Broadening Boundaries
Us versus Them: Can We Unlearn to Polarize?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Wioleta Polinska
Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky presents his findings that human brain perceives the “Us/Them” dichotomy with an astounding speed. According to brain research, it takes a fifty-millisecond exposure to the face of someone of another race to activate the amygdala, while there is no activation of the amygdala to faces of the same race as the viewer. Similar amygdala activation is observed when subjects are exposed to faces of people of different genders, social status groups, and even different religious affiliations. This automatic response of the brain results in implicit biases, prejudice, and aggression against a “them,” and a greater cooperation and trust towards “us.” What is the remedy for this polarizing mechanism within our brain? Sapolsky recommends distrust of essentialism, and perspective taking. However, he overlooks the mounting research data that mindfulness and compassion meditations decrease implicit bias against a “them.” Studies show that various forms of meditations affect the amygdala region of the brain in a way that can counteract the automatic prejudicial responses. This is particularly important since the meditative strategies of combating bias, prejudice, and aggression are low cost and available both as secular as well as spiritual practices within the major world religions. I argue that tapping into those readily available mind-body practices will offer another important strategy to reducing all forms of polarization, bias and aggression towards a “them.”
The Psychological Humanities: Beyond Boundaries, Affirming the Human View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marianne Ingheim
In an increasingly complex world with increasingly complex problems, scholars are recognizing the importance of working across disciplinary boundaries. The “psychological humanities” is a new field of study which seeks to incorporate the humanities in the study of psychology. The term is meant as a juxtaposition to the phrase “psychological sciences”, and it is a critique of the scientific perspective embraced by psychology, which, while valuable, leaves out dimensions of human experience, dimensions that the humanities are more adept at addressing. While psychology and the humanities are both meant to be the study of humanity, the human often seems buried in psychological research. Psychology has become the study of variables as opposed to the study of humans. The “psychological humanities” seeks to affirm the human by looking to the humanities for ways in which to address psychosocial issues. After exploring this new field of study, I will home in on my own interdisciplinary research into narrative meaning making in the aftermath of an adverse event. Narrative is an example of a concept traveling from the humanities into other fields, including psychology, although I argue that there is a long way still to go in incorporating narrative into psychology. I end by suggesting that an increasing exchange of ideas between the humanities and psychology would benefit both. Psychological ideas and research can provide avenues for new directions in the humanities. At the intersection of psychology and the humanities, there is an arena for broadening our understanding of the human.
I Owe Philosophy My Life: Stoic Philosophy on Suicide and the Tedium of Life
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anna Christensen
We live in an era in which human suffering seems unprecedented. War, disease, environmental degradation, political division, and economic instability all threaten contemporary life. While science and technology can identify the data points and causes of these distressing conditions, they cannot resolve any resultant feelings of despair that lead individuals to feel that life is no longer worth living. Consequently, suicide rates are rising; and it is now estimated that as many as 1 in 7 individuals will seriously consider performing suicide in their lifetime. My research looks to philosophy to resolve this crisis. The ancient Stoics identified the problem as tedium vitae, “tediousness of life,” and developed a philosophy to combat the malaise arising from life not going as we hope. The Roman Stoic, Seneca, tells of a time when he was so despondent that he considered suicide, but philosophy convinced him not to die. He says, “I owe philosophy my life; and my life is the least I owe it.” But how can Seneca’s Stoic philosophy be so powerful? In my study, I argue that Stoic philosophy provides a restorative and educative tool to help us live meaningful lives by teaching us how to bear things outside our control. Challenging my view is the recognition that Stoic philosophy is also permissive of suicide (even Seneca later committed suicide at Emperor Nero’s command). But I argue that Stoicism’s few permissible suicides are compatible with informing us how to live well, offering us hope for when life seems untenable.
Female Assertion of Historical Participation/Intervention in Chinese Popular Romance View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jie Lu
This paper investigates the unique fantastic structure of Chinese online time-travel romance genre. While primarily romantic fictions that have inherited generic patterns from Chinese romantic traditions, the online time-travel romance deviates from the generally realistic narrative conventions in its world-making. Written in the fantastic mode, this subcategory of romance establishes a two-world structure. This study focuses on how the heterotopian chronotope of the second world is constructed via postmodern linguistic hybridity, multiple times, and spaces. The study will also examine how the general cultural, intellectual, social, and political elements from Chinese imperial past together with modern consciousness and spaces create a unique fantasy world of clashing and dialogic chronotopes for the female protagonists to realize their romantic ideals. However, the most important aspiration and ambition embedded in this romantic idealism is the historical participation and intervention by women generally excluded from history-making.
