When Your Mother Hits You, Do Not Strike Back There are those who believe in fate and hand over the steering wheel whether or not there exists any greater power waiting to take it, and there are those who believe in the causation held in their own palms. Two paths diverged in a yellow wood; one boy grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar serving America, another aided in murder and is now serving a life sentence. Both share the same name, both grew up in similar environments, but neither ended up like the other.…
In the text, The Emotional Lives of Animals, Marc Bekoff wants to shift the paradigm and the ways in which society views animals. In order to shift the dominant behavior and revise the stereotypes against animals, Bekoff uses various anecdotes throughout the text. Although anecdotes are not scientific evidence, Bekoff believes that a combination of anecdotes and scientific data support the existence of animal emotions. (Bekoff, 2007, p. 5). In relation to this, he also mentions the field of cognitive ethology, which focuses on the study of animal minds.…
The Effect of Making Hard Decisions Every day people face decisions they have to make. Although most times the right solution is obvious, some situations in life are not so simple. The lines between the “right” and “wrong” answer blur together as morals and multiple perspectives begin to play a role. This often causes the person to feel conflicted and trapped since whichever path they choose leads to some sort of regret.…
“The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Anchor is an article with a clear goal of the benefits of a positive outlook. The way the author Shawn Anchor outlines his points however, seem overtly simplified. In a sense this is directly due to the fact of a common trend among many individuals in similar standings such as the author. That is, the idea of improving general human life while at the same time standing upon of societal and economical pedestal. In many cases although the findings of research studies such as those presented within “ The Happiness Advantage” may very well be completely sound but, still remaining rather short sighted as “We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe” – said Harper Lee, To…
Sometimes in life hardships happen and force us to do things…
What is “happiness” and how is it obtained? The word “happiness” is defined as ‘a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy’. The decisions people make on a day-to-day basis are to reach the ultimate goal of being happy. While everyone strives to obtain happiness, not everyone succeeds. In today’s society, happiness seems to be directly correlated with factors such as wealth or status.…
What would life be like without emotions? The main character, Jonas, in Lois Lowry’s The Giver several themes throughout the story. In the story The Giver Jonas lives in a community where nobody has sorrow, pain, anger, or hate. Unfortunately to gain control over these things Jonas’ society has had to give up joy, love, differences, color, and choices.…
In Learning Real Feelings: A Study of High Steel Ironworkers’ Reactions to Fear and Danger, Jack Haas discusses the different culture that constructions workers who work on the iron beams over twenty stories high seem to have. Haas began his study hoping to learn more about how these construction workers deal with their feelings of fear in such a dangerous situation. However, he quickly learned that these construction workers never speak of fear but quite often reference the danger. Haas did not know if the workers were so used to these dangerous situations that they no longer felt fear or if the workers were just good at hiding their emotions as Haas has tried to do. Regardless, Haas instead found a different culture that exists amongst this…
Chapter 9: Emotions Nozick’s first words on his chapter on Emotions are as follows: A large part of how we feel about life is shaped by the emotions we have had and expect to have and that feeling too (probably) is an emotion or a combination of them,” (Nozick, pg. 87). From this Chapter, we were give three conclusions, but for this essay I will only focus on two. Conclusion 2: Emotions are not just feelings Conclusion 3: Human beings are better off with emotions than if they were lacking emotion, like Spock.…
The Science of Happiness The video “The Surprising Science of Happiness,” narrated by Dan Gilbert, is about the scientific view and experiment about how people, or human beings in general, handle their happiness, their emotions. As human beings have made a great evolution in over two million years, the brain also has significantly increased in mass and size and gained new structures. One of the new structures that the brain has developed is a part called the frontal lobe, or in particularly, pre-frontal cortex. One of the most crucial activities that pre-frontal cortex does is act as an experience simulator, whereas we can experience certain things in our head before trying them.…
If the emotions we do feel are in fact “make-believe” as Kendall Walton holds to be true, there is no reason to have a strong belief in a fictional character. Common sense tells us that what we are seeing is simply a form of entertainment, not to be taken seriously. Yes, the characters upon the screen or within the pages of a novel allow us to be moved every which way, but these emotions cannot be compared with emotions we feel from reality. These emotions are labeled “quasi-emotions,” and they “differ from true emotions primarily in that they are generated not by existence beliefs, but by “second-order” beliefs about what is fictionally the case according to the work in question,” (Schneider). Unlike typically emotions that individuals have…
This study focuses on the effects of life events on the decision-making abilities. I hypothesized that the following variables would have a significant effect on indecision: number of close friends, Greek life affiliation, relationship status, age, seriousness of relationship, number of moves as a child. Surveys and demographic sheets were randomly distributed to undergraduate UNL students and acquaintances that were recruited. None of the variables showed a significant effect on the indecision and double checking ratings, suggesting that life events in general do not greatly impact a person’s ability to make decisions. Moreover, future research that accounts for personal experience may explain why the effect of life events was not significant…
In the book, Mistakes Were Made (but not by me), Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson are able to showcase true life accounts of people that have made wrong decisions that were either unacceptable or completely terrible, who justified their actions as if they did nothing wrong. People do this because as humans, it is too complicated for us to admit that we have done something wrong, so instead we like to cover ourselves up with justifications. This then causes for the person to make the assumption that they have not made a mistake, but instead that others that surround them do. Each person has someone to help them make choices, whether it be a personal advisor, a partner, a whole community, they are there to assist, but usually, people like to…
Every single day people make hundreds of choices. From what to eat, or what to wear, but most importantly how to respond to specific circumstances. How we choose to respond, whether it be an evil or a just choice, can affect our entire lives. In both novels A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, characters are faced with the opportunity to make a choice. This choice could lead to their happiness or their demise.…
INTRODUCTION Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines mediocrity as the quality of something that is not very good; however, I define mediocrity as a state of mind or being. There are some situations when people don’t have a choice in the way their lives unfold. However, most of us do have a choice in determining our desired outcome, but fail to put forth the necessary work and actions necessary to achieve more than, good enough.…