Mood Freezing
Throughout learning about the Rwandan Genocide we have seen hundreds of people viciously murder members of an opposing ethnic group. Through the dissemination of propaganda, many Hutu felt the need to eliminate the “dangerous” Tutsi. While watching their brutal attacks, I noticed that their emotional state remained heightened throughout their encounters. I wondered if it would be feasible for them to alter their current state and contemplate their actions? This brings up the concept of mood freezing.
Mood freezing is the ability of an individual to alter their emotions when they are conscious and pensive. This is best displayed in a psychological study. For example, scientists tell participants that a certain pill can alter their mood. Specifically, when one takes a pill during a moment of anger, their hostile feelings will subside. However, the pill is a placebo, meaning that there are no substances that actually alter one’s emotional state. Despite the fact that it is a placebo when participants are “artificially riled up in an experimental situation, and then given the fake pill, they both reduce their angry outbursts say that they feel better”. This experiment shows that humans have the ability to alter their emotional state even when they are feeling intense emotions. One has the ability to reduce their anger when they get mad by simply being conscious of their emotional state.
This is an incredibly important concept to understand as we have been learning about various individuals that malign and harm minorities. What if a group of individuals, whether it was in Rwanda, Darfur, or the United States, who were participating in atrocities, utilized Mood freezing?
I agree with a lot of the things that you mention in this. When you look at a lot of the past genocides such as the Rwandan, or the Holocaust, its obvious that all of these events took place over a long time period and not just in a couple of weeks. I personally always had a thought when watching the documentaries that people such as Hitler might question if what they were doing is right or wrong even worse. I think with all the tensions even today, we need to pay attention to mood freezing and at one point it might even be able to prevent another genocide if even one person was to contemplate whether the actions they are doing are right or wrong and confront themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool concept I had never heard of before. It's really interesting to me the effect that placebo things can have on us. It definitely leads me to wonder how many people whose extreme anger had drastic consequences could have been with this pill. I don't necessarily believe that it could have avoided an entire situation but I still would like to see what the impact had been.
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