Just because you’re educated doesn’t mean you have to be thinking and acting like a certain way. Our minds and bodies are constantly developing and evolving, so it’s important to take advantage of both our brains and our bodies when it comes to self-awareness and self-reliance. We can’t always control what happens around us, but we can control our ability to create new behaviors.
One way to do this is by using symbolic interactionism. Often referred to as the “way of the mind,” this approach to education is based on the premise that the brain is like a computer and that the brain is the “computer.” The brain responds to stimuli and acts as if it is having a conversation with itself. In this way the brain takes control of its own behavior and directs it in new directions. Think about how our brains are constantly changing and improving.
According to symbolic interactionism, it is possible to create new behaviors by simply manipulating the brain (for example, by stimulating one part of the brain and having another stimulate another part). For example, if you stimulate the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex to have someone act out the same action in a different way, you can change the behavior at a subconscious level. In a world where it is impossible to think or speak, creating new behaviors is an easy task.
But it’s also possible to manipulate the cerebral cortex at a level that is not easily accessible, or so I infer from my time in the field of symbolic interactionism. The reason I’m sure many of you have heard of it is because the subject has become extremely controversial in recent years, particularly in the educational system.
The two main ways in which I hear of this are the way of the mind and the way of the body. And there are many more ways of using a mind, and many more ways of using a body. What’s strange is that most of the time while I am in this field, I am not using a mind to change the behavior, and I’m often not even using a body to change the behavior. I’m not even using a mind to create new behaviors.