Josh Karthikeyan Week 11 - Emotions Are Lies
Last weekend, I watched the SuperBowl and I recently realized that everything I did was based on the collective emotions of my group. Whenever my friends cheered or booed, I also reacted in the exact same way even though I did not think at all in that moment; it was all instinct.
The most impactful decisions often stem from emotion. Emotion acts as a human survival instinct and ensures the decisions we make will lead to the highest likelihood of survival.
My favorite childhood shows always told me that my emotions are special, intricate, and are perfectly suited for me. But in reality, before even thinking, our brains emit neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin to steer us towards learning from our behaviors and choose the one that gives us the most feelings of happiness. These chemicals are powerful signals that shape our behaviors before we are even aware of them.
The novel, The Crucible by Arthur Miller explained how emotions can easily be used against the individual’s own thoughts. Mary Warren was the epitome of this and fell into “herd mentality.” As someone who was still developing mentally, she was used by Abigail and continued to be shaped by her situation.
Like Mary Warren, herd mentality is most relevant in today’s world as peer pressure. It occurs often when trying to fit in with friends and react to situations in the most “socially acceptable” way. Peer pressure demonstrates how emotions are not individualistic and actually spread from a person to another.
People subconsciously realize how emotions affect others as shown by common sayings like “Don’t ruin the mood” or “Laughter is contagious.” In our lives, the strongest power comes from being able to control our emotions and do our best to be logical.
Image by Dr. Liji Thomas
Hi Josh! I loved your sociological analysis of emotions and their power over us. I, too, sometimes find myself laughing even if I didn’t get the joke or didn’t find it all that funny. I like how you tie this to “survival,” because survival for humans doesn’t just mean food and water anymore, it means social validation: it's technically power that society holds over us. On the topic of Mary Warren, while I agree with you on her “‘herd mentality,’” I slightly disagree with you on the reason she gets it, since I don’t think she inadvertently went along with the crowd but was actually forced to do so unless she wanted to be murdered or brutally tortured: she realized the most effective method of getting out of those dystopian scenarios would be to turn on John and follow the crowd. However, I think she exemplifies your claims about emotions ruling our actions, as fear and the sudden power she had over John (as opposed to previously being shunned by the town) pushed her to lie about witchcraft which essentially indirectly condemned multiple people to death. In your writing, I think your use of a slightly academic yet relatable tone leads to an engaging and persuasive blog (especially with your multiple credible sources), and your use of analogies like that of Mary Warren or of you watching the Super Bowl make your points much clearer. Thank you for a fantastic blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Josh! I totally understand where you’re coming from in that I also feel emotion based off the collective mood of my group. This reminds me of the phrase that your personality is composed of the 5 people that you hang out with the most. I think the phrase is kind of flawed, but it does the job in explaining how the emotion that you’re surrounded by affects you as a person.
ReplyDeleteYes! Thank you for mentioning how neurotransmitters play a role in our everyday lives. Like you said, dopamine and serotonin are naturally emitted to stimulate and drive our behaviors. That’s why procrastination is so prevalent in the first place. Sometimes the tasks or assignments at school or work will feel so daunting that our brain treats it as a threat, and will do anything in its power to avoid it. Social media also contributes heavily to our generation’s procrastination, because the small dopamine hits that you get after every scroll start to become a lot more appealing once you start on a long assignment that doesn’t seem rewarding at all. I think it’s really interesting how our brains work to protect us from dangers, but sometimes in the modern day these old behaviors can affect our work. That’s why it’s so important to be logical as you said, like planning out organizers or splitting a big assignment into smaller steps just like the POAS! Planning a huge 13-page research paper may seem like an impossible task, but it’s quite achievable once your brain receives dopamine for every small part. I personally forgot that the entire POAS was 13 pages because we had done each part with a maximum of 2.5 pages.
Wonderful blog, Josh!
I loved how you connected the topic of your blog to what we’re reading in class, Josh—it’s important to look for parallels between the world we experience and the literature we read. Regarding herd mentality, I think there’s also something to be said about how it can influence broader behaviors than just emotion. It can influence what kinds of media we consume—for example, I would have never touched anime had a solid half of my friend group not kept pressuring me into watching their favorite show. It can also influence the opinions we hold and the perspectives we carry; for example, many people take on the same political views that are common among their family members or friends, because they are inclined to believe that a belief held by more people is more likely to be valid and correct. Herd mentality, in this way, has repeatedly altered the course of world history; it is one of the most effective ways in which political regimes can enforce their power and control populations. Everyone believes that everyone else is complicit, and that there’s no point in rebelling against the masses, so they end up complying as well. Herd mentality is a natural aspect of humanity, since everyone wants to be part of a greater whole. Yet, as complex, sentient beings, we should also make sure that we retain our individuality and the diversity of our perspectives in order to preserve balance in the world.
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