Ways of Knowing

By: Glenda Ramirez

What is knowledge?

❖ Knowledge is a person’s understanding and retention of information that they

store in their brains. Furthermore, knowledge is the essence of a person’s life

and intelligence.

Perception

Help

❖ Visual grouping➢ If you see an a sign that’s been knocked over while driving your mind has the tendency to fill in

the missing parts. Thus creating something that helps you understand what you’re seeing.

❖ Technology➢ Enhances our senses resulting in better perception. Microscopes and telescopes help us see a

world of atoms and of galaxies that our regular vision can’t.

❖ Senses➢ The human senses are acute so if you’re walking and hear a slow but constant engine revving

about a mile behind you, for the past 15 minutes, RUN.

Hinder

❖ Expectations➢ Hearing booms outside, you expect it to be fireworks but it’s actually gunshots.

❖ Illusions➢ Lifting different objects with the same weight. The smaller-looking object will feel light to you.

This is a small altercation between your vision and touch.

❖ Selectivity of perception➢ Loads of information enter our minds everyday. We obviously won’t perceive everything

because biases will affect that.

Language

Help

❖ Creative & open-ended➢ Idioms, metaphors, hyperboles, etc. Figurative language will initially not make sense but it’s a

form to express yourself in exaggeration while being grammatically correct.

❖ Culture➢ Language is what keeps a culture alive. Languages are passed down from hundreds of

generations ago.

❖ Types of communication➢ Body language; rolling your eyes when you’re irritated to explicitly demonstrate how you feel.

Hinder

❖ Meaning➢ “I can see crystal clear.”

❖ Translation➢ “Que recio!”

❖ Labels and stereotypes➢ All white people in the Southern U.S. are racist or have an affiliation with the KKK.

Emotion

Help

❖ James-Lange theory➢ Your friend is sharing a pie with you. She takes the first bite and makes a face of utter disgust.

Due to her facial expression you’ll know not to try it.

❖ Emotional intelligence➢ Self-awareness leads to the ability of control over your emotions.

❖ Emotional illumination➢ Driving at high speed then seeing the yellow light gives you the urgency to stop. This urgency

keeps you safe from a car crash or ticket.

Hinder

❖ Irrational behavior➢ Your boyfriend dumps you, so when you see his friends you flip them off.

❖ Distorted perception➢ If you hate someone, everything they do is irritating to you.

❖ Twisted reasoning➢ Your friend says that you’re defensive. You quickly start arguing about how you’re not.

Imagination

Help

❖ Creativity➢ Leads to inventions and stimulates the mind.

❖ Empathy➢ Imagining yourself in the place of someone who’s hurt can help you understand them.

❖ Realistic imagination➢ Imagining your report card with straight A's is something that can occur in real life. It can be

used as a source of motivation.

Hinder

❖ Fantasy➢ Prince Charming is out there waiting for you.

❖ Imaginary fears➢ Still afraid of a non-existent presence under your bed or in your closet.

❖ Illusory patterns➢ “Do you see the shape of that cloud?!”

Memory

Help

❖ Factual memory➢ “Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.”

❖ Internet culture➢ If you don’t remember your friend’s birthday, just check on Facebook.

❖ Flashbulb memories➢ Traumatic events a person goes through tend to be accurate when retold due to confidence.

Hinder

❖ Forgetting➢ The #1 disadvantage of memory. “You forgot to turn in your essay.”

❖ Misremembering➢ Nelson Mandela died in jail. Nelson Mandela died of age.

❖ Internet culture➢ Constantly searching for things that you can’t remember on Google can weaken your memory.

Intuition

Help

❖ Thinking fast➢ You’re crossing the street and a car is coming towards your path at full speed. Instantly, you get

out of the way.

❖ Expert intuitions ➢ A doctor diagnoses your disease and gives you medication stat.

❖ Reflection ➢ Intuitions may lead to bad decisions, but that lesson you learned will help the next time you use

your intuitions.

Hinder

❖ Confirmation bias➢ You easily become involved in religion because all the members have a good life. You overlook

atheists though, and they can also have good lives.

❖ Hindsight bias➢ “I knew it”, after you got in a relationship then you got your heart broken.

❖ Affect heuristic ➢ If your friends asks for your thoughts on something, you’ll consult your feelings in order to

answer.

Conclusion

I think the most important Way of Knowledge is perception because it coordinates

with our senses, emotions, intuitions, imagination, and memory. Perception, in my

opinion, is the basis of knowledge. It’s how your brain works and it’s what

influences what you know.