Oct 09 2009
Body, Mind, and Semantics
“Body and mind.” I’m not a fan of that phrase. I’m even less of a fan when a third element is added: spirit. The body includes the brain, and mind is what the brain does. Spirit? What the brain does as well. As far as I can tell it is a class of thoughts/perceptions/feelings.
Body and mind is equivalent to “physiology and what that physiology does.” Would body and cognition be a more accurate way to put it? Somewhat.
Consider this test case. According to a recent psychological study,
Researchers found that people who were told to sit up straight were more likely to believe thoughts they wrote down while in that posture concerning whether they were qualified for a job.
Study co-author Richard Petty concluded -
The results show how our body posture can affect not only what others think about us, but also how we think about ourselves.
As other research has indicated, the “body-mind” influence is bi-directional. Thoughts can likewise influence body posture. Mind influences body; body influences mind. Put another way, thoughts influence body; body influences thoughts. Or perhaps even more accurately: central nervous activity influences peripheral nervous activity; peripheral nervous activity influences central nervous activity.
Is that what body/mind is all about? Instead of body and mind, should we instead use peripheral and central? As for spirit, that deserves a complete demotion to a subset of mind or central nervous system activity. Hmm.
[...] For the Physics Subcommittee, Brian Kaufman gave an opinion on quantum mechanics through the eyes of an atheist, and the Skeptical Teacher discussed the furry line between science and pseudoscience. Then for the Psychology Subcommittee, Andrew Bernardin presented another report on the non-??distinction between mind, body and spirit. [...]