Look Me in the Eye, third post (up to page 207)
Please respond to one of the four prompts (from Penguin Publishing). Your response should be at least 300 words. Please proofread thoroughly before publishing. Also, make it clear which prompt you are responding to. Due: Tuesday, September 29 @8:00 p.m.
1. In Chapter 16, “One with the Machine,” Robison says, “Sometimes I think I can relate better to a good machine than any kind of person.” Discuss the reasons he gives for his affinity. Why might a person find comfort in machinery but not in people?
2. Despite career advice from music industry insiders, Robison doesn’t want to move to a city. Compare the life he experiences when he’s on tour with KISS to his life back in Shutesbury. Why might the idea of living in a city be intimidating to someone with Asperger’s?
3. Robison writes that he can’t smile on command. How often do you smile “on command” whether you want to or not? How would not being able to automatically produce the expected facial expression make your work life more difficult? Your personal life?
4. As he explains in Chapter 20, “Logic vs. Small Talk,” Robison is also unable to perform the little verbal niceties that often pass for conversation. Questions like “How’s your wife?” or “Have you lost weight?” don’t occur to him when speaking with friends or acquaintances. Do you remember how you first learned to make small talk? Have you ever struggled with it? Are there any conventions of small talk that strike you as peculiar?
I chose to reflect on question number three because when I started thinking about not being able to smile on command I knew it would make a huge difference in my life, Because sometimes with teachers you have to put on a happy face. For instance when a teacher says “happy Monday” and all you want to do is walk out and go home, or when they say “lets play a math game”. I think there is no shame in fake smiling if it’s about teachers, because I would think it would make them happy. Another reason I fake a smile is when someone tries to tell me a joke and either I don’t get it or it’s just not a funny joke. I also believe that there is no shame in this either because I'm busting other people's confidence by smiling at their jokes. So from what I think is that I fake a smile almost everyday so if I couldn’t put an expression on my face like Robison, It would make my life harder. One reason it would make it harder is I wouldn’t be able to make the teachers like me and another is because people would be sad that I didn’t at least smile at their joke. It would also be harder to make friends If I was stuck with just my resting face. People have told me that I look rude or mean when they first see me. For example my whole basketball team when they first met me didn't think I liked them because I looked mean which I’m really not. Anyway it really does impact my friend's ships because they think I'm mean if I don’t smile or have a happy personality.
ReplyDeleteI also find that often fake smiling is a very good thing to be able to do, and I completely agree that not being able to fake smile would make a huge impact on someone's life. If you could not smile someone who does not know you that well will probably think that you did not smile on purpose and that you were just being rude. And because of this they will most likely start to treat you differently. Once they start acting differently you probably will not understand why they are treating you differently and you will become confused and maybe upset. All this just from not being able to fake smile.
DeleteI am responding to prompt number one with the question of “why might a person find comfort in machinery but not in people”.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter sixteen Robinson starts out the chapter by listing quite a few reasons why he related better or has more affinity for machinery than “any kind of person”. His first reason is because “he controls the machine”. This is a valid reason because if he controls the machine it will do exactly as he wants it to do, and it will do the task the way he asked it to do it. He also said “we don’t interact as equals. No matter how big the machine, is I am in charge.” I find this interesting because it almost like he uses this as a rule. Rules are consistent and for the most part, do not change so it would make sense that he has a natural liking to anything that resembles a rule.
Another reason Robinson likes machinery more than people is that machines are predictable. I think that Robinson likes this because again it is something that stays consistent and that comforts him. He does not have to worry that the machine is going to start doing something else because it does the same thing over and over again.
Robinson’s last reason that he likes machines is that “they don’t trick [him], and they are never mean”. Robinson has always had a hard time recognizing people’s facial clues. Therefore, when people joke with him or are mad at him he does not know. He does not have to worry about this with machines because they do not make jokes and they do not have emotions for him to try to figure out. Often when people see that someone or something is different they tend to be mean to whatever it may be. Robinson has experienced this many times in his life and to have something that will never be mean to him is a huge relief. People also try to manipulate others more often than anyone cares to admit. Robinson has a hard time with what we would consider obvious things like jokes so he is an easy target to be manipulated. But a machine would never manipulate him.
In conclusion, Robinson likes machinery more than people because they do not take advantage of him and they are consistent. He likes things consistent because they do not change and he does not have to worry about figuring them out. People on the other hand he will always have to try to figure out.
