Quarter 3 Terminology

1 Pathos
The emotional and the imaginative impact of the message on an audience, the power with which the writer's message moves the audience to decision or action.

2 Bathos
Insincere or overly exaggerated pathos, often to the point of being ridiculous. Can be deliberate or unintended.

3 Homeostasis
The state of bodily equilibrium when all of our automated physiological functions are working together. When it's disturbed, we get a gut feeling that something is wrong.

4 Focalism
When thinking about an event, there is only one emotion that draws us toward it and we do not pay attention to other emotions.

5 James-Lange Theory of Emotion
The physical body response that happens before emotion.

6 Canon-Bard Theory of Emotion
After an event happens, we experience the physical body response and emotions at the same time.

7 Somatic Marker
The bodily feeling that influences you one way or another to make a decision for or agsint something. It runs parallel with instinct.

8 Phineas Gage
An American railroad construction foreman now remembered for surviving an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe. And for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior.

9 Ekman's Universality of Emotions
No matter where we are, no matter what language we speak, we express through fcacial emotions in the same way.

10 Micro-expressions
Split second expressions that people can't help doing.

11 Primary emotions
Emotions that we feel as a first response to a situation, such as anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise

12 Secondary emotions
Emotions that appear after primary emotions and may be caused directly by them, such as jealousy/envy, compassion, hatred, embarrassment, and moved/touched. Also called social emotions.

13 Background emotions
Also called tertiary emotions. Examples are calm, well being, tension, anticipation, and excitement.

14 Social/Collective emotions
Emotions that are shared by a large number of people in the society. If people have the same intrest, thy have similar emotions toward that interest. For example, racism.

15 Durability Bias
The tendency to over-estimate the impact period of an emotional event. Sometimes our estimation of our feelings toward an event is too much.

16 Impact Bias
Occurs when we over-estimate how strongly we will feel, how long this will last and other factors that impact us.

17 Social contagion
Emotions are infectious or contagious. For example, when I am around people who are happy, I ceome happy too.

18 Stoicism
To seem emotionless or not show any emotion in order to have pure reason

19 Apathy
The state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions.

20 Intuition
The power of attaining knowledge or understanding without evident rational thought and drawing conclusions from available evidence.

Third Culture Kids

Out of class

Last Thursday, the author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Ruth Van Reken came to our school to give a presentation. A third culture kid can be defined as "someone, as a child, who has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those culture and their own birth culture, into a third culture".

I don't really consider myself as a third culture kid because the first time when I've lived in a foreign culture was when I was 16. The Vietnamese or American (school) culture does influence me, but not as big as an impact that will affect my birth culture.

I think the greatest, or even saddest, issue among third culture kids is that they don't know where their home is. Or even, where do they belong? This is a problem especially when they have not lived in their passport country long enough to know and love it. And no matter how long they have lived in a foreign country, it may seem to be their home to them, but they are still regarded as foreigners, mostly because of their physical appearance. Then comes the issue of what culture do they really belong to? Are they the same as the people of their passport culture or similar to those in their host country? Why can't they fit into any particular group?

It is important to have a sense of belonging in our life, so when we are unable to establish our roots in a place, the next best solution is to have good relationships with people among the world.

Source of image: http://net3.hkbu.edu.hk/~selmer/BD19932_%5B1%5D.gif

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Out of class

My friend, Jenny Yang, sent me this interesting article, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua. In the article, Amy Chua talks about the Chinese parenting and how different it is from the Western parenting. When I read the article, I personally thought that it was funny, because of how common it was among Chinese parents. However, what really stroke me the most was this quote, "'You just don't believe in her,' I accused. 'That's ridiculous,' Jed said scornfully. 'Of course I do.'"

I never really thought about why Chinese parents are so strict to their children. I just thought that they were teaching their children according to how they were taught when they were young. I admit, I do think the way Amy Chua "motivated" Lulu to play "The Little White Donkey" is torture, but I was taken aback by the fact that she puts so much effort to make Lulu practice because she believes that Lulu has that ability to do so. This makes me think that, actually, Chinese parents think every highly of their children. They have high expectations because they think that their children are able to accomplish many things, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I think that makes us children strive for excellence even though when our parents do not force us anymore. We then believe in ourself that as long as we want something, we can do it.

Amy Chua says that many "Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self esteem". On the other hand, Chinese parents "assume strength, not fragility, as as a result they behave very differently." I think it is very difficult to decide which parenting is the better of the two, because not all children brought up by Chinese parenting do not have a low self-esteem. We cannot decide solely based on facts and statistics. There should be a moderation between the two types of parenting, allowing the children to have the space to grow individually but also motivate them to do the best as they can.

Source of image: http://www.asianweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/chua.jpg

Periódico Español

IB Class: Spanish

In the IB Spanish SL class, we are expected to read one article before each class. The purpose of this assignment is to ensure that we read in Spanish regularly and learn Spanish vocabulary. When we present our article in class, sometimes it is difficult to talk about our article. We make grammatical errors and we ask for Spanish translations for English words. Señor Medina always says that we think in English too much. When we speak in Spanish, we are supposed to think in the Spanish vocabulary that we have in our mind.

