Why do we like an original painting better than a forgery? Psychologist Paul Bloom argues that human beings are essentialists — that our beliefs about the history of an object change how we experience it, not simply as an illusion, but as a deep feature of what pleasure (and pain) is.

 

Glossary

• kinship – relation between members of the same family
• impostor – somebody pretending to be someone else
• virile – very strong and forceful ( n. virility)
• utility – usefulness
• stunned by –  extremely shocked

 

 

Think about it

Answer the questions below.

• Summarise the case of Goering. Who was he? What happened to him? How did he feel?
• What does it mean that people are essentialists?
• What do people in happy marriages tend to think about one another? Why?
• Can you explain what Capgras syndrome is?
• Is utility the only reason why we like things? Under what circumstances are people likely to pay a lot of money for everyday objects?
• What was the story of Marla Olmstead?
• Summarise the experiment carried out on Harvard undergraduates.
• How would you explain the meaning of the quotation: “THE MIND IS ITS OWN PLACE, AND IN ITSELF CAN MAKE A HEAVEN OF HELL, A HELL FROM HEAVEN?”

 

Practice makes perfect

Mach the words (1 – 8) with their synonyms (a – h).

1. designated

2. forgery

3. drop charges

4. by all accounts

5. amicable

6. kin

7. audacious

8. malevolent

 

a. brave

b. fake

c. appointed/chosen

d. according to what everyone says

e. stop accusing

f. friendly

g. malicious

h. family

 

Match the two halves of phrases/expressions.

1. be in

2. the value

3. something lights

4. show off

5. something is

6. see things/people

7. there’s more to

8. in the

9. make

10. on

 

a. up like a Christmas tree

b. for a shock

c. how powerful you are

d. something than something

e. in different ways

f. style of

g. drops

h. the case that

i. purpose

j. conditioned on something else

 

…and use them in the sentences below:

• I think they overdid a bit with illuminating that building. Really, it…………………………………………. every evening.
• I was ………………………………….. when I discovered that Jack had won the lottery.
• He’s so full of himself and just keeps ……………………………………………… how much better he thinks he is.
• My grandfather, who was a chef, used to tell me that there’s ……………………….. cooking ……………… just mixing ingredients in a pot.
• She sings very much …………………………………. Britney Spears. In fact, they’re hard to tell apart!
• I wish I could start to ……………………… Jack …………………………………. but he’s rightly earned a reputation as a low life form.
• Once it was discovered that the paintings were forgeries, their …………………………….. to nothing.
• In his latest book he ……………………………………………….. the entire human race was kicked out of the center of intelligent life and sent to a miserable planet in a godforsaken region of the universe.
• I will not apologise to you because I kicked you……………………………… . You really deserved that!
• Our perception of reality is ……………………………………. our knowledge of languages, among others.

 

Explore it more

 

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