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DeleteI like Mason’s response. I understand why he would like machines more than people. People are confusing and not simple. People are very complex and not black and white. Machines are not as complicated and do not have these different levels of hidden emotions and secrets. I can see why he would rather be around machines than people. People can be mean and humiliate and make you feel bad. Machines have none of these abilities because they don’t have emotions. Robison finds more comfort and a sense of safety and control. Robinson’s experiences have influenced him. When he was younger and being ridiculed and humiliated has moved him to be more comfortable with machines than people.
Delete~Mary Veracka
Prompt #2:
ReplyDeleteOnce he had been on the road with KISS for a few years, John Elder Robison started to consider his future. His lifestyle as a lighting and sound technician wasn’t sustainable, since his income was only steady when the band was on tour. In Chapter 18, A Real Job, he describes how he “needed two hundred dollars a week for ten weeks, not three thousand dollars one day and nothing for three months,” (Robison 172). Despite his intelligence and strong sense of logic, his options were limited as a person with Asperger’s, especially in the 1980’s. Since he didn’t have a diagnosis at the time, his odd behavior often made people dislike him, or even be afraid of him. Even as an adult, once he had learned how to make himself act ‘normal,’ he felt uncomfortable when it came to interacting with other people. This clearly had a strong impact on his life, since a few chapters of Look Me In The Eye are dedicated to his challenges with smiling on command and making small talk. When he started to think about what to do with his life, his bandmates were full of suggestions. Many of them were sure that he would have plenty of success moving to a big city and continuing work in the music industry. However, John grew up in rural Massachusetts and the Georgia countryside. He didn’t like cities, as they were full of “people who made [him] feel anxious,” (Robison 172). From a young age, he felt that he understood animals and nature more than people. This seems to be a common trait for people with Asperger’s syndrome, since Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time feels the same way. Both characters mention that they like dogs because of the simplicity of their emotions. The reason that being surrounded by crowds could be anxiety-inducing for John is possibly because humans have such complex ways of expressing themselves. For someone like John Elder, who struggles with adapting to the people around him, being in a city and interacting with people all the time could be very stressful. Even though John knew that he could have a bright future ahead of him in an urban environment, he made the decision to stay in Massachusetts, where he felt more comfortable. Eventually, he got a job as a toy designer, which was the start of his career in the electrical engineering field.
~Ceci Luce
I love the fact that he was on the road with KISS. So awesome. Great job going to the text, too.
DeleteI like how you connected John Elder's feelings about crowds and people with George's feelings from 'The Curious Incident'. I also like how you mentioned that everyone expected him to move to the city and "make it big" even though it did not sit right with John Elder. I like your line "Even though John knew that he could have a bright future ahead of him in an urban environment, he made the decision to stay in Massachusetts, where he felt more comfortable."
Delete- Saylor B
Aden Perry
ReplyDeleteMr. Joseph Deffner
English 9 Honors
29 September 2020
Look Me in the Eye - Prompt 1
Machines are relatively straightforward. They don’t require any fancy social skills, empathy, ability to express emotions, or ability to make small talk. Most don’t require people to talk at all. Especially for people with Asperger’s syndrome, or even people who just don’t enjoy talking, this can be wonderful. Machines feel like a safe haven, a place to get away from society, judgment, and the necessity of talking.
People are generally set, and they do not change quickly. Machines, on the other hand, can be tuned and very easily edited to the settings desired, and do not stray from those. This can also make them more fun to hang around, especially for people like introverts. They always give the same output, and that output is always very logical, making people with Asperger’s very easily understand them.
On the flip side, extroverted people may not like machines, for many of the reasons previously listed. Machines don’t talk back. This is a pretty major downside for holding conversations. Also, an entertaining conversation needs a genuine personality, not a programmable rip-off. These personalities would need many illogical responses in order to be society-accepted. These are all things that a machine is very bad at, compared to a human.
Machines, while superb for many introverts or just about anyone with Asperger’s syndrome, are something that extroverts will seldom appreciate. Machines tend to be very logical, which in social relations is not always desired. With progress, it is possible to simulate the human mind in such a way that extroverts may get satisfaction from conversing with machines. In all honesty, I hope that day never comes. People already are very addicted to social media, but at least they still converse with human beings. Once we replace that with machines, there are a great many consequences that could happen.
Love this observation, Aden:
DeletePeople are generally set, and they do not change quickly. Machines, on the other hand, can be tuned and very easily edited to the settings desired, and do not stray from those.
