Embodied Cognition

Extracted text from Embodied_Cognition.pptx:

Embodied Cognition

Lakoffconceptual metaphors:

MORE IS UP:

ANGER IS HEAT AND PRESSURE:

LOVE IS A JOURNEY:

Embodied Perception:

Embodied Perception, cont.:

Embodied Perception, cont.:

Seen sideways there is no stable egg/cavity pattern-they change.

Embodied Perception:

Ptzcuaro, Michoacn

Describe what the statue is doing

Culturally embodied behavior is learned first by children:

Stand/sit up straight.

Or (alternately) show deference by bowing.

Look me in the eye when you talk to me (or do not).

Give a firm handshake (or dont).

Wipe that smirk off you face (or kiss grandfathers feet).

Wipe that smirk off you face (or kiss grandfathers feet).

(Richard Shweder, 2003:46ff.)

Children who are taught to sleep apart from their parents are probably being taught an embodied sense of independence (while virtually no one would use this as a justification of the practice).

Meanwhile other culturally patterned co-sleeping arrangements clearly foster relationships of familial dependency and unity while once again any number of other justifications are likely to be invoked to explain the practices.

People who grow up touching their heads to other (more prestigious) people's feet when greeting them learn in their bodies both about hierarchy and sacred space (head to foot).

They eventually do not feel right about acting any other way, and end up reflecting this attitude as well in other ways (in their systems of honorifics, for example).

Even though people in all cultures have more or less the same bodies, they have different embodiments, and therefore they end up with different minds. (Jonathan Haidt, 2001:21)

Our established behaviors may eventually find some narrative justification, but for most people their basic physical reactions are enough to keep them acting in accordance with established rituals which are then simply explained as this is how well-behaved people should act. (Haidt, 2001:20)

We do not usually: 1)

Think through our ideologies from which we construct our values which subsequently activate our emotions which finally guide our actions.

Cognition often (perhaps usually) happens the other way around:

1. 2)

Embodied ritualistic activity gives rise to emotions, which are in turn crystallized into values and finally given some kind of narrative.

Yearning for Zion Ranch - Eldorado, Texas

When these women were asked to explain their similar hair styles and dress, they came up with all sorts of plausible explanations, mostly about modesty and humility (e.g. not showing off with fancy styles and jewelry).

They never mentioned the two reasons so obvious to everyone on the outside: 1. They all wanted to look alike within the group. 2. They all wanted to look different from everyone else outside the group.

Student Commissioners - 1963

Student Commissioners - 1973

Recent studies (Lakoff, Antonio Damasio, Jonathan Haidt, et. al.) do not reserve cognition for reflective reasoning, but see it as beginning in the affective sphere and representing the whole of conscious (and at times even unconscious) thought.

Personal examples: