This volume presents cutting-edge theory and research on emotions as constructed events rather than fixed, essential entities. It provides a thorough introduction to the assumptions, hypotheses, and scientific methods that embody psychological constructionist approaches. Leading scholars examine the neurobiological, cognitive/perceptual, and social processes that give rise to the experiences Western cultures call sadness, anger, fear, and so on. The book explores such compelling questions as how the brain creates emotional experiences, whether the "ingredients" of emotions also give rise to other mental states, and how to define what is or is not an emotion. Introductory and concluding chapters by the editors identify key themes and controversies and compare psychological construction to other theories of emotion.

1. An Introduction to Psychological Construction, Lisa Feldman Barrett and James A. Russell
I. Foundations
2. Mental Mechanisms and Psychological Construction, Mitchell Herschbach & William Bechtel
3. Ten Common Misconceptions about Psychological Construction Theories of Emotion, Lisa Feldman Barrett
II. Psychological Construction Theories
4. The Conceptual Act Theory: A Roadmap, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Christine D. Wilson-Mendenhall, & Lawrence W. Barsalou
5. The Neuroscience of Construction: What Neuroimaging Approaches Can Tell Us about How the Brain Creates the Mind, Suzanne Oosterwijk, Alexandra Touroutoglou, & Kristen A. Lindquist
6. Emotions as Semantic Pointers: Constructive Neural Mechanisms, Paul Thagard & Tobias Schröder
7. Affect Dynamics: Iterative Reprocessing in the Production of Emotional Responses, William A. Cunningham, Kristen Dunfield, & Paul Stillman
8. My Psychological Construction Perspective, with a Focus on Conscious Affective Experience, James A. Russell
9. Emotions as Emergent Variables, James A. Coan & Marlen Z. Gonzalez
III. Core Affect
10. Brain Mechanisms of Pleasure: The Core Affect Component of Emotion, Morton L. Kringelbach & Kent C. Berridge
11. Mesolimbic Dopamine and Emotion: A Complex Contribution to a Complex Phenomenon, John D. Salamone, Mercè Correa, Patrick A. Randall, & Eric J. Nunes
12. An Approach to Mapping the Neurophysiological State of the Body to Affective Experience, Ian R. Kleckner and Karen S. Quigley
IV. Commentary and Consilience
13. Can an Appraisal Model Be Compatible with Psychological Constructionism?, Andrew Ortony & Gerald Clore
14. Basic Emotions, Psychological Construction, and the Problem of Variability, Andrea Scarantino
15. A Sociodynamic Perspective on the Construction of Emotion, Michael Boiger & Batja Mesquita
16. Evolutionary Constraints and Cognitive Mechanisms in the Construction of an Emotion: Insights from Human and Nonhuman Primates, Jennifer M. B. Fugate
V. Integration and Reflection
17. The Greater Constructionist Project for Emotion, James A. Russell
18. Construction as an Integrative Framework for the Science of the Emotion, Lisa Feldman Barrett
Afterword: Emotional Construction in the Brain, Joseph LeDoux
Index