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Essay / The power of language over our behavior and our minds
Language is the way people speak or communicate with each other. For example, language can help us describe something and we can use our language to change the way we behave towards people. Does language shape our personality and our thoughts? Language can shape our personality and thoughts by learning new languages and reading literature. People's personalities can change and improve by reading literature and learning new languages. Literature refers to any type of story, such as fiction. Fiction can change our behavior toward people (Paul 322). According to Annie Murphy Paul, researchers have found that people who enjoy reading fiction are good at managing other people's emotions (Paul 322). In real life, people may have difficulty interacting with others, but when we read fiction about a character who knows how to deal with people and react to them, we can interpret it into our lives. Not only can reading improve our personality, but learning new languages can also change our behavior towards others. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay In Catherine de Lange's article "My Two Minds", she states that people who speak a second language can not only edit their ability to solve problems, but it can also change our personality (de Lange par.3). Bilingual people act differently depending on the language they speak (de Lange par.22). For example, in a study by Susan Ervin-Tripp, she tried asking Japanese-English speakers to complete a sentence in English or Japanese, and it showed that the speaker continued to use a variety of endings depending on language (de Lange par. 23). ). For example, when asked to complete the sentence "Real friends should" in Japanese, the speaker responded "help each other", while in English the speaker responded "be very frank" ( de Lange par. 23). This shows that bilinguals have a different personality when they try to finish the sentence and they think differently (de Lange par.23). Language also shapes the way people perceive reality by learning a new language and reading literature. People learning two languages may interpret reality differently based on an event. In Lera Boroditsky's video, she states that language can guide reason about an event (Boroditsky par. 18). For example, there is an event about a man who broke a vase (Boroditsky par. 18). An English speaker will think of the event as “the man broke the vase,” but a Spanish speaker will say, “the vase broke” (Boroditksy par. 18). This is unique because the punishment for the man in each society will be different, as the English speaker will punish the person more for breaking the vase unlike the Spanish speaker who sees an accident (Boroditsky par.19). So when people talk more, they may think differently about an event. As people speaking differently can change the way we think, reading can also change the way we think, like reading literature. For example, a poem can change the way we think. In Tanya M. White-Davis' article, she talks about racism and uses the power of language like a poem "Say Their Names" by Sandhira Wijayaratne to talk about equal rights for all people of color (Tanya M. ., White-Davis et al. par.1). When people read the poems, it makes them think about what their role is in health systems for, 31(2), 675-682.