CUSTOMIZING MY EMOTIONAL SPIN CYCLE:
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
BY ALYSSA CHUN
PSYCH 409A—FALL 2001—G15
DR. LEON JAMES, INSTRUCTOR
T A B L E
O F C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION
PROJECT OVERVIEW
EMOTIONS
FEELINGS
THREEFOLD-SELF
HEIRACHY OF MOTIVES
The
emotional spin cycle is a cycle in which every individual encounters every
day. It is a cycle that consists of both
positive and negative feelings that lead to thoughts, resulting in
actions. Because there is no one
particular definition for emotions, feelings, the threefold-self, and the
hierarchy of motives, and they are all intertwined in relation to each other and
the emotional spin cycle, in this report I will cite various quotes, tables,
graphics, and accounts from actual people that pose various theories and views
which will help us to understand each of them a little better. Theses sources are derived from generational
curriculum, news media, websites, and articles to present an in-depth insight
into the individual’s emotional spin cycle.
Since the emotional spin cycle is centered around both positive and negative feelings, leading to thoughts, resulting in actions, many times we can modify our thoughts and behavior through recognition and adaptation. First, we need to recognize what sensations we experience when we encounter a situation. Through recognition we gain insight into our emotional spin cycle and once we are aware of what we are “feeling” we can take the appropriate steps to change how we think, act, and react to a variety of situations and events.
Because
this project is so complex, the following overview is derived directly from the
Instructions for Report 1, written by Dr. Leon James and will present a
detailed overview of this project.
|
Citation: “General Instructions for Your Research
Project.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy15/g15reports-instructions.html “All individuals are socialized in accordance with
cultural norms. To be socialized means to acquire particular habits in the
three areas of human functioning: ·
habits of feeling (AFFECTIVE DOMAIN OF BEHAVIOR) ·
habits of thinking (COGNITIVE DOMAIN OF BEHAVIOR) ·
habits of acting (SENSORI-MOTOR DOMAIN OF BEHAVIOR) Every
individual has a threefold-self in which the three parts function together,
yet each can be distinguished and isolated for observation and
self-modification. The
threefold-self has two arenas to function in. One is the arena of
"others" (or the world out there), and the second is the arena of
"self." These two arenas--Others and Self--each require their own
particular way of functioning. The arena of others is referred to as
"the red zone" and the arena of self as "the blue zone."
Every day individuals have to function in both zones since they have to deal
with others (red zone) and with oneself (blue zone). The two zones (red and blue) can be either negative or
positive. For instance, rage is in "the negative red zone" because
it is the feeling of anger against someone or thing. Compassion is in
"the positive red zone" because it is the feeling of tolerance and
caring for someone or thing. Similarly, "the negative blue zone"
includes depression and self-destructive behavior since these are negative
feelings towards the self. "The positive blue zone" includes feelings
of self-mastery and satisfaction since these are positive feelings towards
the self. The
content of the 4 zones and 12 settings are: Zone
1 (negative red) = Feeling rage-anger (setting 1) coupled with impaired
thinking (2) lead to aggressive behavior (3) Zone
2 (negative blue) = Feeling depression (setting 4) coupled with pessimistic
thinking (5) lead to self-destructive behavior (6). Zone
3 (positive blue) = Feeling self-mastery and self-satisfaction (setting 7)
coupled with optimistic thinking (8) lead to self-enhancing behavior (9). Zone 4 (positive red) = Feeling zeal or compassion
(setting 10) coupled with emotionally intelligent thinking (11) lead to
supportive and constructive behavior (12).
Individuals need to recognize their emotional spin cycle
in order to control it or customize it to their preference. The coping and
successful person learns to control their spin cycle. Today, the majority of
people report daily feelings of anger and depression, which means most
individuals are stuck in the negative zone (settings 1 to 6) for too long
each day. There is a habitual and automatic flip-flop effect between zone 1
(settings 1 to 3) and zone 2 (settings 4 to 6). After being active in the
rage zone against others, individuals find themselves automatically sliding
into the rage zone against the self, which is a state of depression. This
rage-depression flip-flop is a sociogenic habit that results from
socialization.” |
Summarizing
the contribution of Wukmir’s work of 1967 “Emoción y Sufrimiento”, this article
poses a somewhat logical explanation of emotion. Prior to Wukmir’s work, emotions were not defined but rather
uncertainties and hazy descriptions of its general effects. I chose this article because it conveys an
insightful approach to the explanation of emotional phenomenon while clarifying
traditional theories about something so fundamental as the nature of
emotion. I thought that this article
defined the term emotion extremely well.
The following excerpts are based on the English translation of the
original Spanish Text. I thought I
would just summarize this article but I found that one must read the majority
of the article to gain insight to its relevance to the emotional spin cycle in
the way that we perceive ourselves, others, and various situations and
circumstances. With that in mind,
please be patient, and take the time to read the main points of the article
below.
|
Citation: “What is emotion?” Internet. 27 Sept.
