Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- .This section is about models and metaphors for mind. Topics include: ( ) Body metaphor. ( ) Computer metaphor. ( ) Ecology metaphor. --- 1/24/2006
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body analogy: use it or lose it. --- 04/30/1993
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body analogy. Mental pain of hard work is sometimes healthy, sometimes unhealthy, just like physical pain is sometimes healthy when you are pushing your limits, and sometimes unhealthy when you are breaking down your body. The key is knowing which is which. You don't want to avoid the good pain. You don't want to engage in the bad pain. In any case, pain is not always good, like some people say. And pain does not always build character. --- 12/30/1995
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body analogy. Your mind can get pumped up or burned out. --- 04/30/1993
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body metaphor is not just a metaphor. The brain is a physical organ that requires energy and nutrition. The brain is part of the body. --- 11/25/2001
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body metaphor. (1) Power: quality and quantity ideas per time. (2) Endurance: how long stay at a power level. What your power curve looks like over time. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body metaphor. Body, muscle, exercise analogy. (1) Use it or lose it. (2) Get best equipment and tools. (3) Do best exercise. (4) Exercising to stay in shape vs. doing work. (5) What weak part of body or brain do you want to or need to strengthen. (6) Ideal: big, balanced and complete. (7) You can get out of shape if you sit around. (8) Takes time to warm up to best performance. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body metaphor. Getting in and out of shape mentally on a subject is like getting in and out of shape physically. --- 04/30/1993
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Body metaphor. Mental endurance, mental strength or power, and mental flexibility is analogous to physical endurance, physical strength or power, and physical flexibility. --- 12/20/1998
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Car metaphor. Is your mind a rusty race car that won't run or is your mind a well tuned compact car that takes you farther? Mental tune-ups and mental customization should be America's new hobby. Americans should pay attention to their minds as much as they pay attention to their cars, houses, etc. After all, how many outdoor decks can we build? Lets see a show on television called "This Old Brain". --- 7/6/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer analogy. Mental breakdown (ex. depressive states where you become sick of your job) are analogous to computer disk crashes. I am a high powered computer but I crash occasionally. --- 12/30/1996
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer analogy. Need energy, fails with lack of energy. Needs proper environment. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer metaphor. If the brain is like a computer then there is a difference between: (1) Understanding the hardware, that is, understanding how brain nerves work, and (2) understanding how to use the software applications well, that is, knowing how to think productively. --- 8/7/2001
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer metaphor. Most people walk around in screen saver mode. --- 9/13/1998
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer. (1) CPU or IQ: capacity, speed, organization. (2) Ram: working memory. (3) Hardiness: stress. (4) Down time. Time not spent attacking problems vs. Time spent attacking problems. Methods used, progress made. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer. Booting up principles: it takes time to warm up intellectually, emotionally. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Computer. Some people have big RAM memory but small CPU processor. They know facts but can't think for themselves. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Eating analogy: feed your head a varied, healthy diet of ideas. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology metaphor. A biology metaphor of the mind will include both the level of memetics and the level of ecology of mind. Memetics is to ideas as genetics is to genes. Memetics treats ideas like genes. Ecology of mind is like ecology of the earth. Ecology of mind studies the interaction of the various mental systems. And just like in biology where we study genetics at the low level and ecology at the high level, so to in psychology we can study memetics at the low level and the ecology of mind at the high level. --- 11/23/2004
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology metaphor. Diversity is healthy. Lack of diversity is unhealthy. Art is about diversity. Thus, art is healthy. However, science, philosophy and religion all sometimes have a tendency toward the "one right answer" attitude toward life. They believe in one right answer, and they believe in one right method to find that answer. The "one right answer" attitude toward life can often be counter-productive. --- 7/11/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology metaphor. Diversity of thought is as important as biodiversity of living things. Your mental eco-system and ecology is important. --- 4/11/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology metaphor. Diversity. PART ONE. (1) Four types of diversity. (A) Biological diversity: the diversity of life in an environment. (B) Cultural diversity: the diversity of cultures in a world. (C) Individual diversity: the diversity of individuals in a culture. (D) Mental diversity: the diversity of attitudes in an individual. (2) Ecology is about the relationship of elements in a system. Diversity is an important principle in ecology. So four types of diversity posits four types of ecology. (A) Biological ecology: the interaction of all elements in the biosphere. (B) Cultural ecology: the interactions of all cultures in the world. (C) Individual ecology: the interaction of all individuals in a culture. (D) Mental ecology: the interaction of all the attitudes in the mind. PART TWO. Lets talk about diversity as an important element of mental ecology. Having a variety of attitudes available for use is key to mental health. This is what mental diversity is all about. It takes time to develop mental diversity. Mental diversity develops in a series of steps. (1) A person first develops one attitude. I call this the "First thought, only thought." state of mind. (2) Then a person recognizes that the opposite attitude may exist. We can call this state "Black and white" thinking. (3) Then the person sees that between the two opposites lies a spectrum of views. We can call this "Linear" thinking. (4) Then the person sees that rather than being a line, the real situation is more like a web. We can call this "Three dimensional or holistic thinking". --- 7/11/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology metaphor. Looking beautiful, attractive and cute is how many plants and animals try to stay alive (ex. Flowers, babies, supermodels, etc.). According to the ecology metaphor for mind, there are ideas and attitudes that survive based on their cuteness. Even if they are false or misleading. That is not a good thing. Examples. --- 7/4/2002
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology of ideas. Why doesn't truth always come to light? Why does not justice always prevail? Because in the ecology of ideas of an individual or society, it is survival of the "most survivable" ideas, not survival of the truest ideas and the most just ideas. The situation is akin to selection in nature, where it is not necessarily the smartest or most just animals that survive, which, incidentally, is why we are surrounded by weeds, roaches and pigeons. The ecology of ideas has its own version of weeds, roaches and pigeons. --- 1/1/2002
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology of mind metaphor. Psychopathology can be explained in terms of weakness of one area of the mind (example, drive, memory, emotion, thought, etc.) even if the other areas of the mind are strong. Its a question of balance. --- 3/29/2002
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology of mind. Ecology of ideas (or attitudes). (1) Ideas depend on each other. Its a web of ideas. (2) Forgetting is like the extinction of an idea in the ecology of the mind. Removing a key idea in a mental ecology, like removing a key species in a biological ecology, can cause a downward spiral of the ecosystem that can end in collapse of the ecosystem, also known as mental illness or nervous breakdown. (3) Creativity is like a kind of Darwinian evolution of ideas, where ideas compete for survival, and the fitter ones survive. Idea fitness means the idea is useful in helping you get goals. PART TWO. The above deals with the ecology of ideas in the individual. There is also an ecology of ideas (or attitudes) in society. An ecology of ideas amongst people. We call these "memes". --- 11/25/2001
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology of mind. Just like physical inbreeding, staying within a small social group can cause a form of psychological inbreeding which amounts to a stagnation of ideas. Exposure to new individuals and new cultures can bring new ideas, which can widen the "gene pool" of ideas, which can be very healthy. --- 6/23/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Ecology of the mind. Ideas compete with each other. --- 11/25/2001
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Evolution metaphor for ideas. Does the evolution of ideas occur in the individual and in society? Yes. Does the evolution of ideas occur the same way in both the individual and society? I would think differently. (2) Do ideas compete for survival? And do they thus become more complex? Is it like an arms race? Does it display "progress"? (3) The development of ideas is not guaranteed. (A) It is not a "natural" process. It is not a random process. (B) Many people devolve. It takes work to evolve. It is an intentional process. It takes effort by a person to evolve. (4) Do ideas really reproduce? In an individual, one idea begets another. In society ideas spread from person to person. Do ideas really mutate? If it does, is it the same idea? Is it a random mutation, like in evolution? No, its guided mutation. (5) Do ideas die like living things? In the individual, no. In society, maybe. (6) Do ideas ever "go extinct" like a species of living thing goes extinct? In individual, and in society. (7) Is there an idea equivalent of ecology? Is it like a food chain that has a climax species at the top? (8) Do ideas expand to fill niches? (9) Do ideas follow strategies to survive, such as (A) produce as many offspring as possible (ex. Insects). (B) Produce smartest offspring possible. (C) Produce offensive, aggressive offspring to kill others. (D) Produce defensive offspring (ex. Armadillo). (E) Produce longest lived offspring. (F) Produce healthiest offspring. (G) Survive anywhere under any conditions (ex. weeds, roaches, rats, humans). Hardy. Adaptable. --- 8/28/2002
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Fire analogy. Some people minds are like wild fires. Some people's minds are like lasers. Some people's minds are like blocks of ice. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Mental analogies list. (1) Mind is like a fire. (2) Mind is like the body. (3) Mind is like a supermarket. (4) Mind is like a computer. (5) Mind is like mountain climbing. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Metaphorically speaking... (1) Where do you come home to? Where do you feel comfortable? Where do you take your stand? Vs. (2) How often do you get out of the house? Where do you travel? How many suits do you wear? --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Mountain climbing metaphor. A new idea is like a new route rockclimbing. What hasn't been done? Of that, what would be cool? The more way out an idea is, the more chance it hasn't been done, and the less chance it will be done, unless you do it. --- 04/30/1993
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Mountain metaphor. Higher altitude requires more effort for each step. Tougher getting ideas as you go higher. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Supermarket analogy. (1) Keep your mind well stocked, well ordered, working well. Avoid over-stocking and under-stocking. Avoid being unorganized. Avoid a slow checkout. (2) Do the best with the space you got. Stay open 24 hrs a day. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- The head should not be the attic of the body, full of cobwebs, dust and seldom visited. --- 7/5/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- The mind, use it or lose it. That refers not just to memory and intelligence. It also refers to mental health. If you don't use your brain, it can degenerate, and you can go nuts. You can lose your mind much more easily if you don't use your brain than if you do use it. --- 02/09/1997
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- The SETI project metaphor for human thinking. (1) Idle mips: The SETI project searches for extra-terrestrial life by taking advantage of the computing power of thousands of idle desktop PC's. In much the same way, we could take advantage of the processing power of millions of idle human minds by encouraging people to think. Computers make it easier to make the most of human brain power by letting us record, organize and communicate our ideas more efficiently. Idle human brain power is much more abundant, powerful and creative than idle computer power. (2) Clustering: Today, the way to build a super-computer is to link a hundred desktop PC's with clustering software. In a similar manner, computers make it easier for humans to "put their heads together". Computers allow increased inter-personal communication and group-work. By clustering our heads together we are creating a human super-computer. --- 12/9/2000
Psychology, mind, models and metaphors. --- Thermostat metaphor. The mind has a feedback mechanism. You are aware of your environment. Your mind monitors the environment and then responds to changes in the environment. --- 3/11/2007