Monday, May 4, 2015

Do we all behave as amnesiacs?

Drifting along on the status quo.  An article about memory and amnesia which describes how normal the amnesiac in the case study appears.
"But our waking life may involve less conscious reflection than we suppose. In 1999, the psychologists John Bargh and Tanya Chartrand published a paper, “The Unbearable Automaticity of Being,” arguing that our default state is reacting to the latest stimuli. We adopt the roles that our immediate environment provokes. Studies indicate that people are more attentive observers when wearing a lab coat; a taxi-driver’s surliness arouses a mirroring anger in ourselves. Because so much of our behavior is not mindful, it isn’t really stored away. After a busy workweek, we can’t recall locking the front door or what we hummed while washing our hair. Maggi told me that when she asks Lonni Sue, “How was your day today?,” she says, “I have to look at my schedule.” "
I am reminded of the phrase, "Right way, Wrong way, Army way".  We do things are we have always done them because it is intellectually easier.  I surf the Internet and waste time therein because it is comfortable.  I stuff the drawers of my dresser because I haven't bothered to sort and throw things away. Wait, when did this become about me?

Well, to continue.  I teach in a specific way because I use the textbook assigned to the class.  It makes sense because there are nearly sixty teachers leading between one and two hundred classes.   I keep meaning to dig in, find the core material and teach it my way on my own schedule. There is a written exam at the end of the semester but so long as I cover the same material in the same length of time, the route doesn't matter.  Still, that'd be a lot of work.  And for one textbook, it'd be nearly an impossible job because the book is so messed up -there currently is no way to link the material in the book coherently and not even the textbook itself tries to.  It'd be easier to coast on this.

I guess what we need to do is choose a few things that matter to us and be mindful about them.

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