I have not much considered group intention-setting. This seems super interesting to explore too.
Phenomenologically, I feel it kind of as… the agreements or intentions of the group (in a circle) recede into the background, to form the water we’re all in together. Like it gets to relax in the VERY BACK of my mind and also I’m aware of it being in the back of other people’s minds.
And from that shared container / background, I “get to move around” but it’s like I am STARTING with a particular set of assumptions.
Other potential related examples:
I’m at a Magic tournament. I know basically what to expect—what people’s goals are, what people’s behaviors will be, what the rules of the game are and how to enforce them. It’s very easy for me to move here because a lot of the assumptions are set in place for me.
I’m in church as a kid. Similar to the above. But maybe less agreeable to me or more opaque to me. I get this weird SENSE that there are ways I’m supposed to behave, but I’m not totally sure what they are. I’m just trying to do what everyone else seems to be doing… This is not super comfortable. If I act out of line, a grownup scolds me, is one way I know where the lines are.
Potential examples of group policy-based intentions:
I have a friend I regularly get meals with. We agree to take turns paying for each other, explicitly.
I have a friend, and our implicit policy is to tell each other as soon as something big happens in our lives.
As soon as a third person is added to the dynamic, I think it gets trickier to ensure it’s a policy-based intention. (Technology might provide many exceptions?) As soon as one person feels a need to remind themselves of the thing, it stops being a policy-based intention.
Willpower-based intentions in groups feel they contain a bunch of things like rules, social norms, etc.
I have not much considered group intention-setting. This seems super interesting to explore too.
Phenomenologically, I feel it kind of as… the agreements or intentions of the group (in a circle) recede into the background, to form the water we’re all in together. Like it gets to relax in the VERY BACK of my mind and also I’m aware of it being in the back of other people’s minds.
And from that shared container / background, I “get to move around” but it’s like I am STARTING with a particular set of assumptions.
Other potential related examples:
I’m at a Magic tournament. I know basically what to expect—what people’s goals are, what people’s behaviors will be, what the rules of the game are and how to enforce them. It’s very easy for me to move here because a lot of the assumptions are set in place for me.
I’m in church as a kid. Similar to the above. But maybe less agreeable to me or more opaque to me. I get this weird SENSE that there are ways I’m supposed to behave, but I’m not totally sure what they are. I’m just trying to do what everyone else seems to be doing… This is not super comfortable. If I act out of line, a grownup scolds me, is one way I know where the lines are.
Potential examples of group policy-based intentions:
I have a friend I regularly get meals with. We agree to take turns paying for each other, explicitly.
I have a friend, and our implicit policy is to tell each other as soon as something big happens in our lives.
As soon as a third person is added to the dynamic, I think it gets trickier to ensure it’s a policy-based intention. (Technology might provide many exceptions?) As soon as one person feels a need to remind themselves of the thing, it stops being a policy-based intention.
Willpower-based intentions in groups feel they contain a bunch of things like rules, social norms, etc.