Monday, April 29, 2013

Emotion, Memory & Reason

1. Memory is highly affected by adrenaline. During dramatic experiences, we have more adrenaline and therefore have a better memory of the experience. Dramatic experience result in dramatic emotions; whether those emotions are negative or positive (embarrassment, shock, excitement, etc.) Therefore, when a person feels a dramatic emotion, that person will have a more vivid memory of the experience that caused that emotion. For example, I have a rather strong memory of when I won an award for visual arts multiple years ago, but I can't remember what it was like when I went to the grocery store last week. Emotional memory is also stronger than factual memory.  This means that our strong emotions can alter our memories to more dramatically fit the emotions we felt at the time. This emotion can over power the facts of what actually happened.
2. "High reason" is decision making using only logical reasoning, without any interference of emotions. The "somatic hypothesis" is that when our minds are unable to come to a conclusion using reason alone, we turn to our emotions to make the decision. Although I try to make decisions using more reason than emotion, emotion tends to take over, particularly with larger life decisions. When I was younger, I would approach decision making in a more reason-based way, but in the past couple of years I have let my emotions take over a bit. This is because when I was younger I had not experienced as wide a range of emotions and had not been as negatively affected my emotions as I am today. I have recently decided on going to art school after I graduate, a choice I have struggled with for quite some time. I realized that the only thing holding me back was the fear of not being talented enough.

http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/ways-of-knowing/emotion/how-closely-are-reason-and-emotion-related.php 

Monday, April 8, 2013

Thoughts and Questions on Language

"Every Teacher Is A Language Teacher" packet-page 205
Linguistic Determinism-The idea that our thoughts are completely restricted and determined by the languages we speak. I think that the learning of languages can improve the overall understanding of concepts, but only to certain point. It is true that there are certain words that only exist in specific languages, but that does not mean that the meaning of the word or the concept does not exist to people who do not speak that language. The term "deja vu" is a French term, meaning that you feel as though you have experienced an exact situation more than once. Just because we do not have an English word for this feeling, it does not mean that English speakers do not experience and understand this language.
TOK Questions:
Does our range of vocabulary limit our range of thoughts?
How does naming an idea affect our understanding of the idea?