"The past decade has seen a host of ingenious demonstrations establishing that language indeed plays a causal role in shaping cognition. Studies have shown that changing how people talk changes how they think. Teaching new color words, for instance, changes their ability to discriminate colors. And teaching people a new way of talking about time gives them a new way of thinking about it."
Lera Boroditsky. "How Language Shapes Thought: The languages we speak affect our perceptions of the world." Scientific American, February, 2011, 63-65. (65).
(Note: Italics in the quote are mine.)
Language has a causal role in shaping how we think. Can we find the words to help each other turn toward kindness? Like sunshine turns a sunflower, like smiles invite us to come closer. Strong, fierce words of kindness to our friends and to those who are not yet our friends. We're all better off when we are not enemies, when we find ways to be friends.
Cloudy today. Surely a chance of meatballs someplace, though likely not today in the kitchen in this house.
No comments:
Post a Comment