I decided to respond to question number four. I sadly can't remember when I first understood small talk however I can remember when I was little not understanding the ways adults talked. I would guess around the age of five or six I began to understand and use small talk. Small talk is very very important to be able to communicate with others. I think different people use small talk more and I would say I use it more than most. Because small talk is subtle and for the most part constantly present in conversation a great deal of human communication perhaps 50 percent or more is done through subtle gestures body language or verbal language cues like tone or pace. Because of this the ability to make small talk is essential in many aspects of life. For John he has sort of learned this however can’t mimic this very well because it still doesn't make sense to him. Small talk on a fundamental level isn't necessarily logical and if you don't have the full understanding of empathy and knowledge and observation of someone else's emotions. Or if you are not able to relate them to your personal emotions small talk would be unbelievably hard to understand and participate in. Because John suffers from his condition smalltalk doesn't come easy to him. While I might see commenting something like for example heavy rain we are having to a stranger to make them feel comfortable and understand John wouldn’t be able to grasp this. He might think, of course this person can see thus no point is proven and no goal is accomplished in this comment.
ReplyDeletePrompt 2:
ReplyDeleteAfter working for KISS at the end of the 1970’s, John Elder is starting to realize that he needs to start earning a steady income. Though he got paid on tours, he begins to recognize that “what [he] needed was stability”--a sustainable job, a sustainable source of food, a sustainable place to live (172). Everybody he knows suggests that he should move to the city, specifically L.A. Moving to the city is a reasonable option for John Elder. There are more job opportunities, and he’d make enough money to get by. Understandably, however, the thought of moving to the city is “overwhelming” (Robison 172).
There are a few reasons why someone with Aspergers might not like the idea of living in the city. John Elder explains that one of his reasons is because of all the people. People “make [him] feel anxious,” because he doesn't understand them as much as animals, which are clearly more prevalent in the countryside than in a big city. Living in a small rural town, it’s a lot easier to not run into people than if you were living in Los Angeles.
Another reason to not want to move to a city for some people with Aspergers could be because of all the noise in populous areas. Many (but not all) people with ASD have sensory issues with noise. If you were living in the country, it’s a lot more secluded, less busy, and much easier to avoid excess noise. In the city, however, it’s not as easy--what with traffic, apartment neighbors, and crowds.
The logical option right now for John Elder is for him to move to the city and get a job--he can’t survive on Kraft macaroni and cheese forever. This is daunting for him, because he doesn’t “feel safe in a city or a crowd” (Robison 172). However, in order to find the stability he’s looking for, he might end up having to overcome these difficulties.
-Leo
This is my favorite line, Leo:
Delete"...he can’t survive on Kraft macaroni and cheese forever." Great stuff.
Prompt #1:
ReplyDeleteJohn has struggled with interacting with other people his entire life due to Asperger’s. When he was younger, he quickly found out that he was very good at making and building machines. As an adult, he did experiments with machines with his friends, worked for KISS, and eventually worked as an engineer. He started building more and more machines, like guitars and speakers, from working for KISS and then decided to get a job making more machines. John has many reasons why he likes machines better than people since he had trouble interacting with others. First, he is in control of machines and “no matter how big the machine, [he is] in charge” (151). John does not have to interact as an equal, machines do not talk back, they are predictable, and they cannot trick or be mean to him. Since he is the one to build and make the machines, he can make them do whatever he wants them to do. I think that John can find comfort in machines then in people because he does not want to be judged. John does not always know what to say or how to react to small talk conversations with other people.If he says something that other people do not understand or like, they might think he is mean, rude, not smart, or just weird. Because John cannot really control how he interprets things or how he might not know what to do, he likes consistency and not being judged by machines. However, the only thing John worries about is if the machines will work properly. There is always the chance that something will go wrong, and even after all his hard work, the machine will fail. Even so, John is more certain in building, fixing, and programming machines than interacting with other people.
Good observations, Maddy. I especially like your last sentence.
Delete(Response to #1)
ReplyDeleteI believe a person might find comfort in machines rather than people because like John-Elder described, “[Machines and I] don’t interact as equals. No matter how big the machine, I am in charge. Machines don’t talk back. They are predictable. They don’t trick me, and they’re never mean” (151). John-Elder talks about how machines cannot hurt him the way people have. He does not have to think about how to respond to someone’s sentence or think about how a person might hurt him. He does not have to be careful if he “hurts the machine’s feelings” because machines cannot experience emotion the same way humans do. They cannot feel offended or betrayed.
