14/11/2016
EMOTION
This blog post will tackle a number of provided questions so I will attempt to organise it as best as I can. I based the selection of these questions off topics that fascinated me the most or if I had a strong opinion on.
Can there be 'correct' or 'appropriate' emotional responses?
My response is quite blatantly no, this answer may seem quite absolute or narrow-minded as it is an extremely open-handed question but let me explain. In my opinion, there isn't a possibility of a "correct" or "appropriate emotional response as we are all individuals with completely different mindsets and emotional reactions. The idea that certain responses in situations are "correct" is simply due to the norms or conformity of our society. Many are told in certain circumstances how they are supposed to act or behave which manipulates their specific organic responses. This is the biggest issue of an emotional disconnect in our society, people do not communicate certain emotion or mimic emotions that do not relate to them because it is what is expected of their behaviour.
This generalisation and stereotyping of responses create an unconscious conformism within our community. We are expected to act sad when a loved one dies because of our species this is the natural response. However, if you think about it, it is not as natural as we think as it is in actuality to expected recreation. For if someone were to not be evoked by this event they would be discriminated against as it would appear "odd" or "inhuman". We cannot place expectations of emotion on people as it is well known that each and every human process and thinks differently. This is what creates the prominent idea of individuals within society. It is similar to studies within psychology or science, no matter how many times you recreate a study or experiment you cannot say that it proves a certain theory. You may only assume that it is true due to this support, this support leads you to make generalisations of what is expected to occur.
Let's look at a situation a bit more open rather than a death. A break up most commonly will cause a negative emotional response to the person who was not aware or a part of the decision. Like if someone were to break up with someone, the person broken up with will mostly have a negative or depressed response. We say "most likely" as this response is generalised by the public however it is not uncommon for both parties to have a positive or neutral response. The unbalanced emotional responses from both parties are expected due to our communities stereotypical customs with situational reactions. Though, a negative response is expected a different root may take place which could shock to bystanders of the situation but it is a bit more understandable than someone being happy that a relative died.
Each person has their own triggers but some are more excepted in certain situations. I don't think these expectations should dictate whether a reaction is right or wrong, who are we to tell others how their feeling or their responses are wrong. It is as if you were telling someone they are not allowed to be sensitive or offended if that is the way they feel then who are you to say what they're feeling is wrong. In life, my feelings and reactions tend to be extremely insensitive as that is just the person I am but it does not give me the right to tell someone how is sensitive that they are wrong. It is about me respecting their emotions as I do not share them, and they are to respect mine as they do not know mine.
This whole concept of "appropriate" emotional responses is how I believe psychopaths and the psychopath checklist was established. Psychopathic behaviour is usually associated with mental disease but many elements on the psychopathic checklist are based on reactions that are not "accepted" within our society. Which again brings me to my point of who are we to decide what is the right way to act in society. One of the thing on the checklist is the lack of remorse or guilt but why is this aspect of an individual expected. Another thing is the lack of empathy, how can you expect someone to be empathetic just because everyone else is. We all know individuals are different but why is their lack of empathy seen as something wrong or lead them to be perceived as a danger to society. This also ties into the next question.
Is it 'correct' to be horrified by the accounts of torture?
I don't think there is a correct response to torture, the expected opinion of someone is to be horrified, disgusted or feel remorse for the victim. However, if someone does not respond in these ways how can you say that is wrong as they might just be desensitised to the situation at hand. This desensitisation may seem like a negative thing but if that specific individual is doing nothing harm with these emotions or reactions then how can it be seen as wrong. Let's look at the more extreme point of view, what if someone were to gain enjoyment from torture as much as we do from a joke? To think of this turns my stomach but I still don't consider it an 'inappropriate' response as I am not that person, my brain and personality are not wired like them. If someone were to have this natural response how can you say it is wrong, you would be dismissing their natural form of enjoyment. Whether they acted on such feelings or emotions in a negative way would determine is they behaved appropriately. In saying this, actions can be heavily based on emotion but I still can't it is wrong to feel a certain way.
You can't expect everyone to have a horrified response to torture because it is not even like that in pop culture. With horror movies like Saw, some are so disgusted they do not watch it, some get past the gore to watch the story, some like every aspect of it and some just love the fake effects. All are responses to the movies which are fake forms are torture, these may be fake but still forms of torture that people pay to observe.
Is it possible to experience an emotion, a feeling, an attitude or sensibility that cannot be expressed in language?
I think it is incredibly possible to experience something internally that is indescribable. The human language was created by multiple human beings in order to aid communication between one another but it is not perfect. Many of this generation did not create the vocabulary we use so we can't be expected to relate to something that we did not exactly experience or create. We use language as a tool in the hopes to convey what we are feeling to communicate effectively but many words do not reflect how we actually feel. They may not reflect what we feel exactly but we still use them in an attempt to describe ourselves as creating new words to depict attitudes is just as useless. These words aid the expression of feelings as they can describe but they will never be concrete ways of communicating our feelings. This is caused by the differences in emotions between individuals. Your sadness may be radically different from mine but we use the same word to give each other an idea of how we will in that current pint in time.
A difficulty like this causes emotions to get lost in translation, we may use certain words to describe exactly how we feel but the interpretation of those words depends on the second party. This interpretation will never be the same as everyone processes information and attitudes differently. It allows us to be individuals but allows countless miss interpretations to take place as people may try to the best to convey their emotions part how the person interprets this information is out of their hands.
(may add more later)
