Developing the experience of group mind.

Developing the experience of group mind. * Adapted from an interactive lecture-seminar for the Mind andConsciousness Seminar Series, co-sponsored by the New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Society forGeneral Semantics gen��er��al semantics?n. (used with a sing. verb)A discipline developed by Alfred Korzybski that proposes to improve human behavioral responses through a more critical use of words and symbols. , the Institute of General Semantics The Institute of General Semantics is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1938 by Alfred Korzybski, located in Fort Worth, Texas. Its membership roles include members from 30 different countries. , the Friends ofthe Institute of Noetic Sciences The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was co-founded in 1973 by former astronaut Edgar Mitchell and industrialist Paul N. Temple [1]to encourage and conduct research and education programs on mind-body relationships for the purpose of expanding "human possibility by , and the Media Ecology Media Ecology is an interdisciplinary field of media theory involving the study of media environments. According to the Media Ecology Association [1], media ecology can be defined as "the study of media environments, the idea that technology and techniques, modes of Association,presented January 24, 2008, at the Albert Ellis Albert Ellis (September 27 1913 – July 24 2007) was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. He held M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University and founded and was the president and president emeritus of the Institute in New YorkCity New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Is the human mind [...] like a dark cavern (needing illumination)?A muscle (needing exercise)? A vessel (needing filling)? A lump of clay(needing shaping)? A garden (needing cultivation)? Or, as so many saytoday, is it like a computer that processes data? Neil Postman POSTMAN, Eng. law. A barrister in the court of exchequer, who has precedence in: motions. , The End of Education (1995) (1) It is true enough that our ways of talking are controlled by theways we manage our minds, and no one is quite sure what "mind"is. Neil Postman, The End of Education (1995) (2) MY NAME IS BEN HAUCK, and I'm pleased to be the first speakerto kick off The Mind and Consciousness Seminar Series. I will befocusing on the "mind" part of that title. My opening questionis that popular one, "What is the mind?" I hope not to boreyou with any kind of abstract, intangible theory about what it is.Instead, I want to make you think. And I say that with a little wink A short control signal in telephony operations. It can be a single pulse, a brief interruption of a continuous tone, a change of bits or a change in polarity of the signal. For example, a momentary interruption (the wink) of a continuous, single-frequency tone is a signal that the . What is the mind? Can we point to it, extract it, and dissect dissect/dis��sect/ (di-sekt��) (di-sekt��)1. to cut apart, or separate.2. to expose structures of a cadaver for anatomical study.dis��sectv. itlike a frog? You can, if you define the term "the mind" as"the brain." However, often when we speak of the mind, wedon't mean the brain. Sometimes, we mean something amorphous,ephemeral Temporary. Fleeting. Transitory. , non-substantive; something abstract; something almostghostly ghost��ly?adj. ghost��li��er, ghost��li��est1. Of, relating to, or resembling a ghost, a wraith, or an apparition; spectral.2. Of or relating to the soul or spirit; spiritual. . I used to think of "the mind" as a ghostly brain thatinheres in the actual brain, or even "floats" in there, so tospeak. But that is not the idea I aim to forward. Before providing my answer to the question "What is themind?" I wish to provide you with a pool of examples employing theuse of the word "mind." In these examples, the word mind isnot a synonym synonym(sĭn`ənĭm)[Gr.,=having the same name], word having a meaning that is the same as or very similar to the meaning of another word of the same language. Some are alike in some meanings only, as live and dwell. for the word "brain." It is also not a synonymfor "pay attention to" or "care about," as in thestatements "Mind your manners" and "I don't mind ifyou wear your shoes in the house." Here are some examples of thesense of the word "mind" that I am talking about. As youlisten, see if you can figure out what is meant by the word mind--whatit refers to. Examples: * What's on your mind What's On Your MindAustin Access, Channel 10This public access show, produced by Sue Cole, aires every Saturday from 5:30-7:00. Many topics are discussed, which mostly are political issues. ? * Are you out of your mind? * Your name ... Remind me again? * I'll keep it in mind. * I'm losing my mind. * I'm changing my mind. * That totally blew my mind! * Free your mind! * Make up your mind! * I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. * Finishing your first marathon requires mind over matter. * Ladies and gentlemen, cast your mind back to better times. * There is a connection between mind and body. In these examples, what does the word "mind" refer to?Did you figure out some answers? Some more sophisticated examples employing the sense of the wordmind follow. * "All paid jobs absorb and degrade TO DEGRADE, DEGRADING. To, sink or lower a person in the estimation of the public. 2. As a man's character is of great importance to him, and it is his interest to retain the good opinion of all mankind, when he is a witness, he cannot be compelled to disclose the mind."(Aristotle) * "The human mind treats a new idea the same way the bodytreats a strange protein; it rejects it." (P.D. Medawar) * "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability tohold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retainthe ability to function." (F. Scott Fitzgerald Noun 1. F. Scott Fitzgerald - United States author whose novels characterized the Jazz Age in the United States (1896-1940)Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald ) * "How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence ofone's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality."(Norman Douglas For the New Zealand politician see Norman Douglas (New Zealand)George Norman Douglas (December 8 1868 - February 7 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. ) * "I have not lost my mind - it's backed up on disksomewhere." (Unknown) (3) When we use the word "mind" in the senses I'veoutlined, we treat it as if it's a thing. However, I find iterroneous to do so. What we call "the mind" is not a thing.The term "the mind" stands for a human behavior we callthinking. Thinking is a behavior. Behavior is not a thing. It issomething a thing does. When you make a thing out of behavior, you've practicedreification re��i��fy?tr.v. re��i��fied, re��i��fy��ing, re��i��fiesTo regard or treat (an abstraction) as if it had concrete or material existence.[Latin r . I will use a more vivid word: I will refer to the practiceof making a thing out of behavior as embodiment. When you embody abehavior, you make that behavior a thing. By making thinking a thinglike "the mind," you embody thinking. You make something thatis not concrete into something that is concrete. Note this is somethingyou do. It's probably fine to do it as an artistic, poetic choice;however, the territory does not change because you opted for anartistic, poetic model of thinking. Thinking remains a behavior and doesnot suddenly become a concrete thing. There are certain negative logical consequences of embodyingthinking, making it a thing called "the mind." For one, bymaking thinking a thing and not seeing it as a behavior, we then lookfor a thing. We spend time and money on trying to find the mind, as ifthere is some concrete thing to find. A different negative logical consequence of embodying thinking,making it a thing called "the mind," is that we may partiallyand unnecessarily lose faith in science. The argument flows somethinglike this: Science studies only observable phenomena. The mind isdefinitely there, but we can't see it. Since we can't observethe mind because it can't be seen, science can't tell us aboutthe mind. And the mind is very important. So science ultimately failsus. This argument is akin to some theistic the��ism?n.Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.the arguments against science.But note that the argument hinges on embodying a behavior. The personloses faith in science by chasing a red herring Red HerringA preliminary registration statement that must be filed with the SEC describing a new issue of stock (IPO) and the prospects of the issuing company.Notes: . I find it false-to-fact to consider the mind as a thing. Instead,it is truer and more extensional to see the mind as strictly humanbehavior--specifically, as thinking behavior.Examples:Originals: Revisions:What's on your mind? What are you thinking?Are you out of your You aren't thinking asmind? you usually do.Your name ... Your name ...Remind me again? Make me think it again?I'll keep it in mind. I'll keep thinking it.I'm losing my mind I'm losing track of what I think.I'm changing my mind. I'm changing what I think.That totally blew I had never, evermy mind! thought of that!Free your mind! Free your thinking!Make up your mind! Decide what you think!I'm going to give I'm going to give himhim a piece of my thinking (my thoughts).my mind.Finishing your first Finishing your first marathonmarathon requires requires thinking more thanmind over matter it requires matter (muscle)Ladies and gentlemen, Ladies and gentlemen,cast your mind back think back to better times.to better times.There is a connection There is a connectionbetween mind and between thinking and body.body. Let's revisit re��vis��it?tr.v. re��vis��it��ed, re��vis��it��ing, re��vis��itsTo visit again.n.A second or repeated visit.re the examples that I gave earlier. I'llrephrase re��phrase?tr.v. re��phrased, re��phras��ing, re��phras��esTo phrase again, especially to state in a new, clearer, or different way. each example in terms of thinking. Feel free to figure out yourown rewording re��word?tr.v. re��word��ed, re��word��ing, re��words1. a. To change the wording of.b. To state or express again in different words.2. of mind-based sentences into thinking-based sentences. Ifyou can rephrase the mind-sentence in terms of thinking, you're onthe right track. Basically, I've translated these sentences from mind-terms tothinking-terms. Though occasionally ineloquent in��el��o��quent?adj.Lacking or displaying a lack of eloquence.in��elo��quence n. , I think you will findthey are on target. The translations reflect that when a person talks ofhis mind, he really means his thinking. He means a behavior; he does notmean a thing. He hasn't literally lost some thing. He hasn'tliterally changed some thing. What he's lost or changed wasbehavior--he's lost or changed his thinking behavior. When you heara person use the word mind--and he doesn't mean brain or careabout--translating the word into thinking-terms may help you tounderstand that the person is talking about his