Self-regulation is a internal goal management process where we override or preempt one goal in favor of another. By ‘goal’ I mean an outcome and the forces marshaled by that outcome: behaviors, emotions, and attention. Don’t do that, calm down, look the other way, think of something else.
Self-regulation is often defined as a homeostatic process: you’ve got the set point (goal, standard, value, or ideal); you detect a discrepancy in your “system” (e.g., goal-incongruent behavior, goal-undermining internal state – like feeling rage when you’re trying to be nice); and then you take corrective action (e.g., shut the fuck up, take a deep breath, walk away). Just like how a thermostat works. According to one time-sampling study, we are self-regulating about half our waking hours.
We want witnesses to our witnessing. Most of the time, eyes glaze over. You had to be there. Except for the blessed: those who are good story tellers. They gather witnesses. And so their worlds live on a little longer.
How do people become climate change skeptics? Was it through manipulation by the Forces of Evil and/or Stupidity (e.g., Corporations, Republicans, Religion)? Did exposure to skeptical messages by these Forces lead them down the path of Doubt and Ignorance? Or was it simple group identification – my friends are skeptics, ergo…? As it turns out, a lot of skeptics say they used to be more concerned about climate change...
Linguistic conventions keep tripping me up when I write about thoughts and thinking. It sounds like there is a little homunculus in the head listening to thoughts, encouraging them to proceed, or directing them to more worthwhile topics.
Some thoughts and thought-streams lead to slightly lower mood – so what? A slightly lower mood isn’t the end of the world. If a line of thought leads to identification of problems, unresolved issues or as yet unrealized goals, fine.
Ideal # 3: Everyone has a right to healthcare. Questions: Where does one draw the line between healthcare that is a right and healthcare that is not a right? Who decides which procedures and treatments will be provided as a right? How much is cost a factor in determining what is and is not a healthcare right? How much does the probability of positive outcomes impact how much cost the right will bear? Or the seriousness of the condition?
What exactly is a ‘belief’? The dictionary says, to believe is to have confidence or faith in the truth of something. People may ‘hold’ beliefs or ‘entertain’ them. To hold is to adhere or remain steadfast. To hold is to continue in the relationship – to be committed. To entertain is to be in an uncommitted relationship.
Basic Rule of Thumb #1: if the person you are trying to persuade doesn’t like or trust you, continuing to insist that catastrophic climate change will definitely happen will get you nowhere...Basic Rule of Thumb #2: don’t assume all climate change skeptics are the same…Basic Rule of Thumb #3…
Ideal # 2: Everyone has a right to safe and sanitary living conditions Questions (focusing on ‘safety’ only): Re-wording ‘safety’ as protection from danger, what types of dangers should we be protected from? What types of dangers should be tolerated? How much danger should be tolerated within each category of danger? ...
Ideal #1: Everyone has access to affordable housing Let the questions begin! What does ‘access’ mean? Does it mean everyone can be housed if they so choose to be housed? What if they so choose not to be housed? What if they choose to be housed in a way that violated other ideals, like the right of everyone else to live in safe and sanitary conditions? Does it mean housing is guaranteed in certain metro area? Or that it’s available somewhere in the country, but you might have to move to redeem your access? ...
The immediate future looms large in human psychology. People tend to care more about near-term payoff or danger than what might be coming down the pike in a few years. This tendency to downplay later rewards or threats – called hyperbolic discounting – probably evolved because prehistoric conditions were too harsh for long-term calculations to be of much benefit. Live for today because tomorrow may never come.
You can’t fix a problem you don’t understand correctly. And you can’t begin to understand a problem unless you see it as a problem. And you won’t perceive it as a problem unless it conflicts with some ideal of what you want the world to look like: a vision of the good (not just a vision of a fixed bad). In that spirit, here’s an outline of my ideal society...
Like scientists, medical doctors appreciate their own limitations. Yet they are tasked with making important decisions – possibly life-and-death decisions – despite not knowing for sure they’ve got it right. Wait and see? Try something? Try something else? All the while observing and thinking and investigating further. Doctors need to be willing to act boldly, willing to do nothing, and willing to change their minds.
Ideology is not a collection of beliefs and opinions. Ideology is a system of beliefs and opinions. The parts (beliefs and opinions) are interconnected and form a complex whole. The whole is organized according to some core principles or themes.
So I’ve been wrapping my head around possible ways to achieve the goal of keeping average global temperatures within 2°C of the 2000 level for remainder of 21st century. A huge expansion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology would help – but how feasible is it? Currently, not very.
At any given moment the spotlight of awareness leaves almost everything in darkness. People vary in where they point their spotlight. Perhaps some people have a wider or more quickly oscillating spotlight, so they see more stuff. Or maybe it only seems so.
“Being” with the flow of thoughts and feelings, and not trying to cut them off through redirection of attention, can generate good things and bad things. Sometimes it helps to “be” with thoughts and feelings, to let them carry one along for awhile, for them to work themselves out, or for us to become desensitized to them, or for us to learn or change through them.
Making it a general principle to “accept, then redirect” thoughts - that is, to accept the initial manifestations of a thought stream and then redirect attention to the “present” – reflects low regard for what thought streams have to offer. The technique of labeling moods and emotions reflects a similar devaluation of emotional life.
Words point to something beyond themselves. When you “accept” a thought, that means you have not resisted an arbitrary stopping point in the potentially endless signifying.