Herbert Sorenson

Marguerite Malm

Teenager Sally is starting to understand the power of emotions. Her teacher demonstrates how we sometimes become irrational without thinking by springing a rubber snake on the classroom. She realizes that by bringing reasoning to ...

Toward Emotional Maturity

Your Emotions Are Wrong!

That&apos;s the message of this McGraw-Hill Educational Film. Instead, take the time to consider that the snake that&apos;s in the box the teacher has just opened can&apos;t be poisonous. If it bit you and you died, his pension would be at risk.

On the other hand, there are crazy people out there. Your teacher may have just decided to kill anyone incautious enough to trust him, and laugh all the way to an insanity plea. I agree it&apos;s unlikely, but given the gain from standing there -- nothing --versus the risk -- death -- it&apos;s much better odds than Pascal&apos;s Wager to run like a rabbit.

Indeed, our society has come to fetishize rationality to the point where we won&apos;t even consider anything that conflicts with our elaborately constructed models of how we imagine the world works. And when that blows up in our faces, we complain about the irrationality of the world.

I&apos;m not saying go with whatever makes you feel good in that instant. I&apos;m saying when you don&apos;&apos;t have time to think things out, you&apos;ve got no better guide. If you do have time, consider your emotions and rational thought. And seeing a snake doesn&apos;t leave you much time to figure out whether it&apos;s poisonous or not.

That's the message of this McGraw-Hill Educational Film. Instead, take the time to consider that the snake that's in the box the teacher has just opened can't be poisonous. If it bit you and you died, his pension would be at risk.

On the other hand, there are crazy people out there. Your teacher may have just decided to kill anyone incautious enough to trust him, and laugh all the way to an insanity plea. I agree it's unlikely, but given the gain from standing there -- nothing --versus the risk -- death -- it's much better odds than Pascal's Wager to run like a rabbit.

Indeed, our society has come to fetishize rationality to the point where we won't even consider anything that conflicts with our elaborately constructed models of how we imagine the world works. And when that blows up in our faces, we complain about the irrationality of the world.

I'm not saying go with whatever makes you feel good in that instant. I'm saying when you don''t have time to think things out, you've got no better guide. If you do have time, consider your emotions and rational thought. And seeing a snake doesn't leave you much time to figure out whether it's poisonous or not.

Teenager Sally is starting to understand the power of emotions. Her teacher demonstrates how we sometimes become irrational without thinking by springing a rubber snake on the classroom. She realizes that by bringing reasoning to a situation, you don't have to let your feelings dictate your behavior. This knowledge allows her to make the right decision and not go with boyfriend Hank to "Lovers' Lane" after the big spring dance.

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Toward Emotional Maturity

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