Our group uses the podcast on the topic of an unusual way of treating mental illness as a start point of our research question, which leads to the discuss of how people construct what is normal, and how people always try to find solution for every problem. So, our final research question is: to what extent are emotions the key catalysts to problems? To answer the question, we are using two scholarly sources, one is “What is a problem?” by Thomas Osborne, and the other one is “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences” by Michael Eid and Ed Diener. The first source gives a detailed illustration of the definition of a problem using different philosophers’ models. The second source explained how culture affects people when experiencing emotions.

The first source, “What is a problem?” by Thomas Osborne focuses on comparing some of the works of some French philosophers on the topic of problematology. Gilles Deleuze states in his work Difference and Repetition that stupidity is the capacity for fabricating false problems, therefore, not all problems are real problems. For example, in the podcast, mental illness is not a problem in Geel, which is the most humane treatment for mental illness. So it is possible that mental illness is a false problem, people do not have to find a solution for it. Another French philosopher Georges Canguilhem states that normality and problems are depend on the environment an individual is in. Life is able to find the solutions to problems according to the changes in the environment. Therefore, problems are based on individuals’ past experiences in life, which leads to the conclusion that normality is not the same for each individual. Problems can come up as an individual having more experience in life, so new emotions do come in the way of coming up with questions and solving questions. On the other hand, Henri Bergson more or less agrees with Canguilhem that life is about overcoming obstacles, moreover, the solution for one problem can serve as a possible solution for a future question. Bergson believes that problems have a sense of contingency, and they responds to the surrounding environment as it changes. This source provides a detailed discussion of what different philosophers believe is the key elements of a problem, it helps us to see that what leads people to come up with questions to solve, and does emotion play a role when people come up with questions.

The second source,  “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences” by Michael Eid and Ed Diener, focuses on how culture can affect people’s reactions when experiencing emotions. It is analysed by studies in two individualistic countries, The United States and Australia, and two collectivistic countries, China and Taiwan. It was discovered that there are general reactions across all four cultures, and there are also specific reactions based on cultures. People react accordingly to the value they believe in the culture:

For example, people who value positive emotions might be more alert to positive events, might seek situations that provoke positive emotions, might appraise positive events in a more positive way, might stay in positive situations longer, and might try to maintain their positive feelings or even enhance them (Diener, 870).

Therefore, when people experience different emotions, they seek different ways to come up with questions and to solve questions, which is related to our research question that to what extent are emotions a key part of people coming up with problems and solutions. It was found that individualistic nations reacts more uniformly regarding to pleasant affect. When experiencing self-reflective emotions such as pride and guilt, individualistic and collectivistic nations differed most significantly based on the culture. Therefore, it is possible that the emotions in individuals are affected by the norm of the culture, so people are affected when they come up with problems and solution.

Works Cited

Diner, Ed and Eid, Michael. “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 81, Issue 5, 2001.

Osborne, Thomas. “What is a Problem?” History of the Human Sciences, Volume 16,Issue 4, 2003.

Rosin, Hannah. “The Problem with the Solution.” Invisibilia, NPR, 2016.