A summary of lagemaat Chapter 6 – Emotion
Legamaat Emotion Part
Introduction:
What is emotion in TOK:
- In TOK, Emotion is known as one of the WOK (Ways of Knowing) along
with perception, reason and language
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Aspects:
First, emotion was perceived as an obstacle to knowledge than a source (Ex.
An angry, frightened or infatuated person is unlikely to see clearly or reason
well): This is the reason why people said and says 'be reasonable'
People under emotional outburst, people make radical and impulsive decisions
and this shows why reason is ought to be in control
People often use their emotions for making decisions instead of reasons
because they rely more on instant feelings and instincts
The nature of the emotions:
What is Emotion?
- Internal feelings & external forms of behavior and these have the range from
mild irritation to blind anger. The vocab emotion was derived from the Latin verb
'Movere' meaning to move - Used for feelings, passions and moods.
What is passion?
- It refers to strong emotions
What is Mood?
- It refers to emotions that continues for a period of time
Example - 1: Emotions or Reasons?
- Which of the following word do you naturally associate with reason and
which do you naturally associate with emotion?
- Hot / - Folly / - Impulsive / - Controlled / - Cool / - Powerful / - Subjective / Objective / - Voluntary / - Blind / - Wisdom / - Instinctive / - Reflective / - Weak
Primary emotions and Basic emotions
- Primary Emotions: The basic emotions that humans born with
- 6 Basic Emotions: Happiness / Sadness / Fear / Anger / Surprise / Disgust
The reason why it is called as basic emotions:
- No matter where or how you live, all humans makes the same facial
expression for these basic feelings and by looking at them, humans are able to
understand and perceive the feelings of others substantially.
http://www.newsucanuse.org/wpcontent/uploads/2011/09/bigstock_faces_of_the_world_montage_fea_13615058.jpg
James-Lange Theory:
- This theory explains that emotions are essentially physical in nature and
bodily changes come before, and cause, emotional changes.
Example – 2: James-Lange Theory
- Sitting in front of an exam makes one nervous and anxious. While these
emotions arise, there are physical changes going on one’s body. Mouth dries, acute
pain or sinking feeling in the stomach, hands get wet, etc. By getting rid of these
physical changes, one’s feelings, like anxious or nervous, are gone.
Significance:
- This emphasizes that by getting rid of physical changes corresponding to the
emotion, the emotion will disappear and it works for all emotions and this works the
other way too. (Creating the physical change brings up the emotion related to the
change)
- This theory supports the mechanism that by mimicking the physical
appearance of someone will let viewer know and able to empathize the same/similar
feeling
Criticism of the James-Lange Theory:
- This theory is criticized due to the point that it is only focusing on the
physical and no even a single concern to the mental change of a human – experts
argue that mental factors should be considered as important and this is what
differentiates between humans and animals because humans have sophisticated
thought and beliefs like religion and mottoes
- With all these imaginations, ability to anticipate and the primary emotions
combine and bring up social emotions like guilt, gratitude, indignation, ambition,
pride, jealousy, etc.
Example – 3: Criticism of J-L Theory
- You see a black round rope shaped objects in a forest. Most of the times,
this kind of situations brings up anticipation and imagination simultaneously resulting
the object is a snake and starts to feel danger and risk. Yet, once the person finds out
it’s not a snake, one feels safe and these feelings of hazard disappear.
Another effect of emotion:
- Emotion is not only a good way to know oneself and decide what to do but
also it produces feelings like engagement and passion, in terms of active.
- Once Edison said, ‘Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration. This shows that constant perspiration might cause some form of
inspiration of the topic and with the inspiration, people are likely to work hard.
Example – 4: Passion and Engagement raised by emotion
- Writers, Inventors and Scientists repeat experiments daily and come up with
inspiration then follows perspiration. Yet, for that inspiration, people need
perspiration. Under this situation, one not only has passion but also continues being
passionate of the subject.
Conclusion of the beginning:
- Emotion was known as a disturbance on making logical and rational
decisions. Yet, even from now, people should perceive and notice that emotion is a
significant factor on making decisions and thoughts and moreover, emotions are
sometimes much more useful than reasons.
The ways of knowing in emotions
1. Emotions as an obstacle to knowledge
2. Emotions as a source of knowledge
3. Intuition
Key Concepts:
 Emotion was first known as an obstacle on making logical and rational
decisions
 After time, people perceived emotion as one of the ways of knowing because
it has significant effects and sometimes it is reliable
 Emotion contains feelings, moods and passion
Humans born with primary emotions and have 6 basic emotions which are: Happiness /
Sadness / Fear / Anger / Surprise / Disgust
 Emotion follows the James-Lange theory partly
 Emotions also have important relations with intellectual parts and raise
passion and engagement
These are explained in next sections