2001. Available: http://www.biopsychology.org/biopsychology/papers/what_is_emotion.htm “We are always
experiencing some type of emotion or feeling. Our emotional state varies
along the day in function of what happens to us and of the stimuli that we
perceive. However, we may not always be conscious of it, that is to say, we
may not know or express with clarity which emotion we are experiencing in a
given moment. Emotions are very complex
experiences and, to express them, we use a great variety of terms, besides
gestures and attitudes. In fact, as good poets show us, we could use all the
words of a dictionary to express different emotions. Therefore, due to the
infinite extension of emotional phenomena, it is impossible to make a full
description of all the emotions that we can experience. However, the usual
vocabulary to describe emotions is quite reduced and so, it allows people
with the same cultural background, to share them.” “The complexity with
which we can express our emotions makes us think that emotion is a
multifactorial or multidimensional process. We always have the impression
that we lack words to describe our emotions accurately. But under this
complexity, it underlies a common factor to all emotions: each emotion
expresses a quantity or magnitude in a positive/negative scale. This way, we
experience positive and negative emotions in different degrees and with
diverse intensity. We can experience abrupt or gradual changes of emotional
intensity, either towards the positive or negative side. That is to say, all
emotion represents a magnitude or measurement along a continuum that can take
positive or negative values. In everyday language, we
express our emotions with a positive-negative scale and in variable
magnitudes, such as "I feel quite well", "I feel well",
"I feel very well" (degrees in the positive axis) or "I feel
quite bad", "I feel bad", "I feel very bad" (degrees
in the negative axis). According to the
situation in which emotion is aroused, we choose words such as 'love',
'friendship', 'fear', 'uncertainty', 'respect', etc., that, at the same time,
show the emotional sign (positive or negative). And according to the
intensity of the emotion we choose words like 'nothing', 'quite', 'some',
'enough', 'very', etc., and, in this way, we compose the description of an
emotion. We say, for example, "I feel very well understood"
(positive) or "I feel a little deceived" (negative). As a result of it, we can
recognize in all emotions two well-differentiated components. On one hand, a
qualitative component that is expressed by means of the word that we use to
describe the emotion (love, friendship, fear, insecurity, etc.) determining
the positiveness or negativeness of the emotional sign. On the other hand, all
emotions possess a quantitative component that is expressed by means of words
of magnitude (little, quite, enough, a lot, great, some, much, etc.). The
following table tries to reflect these two components of all emotions.”
“What is the meaning of
the qualitative and quantitative components that all emotions have? What do
our emotions measure? What does it mean 'positive' and 'negative' in our
emotions? What is an emotion? All living organisms have
perceptive mechanisms that allow them to recognize those stimuli that are
significant for their survival. Stimuli that help them to obtain food, to be
protected from attacks, etc. But perception only solves a part of the
survival problem, because perception just recognizes the stimuli and
identifies them. But that is not enough
for living beings survival. They also need to know if the perceived
(recognized) stimuli are useful and favorable for their survival. To do so,
they need some kind of mechanism to know if what they have perceived is
favorable for their survival. What kind of mechanism can it be? V.J. Wukmir (1967)
proposed that emotions are this mechanism. Emotion is an immediate answer of
the organism that informs about the degree of favorability of the perceived
situation. If it seems to favor its survival, the living being experiences a
positive emotion (happiness, satisfaction, desire, peace, etc.), and it
experiences a negative emotion (sadness, disillusion, sorrow, anguish, etc.)
when the situation seems to be unfavorable for its survival. All living
beings have this mechanism of emotion which guides them all the time, acting
as a compass, to find favorable situations to survive (those which produce
positive emotions) and to move away from those unfavorable for survival
(which produce negative emotions).” “This emotional appraisal
is carried out by means of many diverse physico-chemical mechanisms depending
on the complexity of the organism. Even unicellular organisms have simple
emotional mechanisms to evaluate if a situation or stimulus is favorable or
unfavorable to survive. Mammals have much more complex emotional mechanisms
and their brain plays the fundamental role (limbic system among
others). With the development of
the brain cortex, in the evolution of the neurological system, the cognitive
processes play a very important role in the elaboration of emotions. In
particular, the importance of the neocortex in the human species is such
that, the cognitive processes determine in great measure our emotions. But
the fact that the córtex and neocórtex participate in the elaboration of the
emotions doesn't mean that they do it in a rational way. The elaboration of
the emotions is an involuntary process, of which you can only be partially
conscious. Often we speak about the
emotional control or about controlling the emotions as a necessary ability
for successful social relationships. In this case, to control the emotions
means that one is able of concealing the emotions that is experiencing. That
is to say, we don't have control about the emotion itself and we just can
control its external manifestation. In
summary, we want to say that by means of the emotion, an organism knows,
conscious or unconsciously, if a situation is more or less favorable for its
survival. The emotion is the fundamental mechanism that all the living beings
possess to be guided in their struggle for survival.” |
However, according to
Jyotindra, a classical pianist, we should not try to suppress our emotions
because they are natural. But, as she
states, we can try to change them to higher, less disturbing emotions so that
we can attain a sense of balance, therefore operating in zones 3 and 4 of the
emotional spin cycle. The following
quote may be debatable. Some say the
complete opposite—that expressing emotions may be more detrimental to an
individual than suppressing them. So
which one is correct? I guess everyone
has his or her own viewpoints. I, agree
with Jyotindra but only to an extent.
