions link the sensations in your body that give you these simple feelings with what's going on around you in the world so that you know what to do.
预测的功能是把那些让你有简单感受的身体感知和你身边环境发生的事情连结起来，这样你才会知道该怎么做。
You are not at the mercy of mythical emotion circuits which are buried deep inside some ancient part of your brain. You have more control over your emotions than you think you do.
你并没有受到深埋在大脑古老区域的神话情绪电路所控制。你对你的情绪有更高的控制权，比你想的还高。
I don't mean that you can just snap your fingers and change how you feel the way that you would change your clothes, but your brain is wired so that if you change the ingredients that your brain uses to make emotion, then you can transform your emotional life.
我的意思并不是你可以弹一下手指就改变你的感觉，像换衣服一样，但你的大脑是设定好的，如果你能改变你的大脑用来制造情绪的原料，那么你就可以转变你的情绪生活。
And if they do that often enough, they not only can pass a test but it will be easier for them to pass their courses, and they might even finish college, which has a huge impact on their future earning potential. So I call this emotional intelligence in action.
如果他们常常这么做，他们不仅能通过考试，他们也会更容易通过他们选的课，他们甚至可以大学毕业，这对他们未来赚钱的潜能有很大的影响。所以我称之为：作用中的情绪智慧。
But I am telling you that you have more control over your emotions than you might imagine, and that you have the capacity to turn down the dial on emotional suffering and its consequences for your life by learning how to construct your experiences differently.
但我要告诉各位的是，你比你想像中的还要更能掌控你的情绪，且你有能力把情绪上的苦恼给调低一点，因而降低它对你人生造成的后果，做法就是要学习如何用不同的方式来建立你自己的经验。
Not because you're culpable for your emotions, but because the actions and the experiences that you make today become your brain's predictions for tomorrow.
并不是你应该要因为你的情绪而受责备，而是因为你今天的行为和经验会变成你的大脑为明天做的预测。
The idea that we are responsible for our own emotions seems very hard to swallow.
我们要为自己的情绪负责的这个想法，似乎非常难消化。
Embrace that responsibility, because it is the path to a healthier body, a more just and informed legal system, and a more flexible and potent emotional life.
拥抱那责任，因为这条路会通往更健康的身体、更公平和富有资讯的司法制度，以及更有弹性、更强大的情绪生活。
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