My Opinion, Folk And Psychology - 1033 Words

In my opinion, folk or â€Å"commonsense† psychology is a useful starting place when one is aiming to determine some truth about the human mind or brain, although its usefulness should not be overestimated, as scientific psychology ought to be given higher precedence. Though folk psychology can be helpful—who knows the human mind better than the minds of regular people?—it should be taken â€Å"with a grain of salt,† as evidenced by â€Å"regular people’s† penchant for misinterpreting their own minds. People often make mistakes or make seemingly contradictory claims when talking about the beliefs and feelings of others, or even of themselves. This approach of starting with folk psychology, but not depending on it exclusively, can also be useful when†¦show more content†¦This concept of pain, however, could possibly be fundamentally flawed, according to Daniel Dennett, in light of a phenomenon known as â€Å"reactive disassociati on†Ã¢â‚¬â€in certain circumstances, such as when they are on morphine, patients report being in terrible pain, though that pain is not unpleasant (Ramsey). Either people are not necessarily always certain of being in pain, as folk psychology says, or the generally accepted concept of pain as unpleasant is wrong. Of course, for practicality’s sake, we still refer to the unpleasant feeling we get when we stub our toes against the door frame as â€Å"pain,† and dare not question people when they wince and cry out that they are in pain.† Thus, folk psychology is a practical starting point, but it may not answer all our questions. Another popular tenet of folk psychology is a belief somewhat similar to the school of thought known as dualism. For many people (especially in the United States), either the physical structure of the brain is separate from one’s mind, or the physical brain is separate from the immaterial soul, which is sometimes interchang eable with the mind. Consciousness, self-awareness, and sometimes even memory are considered immaterial things that all humans have independent of their brains and bodies. This concept seems to make sense, especially when one considers â€Å"qualia,† the internal, subjective component of feeling—what we feel whenever we experience