[ExI] Re; Emotional and Rational behavior

[citta437 at aol.com]

".How can the diverse
findings that we accumulate be situated under a single
functional framework? Specifically,how can causal net-
works explain the many correlations between brain and
behaviour that we are discovering? What are the relative
contributions ofinnate and acquired factors,culture
and individual differences to social cognition? To what
extent do these factors contribute to psychopathology?
Can large-scale social behaviour,as studied by political
science and economics, be understood by studying
social cognition in individual subjects?
Finally,what
power will insights from cognitive neuroscience give us
to influence our social behaviour,and hence society?
And to what extent would such pursuit be morally
defensible? How we approach these questions will
largely shape social brain science in the coming decades.
reward and punishment148.We might need to invent a
new set ofterms that can translate between the different
ways ofdescribing social behaviour,and that correspond
more closely to the neural processes that underlie them.
It might be that certain social cognitive skills —
notably the ability to represent other people’s minds
— distinguish humans and perhaps apes from all other
animals.Ifwe understand other people in part by simu-
lating processes within ourselves,the converse is also
true:we understand ourselves in part by observing other
people and their reactions to us.Our ability to think
about other people might be an aspect ofour ability to
 | Different ways of classifying behaviour
Category of behaviour Example
Social disposition Personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism)
Strategic Deception, reconciliation
Ecological Attachment, aggression
Moral Social emotions (guilt, embarrassment, pride, jealousy)
Emotional response Basic emotions (happiness, fear, anger, disgust, 
sadness)
Reinforcement Motivational state (reward, punishment)

___________________

All of the above boils down to the issue of consciousness, the behavior 
of the mind. Our mind is a response mechanism limited to the cause and 
effect between the inner structure in the microspace [physiochemical 
interactions] and the outside changing environment/randomness.
Emotions, as mentioned in the above quote, emerge from those 
interconnecting events causing stressful effects on some minds still 
dependent on comforting thoughts/reinforcement. Thus the length of time 
a brain is under stress, the risk of cells dying from lack of 
reinforcements increases.

A society rich in resources in connection with a healthy lifestyle 
providing state of the art in technology/education increases the 
individuals ability to cope in rational ways with the fast changing 
environment.

Terry
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