Friday, September 28, 2012

DEBATE TOPIC: MAN IS A BUNDLE OF EMOTIONS

THIS TOPIC HAS BEEN CREATED FOR GUIDING SCHOOL GOING STUDENTS.......

MAN is a Bundle of Emotion


Bundle and emotion I don’t think the two words qualify each other best to describe man, Just two words for the most complex being on earth ! Why don’t say ocean of emotion or some other tag….if we really want to supply one …for tags such as these limit the capabilities of man…..

So what are the implications of calling man ‘a bundle of emotion’?  Doesn’t this statement limit man to a slave of emotion …for emotion have been considered  a powerful force …that can motivate man for accomplishing any task .
Before I move ahead , let us first understand the meaning of emotion…a better understanding of the same will help us understand that man is not simply ….a bundle of emotion.
Elaine Fox describes in the book “ Emotion : An integration of cognitive and neuroscientific  approaches “  says - Emotion is discrete and consistent response to internal or external  events  which have a particular significance for the organism
As per the oxford dictionary: A strong feeling deriving from one`s circumstances, moods or relationships with others
Both this system highlight that emotion is a part of the S- R system i.e. stimulus response system.
Emotion is considered too subjective, elusive and vague ….and to be the opposite of reason .It means that if man remains or acts…..Being just a bundle of emotion than most of his acts can cause chaos in the society …more of it to him only.
Let us take the bundle now….A group of things tied together …yes…..That is what we call a bundle. In present context  …going by the words….it means  group of emotion tied or wrapped together …or let us say existing together …Does this mean that man unbundles his bundle when a particular emotion is shown….for…. two different emotions are rarely shown simultaneously or at the same time.
If this is the case. Then how he unbundles his bundle of emotion…?....the answer is simple…….Its cognition…..its cognition which analyses the situation ,either way,….and unfolds an emotion from this bundle.
To support this statement I would like to cite two theories relating to emotion….either James –Lange theory or Schechter –singer theory.
Both the theories argue that emotion is the ultimate outcome of an event which leads to arousal and interpretation or reasoning followed by emotion. We can infer that the thing we refer as emotion is actually an outcome triggered by some stimulus and supported interpretation or reasoning.
It would have been correct to tag man as a bundle of emotion if all of his actions would have been guided by it .But that’s not the case in general. Emotion is good….it’s the tastemaker …but it does not always get involve with work. sometimes man`s action are guided by cognition and ideas…….An idea comes to his mind …..he feels excited about it …..And longs to implement it…… so the idea comes first and then the emotion.
Our fellow friends may see something somewhere….something attractive may be! ….which may lead to an overflow of emotion……. What type of bundle is involved here in this case? ……No Bundle!..................... it’s an S-R relationship. There is a stimulus and then a response which leads to a conscious experience. This conscience experience is emotion. But again we see that there are other more important factors involved in human behavior besides emotion.
We all may be familiar with the “ras sidhant” of Bharatmuni , which describes the different type of emotion which arise after reading a literary piece of art.This typical “ras sidhant” too describes an S-R relationship first. The emergence of emotion occurs later and that too only when we cognitively analyze and understand the stimulus being put in.
What happens we hear a joke…we don’t always laugh until we understand what is being said….we laugh only when we have gathered the meaning. If man would have been a simple creature ,a simple creature with a bundle of emotions….just like a bundle of stick…he would have unbundled this bundle to acknowledge every piece of work  with emotion and shed his so called emotion. But this is again …..not the case always……because man is an ocean of cognition, he is Thomson’s plum pudding model……..plum pudding model of cognition in which are spread negative and positive emotions. It is the duty of his cognition to arrange this negative and positive emotion in a manner so that they may cancel or remain…..
Hence to conclude……
Man`s life is a system of S-R relationships where cognition prevails ……cognition inhales or exhales emotion……emotion is a stream…   

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