EMOTION TOK
BMIS TOK – TERM 1 – 2012
T H I S P R E S E N T A T I O N I S A N A D A P T A T I O N O F C H A P T E R 6 O F R I C H A RD
V A N D E L A G E M A A T ’ S ˆ T H E O R Y O F K N O WL E D GE F O R T H E I B D I P L O M A
(2011)
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
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?
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.
http://www.google.mw/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/f/f4/20090829082327!Th
e_Scream.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg&h=1052&w=813&sz=150&tbnid=p93
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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?
SOCIAL EMOTIONS HUMANS
Ambition
Contempt
Embarrassment
Envy
Gratitude
Guilt
Indignation
Jealousy
Pride
Shame
Sympathy
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.
EMOTIONS AS WOK
Emotions – obstacle to knowledge
Emotion – source of knowledge
Intuition
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!!!!
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?
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.
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
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