If CMR mini-camp participants learned the skill through exposure, then perhaps an incentivized game executed in organically occurring scenarios that rewards those who recognize and do not practice non-specificity, would do the trick.
I’m thinking of a point-based game. It would occur either during a specified block of time, or on a specified day; everyone playing would begin with an equal number of points. During this specified period players would earn points pointing out abstract, non-specific utterances of other players’ (including utterances operating on an illusion of transparency) by acting upon that utterance in a literal way; the one who said the utterance would then concede a point to the one who first pointed this out (or first acted upon the non-specific utterance), as long as it was fairly won. I’m thinking that if, “Head over to Anna” is met with someone offering their skull to Anna as a gift, that’d be going a bit far. The winner, the person with the most points at the end of the day, would receive some gift all would be motivated by, or an individualized gift of their choosing (e.g. multiple prize options). The game would be in effect during other activities.
Some examples: -”I think we should all come together. [intended meaning: gather]” is met with someone walking into the non-specifist, or many overtly gathering in simultaneous motion around the non-specifist. -”Perhaps everything’s like that, or we could try maybe helping or fixing whatever might be causing it.” is met by a mock stern, affronted accusation that the non-specifist is ‘like that’, or is egregiously guilty of whatever ‘that’ is, immediately followed by a mock abashed realization that the pointer-outer is, too, like that, and so the pointer-outer exclaims “Woe is me!” and mock faints. -”Can you help, with the, uh, you know, um, the thing?” is met with someone grabbing a leaf on the ground or a chair or some such object that is obviously not what the non-specifist is referring to, lifting it up high, and innocently querying, “This?”
Edit: ITakeBets’ post on orders of specificity brought to mind the possibility this game might be improved (once some familiarity is established) by requiring pointer-outer’s to state why the statement was non-specific after they’re done acting upon the statement’s non-specificity. To use his example, stating, “I can’t play basketball; I’m five foot six,” would yield, “It was vague in that it lacked relevancy,” after the pointer-outer had in a tone of mock shock said, “Goodness, me! You must have the condition that severely limits prestidigitation, rendering you unable to delicately flick your second through fifth metacarpals in unison against any opposing force! ’Tis a shame the condition only affects those of the adult height of sixty-six inches; if only you were an inch taller!”
I have some qualms about the game’s potential negative effects on productivity, yet perhaps the probability of that can be mitigated by clever scheduling. The basic idea is participants won’t want to lose points, but will want to gain points, so they will become more attentive to, and precise in, their speech and thoughts.
Hm. I especially note the concept of handing out some sort of non-monetary gift at the end of the session to someone. I wonder if that would be productive or counterproductive...
I wonder if that would be productive or counterproductive…
Are you wondering after the productivity of the gift idea in particular or the productivity of the concept as a whole? If it’s the gift idea, then I don’t see how it wouldn’t be productive; a desirous prize would ensure all players apply themselves to the game, and dedicate themselves to learning the skill in the short term. If the game proceeds as expected, then all involved would have had a jolly good time; memories linked to a strong emotion are more memorable (learned this somewhere—no citation I can recall), so the positive fun emotion tied to the game, and thus the skill, will insure its memorability.
The idea as a whole, however, could indeed be quite counterproductive. Though I assume there would be some down time during the mini-camp? walking between sessions, meal times, pre-sleep socializing? The game might fit well during those periods, however it could just as well hinder socialization through added pressure and unnecessary competition.
That particular element seems like it would incentivize campers to spend the period hyper-aware of their own and others’ specificity, which seems counterproductive to me. The goal is an increase in the specificity of statements made casually, which could be entirely unrelated. Extending the period to say, a week, might work to prevent this- at that point it would be a long term incentive rather than a prize.
I was actually thinking of the week-long mini-camp when writing this. The idea would have to be thoroughly tested before implementation, in order to find the right balance to strike when presenting the game: the balance between encouraging a keen sense of how well you evince the meaning of your communications, while still discouraging anti-social hypersensitivity to, and subsequent criticizing of, non-specificity in others.