Of course, to think in Spanish is easier said than done. (I know that I have to practice more, but I am just stating the truth.) Even though we speak a language, it doesn't mean that we think and feel in that language. For example, I can speak in five languages, if I ignore the fact that I am still learning Spanish and two of the languages are only at the level of communication. I can speak in Chinese, English, Cantonese, Malay, and Spanish. I only think in Chinese and English. I feel more for Chinese words than English words. This can be compared to the usage of foul language. When a person swears in Chinese, I feel the badness of the words. However, when someone swears in English, they are merely words that I know have a negative meaning.

Why is it that my emotions are attached to one language more than the other? Does that mean that I can be more logical and rational when I speak in a language other than Chinese? Are emotions really attached to words or is it the sense of belonging of someone speaking my most fluent language evokes my emotions? Is it possible to feel in a foreign language that I've only learnt for three years?

Source of image: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9wGGERtNCGI/SjUqVUDMM5I/AAAAAAAABD4/or4-nk5jKkM/s1600/Diario.ElPais-Generic-eZine-Periodico.png

Like Water for Chocolate - Tita

IB Class: English

In my English class, we studied a novel by Laura Esquivel, which is titled Like Water for Chocolate. The protagonist the of the novel, Tita de la Garza, falls in love with Pedro Musquiz. However, because of her family tradition, which states that the youngest daughter has to take care of the mother until the mother dies, Tita is not allowed to marry Pedro. As a result, Pedro married Tita's elder sister, Rosaura, with the intention of staying close to Tita.

When Tita heard of the news that Pedro was going to marry her sister instead, she hated Pedro. She hated him for betraying her love. Ironically, her anger quickly resolved when Pedro told her that he still loved her.

Most of the times when I read assigned novels at school, I just accept whatever the plot is. Sometimes, like now, I think why does Tita do what she does? She allows herself to be with Pedro even though he is married to her sister. Yes, it is true that in another sense that Rosaura is the one who stepped in between Tita and Pedro, but we must remember that Pedro is the one who agreed to marry Rosaura. Because of the marriage, Tita has to go against her moral values to do whatever her heart desires. The knowledge issue is that how can we decide what is right or wrong? Should Tita follow the rules of the society and stay away from Pedro? Or should she just do whatever she wants to be with Pedro? Why does the society condemn Tita's actions when she does truly love Pedro? Why is it wrong to act out of love?

If we always follow the rules of the society, can we ever live a happy life?

Source of image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zxepoaYZE8F9-lak13I5bapcWFbo1vUTau16wWXHohE0a8NwtUGcHuee2lehyrNrQNGmsyQjBZOymt4ra_CFwxppihYun42E8ZwHJuRRDiKXHDW8qNP9oFNQ3r2CaJDVTU6B3QNz8OaQ/s1600/Like-water-for-chocolate.jpg

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

In Class

During class, we studied about various theories of emotions. One of the most important concepts was the James-Lange theory of emotion. According to this theory, the sequence of of the process of emotion is event --> physical response --> emotional recognition. In other words, because of our body's physical response, we then only know the emotion that we are feeling.

Some may argue that we experience the emotion before our body reacts to the event. The most classical example that I like to use is the butterflies in our stomach. For instance, in situation A, Mary is a friend of John. One day, Mary is talking to John and she has butterflies in her stomach. She concludes that she likes John. In situation B, Mary is a friend of John but she likes him too. Whenever she talks to him, she always has butterflies in her stomach. The question is, which situation is true?

 The knowledge issue about having a physical response first is that what if our physical response is not based not the particular event although we think it is? For example, in situation A, Mary could be having butterflies in her stomach NOT because of John but because of her piano performance that is going to take place shortly after. She had mistaken her physical response as her liking towards John.

In general, both situations A and B are possible and have happened among people. As long as they believe that their emotion is true, then they will act towards it. If their emotion does not seem to be what they think of before, then they will change the course of their life back to the way it is.

Emotion and Art

In Class

Each student was asked to bring in either a poem, photo, painting, song, clip of a performance that has a strong emotional effect on them. I brought in a song by Leehom Wang, which is called 《你不知道的事》, which is roughly translated into "Things You Never Knew".

When I shared the song with other students in the class, it did not have the same emotional effect on the others as me. When I listen to the song, I feel sadness and a sense of lost, because of my experience that I have had with a friend. I believe that I sacrificed many things to support and please the friend, but many of the things were unknown. Hence, I don't think my friend knows how much I value him/her.

I personally think that the other students in class did not feel the same way as I did because the song was in Chinese, a language that was foreign to many of the students. When they could not understand the lyrics, they could only feel through the instrumental music and way how the singer expressed the song. They may know that the right emotion to feel while listening to the song is sadness due to the song's background music, but that may be the maximum emotion the other students might had felt at that moment. However, I feel more strongly because of the experience that is attached to the song. If it wasn't because of my experience, I would have just regard this song as another common sad ballad.

Emotion is essential when it comes to the appreciation of art. Without emotions, we can only look at art in a logical and rational mind. By then, we would probably not feel what the artist or singer is trying to express, but rather look at the technical abilities demonstrated through the piece of art. As a result, we will never be able to understand the message that the artist or singer is trying to convey.