Eric "Herbie" Watson
Beloved Grand Eagle
Psychological Thought
psychological thought always sees itself
Psychological thought must see itself, and can also see logical and pathological thought.
Psychological thinking is self-evaluating—it progresses by reflection. It has as a goal understanding, and evaluates each step in light of that goal.
A sort of quintessential goal of psychological thought might be the understanding of psychological thought. A more commonplace goal might be understanding a personal relationship. Let us take the latter as an example of how to think psychologically:
I wish to understand why I am upset by R.
Why do I wish to understand this?
Because I am having difficulty in my relationship with R.
So?
I wish to understand the causes of my difficulty with R.
Why?
I want to work productively with R, and this difficulty is inhibiting my work.
Why, what exactly inhibits my work?
R has information I need to draw on and yet I so dislike our interaction that I do not draw on this information as often as I need to.
And so on. So already there is progress in psychological thinking. By reflecting on each statement, asking 'why?' at each step, I arrive at a more succinct understanding of the nature of the difficulty.
The example sounds not unlike the typical description of the therapist responding to someone on the couch. In one sense, it is not unlike that, this is after all psychology. But in many ways it is very different. First of all, the questioner has access to the subject's very thought and feelings directly. That is, I watch myself formulate my wish, I watch myself pursue it. And I tailor the questions by keeping in mind—really in feeling—what it is I wish to accomplish or discover. This requires active reasoning and divided attention. We have to watch our feelings as much as our thoughts, watch them interact and influence each other. Keep to the aim and yet learn from the deviations, and we often learn the problem was not exactly as expressed but coming from somewhere else.
I do not know who the author is that wrote this. I know I saved it to my think list over 2 years ago. It was time to share it here. Hope it all makes sense.
Bless You
psychological thought always sees itself
Psychological thought must see itself, and can also see logical and pathological thought.
Psychological thinking is self-evaluating—it progresses by reflection. It has as a goal understanding, and evaluates each step in light of that goal.
A sort of quintessential goal of psychological thought might be the understanding of psychological thought. A more commonplace goal might be understanding a personal relationship. Let us take the latter as an example of how to think psychologically:
I wish to understand why I am upset by R.
Why do I wish to understand this?
Because I am having difficulty in my relationship with R.
So?
I wish to understand the causes of my difficulty with R.
Why?
I want to work productively with R, and this difficulty is inhibiting my work.
Why, what exactly inhibits my work?
R has information I need to draw on and yet I so dislike our interaction that I do not draw on this information as often as I need to.
And so on. So already there is progress in psychological thinking. By reflecting on each statement, asking 'why?' at each step, I arrive at a more succinct understanding of the nature of the difficulty.
The example sounds not unlike the typical description of the therapist responding to someone on the couch. In one sense, it is not unlike that, this is after all psychology. But in many ways it is very different. First of all, the questioner has access to the subject's very thought and feelings directly. That is, I watch myself formulate my wish, I watch myself pursue it. And I tailor the questions by keeping in mind—really in feeling—what it is I wish to accomplish or discover. This requires active reasoning and divided attention. We have to watch our feelings as much as our thoughts, watch them interact and influence each other. Keep to the aim and yet learn from the deviations, and we often learn the problem was not exactly as expressed but coming from somewhere else.
I do not know who the author is that wrote this. I know I saved it to my think list over 2 years ago. It was time to share it here. Hope it all makes sense.
Bless You
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