Conceptualizing Sensory Relativism in Light of Emotioncy: A Movement beyond Linguistic Relativism

Abstract

<span>Given the significance of <em>relativism</em> in molding our worldview and uncovering the nature of truth, this study using the newly-developed concept of <em>emotioncy, </em>attempted to introduce <em>sensory relativism</em> as a new perspective based on which senses can relativize our understanding of the world. To espouse the theory, 24 individuals were interviewed on their experiences of phlebotomy. The results were analyzed in light of the six-level emotioncy model and five major themes were extracted. Overall, the outcomes of the study showed that, unlike the <em>Exvolved</em> individuals (Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic emotioncies) who used more hedges and had shorter talk time, distal emotion, limited vocabulary size, and more use of associations, the <em>Involved</em> individuals (Inner and Arch emotioncies) employed fewer hedges and had longer talk time, proximal emotion, wider vocabulary size, and more use of analogies. The findings providing empirical support for sensory relativism, revealed that, deeper than language, senses can relativize cognition.</span>