thinking and not somestrange unobservable thing. When you appreciate the mind as thinking behavior rather than as athing, you can then develop the mind. Developing your mind merely meansdeveloping your thinking. How do you develop your thinking? Like manydifferent behaviors, you work at it. You train. You condition. You lookat the choices you naturally make in your thinking and evaluate theirefficacy. Or maybe you add more choices. Being open-minded orclose-minded merely means you have open thinking or closed thinking. Youhave a narrow mind? You think narrowly. You have a broad mind? You thinkbroadly. Such thinking largely results from choices you make--to openyour mind or close it. to narrow your mind or broaden it. And thatthinking can be trained. Thinking refers not just to one behavior, but instead it is a wordthat stands for lots of different behaviors. You may call all of thefollowing behaviors thinking: comparing, contrasting, evaluating,weighing, poeticizing, mathematizing, exaggerating, expecting,speculating, deducing, ruminating, hoping, dreaming, believing,fantasizing, digesting, processing, guessing, checking, hypothesizing,theorizing, calculating, plotting, rationalizing, dramatizing, etc. Theword thinking at best is a very general word, and at worst a very vagueone. When you say you're thinking, you may be performing oneoperation like contrasting, or you may be performing a number ofoperations like contrasting, poeticizing, then rationalizing andguessing. So narrowing the word mind down to mean thinking is not aslimiting as it sounds. It makes the word mind stand for a diversity ofhuman behaviors that happen under the skin. Now, with all that I've just said as background--that requestfor you to see the mind not as a thing but instead as thinkingbehavior--I will now transition to the major focus of my talk: Somethingthat I do, which is to train people to improvise im��pro��vise?v. im��pro��vised, im��pro��vis��ing, im��pro��vis��esv.tr.1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation.2. on the stage before anaudience. I train people in improvisation improvisationCreation of music in real time. Improvisation usually involves some preparation beforehand, particularly when there is more than one performer. Despite the central place of notated music in the Western tradition, improvisation has often played a role, from the . In improvisation, there is a coveted cov��et?v. cov��et��ed, cov��et��ing, cov��etsv.tr.1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy.2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. concept called the group mind.To those who have experienced the group mind, it is rather amazing a��maze?v. a��mazed, a��maz��ing, a��maz��esv.tr.1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex.v.intr. . Butit is a rare experience, not to mention one shrouded shroud?n.1. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet.2. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog.3. a. in mystery. It isnot something that the typical improviser im��pro��vise?v. im��pro��vised, im��pro��vis��ing, im��pro��vis��esv.tr.1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation.2. is trained in. Instead, ittends to just happen to improvisers. It's something left to chanceor explained away as occurring at the right moment or a happy accident.It could be said that, to date, little is understood about the groupmind. It comes up in group improvisation. A group of say seven actors areperforming an improvised im��pro��vise?v. im��pro��vised, im��pro��vis��ing, im��pro��vis��esv.tr.1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation.2. theatrical show. During this show, theimprovisers may have the experience of thinking exactly what the otheractors are thinking then instantaneously doing what the other groupmembers also want to do. Much to their delight, everyone in the groupwill later confirm this simultaneous experience. During the experience,there is astounding a��stound?tr.v. a��stound��ed, a��stound��ing, a��stoundsTo astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise.[From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, physical coordination amongst them as they perform;yet they did not work anything out between them. The improvisers allautomatically complement each other's performances flawlesslywithout cues. The audience may note the astounding coordination andreward it with laughter and applause, or the achievements may gounnoticed except privately amongst the improvisers. This surreal sur��re��al?adj.1. Having qualities attributed to or associated with surrealism: "Even with most facilities shut down ... experience, which comes spontaneously without any kind of communicationbetween or amongst the improvisers, is referred to as the emergence ofgroup mind. Knowing what we now know about the meaning of the word mind, themysterious emergence of group mind is really the emergence of groupthinking. The experience of group mind is the experience of meeting upat a store's lost and found after losing the person with whom youwent to the store. It is the experience of people in a town, with nodirect communication, showing up at the same place the morning after atornado has ripped the town apart. The experience of group mind is theexperience of coordinating with others when there is no communicationaiding their coordination. It is successfully thinking what everyoneelse is thinking without talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"lecture, speechrebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to them, pointing to them, or otherwisecueing them. How does