May 22nd, 2006 Fred McVittie
A definition of intuition
The capacity of the human mind to process more variables during cognition than can be held simultaneously in conscious awareness. The feeling of ‘aura’ which accompanies the use of this capacity.
Posted in Cognition, Intuition, Mind | No Comments »
June 28th, 2006 Fred McVittie
Acts of organised intuition, such as are routinely attributed to such practices as psychotherapy and counselling, as well as creative practice and problem solving, routinely contain a phase referred to as ‘listening’ (1). This use of an embodied metaphor to describe an abstract concept, in this case the physical sense of listening standing in for the mental state of intuitive ’sensing’, is in line with the conceptual metaphor theories of Lakoff, Johnson and others. The cognitive concept of listening provides the image schema which structures the concept.
The close relationship between the physical schemata of the body and the image schemata which structure cognition suggests that the functioning of these metaphorical organs can be enhanced by engaging the body in specific behaviours. Intuitive listening, for example, can be enhanced by paying attention to the kinesiological or proprioceptive accompaniments to the act of normal auditory listening. Typically, active auditory listening is accompanied by specific postural and somatic realignments; eye gaze direction, head tilt, breath control, etc. Adopting these postures, either physically or imaginatively with the metaphorical body, can enhance or facilitate intuitive listening.
Petitmengin-Peugeot, C. (1999). “The Intuitive Experience.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 6(2-3): 43-77.
Posted in Hearing, Intuition, Johnson, Mark, Lakoff, George, Metaphor, Petitmengin-Peugeot, C., Proprioception, Schema | No Comments »
October 6th, 2006 Fred McVittie
Some unconscious processes can be learnt, and some appear to be innate. Innate unconscious processes include the various tenets of Folk Physics and the intuitive knowledge possessed by babies and infants identified by Spelke, Baillargeon et al. Among those non-conscious processes which are not innate but are acquired through interaction with the world, some can be learnt through ordered rational processes of self-instruction, learning to ride a bike for example, and some are learnt ‘covertly’ through experiences of being in the world which we may not consciously examine but which nevertheless construct our worldview. All of these unconscious processes, learnt and innate, covert and overt, have an affect upon our actions, and on our emotional engagement with those actions. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that such processes (and the beliefs which are formed through them) determine our emotional engagement with action, and this emotional engagement ’steers’ the action into directions which correspond with the dictates of non-conscious processes and beliefs. Going against the steer of the unconscious is experienced as doing something which doesn’t ‘feel right’.
Posted in Baillergeon, Emotion, Intuition, Naive Physics, Spelke, Elizabeth, Unconscious | No Comments »
October 22nd, 2006 Fred McVittie
Our unconscious mind has a sensitivity to detail and pattern that our conscious mind does not have and is not capable of having. The complexity of many patterns and the fineness of much detail is beyond the relatively modest and linear computational abilities of conscious processes. The recognition of pattern and detail which is carried out non-consciously usually does not become part of our conscious awareness at all, but rather informs the various behaviours we carry out routinely without any necessity to think consciously about them. So, for example, when in conversation we may fall into a similar rhythmic pattern of speaking as the person we are speaking to without intending to do so or even consciously being aware of the fact. Although these behind-the-scenes computations do not present themselves to conscious awareness as rational facts about such details and patterns (obviously, or by definition they would then not be non-conscious), instead such computations and recognitions appear in consciousness as feelings, biases, hunches, and instincts. We often feel the way we do about a person, situation, event etc because our mind is processing large numbers of observations about that person, situation or event, noting details and discovering patterns which we are totally unaware of consciously. Our feelings are the experienced result of these computations.
Posted in Feeling, Intuition, Pattern, Unconscious | No Comments »
November 12th, 2006 Fred McVittie
‘Presence’ is an observable condition in which the person displaying this quality is distinguished from others who do not by their ability to attract attention (without apparently doing anything unusual). This quality is often characterised as a ‘power’ (charisma) which is ineffable and makes a direct appeal to intuition rather than to rational analysis.