Expressing emotions may be very beneficial. Sharing happiness may make others happier around you, sharing
anger may sometimes stop people from taking advantage of you—etc. However there is definitely a time when one
should suppress their emotions as well—especially depending on how they tend to
act upon their emotions. For instance,
if someone is so angry and their intention is to cause damage to someone or
something, they should definitely suppress their feelings. What do you think?
|
Citation: “Should we only listen to spiritual
music?” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/2911/music.html “Emotions are of course human, they are perfectly
natural. We should never try to kill -to suppress- our emotions. But we can
try to change them into higher, less disturbing emotions, so that we feel
more balanced.” |
Another paralleling viewpoint but in a more technical aspect
of emotion is that of Squires. This
article indicates that suppressing your emotions in not an intelligent thing to
do. While a person experiences things
such as stress, their body physically tenses up and interferes with the ability
to think clearly during the event and to recall the details afterward. It also states that encouraging emotions
frees brain cells to perform other functions vital to our emotional spin cycle
such as thinking. I was very intrigued
by this article and learned a lot.
Previous to reading this article, I did not know that expressing
emotions actually interfered with things such as thinking. Sure, I knew that when you are mad, you
can’t think clearly but I thought it was only a figure of speech.
|
Citation: “Science Proves It: Restraining Your
Emotions Is Not Very Smart.”
Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-09/26/024l-092600-idx.html “Suppressing emotions is a common,
and often highly regarded, habit of modern life.” “But keeping a lid on emotions takes
so much vigilance, according to a series of recent studies by Richards and
James J. Gross of Stanford University, that it seriously drains brain power.” “Avoiding suppression of emotions frees brain cells to perform
other functions, such as thinking. That, in turn, "makes it easier to
remember what was going on around you later on," Richards says.” “Which is not to suggest
"letting it all hang out" makes you a genius. Or that suppressing
emotions isn't important from time to time. "Don't wipe it from your
emotional repertoire," Richards says. "It can serve an important
function. But just be aware that by virtue of suppressing, you may not be
paying enough attention to the world around you.” |
“How to
Express Difficult Feelings” ascertains that feelings and thoughts are different
but also one and the same. I chose this
article because it intertwines the concepts of both thought and feelings and
how they interact with each other. It
provides a detailed explanation on why we feel what we do and how we go about
resolving these issues.
|
Citation: “How to Express Difficult Feelings.”
Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.drnadig.com/feelings.htm “Feelings and thoughts are different,
but also are one and the same. They are like the head and tail of a coin. We
react to events with both thoughts and feelings. Feelings are emotions, and
sensations, and they are different from thoughts, beliefs, interpretations,
and convictions. When difficult feelings are expressed, the sharp edges are
dulled, and it is easier to release or let go of the bad feeling. If we only
express our beliefs about the event and not the feelings, the bad feelings
linger and are often harder to release. Whenever someone says, "I feel
that..." the person is about to express a belief, not a feeling.” |
Because every individual experiences the emotional spin cycle,
it doesn’t necessarily mean that we all experience it in the same way. While some experience the cycle in the
“correct” order others as James states are stuck in it. Have you ever had someone tell you that what
you are feeling is silly? Have you ever
had someone tell you that you should feel so mad, sad, etc.? This article proves that those statements
are complete lies! It provides insight
into various types of feelings.
Well—sort of. Do we really need
to know what feelings are? What we are
feeling? Why we are feeling it? I chose this article because I thought it
gave the best definitions to feelings—“it just is”; short and simple but yet so
complex. Now when people tell you that
you shouldn’t feel the way you do, you can tell them to back off.
|
Citation: “Safe for Feeling.” Internet. 27 Sept.
2001. Available: http://www.forthelittleonesinside.com/mpage/feelings.html “Feelings
are a natural part of being human, living in a body. They come in response to
our inner and outer experiences of the present moment, in response to
memories of past experiences evoked by/in the present moment and, often, in
response to our anticipation of moments yet to come. |
Many times
people refer to feelings as emotions.
They are WRONG!! According to
this article, “feelings are not emotions” because “feelings don’t disturb our
inner balance. Emotions do.” I thought this was a very interesting
article because it put things into a whole new perspective for me. This article presents how our emotions such
as anger, frustration, jealousy, sadness, happiness, are affected by listening
to various types of music. While
listening to music is just a pastime for most of us, it really isn’t. Certain types of music can actually relax us
while other types may provoke and even agitate us. The following article points out which types can often produce
certain emotions that may affect our feelings.
|
Citation: “Should we only listen to spiritual
music?” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/2911/music.html “Most classical western music (like Mozart's and
Beethoven's) affects our emotions and to a small extent our body. This music
can make us happy or sad, relaxed or energetic etcetera. It is rarely able to
bring us deep peace, because there is always some emotion in this music.