this happen? How does group mind emerge? In part, itsemergence has to do with your answer to the question: What do I expecteveryone else in the group will do in this situation? When communicationis prohibited with the others in the group, you typically arrive at youranswer based on what you know about your fellow group members. If you donot know the people in your group too well, you will probably have amore difficult time coordinating with them than if you do know themwell. Concurrently, the others in the group are asking the same question:What do I expect everyone else in the group will do in this situation?That question includes their guessing what you would do. Provided theyare prohibited from communicating with you, if the others in your groupdon't know Don't know (DK, DKed)"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. you that well, they may have a harder time coordinatingwith you than if they did know you well. You then find in choosing youranswer that you have to guess what they would guess you would guess,considering their lack of information about you. As a result, you maystart to second-guess your original answer, or you may want to give acompletely different answer in light of that reality. Your simplepredicament becomes suddenly more complicated. Group coordinationwithout communication can get tricky. It may start to seem impossible. But as the improv A multidimensional Windows spreadsheet from Lotus that allows for easy switching to different views of the data. Data are referenced by name as in a database, rather than the typical spreadsheet row and column coordinates. Improv was originally developed for the NeXt computer. experience of group mind demonstrates, as well asthe famed game theorist the��o��rist?n.One who theorizes; a theoretician.theorista person who forms theories or who specializes in the theory of a particular subject.See also: Ideas, LearningNoun 1. and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize Nobel Prize,award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. forEconomics Thomas Schelling For the German philosopher see Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling.Thomas Crombie "Tom" Schelling (born 14 April 1921) is an American economist and professor of foreign affairs, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the demonstrates, it is far from impossible. Inhis 1960 book The Strategy of Conflict (4), Schelling writes about tacitcoordination--that is, coordination amongst people prohibited tocommunicate with each other. He demonstrates and concludes, albeitunscientifically, that, in general, human beings can coordinate withoutthe aid of communication amongst them as long as they know that theiraim as a group is to coordinate. Through a series of informal tests he conducted on groups ofpeople, Schelling built up his evidence. The following is a test similarto ones he used. In it, a group of people is instructed to follow theinstruction without communicating amongst themselves. Circle a number. If you all circle the same number, you all win aprize. 5 18 100 99 52 62 For this problem and for others Schelling stipulated there is nocorrect answer. Instead, there might be a correct answer. A correctanswer is an answer that most people in the group circle. (The quotationmarks quotation marksNoun, plthe punctuation marks used to begin and end a quotation, either `` and '' or ` and 'quotation marksnpl → comillas fpl around the word are important.) If 15 out of 20 people circle "5," then "5"would presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. be the "correct" answer to this problem. If17 out of 20 people circle "62," then "62" would bethe "correct" answer. If, in a group of 6 people, everyonecircled a different number, there would be no "correct" answerfor that problem. Having the group of 6 try again, they might be able tofind a "correct" answer. Schelling showed that there wasrelativity to correctness in coordination problems, and no absolutelycorrect answer. Schelling said that prominence seemed to be the main principle usedfor finding the "correct" answer and coordinating among thegroups he tested. For example, it would not be surprising to see amajority of people circling "5," as it is the first number inthe series. By virtue of being first from the left, it takes on acertain prominence for many people. However, if the group of people had just finished singing "99Bottles of Beer," the number "99" might gain prominencefor the majority and have more prominence than the first number. Youcould summarize this variation in prominence by saying that prominencedepends somewhat on the experience or culture of the group. Ask a groupof Connecticut residents where to rendezvous in New York Chick Corea recorded this Grammy-winning double CD set in 2003, with artists like Bobby McFerrin, Gary Burton, and Michael Brecker, as a celebration of his career over his 60 years.Tracks 1. Armando's Rhumba 2. Blue Monk 3. Concierto de Aranjuez/Spain 4. Matrix 5. City withoutcommunicating, and they would very likely choose Grand Central Stationover other places because of their orientation to NYC NYCabbr.New York CityNYCNew York City via train.