Psychology Class- Part 5 of 12

In Part 4 I discussed how emotions and reason interact in the brain. I had mentioned that to really communicate what I was thinking, I would have to do the "nerdy" thing and create a flowchart....well, I did. :) You will want to read Part 4 as a refresher before continuing.

This chart was not submitted in the class. I created it a few weeks after the class was over and after I did a bit of revising and applied the emotions to the whole. I did not specifically include conflicts in these charts, but when you see them, you might be able to see where they could fit in.

Here it is (click to enlarge):

I have all the steps where emotions play a critical role in green. Notice that the effect of emotions cannot be escaped. Even if we come to a correct conclusion (based on evidence and reason), our emotions still have the power to cause us to disregard that correct conclusion (due to the implications of the conclusion stimulating the "pain" center) and lead us to a false belief. Also, notice that once a true premise or reasonable conclusion is not accepted (via the emotions), it tarnishes the rest of the process (the red lines, and the inescapable landing on a false belief).

I will leave you with this one for this week. Next week's chart will be one that traces the path from the required assumptions to the ability to make reliable observations.

For easier navigation in this series:

Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12