Emotions don't make it impossible to relax somewhat, but they prevent deep
inner peace.” “Sadness, anger, physical or emotional attraction (often
called love), jealousy, bubbling over with mirth -they are all emotions. They
can be pleasant or unpleasant, but they all make us restless. Feelings,
like spiritual love, compassion and joy, are different. They can exist in a
peaceful mind.” “On the
same note, we need to be aware of our feelings. As Jyotindra states, “we always need to keep place in
ourselves for feelings. Without love, without compassion, without joy,
our life is gray!” |
The next
article “How Music Affect Drivers:
Watch What You Listen To” I
found to be quite alarming. The reason
for my concern is that the author of this article says that fast temp music
makes his drive faster and more aggressive.
So, does that mean that a lot of people who listen to fast tempo music
while driving react in the same way? I
sure hope not. But, as he says there are
many other factors that must be considered as well such as self-fulfilling
prophecies covered in the next section.
|
Citation: “How Music Affects Drivers: Watch What You
Listen To.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s98/nakagawa/report1.html “Let me
see there were a few things that had interested me on this topic. First
of all I think we can say that music does affect our driving. I think
that music affects each of us differently and it would be really hard to say
that everyone fits into a certain category. I believe in
self-fulfilling prophecies. In your unconscious there lies opinions
that you may be unaware of. I think that it is these opinions that
shape us all and aids in the self fulfilling prophecies. I have found
that fast tempo music will tend to make me drive faster or more aggressive
but there are many other factors that must be considered as well. I feel
that there are many reasons people may drive aggressively due to their mood,
music, weather, time of day, level of consciousness, or whether they are in a
hurry or not all makes a difference. I find that when I am in a hurry
the music I choose to listen too tends to be more of a fast pace. I do
not listen to slow music when I am in a hurry, for some reason I feel that it
makes me irritable because tries to slow me down which is all mental.
All this is occurring in my head and most of the time I am unaware of it.
I did not pay much attention to it prior to taking this class but, since
taking this class I have found that I am more aware of my mood and level of
consciousness while driving. Another
observation that I have noticed is that when I am tired on the road I like to
roll down my windows to get some fresh air but more importantly I try to find
some fast paced music to wake me up and I turn it up LOUD. I find that
this helps to revive me.” |
Since
behaviorism is an approach to psychology that focuses on overt behavior and is
based on the belief that personality is determined by rewards and punishments,
these rewards and punishments are rather skills and errors that may be
customized through further learning.
According to James, this acquisition process is present in three
distinct domains of the person, which are the affective, cognitive, and
sensorimotor (or perceptual-motor) and are interrelated to behavior as a nested
structure. In it’s simplest from, the
affective domain may be defined as the feeling one experiences, the cognitive
domain may be defined as the thinking once experiences, and the sensorimotor
domain may be defined as the action one takes toward a variety of individuals
(including oneself) or situations.
|
Citation: “Data on the Private World of the Driver
in Traffic: Affective, Cognitive, and
Sensorimotor.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/driving1.html “In its
modern version, behaviorism is committed to a unified theory that tries to
deal with external and internal aspects of the self (Staats, 1981; Mischel,
1973). For instance, the concept of personality is defined in terms of
built-up repertoires of basic habits. These are actually skills and errors
that can be modified through further learning. This acquisition process is
going on in three distinct domains of the person: affective, cognitive, and
sensorimotor (or perceptual-motor). Figure 1
depicts the inter-relationship between these three aspects of driver behavior
as a nested structure. All skills at any level of expertise contain
affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor features. An illustration is presented
in Table 1 based
on self-witnessing reports by drivers. Though the recording of the report is
necessarily sequential in that the driver focuses separately on each domain,
in actuality the model assumes that all three are going on simultaneously.” |
In relation
to the emotional spin cycle and the sensorimotor domain, I stumbled upon a
really interesting article that illustrates that after
aggressive conflicts, monkeys usually make dramatic gestures of reconciliation
that include hugging and kissing. But various studies—some probing the
evolutionary origins of aggression, and others, our conscious ability to
control it—are changing the ways in which researchers regard violence. Indeed,
primatologists are now suggesting that aggressive behavior be viewed as a
normal means for competing and negotiating within groups, and not as a fundamentally
antisocial instinct. They theorize how aggression ends and how it can be kept
under control among humans through behavior modification.
|
Citation: “Understanding Violence.” Internet. 27
Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.sciam.com/explorations/2000/073100violence/index.html “One
intriguing perceptual shift is coming from those who regularly observe our
closest kin, the chimpanzees, and other monkeys. Indeed, primatologists are
now suggesting that aggressive behavior be viewed as a normal means for
competing and negotiating within groups, and not as a fundamentally
antisocial instinct. This shift, they say, could lead to a better
understanding of how aggression ends and can be kept under control among
humans.” |
We first
need to recognize how we react to various circumstances and situations before
we can modify our behavior. This
includes thoughts, bodily sensations, feelings, emotions, and behavior. I chose the following article because it
gives ideas on how to recognize your thoughts and feelings and gives
suggestions on how to control your behavior and reduce stress, which may
stabilize the emotional spin cycle.
|
Citation: “How to cope with stress.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.tribuneindia.com/20010422/spectrum/fitness.htm “Before we
consider how to cope with stress, it is important to first understand what
happens in our body and mind when we are confronted with stress. The process
begins with a source of stress or a stressor, which may be a conflict in the
office or home, a financial loss or broken love affair or any such thing. As
a result of this, things start happening at four levels in our body and mind. These
are: Thoughts, bodily sensations, feelings and emotions and behaviour. Rather
than helping us, such repetitive negative thoughts add to our misery and
further increase stress. Along with the chain of thoughts, we also start
feeling many odd sensations in the body. There is tension in the limbs, pain
in head and neck, pressure over chest, an upset stomach, inability to sleep
and so on. Most of us, mistakenly, consider it signs of an illness and an
additional process of worry and stress begins. Along
with bodily sensations, another important process that we need to recognize
is our psychological feelings or emotions during stress. Mostly, when we are
under stress we get angry, agitated, anxious, depressed or suspicious. These
negative emotions in turn, add to our stress. Lastly, it is important to
recognize how we behave during a period of stress. Here also most of us
choose unhealthy ways of coping. We adopt unhealthy dietary habits, we start
missing our exercise, start smoking and drinking excessively, drive
recklessly and so o n. All these negative behaviour-patterns add to our
ill-health and start another vicious cycle of stress. If
we have to develop a strategy to cope with stress, we must learn to act at these
four levels — thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions and behaviour — so that
they do not add to your existing stress. The first important thing is
recognition of what is happening at these four levels and then reversing the
process.” |
Because
more and more accidents are occurring around the world, I thought the following
excerpt in the Generational Curriculum is very appropriate. This article associates cognition and
driving. It proposes how reckless
drivers became reckless drives and techniques to modify their behavior. This year alone, in Hawaii, there have been
a number of traffic fatalities. I
wonder if many of these fatalities may have been avoided if drivers were more
aware of the danger they create for themselves and others.
|
Citation: “Data Project Report: Self-Witnessing of Driving.” Internet. 27
Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499f97/suzuki/dra/file9.html “Today the cognitive behavioral approach has
become increasingly popular as a form of therapy for many individuals
(Phares, pg. 252). The main idea of the cognitive behavioral perspective is
that an individual's cognition and thought plays a vital role in that
person's behavior. The cognitive behavioral theory can be applied to traffic
in terms of rationalizing and understanding one's driving behavior. First, several methods can be used to
discover a driver's cognition.” “Cognitive behavioral therapy could be a
positive method of reforming reckless drivers. Therapists might be able to
help a reckless driver become a careful driver by teaching them to label
situations more realistically. By labeling situations more realistically,
drivers may realize the danger they are creating for themselves and for those
around them. “ “In order for drivers to come to this
realization, therapists might strike up an argument in attempt to get the
driver to see the irrationality of his or her beliefs. Furthermore, drivers
may be taught to stop and ask themselves why and what is causing the
aggression and anger and if it is really worth the anxiety that's involved. In addition to the cognitive aspect, drivers
should be taught to find an alternative means of reacting to their anger that
is more rational and less stressful to the driver. For example, instead of
driving reckless to relieve the tension (which for me, would make me go more
crazy) maybe they can stick in a favorite (CD or tape to calm their nerves. In
extreme cases, maybe the driver should even pull over on the side to overcome
their anger and proceed traffic when they are certain they are ready.
Therefore, the goal of a cognitive behavioral therapist in terms of driving
is to make drivers be able to confront their unreasonable thinking and to use
common sense as to how to react in their situation.” |
Why are
affective behavior, cognitive behavior, and sensory motor behavior
important? Each one of these components
contributes to every individual’s emotional spin cycle. Without will and feelings (affective), there
would not be any intellect and thoughts (cognition), and without will and
feelings, intellect and thoughts, there would not be any actions
(sensorimotor). Therefore, what would
we be without any of these things?
Would we be inanimate objects?
Would we be humans? The
following article gives a definition of each of the three components, and how
it affects an individual with the relation to driving. I chose this article because even though it
is based on the three components of driving, it also made me think…what would
we be without any of these components?
|
Citation: “Driving And
Aggression: An Examination Of Driving Behavior.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001.
Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/cmachida/psy499/paper1.html
- feelings “Human behavior can be categorized into three
components: affective behavior, cognitive behavior, and sensory-motor
behavior. Affective behavior and cognitive behavior can be described as
mental behavior; affective behavior is the will and feelings, cognitive
behavior is the intellect and thoughts, while sensory-motor behavior is
physiological. In the driving context, the affective component would be the
driver's will, the cognitive the driver's rationality, and knowledge and the
sensory-motor the driver's performance (Jakobovits' lecture, 1988).” |
The following passage is taken from a report in an earlier generational curriculum. The reason I chose this report was because I thought that his definition of the three-fold self was very well defined. This report gives various documented accounts of the feelings and actions that drivers have experienced. The author then analyzes each incident through the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains and attempts to explain or justify these driver’s feelings and actions through each of these domains. One of the faults that I found in this report is, that the author can only speculate because he did not actually experience the situation. He states ways in which these drivers can modify their behavior but how would he have acted? Would he have practiced what he preached or would he have reacted the same way as the drivers that he scrutinized?
