Lisa Feldman Barrett

I'm afraid of bees.

I could talk to myself until the cows come home.

It won't matter, right?

So what I have to do is dose myself with prediction error, meaning I have to interact with bees in a way that changes my actions, which will change my lived experience.

And I can't just do it all at once.

It's not like a good idea would not be for me to say, would not have been for me to go to like somebody who has beehives and, you know, put on a suit and go work.

I mean, that would be like overwhelming, right?

So instead, maybe I don't run.

Maybe I stand and watch.

Maybe I get closer to a bee.

Maybe I plant bushes and flowers that bees like a lot to bring bees to me so that I can sit and just be around them while they're buzzing and doing their thing.

Maybe I deliberately let myself get stung at some point, which I did.

But you're dosing yourself with... Your brain is making a set of predictions.

Those predictions...

There are a set of predictions.

That means your brain isn't preparing one action, it's preparing multiple actions.

Yes, so exactly.

You are setting up circumstances so you can prove to yourself that your predictions are wrong.