bivonic
01-21-2003, 06:10 AM
A review of...
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
by Julian Jaynes
I\'ve found this to be a real good read, sorry I forget who suggested I check it out. I\'ll try to keep a cliff notes version handy for those that want to know more about how consciousness works, perhaps to apply to DIHL\'s.
So far I\'ve learned (not sure any of these are fact or hypothesis).
1. The mind thinks in metaphors. Let\'s say you are hiking, you look at a piece of paper with symbols on it. If you are at the base of a mountain & you want to get to the top of the mountain traversing a trail, you associate the symbols & the two geographical points by essentially imagining a story of you at the base of the mountain climbing the mountain to get to the other geographical point. It is common for us to have this 3rd person view of ourselves performing an action when we think (consciously). It had a great definition of a Theory which I cannot find at the moment, something like telling a story of measured data through metaphors so that we can create an association between the data & what it is we observe as a result of certain conditions (I\'m pretty sure I botched that, but maybe you followed it).
2. Stress is caused by decisions. Two monkeys were placed in a cage, one of the monkeys was responsible for pressing a button at a certain timed interval or else both monkeys would receive an electrical shock. Only the mokey responsible for having to hit the button would exhibit stress. In another experiment a rat had to cross a bridge & receive an electrical shock in order to eat food & drink water on the other end. It was the pause of getting shocked & having to decide to cross the bridge & receive the pain in order to eat - that pause & decision is what caused his stress.
3. When engaging in conversation, the recipient (think target) immediately classifies the person speaking to them (in a hierarchical status sort of way) & determines the appropriate distance to receive this person\'s information. The closer the distance the target allows in the conversation the more likely that the target will be receptive and trusting of you. Part of this was derived by the behavior in schizophrenics in that since the voice was coming within (audible hallucination) it received a much higher level of trust then receiving similar instructions from another person.
I\'m only on page 110 out of about 470. I found this last point the most useful, maybe not ground-breaking, but in conjunction with pheromones that sets people at ease & helps establish a positive level of trust, it will allow you to achieve a closer (think intimate) level of conversation. There\'s definitely some gems in the book & the historical approach is interesting, albeit a slight distraction from the \"good stuff\".
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
by Julian Jaynes
I\'ve found this to be a real good read, sorry I forget who suggested I check it out. I\'ll try to keep a cliff notes version handy for those that want to know more about how consciousness works, perhaps to apply to DIHL\'s.
So far I\'ve learned (not sure any of these are fact or hypothesis).
1. The mind thinks in metaphors. Let\'s say you are hiking, you look at a piece of paper with symbols on it. If you are at the base of a mountain & you want to get to the top of the mountain traversing a trail, you associate the symbols & the two geographical points by essentially imagining a story of you at the base of the mountain climbing the mountain to get to the other geographical point. It is common for us to have this 3rd person view of ourselves performing an action when we think (consciously). It had a great definition of a Theory which I cannot find at the moment, something like telling a story of measured data through metaphors so that we can create an association between the data & what it is we observe as a result of certain conditions (I\'m pretty sure I botched that, but maybe you followed it).
2. Stress is caused by decisions. Two monkeys were placed in a cage, one of the monkeys was responsible for pressing a button at a certain timed interval or else both monkeys would receive an electrical shock. Only the mokey responsible for having to hit the button would exhibit stress. In another experiment a rat had to cross a bridge & receive an electrical shock in order to eat food & drink water on the other end. It was the pause of getting shocked & having to decide to cross the bridge & receive the pain in order to eat - that pause & decision is what caused his stress.
3. When engaging in conversation, the recipient (think target) immediately classifies the person speaking to them (in a hierarchical status sort of way) & determines the appropriate distance to receive this person\'s information. The closer the distance the target allows in the conversation the more likely that the target will be receptive and trusting of you. Part of this was derived by the behavior in schizophrenics in that since the voice was coming within (audible hallucination) it received a much higher level of trust then receiving similar instructions from another person.
I\'m only on page 110 out of about 470. I found this last point the most useful, maybe not ground-breaking, but in conjunction with pheromones that sets people at ease & helps establish a positive level of trust, it will allow you to achieve a closer (think intimate) level of conversation. There\'s definitely some gems in the book & the historical approach is interesting, albeit a slight distraction from the \"good stuff\".