|
Citation: “Affective, Cognitive, and Sensorimotor
Aspects of Traffic Psychology.” Internet. 8 Oct. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/rmitsui/reports/report3.html “One principle in Traffic Psychology is that driving behavior includes the affective domain (feelings and motives), the cognitive domain (thoughts and judgments), and the sensorimotor domain (sensory input and motor output). These three aspects, occur so quickly that it often seems like a reaction. But since they all affect each other, if we can recognize them, we can control our actions behind the wheel. Which makes us all better drivers. All three are present in any single traffic behavior.” |
In
similarity to the behaviorist theory, humanistic theories approach psychology
with the basis that the belief that people strive to achieve their maximum
potential. These theories of
personality stress; the importance of the environment in the development of
personality, and that imply an active drive of the individual toward health,
growth, and creativity. As the
threefold-self operates through affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor
behavior, the hierarchy of motives revolves around emotions, feelings, and
values and without motives, the three-fold self would not be operational. So how do we achieve these motives? Abraham
Maslow explained personality and human behavior in terms of motivation. According to him, people act and react as
they do because they are motivated by certain needs. The following passage explains these motivations in detail. What I don’t understand though is how do we
know how the individual perceives situations or how they interpret the
situation. Because this theory of the
hierarchy of motives has never been tested, there is no hard evidence that
these needs are organized in a hierarchy of levels. I chose this article because although there is no hard evidence,
it helps to gain a different approach on the emotional spin cycle and how it is
motivated.
|
Citation: “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Internet.
27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/g2602/0003/2602000365/p1/article.jhtml “This hierarchy is usually depicted as a pyramid with
five levels, ranging from the most basic needs at the bottom to the most
complex and sophisticated at the top. From bottom to top, the levels are
biological needs (food, water, shelter); safety; belongingness and love; the
need to be esteemed by others; and self-actualization, the need to realize
one's full potential. According to Maslow, the needs at each level must be
met before one can progress to the next level. Maslow considered fewer than
one percent of the population to be self-actualized individuals. However, he
believed that all human beings still possessed an innate (if unmet) need to
reach this state.” |
Where do we
get our morals and values? In “Cashing
In On The Values Of American Education” written by Campbell our morals and
values are learned through our education systems. He professes that educators teach morals and values improperly
and that educators in fact, contribute to violence, confusion, and
irrationality and destroys their ability to think for themselves. After I read this article, I have to say
that I agree with Campbell and he has a very valid point. If students advance in school, they must
have been motivated through parents, society, teachers, etc. They receive a passing grade and advance to
another grade level. Is that really
morally correct? What happens if the
student tries their hardest in school and does not receive a passing
grade? Will they be deemed as stupid,
incompetent? How will they feel about
themselves and the people around them?
Chances are they would be stuck in zones 1 and 2 of the emotional spin
cycle. After being
active in the rage zone against others, they would begin to rage against the
self, automatically, which would be a state of depression. This rage-depression
flip-flop is a sociogenic habit that results from socialization within society
beginning in the education system. I
have to say though; just educators do not influence children and adults
alike. They are influenced by society
in general. But it makes you
think. Would society be the way it is if
they were not educated to be this way?
|
Citation: “Cashing In On The Values Of American
Education.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.freeradical.co.nz/content/40/40campbell.shtml “Can
it be true that no one can comprehend the increasing levels of violence in
our schools? Far from being a sign of the lack of values, it is the ominous
sign of the presence of certain values now pervading the
education of our youth, from grade schools right through university. These
are values that demean human life, that confuse and destroy the ability to
think, that rob children of their dignity and vitality, and substitute
anxiety, resentment, and irrationality. It is the cashing-in of the
consequences of the philosophy of John Dewey and the progressive public
education movement. Our
educators long ago abandoned their charge to teach reason and the
proper use of one's mind. It has become more important to mold the
personality of the child, to produce a citizen who has the correct social
attitudes above all, who is willing to live his life for others' purposes.
