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Overcoming Pseudo-Communications

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Overcoming Pseudo-Communications

~vince~
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Posted 05/26/09 - 05:11 AM: Subject: Overcoming Pseudo-Communications	#1
My premise is that much containing the appearance of communication is actually illusion-based. People often filter the other person's words through their own distorted misinterpretations versus actually hearing what the other person said. If you asked the average person to repeat your words back to you in undiluted form just moments after you said them, they'd distort your statements 90% of the time, interjecting flagrant colorizations. As a corporate instructor, I find that it's possible to teach others the most complex of lessons, if they are broken down into small bite-size pieces over long periods of time. Complex concepts can be broken down into smaller detailed parts, much like the many working parts of a complex car engine may be individually explained in detail over long time periods. For example: A friend of mine bought half of a cow to feed his family which was packed into a freezer. His family couldn't eat the cow in one sitting all at once, lest it spoil their stomachs and they become very sick through excessive ingestion. The cow had to be served in small bite-size pieces over a six-month period before it could be fully digested by his family. Complex truth also must be dispensed in very small portions over long time periods, lest it spoil the stomach of the student. Then even the simple mind can comprehend complex truth if delivered in small bite size pieces over long time periods. Of course, this takes considerable time and energy on the part of the teacher, and most teachers lack the patience to deliver teachings in qualitative detail. - It's my general premise that 9/10ths of sentences which proceed from people's mouths in the context of average discussions are grossly misinterpreted by each other, despite people's ignorant assumptions that they understand each other clearly. I base this on the notion that people don't actually 'define' several key words the same way and/or they fail to connect regarding the 'context' of such key words in each sentence. Hence, I believe that only 1/10th of people's sentences in average interpersonal communications have any practical connective value whatsoever, with 9/10ths of sentences being worthless clutter. Whole conversations commonly occur before people realize that they weren't truly connecting in the first place, with such failure to truly communicate often only being discovered several miles down the road. 1/10th of sentences truly connect with people. Another 1/10th of sentences clearly don't connect. And 8/10ths of sentences constitute mere pseudo-connections due to misalignments of 'definition' and/or 'context' of key words. People often ignorantly assume that they understand the other person's perspective, when actually they don't. Then rude awakenings occurs several miles down the road. Kingdoms topple, religious deconversions occur and marriages end in divorce.
~vince~ Don't confuse me with the facts.

Cuthbert
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Posted 05/26/09 - 07:10 AM:	#2
I agree that teachers lack patience and there's a lot of divorce and, erm, whatever else you said. But don't quote me.

swstephe
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Posted 05/26/09 - 06:54 PM:	#3
Maybe it is a psychological bias, but probably very natural. It is like the studies with witness reliability in criminal trials. People don't memorize details, they build up a mental image of what is expected and only look for verification or contradiction to what they already imagined. Your memory is nothing but a comparison of emotional values. Something strongly emotional will be remembered for a long time, sometime with little emotional value will be forgotten. If you want your students to remember something important, pull out a gun, (like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"). Don't blame people, though, it is built into the way the brain works. For remembering things, we write things down. That's what separates us from Bonzo and Cheetah.
Ethics is the measuring of morality. Morality is the measuring of good. Good is the measuring of benefit. Benefit is the measure of values.

~vince~
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Posted 05/26/09 - 07:33 PM:	#4
swstephe wrote: People don't memorize details, they build up a mental image of what is expected and only look for verification or contradiction to what they already imagined. People often believe only what they want to believe.
~vince~ Don't confuse me with the facts.

~vince~
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Posted 05/26/09 - 07:35 PM:	#5
Cuthbert wrote: But don't quote me. Okay, I won't quote you.
~vince~ Don't confuse me with the facts.

123savethewhales
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Posted 06/03/09 - 01:29 AM:	#6
~vince~ wrote: People often ignorantly assume that they understand the other person's perspective, when actually they don't. Then rude awakenings occurs several miles down the road. Kingdoms topple, religious deconversions occur and marriages end in divorce. There's actually a part of our brain that is dedicated to assume how other people are feeling. I heard people with Autism doesn't have this problem. Now the question is rather such a literal breakdown of assumption is actually something to thrive for. Also, wouldn't overcoming pseudo-communication make manipulation a bit too easy? I mean if I know exactly how you would interpret my words, I can lie, deceive, and manipulate without the worry of "the other person not buying it". Perhaps the uncertainty of how others interpret your words actually leads to a bit more honesty among people. Edited by 123savethewhales on 06/03/09 - 01:39 AM
Keep it simple.

makerowner
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Posted 06/03/09 - 11:10 AM:	#7
~vince~ wrote: My premise is that much containing the appearance of communication is actually illusion-based. People often filter the other person's words through their own distorted misinterpretations versus actually hearing what the other person said. If you asked the average person to repeat your words back to you in undiluted form just moments after you said them, they'd distort your statements 90% of the time, interjecting flagrant colorizations. I'm not sure why you see this as a problem. It's only because we can distort others' words that we can be said to understand them correctly. A tape recorder doesn't understand the words it reproduces. If all people did was repeat each other verbatim, there would be no such thing as understanding what someone said, summarizing, reviewing, explaining, teaching, or really any communication at all.
For philosophy, Socrates, if pursued in moderation and at the proper age, is an elegant accomplishment, but too much philosophy is the ruin of human life. Even if a man has good parts, still, if he carries philosophy into later life, he is necessarily ignorant of all those things which a gentleman and a person of honour ought to know.

Maxvilly
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Posted 06/03/09 - 02:32 PM:	#8
What do you mean with 9/10ths of sentences being worthless clutter. I don't think it's that high of an number, depending what you consider "clutter"! But prove me wrong, maybe you are just good at words and hang around the wrong people I agree with the teachings part! Edited by Maxvilly on 06/03/09 - 02:37 PM
I had details here, ones.

Legion
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Posted 06/03/09 - 07:41 PM:	#9
I'm sorry. Could you repeat that Vince? I only caught about a tenth of it.
We sense. We reason. We predict. We don't always get those right.

~vince~
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Posted 06/04/09 - 05:38 PM:	#10
123savethewhales wrote: There's actually a part of our brain that is dedicated to assume how other people are feeling. I heard people with Autism doesn't have this problem. Now the question is rather such a literal breakdown of assumption is actually something to thrive for. I believe that this can often lead to a fair amount of bias in our judgments on others. Sometimes constructive perhaps, but not always.
~vince~ Don't confuse me with the facts.

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