There are a series of excellent discussions at "To The Best of Our Knowledge" titled "Stories of You." They explore the notion that "If we are only a collection of stories about ourselves... what's the truth of who "we" are? " The discussions are both surprising and enlightening.
http://ttbook.org/book/story-you
The interview with neuroscientist and researcher Julian Keenan, "You & Your Brain" raises two interesting points for me.
1. @ 9:12 "We use to think that people with clinical depression didn't see the world realistically they saw it in an overly negative light. Well, it turns out that they're seeing it quite realistically" and it is others that are seeing it in an overly rosy light. Others are the ones not in reality
2. @ 9:33 "So the purpose of therapy is to learn to be better at lying" (to ones self, for the purpose of fitting in)? The response by Keenan is " Absolutely!"
Before this point in the interview Keenan says we are always "molding reality not so that it is real, but it is palatable". This is what everyone does in a self deceptive way.
Jonathan Alder, in his part of the discussion says, this is changing the narrative about the way we view the events.
Keenan then adds a twist, this is not just about how we see the story, but it is also about how we think others think about our story. By adding the Theory of Mind to the mix we end up thinking about what your thinking about my thinking about your thinking. (@ 6:11) And we somehow do all of this thinking while avoiding knowing that others are seeing events in a less than realistic way.
The implication is that social psychology, and the influence of a social network, has a larger influence on our individual psychology than our therapist would have us believe. But then the therapist is not devoid of this rosier than reality thinking either.
It is as if we are being told, "The world is crazy-deal with it"
Now that's depressing.
Showing posts with label Self. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self. Show all posts
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Be Suspicious of Stories~ Our own
Tyler Cowan is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He recently gave a talk at TED .com advising us to be suspicious of stories, specifically, stories that tell us the same things over and over again. He says we screw up by telling ourselves too many stories, we are easily seduced by stories. But if we are susceptible to stories perhaps it is because the stories we are attracted to the most are the ones too much like our own.
http://www.ted.com/talks/tyler_cowen_be_suspicious_of_stories.html?c=389069
Cowen is an economist, and so we can excuse the fact that he may know very little about the brain. He is after all telling a story as well. Daniel Kahneman knows a great deal about the brain, and the mind. In his TED talk "The Riddle of the Experience v. Memory" he explains this:
"Now, the remembering self is a storyteller. And that really starts with a basic response of our memories -- it starts immediately. We don't only tell stories when we set out to tell stories. Our memory tells us stories, that is, what we get to keep from our experiences is a story."
This is why we are so invested in our story, in our narrative. But we are not such good storytellers. This is true from a therapist point of view. We spend so much of the hour explaining the narrative, the "he did this, so I did that", that there is very little progress made in an hour long therapy session. We focus on telling our story and not looking at how we might develop the story, and perhaps in doing so rewrite the ending.
In this regard there is a lot we could learn from reading more science paper, where the abstract tells you every thing we need to know right in the beginning. Then, if we need more details we can wade through the pages to evidence.
Shakespeare was like this as well. If we recall a play like Romeo & Juliet it tells you everything you need to know right at the very beginning:
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
It would seem that stories have value, to us or we would not be so good at them.
Do see the Daniel Kahneman talk to learn more about why
http://www.ted.com/talks/tyler_cowen_be_suspicious_of_stories.html?c=389069
Cowen is an economist, and so we can excuse the fact that he may know very little about the brain. He is after all telling a story as well. Daniel Kahneman knows a great deal about the brain, and the mind. In his TED talk "The Riddle of the Experience v. Memory" he explains this:
"Now, the remembering self is a storyteller. And that really starts with a basic response of our memories -- it starts immediately. We don't only tell stories when we set out to tell stories. Our memory tells us stories, that is, what we get to keep from our experiences is a story."
This is why we are so invested in our story, in our narrative. But we are not such good storytellers. This is true from a therapist point of view. We spend so much of the hour explaining the narrative, the "he did this, so I did that", that there is very little progress made in an hour long therapy session. We focus on telling our story and not looking at how we might develop the story, and perhaps in doing so rewrite the ending.
In this regard there is a lot we could learn from reading more science paper, where the abstract tells you every thing we need to know right in the beginning. Then, if we need more details we can wade through the pages to evidence.
Shakespeare was like this as well. If we recall a play like Romeo & Juliet it tells you everything you need to know right at the very beginning:
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
It would seem that stories have value, to us or we would not be so good at them.
Do see the Daniel Kahneman talk to learn more about why
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