This weeks reading was particularly interesting to me because it allowed for the perfect way of combining my two emphasis areas. Aside from that, it was also interesting to me because he covered some very unique and diverse topics within one chapter. The three areas that piqued my interest the most were the split-brain patients, the mental-illness in writers, and conspiracy theories. The last interested me mainly because I have never been one to give much credit to conspiracy theorists. In one article I found about conspiracy theories it said that people who were more likely to participate in one such conspiracy are much more likely to believe in a similar one. I thought this was kind of fun and fascinating (Douglas, and Sutton). What causes people to invent conspiracy theories? The one that helped combine my two areas of emphasis (English and Biology) was the mental-illness in writers. Gottschall pointed out several authors that have written books while experiencing symptoms of mental illness (including addictions). One article I read searched through Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish libraries to find books by people with mental illnesses. While most of the books that they studied were autobiographies, this caused me to wonder; does the mental illness cause them to become writers? Or are they writers at heart and just do so when they find a topic to write about (their mental illness)? It is something that I wondered while reading this article ((Anderson, and Larsen)
Anderson, Anders Johan W., and Inger Beate Larsen. "Hell on earth: Textual reflections on the experience of mental illness." Journal of Mental Health. 21.2 (2012): 174-181. Web. 29 Sep. 2013.
Douglas, Karen M., and Robbie M. Sutton. "Does it take one to know one? Endorsement of conspiracy theories is influenced by personal willingness to conspire." British Journal of Social Psychology. 50.3 (2011): 544-552. Web. 29 Sep. 2013.
The portion discussing mental illness was interesting. Mainly it was interesting to me because my wife is a very creative type of person, she likes to both draw and write. With that said I hope she doesn't go crazy any time soon, maybe in another 30 years that seems like a fair amount of time.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed artists and creative people do see the world differently. When asking my wife about it she says that it could come from a creative mind kind of spending too much time thinking about their stories and slipping into that world. I don't know how close that is to reality, but I am neither creative or mentally ill so I can't ask myself.
I want to expand upon your question, "does the mental illness cause them to become writers? " I think so- I think there are so many "gaps" and unexplained circumstances- that people with mental issues have to fill them in. If the truth isn't fantastical enough- they elaborate- like in the case of conspirators. I think when people with mental illness are very creative- their imagination, (brain)- is getting away from them!
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