Emotional Ignorance: Lost and found in the science of emotion

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Yes, trauma in the past could be caused by altered emotional development. Traumatic episodes, neglect, or abuse can manifest as difficulty in emotional regulation and fear of attachment in adulthood. They may also respond aberrantly to stressors or triggers. Emotions can be a pain. After losing his dad to Covid-19, Dean Burnett found himself wondering what life would be like without them. And so, he decided to put his feelings under the microscope – for science. Or, you know, maybe not. But we’ll never find out if science continues to keep emotions at arm’s length. Emotions are essential for motivation, and more In this quote the midwife talks about how it eats her up to listen to other healthcare staff talk negatively about Somali patients and how she witnesses the inadequate treatment they get. When asked if she ever discusses these issues in her workplace she responded:

Emotional Ignorance : Lost and found in the science of emotion Emotional Ignorance : Lost and found in the science of emotion

Bäärnhielm S., Ekblad S., Ekberg J., Ginsburg B. E. (2005). Historical Reflections on Mental Health Care in Sweden: The Welfare State and Cultural Diversity. Transcult Psychiatry 42 ( 3), 394–419. 10.1177/1363461505055622 An ethnic minority GP who was at the time of interview also a doctoral student elaborated on how the education of healthcare staff imparts ethics for medical work, stressing that the patient comes first. The GP doctoral student reflected on this in the following way: Although the case was taken seriously by the manager (referred to as the ‘chief doctor’), it was handled as a one-off incident and did not generate any guidelines or protocols against racism in the workplace. Failing to institute clear guidelines on racism may further silence racism thereby making it even more invisible. The doctor who was rejected by the patient had to join the colleague in jointly treating the patient. The ethnic minority doctor was the more qualified for the condition the patient suffered from and, as he also argued, he could not refuse because, as a doctor he has a duty of care for the patient, no matter how offensive they are. Neither could he say ‘no’ to his colleague’s request to co-treat the patients, as this might have had other consequences. I have interpreted for Somali patients because I speak Somali. And many times, as an interpreter, I am not allowed to say anything, or I am not allowed to have an opinion. I just have to interpret what is said in the room. But many times … it eats me up as a person. I have stopped interpreting because I see how these people are treated in healthcare.Further gains may come from new efforts to create a “bodily map of emotions.” In a study in 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, a group of researchers led by psychologist Lauri Nummenmaa of Aalto University in Finland asked 701 participants from Finland, Sweden and Taiwan to color the parts of the body that experienced a change in sensation in response to events such as watching a touching movie or observing certain facial expressions. The researchers discovered that across cultures, respondents consistently associated specific regions of the body with particular emotions. For example, people felt a sense of increased activation in the arms and upper body when angry, whereas happiness led to a flood of stimulation from head to toe. Teaching people to associate sensation in various regions of the body with a corresponding emotion could help them learn how to reconnect bodily responses with emotional reactions. The patient then stood up and went to request another doctor at the clinic’s reception, where he was directed to another doctor. The new doctor however told the patient he should do what the first doctor had said. Finally, the patient said he was going to visit a larger hospital instead. The GP noted that the patient seemed to want to consult any other doctor who was a majority ethnic Swede. The GP trivialized the patient’s refusal to accept his medical authority by saying the patient was not clear in the head. Emotions and motivation are fundamental linked, even at the linguistic level; they’re both derived from the same Latin word, ‘ movere’, meaning ‘to move’. And such is the fundamental nature of emotions and motivation that many of the decisions and actions we partake in, when you strip away all the more complex factors, stem from emotion, and their ability to motivate us. Because, for all their strengths and benefits, logic and rational thought struggle to motivate us like emotions do. That’s just how our brains work. There are signs indicating a person is emotionally immature, like avoiding tough situations or craving too much attention. General practitioners (GPs) and surgeons described the way colleagues, particularly those junior to them in the organizational hierarchy, may attempt to take over their duties or report them to the boss for any small mistake. In one case, a GP noted during an interview that took place at a café, that being watched and reported to the chief, especially by junior colleagues – nurses and nurse aides – is regular and is very stressful for him. This participant reported an incident where he mistakenly double-booked a patient. Instead of talking to him, the nurse just sent the patient straight to the clinical unit manager. He said at the end ‘being watched is extremely stressful’ especially because he also has to hide his emotions from his white colleagues.

Emotional Ignorance: Lost and found in the science of emotion

Issues like participant bias, response bias, cultural biases, egocentric biases, and many other biases, these can all hinder psychological research, and all have their roots in subconscious, emotional drives. Real life often reinforces this impression, particularly in psychology, and related disciplines. Modern scientific methodology has many elements, like control groups, randomisation, blinding, and more, which essentially exist to prevent experiments from being influenced and manipulated by researchers’ own biases and desires, which generally stem from their more emotional leanings, not rational or logical objectives.

And it’s not just in the reproductive sense: evidence suggests smell was the first sense to evolve at all. Consider the nature of the earliest life forms – tiny complex bundles of chemicals, in a complex chemical environment. That’s essentially what smell is – information relayed to your brain about the chemicals in your environment. Yes, also because the chief had asked me whether I wanted to tell the nurses what I felt, which I did. Bradby H., Thapar-Björkert S., Hamed S., Ahlberg B. M. (2019). Undoing the Unspeakable: Researching Racism in Swedish Healthcare Using a Participatory Process to Build Dialogue. Health Res. Pol. Syst 17 ( 1), 43. 10.1186/s12961-019-0443-0 This article was originally published with the title "That Missing Feeling" in SA Mind 25, 4, 66-71 (July 2014) In another interview, a dental hygienist described how his patient always tries to dismiss him and spoke negatively about migrants and refugees as being lazy and welfare exploiters. He reports:

Emotional Ignorance: Lost and Found in the Science of Emotion Emotional Ignorance: Lost and Found in the Science of Emotion

The burden of abuse according to the dentist, is heavier because one cannot refuse to care even when insulted and discriminated against, because when one works in health or dental care, one works to help people, as the dentist noted:Gender norms can add another layer of environmental influence. Traditional gender roles generally discourage men from paying attention or assigning importance to their emotions. This tendency has led researchers such as Ronald F. Levant of the University of Akron to coin the concept of “normative male alexithymia,” in which society socializes young men to become emotionally stunted. He observes that men may develop a nonpathological variant of the alexithymia trait. Some data support this position: in 2008, for instance, Arizona State University psychologists found that Mexican-American men who exhibited more machismo—an outlook that endorses aggressive hypermasculinity—also had higher alexithymia scores. An emotional education may require us to adopt two different starting points. For a start, how we are taught may matter inordinately, because we have ingrained tendencies to shut our ears to all the major truths about our deeper selves. Our settled impulse is to blame anyone who lays our blind spots and insufficiencies bare, unless our defenses have first been adroitly and seductively appeased. In the face of critically important insights, we get distracted, proud, or fidgety. We may prefer to do almost anything other than take in information that could save us. Judge H., Ceci C. (2021). Problematising Assumptions about ‘centredness’ in Patient and Family Centred Care Research in Acute Care Settings. Nurs. Inq., e12448. 10.1111/nin.12448