Social Emotion and Subjective Self

In prepping for a return to the classroom, I have challenged myself to review and research my Quizzical Itch over the course of the coming year. Each day, I will read or explore a new resource and comment briefly about it here, on The Artistic Spectrum.

So, to begin:

This weekend marked the annual Learning and the Brain Conference. Held at the Westin Waterfront in Boston, the three-day event featured a wide array of education and psychology professionals. One in particular who sparked an interest was Dr. Immodino-Yang, from USC. She spoke of a phenomenon in which the body physically responds to tellings of emotional experiences in others. She also noted the struggle for the body to internalize these emotions concurrently with hearing them. There is a switch in thought required, in which the mind moves from receiving input to reflecting upon its subjective meaning. She noted, also, that with those more practiced in this process, the switch may occur and repeat many times in a short period; however, with adolescents or children, the process must be strengthened through training.

Dr. Immodino-Yang's lecture made claims which she also introduced in her article for the journal, Emotion Review, titled, "Me, my 'self' and you: Neuropsychological relations between social emotion, self awareness, and morality." The article may be accessed here.