The personal stake I envision is defending their concept of their own identity. “I will do this because that’s the kind of person I am.”
Then their perception will be attuned to what kind of person they are, instead of the result. You can’t cheat your brain—it tunes in on whatever you’ve decided your “territory” is, whatever you “own”. This is not a generalized abstraction, but a concrete one.
You know how, once you buy a car, you start seeing that model everywhere? That’s an example of the principle at work. Notice that it’s not that you start noticing cars in general, you notice cars that look like yours. When you “own” a decision, you notice things specifically connected with that particular decision or goal, not “things that match a mathematical model of decision-making”. The hardware just isn’t built for that.
You also still seem to be ignoring the part where, if your decisions are made solely on the basis of any external data, then your decision is conditional and can change when the circumstances do, which is a bad idea if your real goal or intent is unconditional.
I’ve already mentioned how a conditional decision based on one’s weight leads to stop-and-start dieting, but another good example is when somebody decides to start an exercise program when they’re feeling well and happy, without considering what will happen on the days they’re running late or feeling depressed. The default response in such cases may be to give up the previous decision, since the conditions it was made under “no longer apply”.
What I’m saying is, it doesn’t matter what conditions you base a decision on, if it is based solely on conditions, and not on actually going through the emotional decision process to un-conditionalize it, then you don’t actually have a commitment to the course of action. You just have a conditional decision to engage in that course, until conditions change.
And the practical difference between a commitment and a conditional decision is huge, when it comes to one’s personal and individual goals.
Thank you for this interesting discussion. Although I posed the “emotionally committed to math” case as a specific hypothetical, many of the things you’ve written in response apply more generally, so I’ve got a lot more material to incorporate into my understanding of the pjeby model of cognition. (I know that’s a misnomer, but since you’re my main source for this material, that’s how I think of it.) I’m going to have to go over this exchange more thoroughly after I get some sleep.
Of course, there are presumably situations where one’s decision should change with the conditions. (I do get that there’s a trade-off between retaining the ability to change with the right conditions and opening yourself up to changing with the wrong conditions though.)
Of course, there are presumably situations where one’s decision should change with the conditions. (I do get that there’s a trade-off between retaining the ability to change with the right conditions and opening yourself up to changing with the wrong conditions though.)
The trade-off optimum is usually in making decisions aimed at producing concrete results, while leaving one’s self largely free to determine how to achieve those results. But again, the level of required specificity is determined by the degree of conflict you can expect to arise (temptations and frustrations).
Then their perception will be attuned to what kind of person they are, instead of the result. You can’t cheat your brain—it tunes in on whatever you’ve decided your “territory” is, whatever you “own”. This is not a generalized abstraction, but a concrete one.
You know how, once you buy a car, you start seeing that model everywhere? That’s an example of the principle at work. Notice that it’s not that you start noticing cars in general, you notice cars that look like yours. When you “own” a decision, you notice things specifically connected with that particular decision or goal, not “things that match a mathematical model of decision-making”. The hardware just isn’t built for that.
You also still seem to be ignoring the part where, if your decisions are made solely on the basis of any external data, then your decision is conditional and can change when the circumstances do, which is a bad idea if your real goal or intent is unconditional.
I’ve already mentioned how a conditional decision based on one’s weight leads to stop-and-start dieting, but another good example is when somebody decides to start an exercise program when they’re feeling well and happy, without considering what will happen on the days they’re running late or feeling depressed. The default response in such cases may be to give up the previous decision, since the conditions it was made under “no longer apply”.
What I’m saying is, it doesn’t matter what conditions you base a decision on, if it is based solely on conditions, and not on actually going through the emotional decision process to un-conditionalize it, then you don’t actually have a commitment to the course of action. You just have a conditional decision to engage in that course, until conditions change.
And the practical difference between a commitment and a conditional decision is huge, when it comes to one’s personal and individual goals.
Thank you for this interesting discussion. Although I posed the “emotionally committed to math” case as a specific hypothetical, many of the things you’ve written in response apply more generally, so I’ve got a lot more material to incorporate into my understanding of the pjeby model of cognition. (I know that’s a misnomer, but since you’re my main source for this material, that’s how I think of it.) I’m going to have to go over this exchange more thoroughly after I get some sleep.
Of course, there are presumably situations where one’s decision should change with the conditions. (I do get that there’s a trade-off between retaining the ability to change with the right conditions and opening yourself up to changing with the wrong conditions though.)
The trade-off optimum is usually in making decisions aimed at producing concrete results, while leaving one’s self largely free to determine how to achieve those results. But again, the level of required specificity is determined by the degree of conflict you can expect to arise (temptations and frustrations).