And these objectives have come to dominate the educational activities of the
schools: Teachers spend more of their professional education learning
psychology, sociology, behaviorism, than they do learning their intellectual
disciplines. Schools assume and assert increasing authority over the
individual lives of their students: they feed them, counsel them, minister to
their self-esteem, provide entertainment, organize athletic activities,
volunteer their free time to "community activity," monitor their
health, direct their health care with and without the agreement of their
families, teach and monitor their sexuality, provide contraception, arrange
abortions, undermine and demean their parents. And over the century that
these priorities have been promoted, the education of our children has
dramatically worsened, the level of literacy has declined, and more graduate
with inadequate skills. The colleges spend 1-2 years trying to remediate the
failures of schools (and lose that time to provide the level of education
appropriate to university). We pay the highest per pupil cost for education
in the world, and have some of the very worst outcomes. All suffer, but
ironically it is the disadvantaged who suffer most, because a proper
education is truly their best hope to improve their lives. Commentators
rely on cheap psychology to explain these events: loss of self-esteem, stress
of contemporary life, lack of family support, and susceptibility to violence,
emotional rage. Or cheap sociology: poverty, class envy, bad neighborhoods,
guns, drugs, and not enough religion. Left out of these lists is: the
mind. We
are accustomed to viewing emotions and the mind as opposites. But in truth,
they are one. It is a man's (and child's) assessment of himself and of the world
around him, however they are attained, that determines the state of his
emotions. A child who is taught to think effectively, who is rewarded with
knowledge and achievement, who learns the history of mankind's positive
achievements, will be a child with self-confidence, efficacy, and a positive
outlook on life. A child who cannot think, whose reward for work is ignorance
and for achievement is humiliation, who is taught to despise mankind, will be
a child of fear and anxiety, of helplessness, anger, and a negative outlook
on life. We commonly say "get your emotions under control," by
which we acknowledge the role of the mind and reason in governing emotional
behavior. But we often miss the fundamental role of the mind in forming
emotional responses. And so what do we do in our schools today? We teach
children that mankind is the scourge of the earth, that every productive
enterprise of man is a threat to the planet. Plants, animals, children, the
earth itself are being destroyed by man. Our teachers even get the children
engaged in lobbying on these matters. Our Vice-President Gore proclaims this
assessment as the most important insight of modern times. We
teach our children that America was founded by a bunch of racist,
hypocritical, environmentally reckless, antihuman white European misfits.
That the Declaration and the Constitution are oppressive documents, which
should be trashed or rewritten. And this is all accomplished because we don't
even actually teach history anymore. The story of man on earth is not taught
as a full, integrated context, as a story of advancement and defeats of
fundamental ideas. Instead, it's a story of gangs and random events, with no
rational explanation. We
convince children that they cannot even trust their parents, because their
parents smoke, and are prejudiced. Parental authority is trumped at every
possible opportunity. Even notes from the parents are not accepted in the
schools. Children must write journals about their home lives, which then
become subjects of discussion and humiliation. Every
subject, even the basic, foundational ones, is taught with a social or
psychological purpose, rather than with the purpose of mastering the
discipline. Thus, in reading, the schools abandoned teaching the basic
phonemic and phonetic and symbolic nature of the alphabet, and the rules of
its use. Instead, they declared that reading was a natural innate skill, and
one need only teach whole words, one by one. In throwing out the concepts
of reading, and teaching the concretes of reading (words-as-objects),
the educators undermined children's reading skills and intellectual
development. Thus, children are made to feel helpless, incompetent. They have
poor vocabularies, poor spelling, poor comprehension, poor writing (which is
hardly taught at all). A child without the skills or the concepts of reading
cannot advance his knowledge and skill by himself, nor nearly as fast as a
child who understands the conceptual nature of the act of reading. The first
is overwhelmed at every encounter with something new; the other has the key
to open every encounter. But
this approach sits well with the underlying philosophy. Listen to a prominent
teacher at a national conference on teaching reading: "[Whole
Language] advocates ... deny the view that grounded truth and meaning can be
determined once and for all ... [We] would like to replace the desire for
objective knowledge of reality and truth, the desire to be in touch with
reality ... with a desire for solidarity with the community" (from the
National Reading Conference, San Antonio, 1992). The most ardent desire and
need of a child is to be in touch with reality. But the goal of teaching
reading is not to put the child into touch with the reality of reading
skills, but to put the child in touch with texts chosen by the educator, to
make the child desire solidarity with the goals of the educator. Having
undermined the child's pride and confidence in being part of humankind, and
undermining his confidence and pride in his nation, and undermining his
relationship with his family, it is only left to destroy his individuality.
This is already reflected in the program of instruction as above. Teach him
in such a way that he will be incompetent, and then blame him and his family
for not doing enough. Take his authority over his own life and choices away
from him, and make him volunteer for purposes defined by the school. Do not
reward excellence, but gently admonish those who have skills that they are
lucky, that they should not take too much pride in achievement lest they
humiliate someone. Emphasize these points by promoting and rewarding those
who do not achieve. Choosing
values is the basic act of an individual. Such choices are the basis of
living a human life. A total assault on the individual child would not be
complete without an assault on his ability to make such choices. This is done
in the discussion circle. Since, according to the educator above, there is no
reality or truth to be known, the way our children are taught about values is
to reach a consensus with others (the "community"), not on the
basis of principles or knowledge, but on the basis of feelings. The
lesson is twofold: the guide to values is feelings, and the validation of
feelings is through consensus in a group. Such an approach divorces individual
responsibility from values and action, obscures the true conceptual
foundation of values, engenders a group or tribal mentality (well-suited to
immature teenagers especially), and also causes unrationalized resentments in
those whose personally held values are voted out. This philosophy has now been taught for two generations
of American children, and the consequences are everywhere apparent. At the
level of the schools, we see more and more children without knowledge and
purpose. Children who resent those who can achieve (e.g., at Littleton, the
jocks), sit in their little groups, and talk about their likes and dislikes
(their feelings). They take a consensus on values (as they have been taught
to do), and justify eliminating who or what they do not like. They have no
sense of guilt, because they do not know individual responsibility, and
consensus provides the validation of their group, however small. Their
cultural role models reflect all these values: the crude lyrics of their
favorite songs, graceless dances (= graceless human beings), grubby clothes
and styles (= unworthy human beings), raw sex (not relationships or love),
gangs and groups, violence and emotion (consensus for power, not reason to
understand reality.)” |
Similarly,
Mova states that we are taught at a young age to be territorial. Which brings me back to my original
question, who teaches us to be territorial?
