I've always suspected this, but my Japanese homework confirmed an important lesson for me. Since I know some of you out there are 悩んでいる'ing (hell yeah, that's an English gerund if I make it so) through Japanese studies like me, I'll reproduce the original text below and then roughly translate for everyone else. Also, this was supposed to be a practice of conjunctives and the sensei blacked out those conjunctives he wanted us to reason out of through context of the passage. I've highlighted mine in red because I've likely got them wrong.
アメリカ合州国の発達心理学者キャンボスは、一歳前後で、ハイハイや歩行にほって自分で移動ができるようになった子供の社会的参照のようすを実験的に確かめた。要するに子供が実験室になんじんで母親といつものように遊んでいる状態になったときに突然大きな音をたててみる。するとそれまで遊んでいた子供は、あわてて母親の顔を見る。そのとき母親に恐怖の表情をしてもらうと、このグループの子供のほとんどが遊ぶのをやめ、あわてて母親に近づいたり抱かれたがったりした。逆に、このときに母親が笑顔を見せるように指示されたグルプの子供では母親の顔を見て、心配することはないと判断したように再び遊びに戻ったのである。これは子供が自分では処理できない事態になると、まわりの人々、とくにもっとも好きな人がいればその人の表情を参照して、どうしたらよいかを判断しているのだと解釈できよう。
Basically what it says is that there was an experiment conducted wherein small children played with their mothers as usual in a room and suddenly a loud noise rang out. If the mother displayed a panicked face, those children stopped playing and moved close to their mothers or wanted to be held. If the mothers smiled, the kids did not seem worried at all and went back to playing again. The conclusion drawn from this is that in instances where the child does yet know how to handle certain situations, they reference the people near them - especially those they like - and determine how best to react from their behaviors.
I think by now most of you who know me are also aware that I am just the tiniest bit neurotic (::understatement::) and have a tendency to panic when confronted with stressful or unknown situations. Anyone who knows my mother (hi mom! And sorry, I'm going to have a little bit of fun at your expense here, but know it's also done with affection. Also, I don't think I'm saying anything I haven't already poked fun at you for. And I'm glad you're recovering!... oh this is bad timing, but I'm going to do it anyway) know that she has a tendency to, er, overreact when confronted with unexpected stimuli. It's a good thing that she and I were not test subjects in this experiment and played in the "SMILE" group; presumably the mothers were told beforehand that there would be a loud noise and that they should smile and not be surprised. Even knowing that, I'm sure my mom still would've jumped and possibly yelped a little. To this day she still gives a start when her phone goes off, which would also explain why I my eyes bugged out of my head earlier when my rice cooker's bell rang out to tell me that it was time to eat some fluffy 新米.
This also goes a long way in helping to understand why I also have a tendency to suddenly get angry at things and start swearing and kicking things around when I can't figure out to do (<--compliments of dear ol' dad). I can remember many a morning at 7 or 8am when pops was out in the driveway getting ready for work or building something on the weekends and there would be this loud string of 4-letter words that would make Cartman blush. It reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Homer is building a dog house in the backyard and either Rod or Todd picks up on his swearing as Homer nails things to his clothes and generally makes a mess of things. Marge makes him start filling a "Swear Jar," the proceeds of which eventually pay for a new doghouse, though at no small expense to Homer's foot.
It makes me wonder how the neighborhood children fared after this because I know my language has gotten a bit more *colorful* - shall we say? - as a result. Can't totally blame him though because TV, movies and music also did a number on me as well. I remember distinctly in high school that I said fuck a whole lot more after seeing the South Park movie as well as listening to Tenacious D's first album.
