poetics of plasticity: personality (2)

part 2 of my open speculation regarding the possibility and mechanism of changing the affective style of one's personality

'A single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind
to make a deep physical path, we walk again and again
to make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives'
-HD Thoreau

NOTE: I rambled a bit - especially about the issue of determinism - so I had to edit, but if you're interested in that aspect of my approach here's a brief summary:
basically, the issue of determinism (as it bears on the topic of plasticity) poses a problem only if we consider the individual as an isolated phenomenon, as something encapsulated and sealed off from the (benign and malign) influences of his/her circumstances and environments (including the peers and the books etc. s/he may interact with), which, clearly, is not the case....therefore, our tacit self-narratives we dwell in and the role we play in those self-narratives is open to reinterpretation, again and again....

(in another edited segment I also mention the top-down effect of certain thoughts, visualizations and meditation that can overwrite the kinds of feelings that build bottom-up our moods)

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• neuroplasticity
• affective style
• personality
• psychology
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• dynamic
• system
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• skill
• memory
• visualization
• imagination
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• thought
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[TRAGlCHERO]

(VI) To tie this together, AAT2 describes the process of the internalization of capacities. These are bound up into a goal hierarchy: some are conscious, others are non-conscious. Through self-directed attention and mindfulness one becomes focally aware of each stage. Thus enabling a specific strategy for conscious self-mastery. Properly considered, this need not imply a homnunculus or internal controller of the self. Rather change develops organically in mindful awareness and self-reflection.

[almafarag]

@TRAGlCHERO Hey TH, you preempt my strike ;) as a matter of fact, it is the process and structure of attention I was planning on pursuing, I’m really interested in its mehcanism and potency (especially as it relates to aesthetics, rhetoric and effective conversations), as you say it is the key, the power we have, by the way I really like your comments and find them extremely useful, I’ll reread them a coupla times for sure, they are very much appreciated, really great stuff, Thank you!

[almafarag]

@TRAGlCHERO By the way, have you come across Todd Oakley, it’s semantics-oriented, I guess, but he deals specifically with the grammar of attention, here’s a link: w w w mind-consciousness-language com/articles%20oakley1 h t m

[Internalexpansion]

... is here now in the present state of affairs. I guess what I'm trying to flush out is a subtle motivation for doing these practices. Sometimes I practice without being free to inquire because I'm trying to get somewhere I once was usually because of some discomfort, anxiety, or fear. When I'm totally free to inquire, all my energy is directed towards inquiry and insight occurs.

[almafarag]

@Internalexpansion great comments, thank you so much for taking the time and sharing your views, 'practicing without being free to inquire because we're trying to get somewhere we were before' can be a serious impediment indeed, we all know how things won't really work when we are forcing them, how could you relax by straining? we stretch more efficiently when we just let go and allow gravity to do the work... persistence should be paired with patience (with our current limitations)...

[TRAGlCHERO]

@almafarag Before I forget, I should mention that AAT2 was specifically developed to model of communication competencies. Hmmm... I think I know what you're up to >:-) If you implied talk as crucial to the construction of social identity (i.e., effective conversations, rhetoric, and aesthetics).

[TRAGlCHERO]

@almafarag Didn't mean to steal your thunder ;-) I agree with the general direction you're taking. Todd Oakley, is a new name. Thanks for introducing me. I reviewed part of his theory. It's definitely on the right track. His six principles are in line with the research I'm aware of. I've also followed rhetoric for some time, but never made the connection to attention. It's an interesting thought. I'm curious to see how far he operationalize his views in practice. Will stay tuned. Cheers.

[kakosuranosx]

Whoah! :o This video has so much great content! That was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing. Keep up the great work.

Kostas.

[TRAGlCHERO]

(V) I believe Buddhist psychology provides the solution, as a state of mindful awareness to present conditions is to simultaneously reorganize the flow of attention, and thus re-modulate, over long-periods of practice, the underlying patterns of neural activation in the system. I conjecture that CCT, AAT/AAT2, coupled with research on mindfulness produces a natural framework for pursuing conscious change strategies, skill-acquisition, and larger alterations in the architecture of personality.

[TRAGlCHERO]

(IV) I want to suggest that such patterns are entrained neural states, implanted over years of experience, and intimate features of the structure of personality. Which is why they can be so hard to dismantle at the conscious level. These are pernicious due to the process of automaticity (as you have said), or of repeated non-conscious activations. But we know that neural networks also decay over time. And here I agree with what has been said, the key to this problem is attention.

[TRAGlCHERO]

(III) This theory was used to model AAT/AAT2 (see Parks, 1985, 1994). Personal action is broken into a hierarchy of self-regulation across nine levels of abstraction from muscle movements to idealized selves. Behavior is mobilized into a coherent performance under this view. Crucial to this theory is the idea of self-directed attention: The momentary shifting in attention to relevant internal standards (embedded neural patterns) and external approximations of those standards.

[TRAGlCHERO]

(II) Negative feedback describes a discrepancy-reduction/action-p­erception cycle. Present perceptions are compared to a reference goal/value in order to reduce deviations in output behavior. Perceptions are processed in pattern recognition, and sedimented into neural circuitry (the comparator function), which produce equilibrium or disequilibrium in the system. The organism attempts to reach internal coherence between perceived conditions and overt behavior (see Carver & Scheier, 1982).