EMOTION - TOK

1. EMOTION - TOK BMIS TOK – Term 1 – 2012 This presentation is an adaptation of Chapter 6 of Richard van de Lagemaat’s ˆTheory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma (2011)

2. EMOTION • Before this class, did you typically think of emotion as one of the ways of knowing? • When you make decisions, do you use emotions to do so? • Does this change for different types of decisions? • Explain • Discuss in your groups – 5 minutes

3. Primary Emotions • Happiness • Sadness • Fear • Anger • Surprise • Disgust • People identify these with faces depicting them all across the world • Children born deaf and blind naturally show them. • But are there differences by culture on how much they are shown?

4. James-Lange Theory • “the emotions are essentially physical in nature, and bodily changes come before, and cause, emotional changes.” (de Lagemaat, p. 148) • So the idea is that if you take away the physical symptoms then the emotion goes away. • Also you can create an emotion by copying the physical symptoms. • When you EMPATHISE with someone you take on the physical symptoms – the mood. • BUT IS ALL THIS TALK TOO PHYSICAL – our beliefs are involved too – de Lagemaat argues this is how we are different from a dog.

5. http://www.google.mw/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/f/f4/20090829082327!The_Scream.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg&h=1052&w=813&sz=150&tbnid=p93zxVwuY_9qyM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=70&zoom=1&usg=__eYEC3tHcKQVzoxbHWqGJx5ruS4I=&docid=FPvV0qo5lYz_nM&sa=X&ei=T-ipUNmjFqGb0QWluYC4Cg&ved=0CCIQ9QEwAAhttp://www.google.mw/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/f/f4/20090829082327!The_Scream.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg&h=1052&w=813&sz=150&tbnid=p93zxVwuY_9qyM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=70&zoom=1&usg=__eYEC3tHcKQVzoxbHWqGJx5ruS4I=&docid=FPvV0qo5lYz_nM&sa=X&ei=T-ipUNmjFqGb0QWluYC4Cg&ved=0CCIQ9QEwAA

6. The Scream by Edvard Munch • How do you respond to the emotion in the painting? • If the human was a dog, how would you respond?

7. Social Emotions - HUMANS • Ambition • Contempt • Embarrassment • Envy • Gratitude • Guilt • Indignation • Jealousy • Pride • Shame • Sympathy

8. Emotion – the stuff of energy • Emotion gives us energy to get things done • Thomas Edison: “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” • Academic work is often not thrilled with excitement but marked by lots of hard work, failure and boredom with a later pay-off.

9. Emotions as WOK • Emotions –obstacle to knowledge • Emotion – source of knowledge • Intuition

10. Obstacles • Distorts our other ways of knowing: • Perception – emotional colouring – “love is blind” • Reason – “my way or the highway” • Language – use emotional and biased language • Rationalisations • What do we do when we rationalize? • Examples? • The story of the fox and the grapes (p.152) • The cigarette smoker • Test was unfair!!!!

11. Obstacles • IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOUR • Do we act rationally? As consumers? How do economists see us? • Stoics – ancient philosophers – focused on the idea of “apathy” – “without passion” • But what would life be like if there were no emotions?

12. Emotion – source of knowledge • What about Spock? De Lagemaat presents Steven Pinker’s view of Spock as being in control of emotions rather than without emotion. • Research on those with brain damage resulting in no emotion – psychologist Antonio Damasio – patient who had brain damage to emotion – could no longer make decisions. • Emotion – Reason – a continuum – we can gauge how rational our emotion is.

13. Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • “Anyone can be angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way – that is not easy.” • Two examples from Lagemaat – p. 157

14. Intuition • What do you think intuition is? Discuss in your groups. • Core intuitions – the basic ones about life, etc. • Subject-specific intuitions – in areas of knowledge • Social intuitions – about people