Of course, you could build a robot that has emotions and such, but they will never truly behave completely like the average person. The robot will not view certain people a certain way and will not put certain people into “boxes”. The robot will not develop certain ideologies and beliefs or likes and dislikes without being programmed by their maker.
Along with that, machines do not have any reason to do something they were not programmed/built to do. And even if they did do something that was not what the person/people who built it had in mind, it could help benefit those people and teach them something new. So not only the makers of the machine benefit but the machine does too because it might get a new feature.
John-Elder says later in the chapter, “You can always have brighter lights, bigger amplifiers. These are machines that run at 100 percent, every show. One million watts of power, right there under your finger” (154). I believe that what he means by this is that humans will get tired. We will get to a certain point and want to stop doing something. But machines will not because they can always be better and better and never get tired of it.
- Saylor
He does not have to be careful if he “hurts the machine’s feelings."
DeleteThat's so true, right?
I really like that observation.
This is a very strong response. Saylor talks a lot about how John Elder appreciates machines because they cannot hurt him. This was a great observation within itself, but she went even further and analyzed why he may take comfort in this. She makes the connection that John Elder has past trauma with social interactions. Because he was different, he was not always understood and sometimes made fun of and abused by people. Not only by people he interacted with, but also by his family. With machines, he knows he is safe. Saylor did a wonderful job expressing her thoughts and I thought she had great quotes and deep analysis that left me thinking about the book in new ways.
DeleteI’m responding to prompt number 3. John has a hard time smiling on command, which makes social interactions more difficult. John gets called out for being rude and for not smiling. I smile on command a lot and can see why it would be more difficult to communicate. I often smile on command during conversations, it seems to give the other person in your conversation a sense of interest or that they enjoy talking to you. Sometimes the smile is real but other times it's forced. I’ve learned to smile at the end of a conversation when I have to leave or don't want to be talking anymore. It seems to make the situation smoother and less awkward. For John, he can’t produce that forced smile. I can see how that would make some situations difficult. In day to day situations, I use facial expressions to communicate and I could see how that would make things more complicated to communicate. Facial expressions can be a useful tool in communicating because people don't always express how they feel with words, and you need other methods to figure out how they feel. John struggles with showing these kinds of emotions and is stronger with logical situations. John has found ways to get around these situations sometimes but it isn't always easy. I can see why his work life and social life would be complicated with not being able to have those forced emotions. For a lot of jobs you need to talk and communicate with others. With friends talking is a big part of it. Both working and friends you often have to have forced facial expressions, not being able to do that must be a challenge. Although dealing with these challenges John does both have a work life and a friend life and he has a wife.
ReplyDelete~Mary Veracka
You've really captured how challenging not being able to smile must be for him---it really is important in social situations.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePrompt #4:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, my parents would always have parties for the people in my father’s lab, so I became aware of the strategies behind small talk from a pretty young age. However, as my many months of minimal human contact came to an end, I began to realize that most of the so-called ‘small talk’ seemed trivial. I have found that after being away from society for a while, it opened my eyes to its flaws, as if before I was in some sort of
trance about it all.
One of the things that began to lose meaning for me is when people ask, “how are you?” Although I still ask people this multiple times a day because it is what society says is the polite thing to do, most of the time it is out of obligation. Sometimes, I really do want to know how someone is, but most of the time it just seems like a heartfelt formality. The inquiry itself has flaws, but the answers are what really bother me. “Fine” is the reply nine out of ten times. It is short and polite. Even though a lot of times the person is far from fine, they plaster on a smile and say it anyway. They know that it is not a genuine wondering of their well being, and why should they have to explain their emotions to a mere acquaintance? This is a very important thing to ask someone, but it has lost much meaning, and it results in people making a habit of covering up their emotions and pushing them aside even if the question is genuinely being asked.
I discovered that I have an RBF (Resting female dog Face) at a very young age. When I was little, both my peers and my teachers would come up to me frequently and say, “are you okay? You look sad.” I was always completely fine, I just wasn’t smiling or had that resting goofy face that most little kids wear.
Although I think I have sufficient social skills, not everyone shares that opinion about me. Whenever I meet a new person or classmate I tend to ask questions. I like to get to know people and questions are how I do that. However, my friends always say that I am too enthusiastic, or even interrogative. Multiple people have asked me if I plan on playing twenty questions with them. I understand how I can initially come off as a little forward, but wanting to know more than someone's favorite flavor of ice cream is something that I take pride in and do not wish to change. Fitting into the current high school norms of a social interaction, is definitely not a goal of mine.
Mary, this is so unique:
DeleteI discovered that I have an RBF (Resting female dog Face) at a very young age.
I have never heard someone put it quite that way
I really like your line about having your eyes opened to society's flaws after being isolated for a while. I feel like that can be applied to a lot of things, especially in the pandemic. I think the coronavirus crisis has opened a lot of people's eyes to problems in America, like how many people died from it because healthcare isn't as easily accessible as it should be. Or how willing some people are to spread misinformation about the virus--even politicians.
Delete- Leo
I think this is a very well-written response Mary. I really like that you talk about how being in quarantine has made you question certain aspects of society and how you realized that small talk in particular is very strange.
DeleteIn quarantine, I found it relaxing not to have to worry about small talk and the struggles that come with it. What with the awkward silences and constantly having to think about what to ask someone about their life, I find small talk stressful. There were not many good things about quarantine, but that was definitely one of them for me.
Asking people how they are doing has definitely become a reflex for me as well. I’m used to saying it over and over to people throughout the day. And when I want to know how someone is actually doing, like you said, they just say that they’re “fine,” and I have to let them know that I want a genuine answer. This adds yet another layer of difficulty to the already complicated "rules" of small talk.
Although I don’t have a “Resting female dog Face,” I can relate to what you said about having one. I have been very tired in class before and have had teachers ask me if I’m okay multiple times when I’m perfectly fine. Some of my friends have RBFs too, and it seems very annoying to be asked if you’re okay constantly.
Overall, I think social norms can be very exhausting, especially in high school like you said, and I have no desire to fit into them either.
Prompt #3
ReplyDeleteMy face only has two expressions. Either I look really happy or really sad. Smiling on command is easy for me because I’m always smiling and it’s just become a reflex. All of my life there have always been people telling me to smile. Maybe it's that i'm actually sad or my facial expression has naturally rotated into a sad face. When I was younger I absolutely hated this. I would get so angry and I would think “Why can’t I just look sad! What's so wrong with that!?” Now, it really doesn’t bother me. The word “smile” instantly makes me smile. I would assume most people feel this way, but smiling makes me smile. Smiling on command might be uncomfortable but I end up really smiling. I think not being able to automatically produce expected facial expressions would be very difficult for me. Sometimes I can feel pressured into showing emotions I don’t feel. Although I think emotions are very important in expressing feelings and excitement and energy, it does feel uncomfortable to have to smile about something I do not care about. I think my conversations with other people would be very difficult if I couldn’t smile on command. Most of the time if I don't understand or hear someone, I will just smile and laugh through it. John isn’t able to produce a smile while talking to his friends or coworkers or even random people. John is a very logical person and really thinks about what he should say and how he should feel. It can be difficult for John to have a conversation with his friends and coworkers. I would really struggle without expressing my emotions. I think my conversations would be bland and hard to follow. Although John was always able to find a way around having super awkward and difficult conversation, it was never really easy for him.
I really like what Annies saying about how it would be hard for her not to be able to produce a smile which I completely agree with and also wrote about. I also like how it made her angry when she was younger and someone told her to smile. I think thats funny but I also understand because that was they same way for my older sister so it's cool to know that she wasn't the only one that went through the same things. I was also very intrigued on how you in cooperated John and how you explained and expanded on how it's hard for him and how you listed times he couldn't put on just a little smile.
DeleteI am choosing to respond to the second prompt, because although I have never lived in a city, I think I can understand or feel for John when he doesn't want to move to the city to work with KISS. John explains earlier in the book that he is not a big fan of big crowds, and that some social situations are hard for him. Being in new social situations can be hard for people with Aspergers, and John would also be all alone in the city. Even though he has practically raised himself, he has not been used to moving, being alone, and living entirely on his own. While working with KISS, he has expanded his social skills and has met many people, but still, living in a city can be very hard for lots of people. For someone with Aspergers it may even be harder. Life in a city can be very busy. It is a constant flow of people, some friendly, and some not so friendly. There is always traffic and commotion going on. Then there are other things, like public transportation, which for me personally is the most stressful, confusing,
ReplyDeleteand nerve racking thing about being in the city, even though I love visiting the city. Also, John has grown up in somewhat rural places his entire life. This makes it so that moving to a city, being in constant party mode, working for a very popular band, and everything else would make his life very stressful. I think that living in the city (any city) can be extremely hard for lots of people, especially young people who are just branching off for the first time and exploring what their life will become. John has to navigate his new life, his family problems, moving and living in a new world, plus he has to manage the challenges of his Aspergers. That is a lot at once. I think he realizes that not moving is better for him.
