Chapter 13 (Morality and Doing the Right Thing, Once You’ve Figured Out What That Is) looks at what morality is for humans. Morals vary depending on culture, something that is taboo in one culture is a part of everyday life in another, but there are a few morals that are found world over. I took a lot of notes about cross cultural differences that were discussed, particularly the section about how in collectivist cultures it is common to shame a person who has done wrong according to the morals of the community, and in individualist cultures it is more common for the person to feel guilty over a rotten judgment they have made. This has to do with collectivist cultures putting focus on social roles and being part of a group, your poor judgment reflects badly on the whole group, thus, we will now shame you for it. Whereas in individualist cultures, where the individual and their privacy are valued, their poor judgment may not be known to others, so they must face only themselves with the knowledge of the wrong they have done. And when we make a poor judgment, we sometimes try to rationalize our decision through reasoning. Yes, our seemingly wrong or poor decision was made but it is acceptable and this is why. We try to reason with others, and ourselves, when we make a questionable decision.
Chapter 14 (Feeling Someone’s Pain, Understanding Someone’s Pain, Alleviating Someone’s Pain) discusses empathy, sympathy, compassion, how we deal with our own pain, how we deal with others pain, and when and why and in what situations would we help others that are in pain. If you see someone being pinched, and you think of yourself being pinched and you flinch at the thought, this is sensorimotor contagion. Emotional contagion is when you become a part of what is going on around you, such as deciding to join a group of protestors that pass you as you are walking down the street. Mimicry is simply copying another person’s movements as you see them doing the action. I enjoyed reading about mirror neurons and the theories that try to explain why they do what they do (read to learn more about them). The chapter ends with a discussion about altruism, with a small section detailing pathological altruism which I found very interesting.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 