Where do we learn these morals?
This preceding article also supposes that we build fences and walls
around where our territory begins and ends.
Why do we do this? Could it be
because of the educators as the article above implies? I think that it is a probable
conclusion. We build these fictitious
schemas up in our heads and we live by them.
But then again other schemas such as racism, stereotypes, etc. all stem
from these schemas. Unfortunately we
know they are wrong, but we still do nothing about them—well most of us
anyways.
|
Citation: “Identifying Attitudes Through Newsgroups
Messages.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af97/moya/report1.html
- moral “We are taught at a young age to be territorial. We build
fences and walls to let others know where our territory begins and ends. We
feel that we "own" the space around us and around things we own
such as our cars, especially if it is a nice, expensive car. When someone
violates this norm and invades our territory, especially while driving, we
feel threatened. This personal threat is a process to the beginning of
"road rage." I interpret this attitude as an invasion of space
attitude, which unfortunately becomes aggressive behavior. We've been taught
as human beings, dating back many centuries, to protect our surroundings upon
an invasion from others. Through our own socialization processes, we should
focus on what is being taught and observed by our children. They are learning
our bad driving habits and they are the next generation. Our morals need to
change.” |
“The
Borders of Intelligence” explains what emotions are but more importantly how we
use them. I found this article to be
very valuable because we could either use emotions for positivity or
negativity. How many people actually understand
their emotions? If they do understand
them, do they use their understanding to benefit society or detriment
society? Okay, so if you are lucky
enough to modify your behavior are you doing it for yourself or for
society? And, if you gain the knowledge
and skills to modify your behavior, what about the people who have not been as
fortunate? Could you then say, that
with all the skills that you have learned you could use it against the less
fortunate as sort of a reverse psychology to gain what you want? These are the questions that have boggled my
mind. This article suggests that there
are people who would use this to their own advantage rather than their society
as a whole in a sort of selfish sense.
|
Citation: “The Borders of Intelligence.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99feb/intel3.htm “I see
two problems with the notion of emotional intelligence. First, unlike
language or space, the emotions are not contents to be processed; rather,
cognition has evolved so that we can make sense of human beings (self and
others) that possess and experience emotions. Emotions are part and parcel of
all cognition, though they may well prove more salient at certain times or
under certain circumstances: they accompany our interactions with others, our
listening to great music, our feelings when we solve -- or fail to solve -- a
difficult mathematical problem. If one calls some intelligences emotional,
one suggests that other intelligences are not -- and that implication flies
in the face of experience and empirical data. “Turning
to the social (or human, if you prefer) realm, subjects can be presented with
simulated interactions and asked to judge the shifting motivations of each
actor. Or they can be asked to work in an interactive hypermedia production
with unfamiliar people who are trying to accomplish some sort of goal, and to
respond to their various moves and countermoves. The program can alter
responses in light of the moves of the subject. Like a high-stakes poker
game, such a measure should reveal much about the interpersonal or emotional
sensitivity of a subject.” |
GENERATIONAL
CURRICULUM
Citation: “Affective, Cognitive, and Sensorimotor
Aspects of Traffic Psychology.” Internet. 8 Oct. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/rmitsui/reports/report3.html
Citation: “Data
Project Report: Self-Witnessing of Driving.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001.
Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499f97/suzuki/dra/file9.html
Citation: “Driving And
Aggression: An Examination Of Driving Behavior.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/cmachida/psy499/paper1.html#feelings
Citation: “How Music Affects Drivers: Watch What You
Listen To.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s98/nakagawa/report1.html#3
Citation: “Identifying Attitudes Through Newsgroups
Messages.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af97/moya/report1.html#moral
NEWS
MEDIA
Citation: “Cashing In On The Values Of American
Education.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.freeradical.co.nz/content/40/40campbell.html
Citation: “How to cope with stress.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/20010422/spectrum/fitness.htm
Citation: “Science Proves It: Restraining Your
Emotions Is Not Very Smart.” Internet.
27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-09/26/024l-092600-idx.html
Citation: “The Borders of Intelligence.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99feb/intel3.htm
Citation: “Understanding Violence.” Internet. 27 Sept.
2001. Available:
http://www.sciam.com/explorations/2000/073100violence/index.html
WEB SITES AND ARTICLES
Citation: “Data on the Private World of the Driver in
Traffic: Affective, Cognitive, and
Sensorimotor.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/driving1.html
Citation: “General Instructions for Your Research
Project.” Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy15/g15reports-instructions.html
Citation: “How to Express Difficult Feelings.”
Internet. 27 Sept. 2001. Available: