Monday, April 26, 2010
Social Animals
It has been said that humans are social animals. Explore one or more of the following: A) Why are we social animals? B) Is solitary confinement a means of torture? C) Can someone else know you better than yourself? D) Do you need to be alone to discover your true likes, dislikes, and beliefs, without the pressure of outside society?
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I believe that solitary confinement is a way of subtle torture. After what was discussed in class, that just made this point a bit clearer. Since people are considered "social animals", we usually need other people in order to remain same. After hearing about the research of people in solitary confinements going insane, it just proves the point more that solitary confinement is a way of torture.
I don't think that anyone needs to be alone in order to find themselves. You can surround yourselves with friends and loved ones to help you find yourself, but that doesn't entirely mean that it is the only way. Not being alone and having others around you is quite helpful, because human beings, after making or hearing about mistakes, will then try to be everything but that. When people are surrounded by their friends or enemies, they see all of the bad things and good things that they have experienced. After this, one tries to make sure that they do not make the same mistake, or one tries to enforce this in their life.
Biologically, we are social animals and I think we function better with other people. We were created to come together and to produce children. Although, a lot of people don't want that. Some people think that in order to discover themselves, they need solitude.While other think that they need people. I agree with both sides. There are some things that we can only discover on our own. For example, a monk or even a leader must sometimes spend time in solitude in order to find answers. Although, our mentors, teachers, family, and friends can sometimes bring out the best in us. Like in "The Express", the coach of syrcuse football made the main character into an amazing athlete. Everyone is diferent, and either needs people or is better off as a loner.
I have no idea WHY people want to be so social, I guess it is just how we are made up, but since we have to be social, I think that solitary confinement for an extended period of time is torture. If by the end of a few months, you are banging your head against the wall and losing your sanity, then I don't know what else you can call it other than torture. Some people may be able to get along better then others, but sooner or later, they will go a little crazy.
I think that people can't really know you better then yourself. They may know the social you, but not what you really think. Your friends and family may know that whenever you are scared, you wiggle your fingures, or when you are happy you tap your foot, but they don't really know what you feel when you are just sitting watching TV or eating dinner.
You don't need to be alone to find yourself. I think that taking some stress off from life would help, but you find yourself by living your life, not taking a break from it. The only thing you need if you are really confused is a little time everyday when you just relax.
A while ago, I saw this documentary about a girl who was locked away in a room by her parents in her own house. From the girl’s infancy, she was strapped to a bed during the night and during the day she was held down by more straps on a toilet. Her father was some sort of scientist and was studying her behaviors. Her dad would go into the room to give her food but never talk or give her anything like toys to occupy her. She had no knowledge of anything. Later, a neighbor found out what her family was doing to her and took her into custody. She was about 14 by then, and her whole life was spent in a room strapped to a toilet in the day, and to a bed at night. She didn’t know how to communicate with anyone and has never seen anything but four white walls and a window with a shade over it. She was basically toddler in a teenage body.
This illegal experiment that was conducted by her sadistic father shows how solitary confinement is torture. Since her brain is messed up from learning things like eating food with a fork or playing nicely with kids was learned when she was 14 years old, her brain was supposed to be passed that stage a long time ago, and she will never fully function right and will always be mentally and emotionally handicapped. Being alone can affect people in many different ways. Even if you 40 years old and your in a prison in solitary confinement for 6 months, you’ll still go crazy and never fully heal from the ordeal. Being alone is pure torture. Whether its for years at a time, or months, but for certain, its torture.
We are social animals because it is human nature to want to be with other people. We are a society because we all need something from each other to fulfill basic needs. I believe solitary confinement is a means of torture because we all need to know that something is going to listen to us. We have emotions and when we express our emotions we require someone else to be there and give us imput. We would not get the same reaction from a wall as we would from a child. We also need other people to properly devolop as a person. We need to learn the right from wrong. You do not always have to be alone. In most situations it is better to have someone to talk to. Being with other people makes us human, being human is what makes us who we are and who we want to be, and this is why we are social animals.
We are social animals because we need to be. If we weren't social then the Human race would probably have stopped a long time ago. Now we have a bunch of anti socials because we can. It is no longer necessary to our survival because there are so many of us. However, that said, i will be exploring C. I 100% believe someone else can know you better than yourself. Its all a matter of outlook and experience. First one is outlook. You cant know everything about yourself because most of the time your not looking at a situation from the right angle. Thats why its possible for someone else to know you better than you do, because they can see you in a way that you cant. The other one i said was experience. There are billions of people on this earth. Therefore a lot of people act very similarly. So just by seeing it many times over it becomes very very easy to know someone better than themselves, and in turn for them to know you better than yourself. For example, one of your friends does something really weird or abnormal. He wonders why he does this and he asks you. Coincidentally you have a friend who did the same thing and he was really lonely. So, you say maybe its because your lonely, and all of a sudden your friend gets hit with this sudden realization and thinks your a genius. When really you just knew from experience.
1.Solitary confinement is a way of torture. When humans are left alone for a long period of time, they begin to question what is real. Without more humans to confirm reality, imagination could be as real as the walls surrounding the prisoner.
2.No other person can know you better than yourself. However, they could pick up on a certain behavior before you, though.
3.I believe that you can discover your personality elements without the pressure of outside society. Outside society does have a large influence of this though.
Humans can be considered social animals because for the most part, they don't know any different. Most people grow up surrounded by others and so there for become accustomed to living that way. People live with and around others,and go to school, work, etc. with other people from a very young age. Therefore, socializing is all they know. because of this solitary confinement is definitely a means of torture. Because people become so used to being around other humans, it becomes sort of necessary for them to socialize. Therefore taking this away seems pretty cruel.
i feel that people do not have to be alone to truely figure out thier likes and dislikes, sometimes it helps to have insight from other people. though i personally feel that people are social animals because we have the luxury of having other poeple around to socialize with and have fun with . i feel that solitary confinement is a way to torture people becuase it is so out of thier normal routine that it mentally changes someone.
I believe that humans are known as social animals because everyone wants to know someone. We do whatever it takes to have more friends and acquaintances. I also believe that someone else can know you better than yourself. Having someone see your actions and how you react to things can help them realize who you are as a person and how you choose to live your life. You do not need to be alone to discover your likes and dislike either. Being surrounded by people you know can easily help you find out your beliefs because they can help bring out the best in you.
Solitary confinement is a way of torture. You are keeping a person from socializing, making them go crazy. And they just go nuts all by themselves. I dont think other people will ever know you better than you do. Because a human has thoughts and they dont voice them all the time. But a person can know you, if they are around you long enough, but they cant ever know what you are thinking. You can be alone or with friends to know what you like, i dont think that really matters. We are social because we can think and speak, and we creat social groups that represent us as people. That is why we are social.
A) Humans are so animals because we can be. We communicate with other people because their thoughts take and influence on us. If someone told you that they had a bomb strapped to them, you are most likely to act differently around them. Were also social animals because we feel the need to communicate, we must express our opinions.B) Personally solitary confinement does not seem like a torture to me. This may be because i am an only child and spending time with my parents may be worse then just being by myself. To some people that may be full of themselves or extremely cocky may face solitary confinement probably will be torture since they rely on other people on making themselves feel good.
I think that humans are social animals because we enjoy taking and being around people that are like us. We were given the sense of speech and hearing as a means of communicating and when that (those) sense(s) are taken away i tends to change us as people. It also gives the feeling of loneliness, of not feeling loved or having another person around you.
That tends to be a sett back for people, feeling alone. And even though you know that when you are doing soitary confindment the fear of being left there can be frightening and I think that, that is the answer to our weekness of being alone.
Solitary confinement to me, is very much a way of torture. This is because humans are a social animal and strive to have social contact with any other organism.
With the question can someone else know you better than you do, i think that is entirely false, this is because thoughts and actions that go on in your head, even when shared with other personnel, is still not totally configured as it is in the original persons mind.
However, you do not need to be alone to discover your true beliefs without modern day pressure. These things can be found during any time in your life, with or wwithout any pressure from society.
I think that many people enjoy socializing,but i believe that people need to be social to survive. If we socialize with people all of the time and we are around other people all of the time, then we cannot discover ourselves. We cannot become our own person and we cannot establish our own likes and dislikes.IF we are always around other people we might copy them and begin to become like them and copy their likes and dislikes.
People do not have to be alone to be able to discover who they truely are. People help other people discover who each other is. Since humans are considerd social animals we need other people to be able to discover who we truely are. We can't spend our entire life by ourselves trying to figure out just who exactly we are. We need other people to help. We need other people to see how they react to you. We need other people to discover who everybody is.
solitary Confinement is a way of torture because after a long period of time by yourself you begin to talk to anything and everything. For example in the movie "Cast Away," he begins to talk to a volleyball. You need to other people to keep you sane. They still use solitary confinement today in American prisons as a way of punishment. In Prison solitary confinement isn't as bad as it was back when Alcatraz was still in use. Today you are lock in your cell 23 hours a day, and when you are out of your cell you are in a concrete room by yourself. Back in the time of Alcatraz you were put in what was known as the hole. It was in the basement of the prsion were nobody was, and in room with no light and you could be in there for up to three months without coming out. Your shower would be the guards coming by with a fire hose and wetting you down. When people come out of solitary confinement they usely have to go see the prison psychiatrist and go on medication. This shows that you need to have other people around you to keep you sane.
In Response to C..
Not by anymeans can anyone know you better than yourself. I honestly cant stand when anyone says that. Ofcourse someone can know you very well, yet people have so many different sides to them and some show and others dont. I personally dont believe that anyone can know you better than you know yourself.
I feel as if we are "social animals" and its not our fault. THere are so many social networking sites out there that just draw you in. But what makes us a social animal? Is joining these sites and having the need to be constantly talking to your friend or meeting new people. It is tourtor because if you arent social you are "out or the loop". But at the same time all these social networking sites just get you in trouble. ANd haveing too much of a social life can add stress on to yourself, allowing you to break down. No one knows you better then your self, atleast i hope not! Unless you post your whole like on facebook or something. Yes i believe alone time is very important and allows you to find who you really are in a stress free invironment although you do need friend to help you as well find out who your really are.
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