And aside from my parents, I know I still look at other people's reactions in unusual or slightly unusual (at least for me) situations to figure out what to do. I think this "strategy" (it's the wrong word since it implies some level of control over this, and really it's just the way I function) shows itself the most when I am in a new class. I generally don't say much in class as it is (and either have the students basically elbow me into saying something or have the teacher be like "I know you're not dumb or deaf, so speak up!"), but I like to think that at least that part you can't attribute to my natural shyness (yes it's true) comes as a result of me analyzing the dynamic of the class. What does the teacher want? What are the other students saying? How do I best phrase what I am thinking in order to fit it into the current conversation? Am I going to sound dumb or way-off topic? I assume that this type of behavior comes as a result of my mother since my dad is like a slickly charismatic bull in a china shop (if he knocks over your fancy dinnerware, he'll try to make you laugh about it), since she seems much more circumspect in how to handle situations and other people. They say that women are much more attuned to reading social cues; I've heard it goes as far as our abilities with sense of smell, but that sounds a little specious. I'm much more inclined to believe that women are socially conditioned to behave in this way to either keep or make peace is in daily life. Now this isn't true of all women since drama queens certainly aren't exactly attuned to what is going on around them (just what's going on inside their own heads, which is what makes them soooo entertaining to watch but extremely frustrating to deal with), but I am more likely to trust a woman to handle a delicate social situation than I would a dude. Sorry fellas.
So where was I going with this? Nowhere in particular: my reading for this week just gave me some food for thought and some scientific evidence (whatever worth you can take from that, but I'll save that argument for another day) to back up what I've always assumed. It reminds me of a debate we had in one of my modern Japanese history classes about the Japanese education system and how it's typically the kids of college graduate parents who get into the top schools. Aside from questions of socio-economic status, access to 塾 (afterschool cram schools), tutors, study materials, and the ability to appreciate that a college degree from the best schools almost guarantees entrance into top businesses and government ministries, the professor also posited that Japanese college graduates have a tendency to marry other graduates, and therefore their DNA may make their kids inclined towards the intelligence necessary to succeed in this grueling system. Though of course the argument of Nature v. Nurture is a very gray one, I still come out on the side of Nurture. What exactly is "Nature"? I have a problem with the word because I have an ideological beef with accepting science as an absolute (go ahead and pillory me as you must, just also know that this is not me professing any kind of belief in the supernatural or some higher power. I think it's pretty obvious at this point I have little of what is commonly known as "faith." Suffice it to say that I reserve my right to doubt everything, including my right to doubt my ability to doubt), and in the instance of the Japanese education system, I'd argue that the reason these children succeed is because they see their parents killing themselves day in and day out in whatever task they're working at, whether it's pulling long hours in the office, running a household, or drinking yourself stupid as a result of the stress of the former. If the parents show this level of dedication toward a task, similarly the child will end up learning the value of throwing yourself at a perceived goal. As one of our sample sentences from earlier today said:
あの人は天才と言うよりも、むしろ努力家だ。 (Rather than calling that person a "genius," it is more appropriate to say he is a hard-worker)
Okay, and fuck this went on much longer than I intended. See, I suddenly realized that I had talked about myself more than I had wanted to and the first thing out of my mouth is a swear word. Surprise!
One parting thing: there's a poll to the right side of my blog under the archives. I know that I prefer chunky peanut butter as a result of it being the only kind allowed in my house. And I love peanut butter just as much as this corgi does!...
... which is why I generally don't keep it in the house because I end up looking like this.
I think by now most of you who know me are also aware that I am just the tiniest bit neurotic (::understatement::) and have a tendency to panic when confronted with stressful or unknown situations. Anyone who knows my mother (hi mom! And sorry, I'm going to have a little bit of fun at your expense here, but know it's also done with affection. Also, I don't think I'm saying anything I haven't already poked fun at you for. And I'm glad you're recovering!... oh this is bad timing, but I'm going to do it anyway) know that she has a tendency to, er, overreact when confronted with unexpected stimuli. It's a good thing that she and I were not test subjects in this experiment and played in the "SMILE" group; presumably the mothers were told beforehand that there would be a loud noise and that they should smile and not be surprised. Even knowing that, I'm sure my mom still would've jumped and possibly yelped a little. To this day she still gives a start when her phone goes off, which would also explain why I my eyes bugged out of my head earlier when my rice cooker's bell rang out to tell me that it was time to eat some fluffy 新米.
