Why do Intelligent People Still Believe in Religion? 37b: Framing part 2

Framing is the art of taking a well known well nuanced concept and using it as a metaphor to narrow the field of the argument until you get the answer you want or convince people that they want what you are selling.


Paul Zak on Oxytocin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFAdlU2ETjU

Category:

Education

Tags:

• atheism
• parenting
• framing
• narrative
• spin
• politics
• religion
• patriarch
• faith
• evidence

[Miryr]

What would your opinion be on people who are purposefully trying to be less empathetic, not because of malice but merely because they desire to be the most rational they can possibly be?

[anubis2814]

@Miryr I used to be over empathic which caused me depression. How is your empathy blocking your rationality?

[Miryr]

@anubis2814 However, while it does ostracise you from a lot f human interaction I consider myself to be a happy man. If I'm not in a stressful situation I can even consider myself THE happiest man. So, I'm really curious as to why people seem to feel the need to follow moral codes that block their dreams and desires.

In either case, you seemed to give me the impression that you actually went to great pains to achieve more empathy. So, I'm genuinely stumped by such a desire.

[anubis2814]

@Miryr I see your point and no I never tried to gain more empathy I just naturally had it, or perhaps it became an asperger obsession we are known to have because I could get empathy in a round about way. I would see how nature was being destroyed, people around the world were starving. As a Christians I believed so many people I knew were going to hell. Gave me serious depression. That is really the only emotion that effected me, I was meticulous in logic.

[anubis2814]

@anubis2814 (cont) I actually had to work very hard to be less empathic so I wouldn't be crippled by my depression and so I could actually do something. I was also quite a downer to a lot of people obsessed with the crappy state of the world and people suffering.

[Miryr]

@anubis2814 Correct me if I'm wrong, but people with asperger's fail to see social cues and as a consequence tend to feel ostracised. How does that evolve into an empathetic personality?

Nonetheless, I think I may be believing too much in the stereotypes...

[anubis2814]

@Miryr It really all comes down to what our personal obsessions are. If empathy is well explained to us we can learn to become obsessed, if its merits are not explained it may not develop. And yes my obsession with empathy ostracized me as well. as i was a real downer to talk to talking about how much the world sucks. you are not at all wrong with your stereotype.

[Zaunstar]

Very good, as always. One thing though, you mentioned greater trust between people in wealthier countries. I believe, if you are referring to the TED talk I saw recently, that the data seems to show that trust is higher in countries with a SMALLER income disparity, and that cuts across both wealthier and less wealthy countries.

[anubis2814]

@LiberalsUtopian and you are no where near the higher level if you are petty enough to bait. Philosophy also has its own set of definitions to ensure its exactness, I was speaking in plain English.

[MacNutz2]

You get an oxytocin spike from petting a dog, the dog gets a corresponding spike.:)

[MacNutz2]

@Zaunstar I think you make an extremely important distinction regarding the depth and width of income disparity.

[Schneboll]

@anubis2814 Science in it self might be a self-correcting system. But people are not always attuned to listen and learn.

[Miryr]

@anubis2814 Well, in my case, I've never really been that empathetic in the first place and then I've developed the idea that one should always try to be as rational as possible. The reason for this is that I had bad experiences in my childhood with people who were guided by emotions. As a consequence of this, I've come to see emotions as a weakness and thus really they should only be taken into account whenever deciding your end goal, not the process by which you will reach it.