Nagra Blog Post 11

 

In the first two sections of his book A Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith develops a system by which he understands humans to possess morality concerning others in their environment. He begins by creating the idea of sympathy by which humans feel for one another. He lists and expands on different types of this sympathy and extends the paradigm onto the human fear of death. If we are to project our conscious sympathy onto those who are dead, we develop a fear of those who lack autarchy. He then goes into various situations and examples in which sympathy may vary with its response. An exciting and relatively intuitive case is one in which someone is overly happy about a small act of fortune. We see them as being frivolous and odd. This leads to the idea of propriety, a concept by which we deem specific emotional responses normal or unwarranted. Smith then distinguishes between the idea of virtue and priority. Virtue is the idea of how one conforms to etiquette in various ways, whether this is extreme self-restraint, or a perfect amount of self-control, like that in eating when hungry. 

Smith lays out specific cases and how they relate to the idea of decency. These range from sexual desires, physical pain, emotional memories, love, a sense of community, charity, and even the feeling of annoyance towards those who are narcissistic and overzealous. In section three, he develops this concept of rank and an attraction towards those in the public eye.

While written in the 18th century, Smith’s paradigm accurately describes various currently accepted psychological and neurological science theories. Beginning with the simple idea of pain, Smith posits that while we cannot understand the true feelings of someone who is hurt, we still “tremble and shudder at the thought of what he feels” (4). Comparing this to a modern psychological theory, we can see many similarities between Smith and the rubber hand illusion. In this experiment, one’s real hand and a fake rubber hand are slowly stroked with a brush. The experimenter then smashes a hammer on the artificial hand and observes the subject’s behavior. Often, the subject will quickly pull their hand away and may even feel a slight bit of pain. Even those who have lost their peripheral limbs may sometimes feel “phantom sensations.” 

Another interesting connection to draw is that of rank and ambition to celebrity worship syndrome. While this idea is loosely defined, psychological evidence overwhelmingly points to the existence of a sort of “disorder” in which one becomes overly interested in the life of someone of a higher rank. He was even correct in some of his assumptions about the outcomes of those with good fortune in the public eye. Many celebrities can be named who, after falling out of the spotlight, turned to substances, surgeries, and demeaning gigs to feel that same rush that they experienced when they were famous. Studies associate a high level of depression, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders with both “ex-celebrities” and those who worship them. 

I lastly would like to comment on the idea of propriety in different cultures and social spaces in society. It would be an exciting discussion to develop why certain groups of people have different standards of propriety and why they came to those definitions. Some posit that men, for example, with varying standards for emotional display, may suffer higher rates of suicide or psychiatric illness. While this is more loosely tied to Smith, it is an interesting discussion topic for the paradigm he presents. 

Study Links for More Information:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201307/celebrity-worship-syndrome

https://feeldoppel.com/blogs/news/the-rubber-hand-illusion

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/01/teens

https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4469291/