(a) While sitting in committee I tried to add comments to a form while several conversations were going on around me. Attention was given to the conversations rather than the form. I have lost the knack of rationing attention when in company.
(b) While sitting in a group of three attention was with one at a time but, while I listened to A, I forgot about Bs point of view and vice versa. It was a fast moving conversation and I had a hard time keeping up. I paid attention to point X and spend time thinking how I would respond to it but this meant that I failed to pay attention to points Y and Z. I have the impression that my ability to pay conscious attention to 7 (+/-2) items at a time is getting less.
(c) While with only one other person I do not have a problem paying attention to what they have to say. I am a good listener but I do not often remember very much. I practice what might be called conceptual listening. I remember that they are angry or joyful or whatever but the fine details drift away.
The inspiration for thinking about attention comes from Goleman’s “Focus – the Hidden Driver of Excellence, and Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow”
Goleman noted “That focus in the midst of a din indicates selective attention, the neural capacity to beam in on just one target while ignoring a staggering sea of incoming stimuli, each one a potential focus in itself.”
He also noted that “This is what William James, a founder of modern psychology, meant when he defined attention as “the sudden taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought”.”
Kahneman’s “book's central thesis is a dichotomy between two modes of thought: System 1 is fast, instinctive and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The book delineates cognitive biases associated with each type of thinking … From framing choices to substitution, the book highlights several decades of academic research to suggest that people place too much confidence in human judgment.”
My present ‘problem’ is that I have lost confidence in human judgment – particularly my own when I am being self-conscious ... But, simultaneously, there is increasing confidence in the effortless productivity of the unconscious (wu-wei).
I have an ongoing interest in the source of agency with intention. What is the purpose in life? Why do I bother getting out of bed in the morning? The answer lies in my conditioning – nature, nurture and serendipity acting to integrate, harmonize and channel the unconscious, conscious and self-conscious entities that make up ‘my’ mindbrain. The environment is scanned continuously to identify food (approach) and predators (retreat). People who make the correct decisions survive those who don’t don’t. So has it always been.
My childhood norms have been cracked and now the paradigm is shifting. This is probably due to a combination of factors which include retirement, old age, meditation, Parkinson’s Disease and its medication, exposure to the media, living alone and working from home, being a member of local groups, and keeping a journal.
These days Kahneman’s cognitive biases in systems 1 and 2 are less on automatic than they used to be. But they are noticed more often than before. I am inclined to audaciously claim that the ‘muse’ has commandeered the unconscious elements of system 2 and that the stories that are produced are insightful and robust despite, or perhaps because of, their being subjective in tone.
But anyway the result is that fast and automatic mindbrain activity is now less and there is more thoughtful slow communication. Praise be.
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