This also goes a long way in helping to understand why I also have a tendency to suddenly get angry at things and start swearing and kicking things around when I can't figure out to do (<--compliments of dear ol' dad). I can remember many a morning at 7 or 8am when pops was out in the driveway getting ready for work or building something on the weekends and there would be this loud string of 4-letter words that would make Cartman blush. It reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Homer is building a dog house in the backyard and either Rod or Todd picks up on his swearing as Homer nails things to his clothes and generally makes a mess of things. Marge makes him start filling a "Swear Jar," the proceeds of which eventually pay for a new doghouse, though at no small expense to Homer's foot.
It makes me wonder how the neighborhood children fared after this because I know my language has gotten a bit more *colorful* - shall we say? - as a result. Can't totally blame him though because TV, movies and music also did a number on me as well. I remember distinctly in high school that I said fuck a whole lot more after seeing the South Park movie as well as listening to Tenacious D's first album.And aside from my parents, I know I still look at other people's reactions in unusual or slightly unusual (at least for me) situations to figure out what to do. I think this "strategy" (it's the wrong word since it implies some level of control over this, and really it's just the way I function) shows itself the most when I am in a new class. I generally don't say much in class as it is (and either have the students basically elbow me into saying something or have the teacher be like "I know you're not dumb or deaf, so speak up!"), but I like to think that at least that part you can't attribute to my natural shyness (yes it's true) comes as a result of me analyzing the dynamic of the class. What does the teacher want? What are the other students saying? How do I best phrase what I am thinking in order to fit it into the current conversation? Am I going to sound dumb or way-off topic? I assume that this type of behavior comes as a result of my mother since my dad is like a slickly charismatic bull in a china shop (if he knocks over your fancy dinnerware, he'll try to make you laugh about it), since she seems much more circumspect in how to handle situations and other people. They say that women are much more attuned to reading social cues; I've heard it goes as far as our abilities with sense of smell, but that sounds a little specious. I'm much more inclined to believe that women are socially conditioned to behave in this way to either keep or make peace is in daily life. Now this isn't true of all women since drama queens certainly aren't exactly attuned to what is going on around them (just what's going on inside their own heads, which is what makes them soooo entertaining to watch but extremely frustrating to deal with), but I am more likely to trust a woman to handle a delicate social situation than I would a dude. Sorry fellas.
So where was I going with this? Nowhere in particular: my reading for this week just gave me some food for thought and some scientific evidence (whatever worth you can take from that, but I'll save that argument for another day) to back up what I've always assumed. It reminds me of a debate we had in one of my modern Japanese history classes about the Japanese education system and how it's typically the kids of college graduate parents who get into the top schools. Aside from questions of socio-economic status, access to 塾 (afterschool cram schools), tutors, study materials, and the ability to appreciate that a college degree from the best schools almost guarantees entrance into top businesses and government ministries, the professor also posited that Japanese college graduates have a tendency to marry other graduates, and therefore their DNA may make their kids inclined towards the intelligence necessary to succeed in this grueling system. Though of course the argument of Nature v. Nurture is a very gray one, I still come out on the side of Nurture. What exactly is "Nature"? I have a problem with the word because I have an ideological beef with accepting science as an absolute (go ahead and pillory me as you must, just also know that this is not me professing any kind of belief in the supernatural or some higher power. I think it's pretty obvious at this point I have little of what is commonly known as "faith." Suffice it to say that I reserve my right to doubt everything, including my right to doubt my ability to doubt), and in the instance of the Japanese education system, I'd argue that the reason these children succeed is because they see their parents killing themselves day in and day out in whatever task they're working at, whether it's pulling long hours in the office, running a household, or drinking yourself stupid as a result of the stress of the former. If the parents show this level of dedication toward a task, similarly the child will end up learning the value of throwing yourself at a perceived goal. As one of our sample sentences from earlier today said:
あの人は天才と言うよりも、むしろ努力家だ。 (Rather than calling that person a "genius," it is more appropriate to say he is a hard-worker)
Okay, and fuck this went on much longer than I intended. See, I suddenly realized that I had talked about myself more than I had wanted to and the first thing out of my mouth is a swear word. Surprise!
One parting thing: there's a poll to the right side of my blog under the archives. I know that I prefer chunky peanut butter as a result of it being the only kind allowed in my house. And I love peanut butter just as much as this corgi does!...
... which is why I generally don't keep it in the house because I end up looking like this.
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