(Schelling tested some Connecticut residents and got this answer.)However, ask a group of NYC improvisers, and a more likely answer fortheir point of coordination is their rehearsal space. (In my tests withimprovisers, I've frequently gotten this answer.) Grand CentralStation isn't as prominent to the improvisers as their rehearsalspace is. And to Connecticut residents, there is no logic in meeting ata specific Manhattan rehearsal studio. How do Schelling's insights into tacit coordination help agroup of improvisers develop a group mind? How does it lend to itsemergence? Schelling's insights mean for me as an improv teacherthat I need to train improvisers to build experiences together, whetherthey be in class or outside of class. The more shared experiences theimprovisers have together, the more likely they will be able to see thesame things as prominent. When onstage, they would then be able tocoordinate without communication more readily and more often,facilitating the emergence of group mind and its respective performancerewards. From my view, Schelling essentially measured thegroup-mindedness of sets of people. And in measuring theirgroup-mindedness, he showed how to develop group-mindedness. No longerwould the emergence of group mind be relegated to chance and mystery. To develop their group mind, I first encourage groups ofimprovisers not just to show up to every practice, but also to show upon time, to hang out together after class, to go to their showstogether, to get involved in each others' lives, etc. They buildshared experiences by doing this. "Ninety-nine" becomesprominent to those who shared singing the song on the bus together, 99means nothing special to those who missed the bus. To develop a group's group mind, sometimes I isolate certainthings that come up in improvised scenes and label them as important.For example, one of the things I urge my improvisers to pay attention toare the desires of the characters, to help every character get what shewants. A desire serves as a call to action. When a characterspontaneously says, "I want to eat a ham sandwich," animproviser in the scene may immediately step forward and establish forthe audience that the troupe is in a deli, while another improviser maysimultaneously posture behind a pantomimed counter, asking "Sir,can I take yer order?" Still another improviser may enter thescene, simply oinking. By saying character wants are important, theybecome prominent, and improvisers focus on them. They then all do thingsin line with satisfying those wants. Then there's the testing for the presence of group mind. Forme, the measure of a great group mind is the measure of how well theimprovisers in a group are able to coordinate tacitly. That is, howoften do they coordinate around the same answer without communicating?From time to time I give groups of improvisers tests similar toSchelling's, having them all seated in a circle, a small distanceapart, their backs to each other. After they all finish, I go around theroom and compare their answers, looking for Looking forIn the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. "correct" answersand how many improvisers answered "correctly." Sometimes Ieven give the groups a second try at answering a problem if there is alot of variation in their initial answers. It is my belief that if agroup is able to find "correct" answers to a multitude ofproblems without communicating, then that group has a strong group mindand will readily have more group mind emerges during their shows. Wherethere is variation in answers to coordination questions, there is reasonto believe there is a weaker group mind for the group and less chance atachieving a group mind during their shows. Training the group mind becomes training in the group to coordinateas perfectly as possible to achieve the same answer every time the firsttime. As a result, without communication, the group will performimprovisation mysteriously well, the magic behind their excellencesimply a developed ability to recognize what's prominent in anygiven situation and going in that prominent direction. Audiences frequently are astounded a��stound?tr.v. a��stound��ed, a��stound��ing, a��stoundsTo astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise.[From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, when improvisers takespontaneous coordinated action without any seeming preparation. Theycan't figure out how it works onstage. After a show, it's notuncommon for audience members to insist that the show must have beenprepared beforehand. The emergence of group mind usually baffles eventhe best improvisers. They can't figure out how it comes about. Forme, it comes about naturally and readily from having shared experiences.It also comes when certain aspects are labeled as important so thateveryone in the improv group sees them as prominent. With regard to the terms mind and group mind, I hope I haveprovided you with some ideas you will put to use. That we have alllistened today to these ideas means we have shared an experience. And asI see it, we've also come one step closer to developing a groupmind. References (1.) Postman, Neil. The End of Education. New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1995. p. 174. (2.) Ibid. p. 122. (3.) These five quotations come from the websiteQuotationsPage.com, retrieved January 2008. (4.) Schelling, Thomas C. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge:Harvard University Harvard University,mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college.Harvard CollegeHarvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. , 1980. pp. 53-80. For the past six years, * Ben Hauck has taught long-formimprovisation in New York City, Toronto, and London. He sits on theboard of directors of the New York Society for General Semantics andholds a BFA BFAabbr.Bachelor of Fine ArtsBFAabbr BFA, B.F.ABachelor of Fine Arts; first degree in Fine Arts. in Acting from Otterbein College. Hauck lives in New YorkCity. Visit his website at http://www.benhauck.com.