If CMR mini-camp participants learned the skill through exposure, then perhaps an incentivized game executed in organically occurring scenarios that rewards those who recognize and do not practice non-specificity, would do the trick.
I’m thinking of a point-based game. It would occur either during a specified block of time, or on a specified day; everyone playing would begin with an equal number of points. During this specified period players would earn points pointing out abstract, non-specific utterances of other players’ (including utterances operating on an illusion of transparency) by acting upon that utterance in a literal way; the one who said the utterance would then concede a point to the one who first pointed this out (or first acted upon the non-specific utterance), as long as it was fairly won. I’m thinking that if, “Head over to Anna” is met with someone offering their skull to Anna as a gift, that’d be going a bit far. The winner, the person with the most points at the end of the day, would receive some gift all would be motivated by, or an individualized gift of their choosing (e.g. multiple prize options). The game would be in effect during other activities.
Some examples:
-”I think we should all come together. [intended meaning: gather]” is met with someone walking into the non-specifist, or many overtly gathering in simultaneous motion around the non-specifist.
-”Perhaps everything’s like that, or we could try maybe helping or fixing whatever might be causing it.” is met by a mock stern, affronted accusation that the non-specifist is ‘like that’, or is egregiously guilty of whatever ‘that’ is, immediately followed by a mock abashed realization that the pointer-outer is, too, like that, and so the pointer-outer exclaims “Woe is me!” and mock faints.
-”Can you help, with the, uh, you know, um, the thing?” is met with someone grabbing a leaf on the ground or a chair or some such object that is obviously not what the non-specifist is referring to, lifting it up high, and innocently querying, “This?”
Edit: ITakeBets’ post on orders of specificity brought to mind the possibility this game might be improved (once some familiarity is established) by requiring pointer-outer’s to state why the statement was non-specific after they’re done acting upon the statement’s non-specificity. To use his example, stating, “I can’t play basketball; I’m five foot six,” would yield, “It was vague in that it lacked relevancy,” after the pointer-outer had in a tone of mock shock said, “Goodness, me! You must have the condition that severely limits prestidigitation, rendering you unable to delicately flick your second through fifth metacarpals in unison against any opposing force! ’Tis a shame the condition only affects those of the adult height of sixty-six inches; if only you were an inch taller!”
I have some qualms about the game’s potential negative effects on productivity, yet perhaps the probability of that can be mitigated by clever scheduling. The basic idea is participants won’t want to lose points, but will want to gain points, so they will become more attentive to, and precise in, their speech and thoughts.
Hm. I especially note the concept of handing out some sort of non-monetary gift at the end of the session to someone. I wonder if that would be productive or counterproductive...
Are you wondering after the productivity of the gift idea in particular or the productivity of the concept as a whole? If it’s the gift idea, then I don’t see how it wouldn’t be productive; a desirous prize would ensure all players apply themselves to the game, and dedicate themselves to learning the skill in the short term. If the game proceeds as expected, then all involved would have had a jolly good time; memories linked to a strong emotion are more memorable (learned this somewhere—no citation I can recall), so the positive fun emotion tied to the game, and thus the skill, will insure its memorability.
The idea as a whole, however, could indeed be quite counterproductive. Though I assume there would be some down time during the mini-camp? walking between sessions, meal times, pre-sleep socializing? The game might fit well during those periods, however it could just as well hinder socialization through added pressure and unnecessary competition.
That particular element seems like it would incentivize campers to spend the period hyper-aware of their own and others’ specificity, which seems counterproductive to me. The goal is an increase in the specificity of statements made casually, which could be entirely unrelated. Extending the period to say, a week, might work to prevent this- at that point it would be a long term incentive rather than a prize.
I was actually thinking of the week-long mini-camp when writing this. The idea would have to be thoroughly tested before implementation, in order to find the right balance to strike when presenting the game: the balance between encouraging a keen sense of how well you evince the meaning of your communications, while still discouraging anti-social hypersensitivity to, and subsequent criticizing of, non-specificity in others.