Why you feel what you feel | Alan Watkins | TEDxOxford
TEDx Talks・17 minutes read
The speaker discusses their journey from childhood experiences to medical training, emphasizing the profound impact of witnessing birth and death. They explore the stages of self-awareness in children, highlighting the importance of understanding and navigating a vast universe of emotions through an app developed to help individuals build emotional control and well-being.
Insights
- The speaker transitions from personal experiences in medicine to studying human behavior at various levels, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and emotional control for well-being.
- The development of self-awareness in children progresses from physical to emotional and conceptual stages, with most individuals remaining at a concrete level following societal rules, prompting a search for meaning in times of crisis. This search often leads to ineffective coping strategies like anesthetics or distractions, highlighting the necessity of understanding and managing a wide range of emotions for improved mental health and decision-making.
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Recent questions
How do children develop self-awareness according to the speaker?
The speaker discusses the stages of self-awareness in children, starting from physical awareness to emotional and conceptual self. They highlight the importance of language acquisition and the emergence of the conceptual self between ages three to six. Concrete consciousness emerges between six to nine years, where children learn the rules governing concepts. Most individuals remain at the concrete level, following societal rules and norms throughout their lives.
What strategies do individuals use to cope with the search for meaning?
The speaker mentions that crisis or loss often prompts individuals to question the rules they've been following, leading to a search for meaning. Two common strategies to cope with this search are anesthetics (like alcohol) and distractions (such as workaholism or materialism). However, these external solutions do not address the internal emptiness that individuals may feel.
How can individuals expand their emotional repertoire?
The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the vast universe of emotions, with an average person experiencing only ten to twelve out of 34,000 possible emotions. An app has been developed to help individuals navigate this universe of emotions, categorizing them based on energy levels, positivity, and relaxation. By utilizing the app, individuals can track their emotional state, move between different emotional "planets," and share their experiences with others.
Why is objectifying emotions important according to the speaker?
The speaker discusses how objectifying emotions, such as anger, allows individuals to gain control over them, ultimately influencing their health, performance, and decision-making abilities. Building an emotional repertoire beyond a limited range of emotions is essential for emotional control and well-being. By understanding and categorizing emotions, individuals can better manage and navigate their emotional experiences.
What impact does witnessing death and birth have on the speaker?
The speaker describes their experiences as a physician witnessing both death and birth, emphasizing the profound impact these events have had on them. These experiences have likely shaped their perspective on life, human behavior, and the search for meaning. Witnessing the beginning and end of life can be transformative and may have influenced the speaker's journey into studying human dynamics at various levels.
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Summary
00:00
"Exploring Human Behavior: Childhood to Meaning"
- Speaker introduces the topic of studying human behavior and shares personal experiences from childhood to medical training.
- Describes experiences as a physician witnessing both death and birth, emphasizing the profound impact.
- Transition to research career as an immunologist and later as a neuroscientist, studying human dynamics at various levels.
- Posing a question about the one thing to teach oneself or others, leading to the central idea to be shared.
- Discusses the stages of self-awareness in children, starting from physical awareness to emotional and conceptual self.
- Language acquisition and the emergence of the conceptual self between ages three to six are highlighted.
- Concrete consciousness emerges between six to nine years, where children learn the rules governing concepts.
- Most individuals remain at the concrete level, following societal rules and norms throughout their lives.
- Crisis or loss often prompts individuals to question the rules they've been following, leading to a search for meaning.
- Two common strategies to cope with the search for meaning are anesthetics (like alcohol) and distractions (such as workaholism or materialism), but these external solutions do not address the internal emptiness.
12:53
"Mastering Emotions: From Victim to Ownership"
- The creation of electrical signals of frustration, pressure waves, and sound waves is attributed to oneself in response to others' poor behavior, leading to a shift from victimhood to ownership.
- Understanding the vast universe of emotions is crucial, with an average person experiencing only ten to twelve out of 34,000 possible emotions.
- An app has been developed to help individuals navigate the universe of emotions, categorizing them based on energy levels, positivity, and relaxation.
- By utilizing the app, individuals can track their emotional state, move between different emotional "planets," and share their experiences with others.
- Building an emotional repertoire beyond a limited range of emotions is essential for emotional control and well-being.
- Objectifying emotions, such as anger, allows individuals to gain control over them, ultimately influencing their health, performance, and decision-making abilities.
