84. Subpersonalities Of The Mind
Consider your mind as a collection of ideas. Some of the ideas may compete with each other. How can we rationally choose between them? Every idea should be judged on its merits, but some ideas are hidden, and uncovering them takes time. We can introduce a variable called "parts" which divides the mind into subpersonalities. Each subpersonality represents an idea or several as long as the subpersonalities make the problem of dealing with ideas of the mind more tractable. We may introspect and playfully subject ourselves to various forms of expression to uncover hidden ideas giving voice to these subpersonalities.
How could we use this idea? First, let us review the layers of conjectures. We have made several conjectures so far:
Conjectures:
- The mind is a collection of ideas (theories, conjectures, misconceptions).
- We can divide the mind into subpersonalities to help us evaluate the ideas by letting the "parts" represent them.
- Who or what the subpersonalities are.
- What ideas the subpersonalities represent.
Criticism:
- The first conjecture seems like I am implying The Bucket Theory of Mind. Maybe there is a better word than "collection". However, in The Bucket Theory, the mind is viewed as a collection of information.
- We will make errors in determining the subpersonalities and the ideas they represent. How will we know when those errors are made? What is our means of error correction? For behavioral change, the criticism will be whether the behavior changes. It may also be how we feel after the ideas are explicit. Though, I am not sure this is enough. More work is required here.
Let's explore an example to see how this concept may work.
Example:
A part of me wants to study a couple of data science courses on Coursera tonight which I signed up for. This part thinks completing these courses will benefit our career and earning potential. Another part wants to play Dota2 instead because it seems more fun.
Could studying become more fun than Dota2?
Hell, yeah! No law prevents it from becoming so. But I must not rush to finish it because it will feel like a chore. Consider how much fun we had designing the Anki cards for "What is data analysis?". It took longer than we may have liked but it was fun! It was fun transforming the information into something more appropriate for memorization. It was so much fun I will paste my solution below.
What is data analysis?
Ill-formed:
Q: What is data analysis?
A: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
Well-formed:
Q: Data analysis is the _, _, and _ of data (CTO)
A: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data
Q: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to _ conclusions, _ predictions, and _ informed decision-making. (DMD)
A: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
Q: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to draw _, make _, and drive _. (CPID)
A: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
Q: Data analysis consists of 3 processes
A: Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data
Q: What are the 3 goals of data analysis?
A: to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making
Of course, we will not experience the adrenaline and intense focus that Dota2 requires but that does not mean that studying cannot become more fun than Dota2. Plus we could play it another time.
Reflection:
Tonight we will see how well this worked. I do, however, hope to improve upon this model. It borrows heavily from other models such as Internal Family Systems but they also seem to have the same problem: lack of error correction mechanisms.