Posted in Attention, Charisma, Intuition, Presence | No Comments »
December 19th, 2006 Fred McVittie
Feelings (and intuitions) exist in order to motivate action, or to shape an action that will inevitably take place in some form. We feel pain in order to motivate us to make an action that will remove the source of that pain. Feelings are the result of cognitive processes, some of which are conscious, some of which are non-conscious. Pain is the result of non-conscious processing; we feel the pain but we are not consciously aware of the ‘thoughts’ which led up to this feeling. Other feelings can be induced by consciously thinking certain thoughts, or looking at certain images, or carrying out certain actions which produce thoughts. These thoughts may produce feelings; we think sad thoughts and the result is that we feel sad. So we might entertain a thought that will produce a feeling that will in turn motivate or shape an action. Simple feelings motivate simple actions, and are produced by simple thoughts. Complex feelings motivate complex actions and are produced by complex thoughts.
Posted in Feeling, Intuition, Pain | No Comments »
December 20th, 2006 Fred McVittie
Many of the actions we carry out are marked with a sense of ‘obviousness’. The placement of a chair in a room; the moment we step off a pavement to cross a road, avoiding oncoming cars. There is no need for much, if any, conscious deliberative thought when carrying out these actions, and often they do not appear in consciousness at all, being carried out on ‘autopilot’. The obviousness of the decisions involved in these actions is, in a sense, a strong form of the ‘intuition’ that we mobilise when making other, less commonplace, decisions. When we get a ‘bad feeling’ about a particular course of action we may be consciously aware of the feeling but reasoning is usually absent from consciousness. The actions steered or shaped by both intuition and obviousness are characterised by this lack of conscious, rational thought. In fact, to bring rational thought to bear on the kind of ‘problems’ usually solved by intuition and obviousness, crossing a road for example, actually makes the task much more difficult and hazardous. In both these forms of decision making, the decision is being made and the action shaped by non-conscious processes, and often the conscious mind is not given access to that process, or is incapable of understanding that process.
Posted in Consciousness, Feeling, Intuition, Unconscious | No Comments »
January 4th, 2007 Fred McVittie
Any sufficiently complex skill or body of knowledge entails not only accumulating the various physical routines or academic facts associated with that skill or knowledge, but also the construction of a consilient ‘body’ of knowledge which give form and structure to those routines or facts. In this sense it functions not as a disconnected set of multiple items of data but as a single dynamic abstract competency. This body of knowledge allows not only the playing out of rote data, but also the intelligent and flexible responses which we associate with more complex knowing. The structure of this body of knowledge is variously referred to as a gist, schema, script, frame, etc.
A simple example of an abstract competency is the ability to play football. Playing the game well, or in fact at all, is impossible if one is only able to reproduce specific learned moves by rote. Competence in football demands an abstract understanding of the game as a whole such that flexible responses can be made to the constantly changing state of play. It is important to note that once such competence is available it is unlikely that it will present itself to the consciousness of the player as rational advice on what particular move may be appropriate at any one time. It is more likely that the player will experience such competence as the working of intuition and feeling, a particular move should simply ‘feel right’.
When applied to a non-physical academic field such as the appreciation of art, such competence would manifest itself as an aesthetic response which may or may not be fully available to analysis.
Posted in Gist, Intuition, Performance | No Comments »
February 2nd, 2007 Fred McVittie
The limited capacity of human consciousness means that we can only hold between four and seven items in consciousness simultaneously. Of these, items, we are not able to ’see’ more than four (possibly three) as a unity (through ’subitizing’). We experience these small subitized unities as a felt sense of ‘knowing’, and see the sense of such unities in a way which is unproblematic and automatic. This sense of subitized knowledge allows us to make good judgments and decisions when the number of variables within the decision does not exceed four. Such decisions seem relatively obvious and are usually made without much deliberation. Beyond this number of variable (and definitely beyond seven) our ability to make good conscious judgments is likely to fail and errors begin to creep in.
Unconscious processes however are not limited to this low number and the amount of variables which can be simultaneously juggled by the unconscious mind would be beyond rational conscious comprehension. When such unconscious judgments are made, which they probably are all the time, the results of such decision-making processes are not presented to the conscious mind as a sterile report giving measured advice on possible actions. The result of such judgmental processes is experienced as an emotional or intuitive response, a felt reaction which may be characterised as a ‘rightness’ or a ‘wrongness’ of some kind.
Posted in Intuition, Subitizing | No Comments »