Good response Acadia. You clearly get the challenges he would feel about living in the city.
DeletePrompt 1
ReplyDeleteJohn Elder Robison says that he can sometimes relate to machines better than he can to people. He says that this is because he and the machine are not equals; he controls the machine and the machine always obeys. It is nearly impossible to control a person, but a machine can easily be controlled. I can definitely see how this would make him more comfortable with machines than with people.
Robison says that in his jobs he has been told that his feedback is not “diplomatic” enough and that he is too harsh (Robison 206). People don’t normally talk to machines, but if they did, the machine wouldn’t get offended by what they said or how someone acted when they said it. Robison could give a machine any feedback and it wouldn’t judge him or say that he is being bitter. Machines also don’t care if he doesn’t look them in the eye or make small talk very well. These things are very appealing to Robison because he doesn’t have the best social skills.
Robison says that he likes machines because he can control them, but he says he also likes them because they are “predictable” (Robison 151). I understand the feeling of wanting something to be predictable because people can be so erratic sometimes and it’s hard to know what they will do or say next. Robison says that with Asperger’s, it’s even harder to know how someone is going to act, so it is clear why machines are more relatable to him.
I have felt this way with animals sometimes, liking them because of the feeling that they won’t hurt your feelings or judge you, they just want you to feed them and love them. Most people talk to animals more than they do to machines, but animals don’t care if you don’t have great social skills either. This relationship is very similar to Robison’s with machines; we both like the feeling of not being judged.
I think it’s great that Robison has machines that he can be around and feel safe around. I think he needs that relief sometimes, especially after having to try to socialize and be judged for how he acts constantly.
In this response, I am going to be covering prompt four.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure when I learned how to do small talk. In fact, I’m not sure I know how to do it now. I’m not very good at talking with most people. I often don’t know when to say something, what I should say, and how to say it. The only times I tend to be able to speak relatively normally is when I’m talking about something I’m really passionate about, but then it usually becomes more of a lecture than a conversation. As a result of my relative inability to hold a proper conversation, I cannot perform small talk either. When somebody tries to initiate, I usually answer in a very disjointed and awkward way, and I have no idea how to reciprocate. Since I don’t know how to respond, I just don’t say anything. Sessions of small talk involving me usually end with awkward silence. I kind of agree with John that small talk is illogical, or at least relatively pointless. Maybe I’m biased because I can’t do it and because I hate social interaction, but the definition of small talk is that it’s meaningless conversation. It’s ingenuine, as you talk about small, almost petty, irrelevant subjects that don’t tell either person anything about the other. People will often talk about the weather, or ask about other people’s lives, but not the important things like what and who they love, and what they like to do.I think it exists to pass the time, or fill in silence. Ironically, small talk seems to exist to prevent awkward silence, but (in some cases) creates it instead. In conclusion, small talk is a pointless attempt to prevent awkwardness that will ultimately result in it. It is often irrelevant or petty and as a result, does not bring people together.
I chose to respond to prompt three. I feel that I use "Fake" expressions quite often. It's not that I try to hide my emotions very often or anything like that. I think it lies in the fact that very often the facial expression that shows your feelings in that situation are not the ones that would quite match the situation. For example if that one cousin you don't know very well told you they just won a minor award at school how do you genuinely feel? Are you exited they got it or just trying to be polite when you act exited? I feel that if you were not able to "fake" certain emotions it would make life much harder. There would be many times where a piece of information would make you feel one way but it would not be correct to show that emotion. I feel that this would have a strong effect on both your social and professional life. Such as another example: a teacher is giving a lecture on a topic that bores you immensely. Do you sit there looking bored or do you try to fake being interested? In many situations the wrong expression can easily make you look like a rude or uncaring person. Such judgements could easily make first impressions difficult and could easily make for many awkward social situations. These could result in major misunderstandings and could even get you into serious trouble. The ability to "fake" ones emotions is a valuable skill that I think many people do without giving much thought to it when they do it. It can help provide the right sort of impressions and is something that I believe would be hard to live without. I think that both your social and work lives would be drastically different without it.
ReplyDelete-Finn Liland
Delete