Morals, Politics, & Brainology
One of the things I enjoy most about psychology is that there are many different ways in which the brain can be interpreted, and better yet — the many topics that the anatomy and the psychology of the brain can be applied to. The Brain is an Argument seemed to focus more on the political applications of the psychology of the brain, while The Moral Mind focused more on the moral component that corresponds to the psychology of the brain. Both presented really interesting concepts that I did not know could be correlated to the brain and its parts.
In The Brain is an Argument, Lehrer talks about how we are constantly having an internal debate when it comes to making a decision, in this case, when it comes to politics and choosing who to side with in a presidential election. He explains that even when two presidential candidates have almost identical policy positions, “you just know who you prefer” (198). Another interesting point that be presented was that when deciding on who to vote for in a presidential election, people only process factual information that makes their belief even more correct. He states, “Rationality actually becomes a liability, since it allows us to justify practically any belief” (206) and that, “We all silence the cognitive dissonance through self-imposed ignorance” (207). This I thought was really interesting, due to the fact that he brought up a topic that we discussed not too long ago. In other words, when making a decision or choice, we only obtain information that makes our decision or choice even more right, and we disregard any information presented to us that makes us feel a sort of discomfort in our belief as to why we should make that choice or decision.
In The Moral Mind, the author begins by explaining morality as, “Nothing but a series of choices about how we treat other people” (169). This is interesting because whenever the topic of morals and morality, a majority of people can’t help but cringe at those words because we can’t help but imagine such a complex and touchy subject. Thinking about it more deeply, yet in a broad perspective, whenever we talk about something being moral or immoral, it’s based on how other people are treated or affected in the action that is being discussed. Another really interesting point brought up in this article was something that I felt was connected to The Brain is an Argument. The author says that when, “Two people feel strongly about an issue, their feelings come first, and their reasons are invented on the fly, to throw at each other” (172). This idea is significantly related to the idea Lehrer presented that once we’ve made a decision, in this case on a political candidate, we really only care about information that agrees with why we made our choice/decision.
From my experience at Kid’s Club, I have definitely felt my emotional brain kicking in and sending off a signal. When I first read the question of whether or not my emotional brain had been set off while working with my community partner, I was quick to say no. However, I thought about when the author of The Moral Mind mentions that, “the unconscious [part of the brain] automatically generates an emotional reaction” (172). Thinking more deeply about my interaction with the children, there have been times where I can’t help but feel in some way related, or like I am family with some of them because I look at them and see their parents picking them up, and I realize that our backgrounds are extremely similar. I also feel my emotional brain going off when I have worked with students who struggle with their reading as I can hear many of them being confused with Spanish pronunciations. These are things that I have been able to overcome and I hope that with my help, they will soon be able too.
In The Brain is an Argument, Lehrer says, “the only way to counteract the bias for certainty is to encourage some inner dissonance. We must force ourselves to think about the information we don’t want to think about, to pay attention to the data that disturbs our entrenched beliefs” (217). This idea is something that I think has influenced how I will move forward as I work with the children at Kid’s Club. It has made me realize that in order to help them improve in their reading, math, spelling skills, and perhaps even in their social skills, is by making them question a little bit, making them stop and think for a change, as opposed to just helping them get the right answer on a homework assignment. While they’re reading, if they struggle with a word, rather than telling them straight how to pronounce it, I’ll encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and to try reading it outloud no matter how silly it may feel.
