On one hand this picture is appealing and I can intuitively immagine what being each of the characters might feel like.
But on the other hand I would strongly prefer a view where everyone is basically the same. In this view everyone has the same Adam’s graph. But Edgar still constantly suffers X and Y, not because they overlap, but because he has no idea how much B he is really doing, so he is constantly jumping from low B to high B. I believe that this is a large component in any social-skill problems.
For example, if a deaf man tried to vocalize, he would be either way too loud of way too quiet most of the time, and he would suffer the corresponding consequences of both. For him to accurately guess the appropriate volume is near impossible. On the other hand, Adam who has a perfectly good hearing and a good control over his voice, is able to accurately speak louder or quieter while still fitting into the appropriate volume range, and he is feeling very free. There is a difference in their experience, but it is not because they are treated differently, or have different minds.
One reason I don’t like your graph is that I have no idea how to suffer both X and Y at the same time, for the same action. I don’t know how a single action can be both too assertive and too weak, as in your example.
Another issue is that it’s not clear to me whether the affordance width is a property of your mind, or a property of how society treats people like you. The latter does make sense when the punishment is also social. But the former doesn’t really fit your examples, because people don’t actually know what your mind looks like, unless you choose to reveal it by doing a weird amount of B.
One reason I don’t like your graph is that I have no idea how to suffer both X and Y at the same time, for the same action.
Imagine an audience with non-overlapping preferences. Suppose you have control over the thermometer, and someone likes the temperature above 20 degrees C, and another likes it below 15 degrees C. There’s no way to get less than 1 person complaining about your choice.
This is true, but then Adam and Edgar both face those same overlapping punishments. Of course, it’s possible for the audience to treat the two characters differently due to some prejudice, but I don’t think that’s a significant factor in e.g. autism.
but I don’t think that’s a significant factor in e.g. autism.
I think this is actually pretty much the case with autism – although you can frame it as prejudice, or as radically different preferences about how to communicate, or what sort of communication skills you possess.
“Prejudice” and “what sort of communication skills you possess” are on the exact opposite ends of the spectrum I want to talk about. Both cases may feel the same from the first person view, but they are not just interchangeable framings.
The difference is in who controls the affordance width. In the case of prejudice, society determines that Adam’s width will be x and Edgar’s width will be y, and neither of them can do much about it. In the case of lacking skills, Edgar has a lot of agency and practices of self-awareness, introspection, observation and imitation are useful to him, even if it is impossible to learn the skills to the same extent as Adam.
E.g. the deaf man, with enough observation, can figure out in what contexts it’s better for him to be completely silent and in in what contexts it’s okay to be too loud, even if he never learns to produce the appropriate volume.
For assertive-but-weak, the example that’s coming to mind is Brendan Fraser’s character at the start of Bedazzled (a mediocre film). He tries to playfully tease his coworkers, he invites himself to their plans; but his body language says he’d run away if you looked at him funny, and he’s scared to talk to his crush.
Or if X is “this person is incompetent” and Y is “this person is arrogant”, then the sweet spot is “competent but humble” and the overlap is “arrogant and incompetent”. That seems entirely achievable.
″ One reason I don’t like your graph is that I have no idea how to suffer both X and Y at the same time, for the same action. I don’t know how a single action can be both too assertive and too weak, as in your example. ”
I would think the 1960s and the Civil Rights movement would provide a good case study here. Black/African American leaders seemed to be faced with that dilemma—the nonviolent view was often seen as passive and ineffective but the threat of violence, much less actual violence, would also be criticized. I think it is inherent in social settings where some form or group affiliation is clear but the group itself covers various factions.
Perhaps the events in Hong Kong over the past 6 month would fit into this analysis as well.
in this frame the differences between the characters is how granular their levers for changing things is, which seems closer to correct to me. Edgar simply has much too large jump sizes to ever get lucky and land in a white zone.
On one hand this picture is appealing and I can intuitively immagine what being each of the characters might feel like.
But on the other hand I would strongly prefer a view where everyone is basically the same. In this view everyone has the same Adam’s graph. But Edgar still constantly suffers X and Y, not because they overlap, but because he has no idea how much B he is really doing, so he is constantly jumping from low B to high B. I believe that this is a large component in any social-skill problems.
For example, if a deaf man tried to vocalize, he would be either way too loud of way too quiet most of the time, and he would suffer the corresponding consequences of both. For him to accurately guess the appropriate volume is near impossible. On the other hand, Adam who has a perfectly good hearing and a good control over his voice, is able to accurately speak louder or quieter while still fitting into the appropriate volume range, and he is feeling very free. There is a difference in their experience, but it is not because they are treated differently, or have different minds.
One reason I don’t like your graph is that I have no idea how to suffer both X and Y at the same time, for the same action. I don’t know how a single action can be both too assertive and too weak, as in your example.
Another issue is that it’s not clear to me whether the affordance width is a property of your mind, or a property of how society treats people like you. The latter does make sense when the punishment is also social. But the former doesn’t really fit your examples, because people don’t actually know what your mind looks like, unless you choose to reveal it by doing a weird amount of B.
Imagine an audience with non-overlapping preferences. Suppose you have control over the thermometer, and someone likes the temperature above 20 degrees C, and another likes it below 15 degrees C. There’s no way to get less than 1 person complaining about your choice.
This is true, but then Adam and Edgar both face those same overlapping punishments. Of course, it’s possible for the audience to treat the two characters differently due to some prejudice, but I don’t think that’s a significant factor in e.g. autism.
I think this is actually pretty much the case with autism – although you can frame it as prejudice, or as radically different preferences about how to communicate, or what sort of communication skills you possess.
“Prejudice” and “what sort of communication skills you possess” are on the exact opposite ends of the spectrum I want to talk about. Both cases may feel the same from the first person view, but they are not just interchangeable framings.
The difference is in who controls the affordance width. In the case of prejudice, society determines that Adam’s width will be x and Edgar’s width will be y, and neither of them can do much about it. In the case of lacking skills, Edgar has a lot of agency and practices of self-awareness, introspection, observation and imitation are useful to him, even if it is impossible to learn the skills to the same extent as Adam.
E.g. the deaf man, with enough observation, can figure out in what contexts it’s better for him to be completely silent and in in what contexts it’s okay to be too loud, even if he never learns to produce the appropriate volume.
For assertive-but-weak, the example that’s coming to mind is Brendan Fraser’s character at the start of Bedazzled (a mediocre film). He tries to playfully tease his coworkers, he invites himself to their plans; but his body language says he’d run away if you looked at him funny, and he’s scared to talk to his crush.
Or if X is “this person is incompetent” and Y is “this person is arrogant”, then the sweet spot is “competent but humble” and the overlap is “arrogant and incompetent”. That seems entirely achievable.
″ One reason I don’t like your graph is that I have no idea how to suffer both X and Y at the same time, for the same action. I don’t know how a single action can be both too assertive and too weak, as in your example. ”
I would think the 1960s and the Civil Rights movement would provide a good case study here. Black/African American leaders seemed to be faced with that dilemma—the nonviolent view was often seen as passive and ineffective but the threat of violence, much less actual violence, would also be criticized. I think it is inherent in social settings where some form or group affiliation is clear but the group itself covers various factions.
Perhaps the events in Hong Kong over the past 6 month would fit into this analysis as well.
in this frame the differences between the characters is how granular their levers for changing things is, which seems closer to correct to me. Edgar simply has much too large jump sizes to ever get lucky and land in a white zone.
I think that fidelity of control and double-binds are BOTH underlying gears of this model. At this stage I’m just trying to capture the phenomenon.