[From David Goldstein (2017.09.04.1755)]
Rick Marken (2017.09.03.1840)
Bruce Nevin
The self-statements were generated by the client. The instruction was for the client to come up with statements that were generally true or false of the client.
The client was asked to sort the same set of statements when imagining different circumstances (conditions of instruction). The situations were imagined ones. In PCT terms, perhaps they provided “the disturbance.”
The analysis grouped the statements into subsets which described different aspects of the client. There was more than one self-image present. The analysis revealed some internal conflicts within each self-image.
Language and memory are playing a large role in these results.
I don’t see how emphasizing the role of the physical environment gets us very far. Do you?
David
···
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Marken rsmarken@gmail.com
To: csgnet csgnet@lists.illinois.edu
Sent: Sun, Sep 3, 2017 9:37 pm
Subject: Re: The meaning of the terms environment and behavior
[From Rick Marken (2017.09.03.1840)]
DG: What is the physical environment variable for a perception of a person’s self-image?
David Goldstein (2017. 09.02. 1956)
RM: Excellent question. First, you have to remember that perceptions are functions of environmental variables. Like the “taste of lemonade”, there is not necessarily any variable in the environment that corresponds to an experienced perceptual variable. Environmental variables, however, are the basis of all perceptions. The perceptual functions in your nervous system transform the sensory effects of environmental variables into perceptual variables.
RM: In PCT there is presumed to be a hierarchy of these perceptual functions in the nervous system (and there is considerable evidence that this is the case). The perceptual functions at the lowest level of this hierarchy produce perceptions that seem to be “out there” in the environment. These are perceptions – like the perception of objects, movements and distances – that you probably think of as having an environmental variable as a correlate. But there are also higher level perceptions – like the perception of principles and concepts – that seem to be “in here” – “inside ourselves”, as Powers says in the first sentence of the chapter in B:CP on “Higher Levels”. What you call a perception of “self -image” is one of these higher level perceptual variables. But like the perception of objects, movement and distances, these higher level perceptions are ultimately a function of the sensory effects of environmental variables.
DG: For example see: http://www.dmghelpcenter.com/Selected_Publications_A/Self-image%20study.pdf
DG: The self-image perception was thought of as being at a system level of perception.
RM: Thanks for this, David. Here are the first five self-description statements that you used to determine the nature of the perceptual variable that you call self-image:
-
I want to love and be loved
-
I am anxious, insecure
-
I am resistant to change, uncomfortable with new relationships,
procedures, or things
- I tolerate imperfections in other people in my environment, and even
in myself
- I have inner strength
RM: All of these statements describe perceptions that are ultimately based on lower level perceptions. “Love” is the perception of a kind of relationship between people. “Anxiety” is a perception of a type of bodily (internal environment) state. “Insecurity” is also a perception of a relationship between oneself and other people and, possibly, other things. “Resistance to change” is a perception of a principle derived from perceptions of how you deal with relationships between yourself and people, procedures and things. “Tolerance” is also a perception of a principle derived from perceptions of how you deal with relationships primarily between yourself and other people. “Inner strength” also seems like the perception of a principle derived from perceptions of how you deal with relationships between yourself and people and things.
RM: So “self-image” is a perception based on perceptions (Love, Anxiety, Insecurity, etc.) which are themselves based on environmental variables. If you have difficulty thinking of Love, Anxiety, Insecurity, etc. as perceptions based on environmental variables then ask people “how” they perceive these things. How, for example, does one know that people are in love? You’ll probably hear about things like hugging, kissing, blushing, etc., which are more like the kind of perceptions that you can think of as being based on environmental variables.
RM: The PCT slogan that “it’s all perception” does not mean that it’s all make believe or imagined or whatever. It means that everything we experience – indeed, everything we can talk about – is perception and, thus, ultimately a function of the sensory effects of environmental stimulation. The perceptual functions of the nervous system are producing all that we experience as “reality”, from the color our skin to the system concepts that account for the fact that some people value (control for) brotherhood and love while others value separateness and exploitation.
Best
Rick
–
Richard S. Marken
"Perfection is achieved not when you have nothing more to add, but when you
have nothing left to take away.â?
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery
