GLOSSARY @F-L-O-W
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[ A ]
a priori
– based on
hypothesis or theory rather than experiment
accommodation
– adapting
actions to respond to new stimuli (in Piaget’s theory)
accountability
– a situation where an individual can be called to account
for his/her actions by another individual or body
authorized both to do so and to give recognition to the
individual for those actions. See managerial
accountability.
achievement
– one of four motive systems discussed by David McClelland
in Human Motivation (1988). It is the motivation to
perform difficult and challenging tasks successfully. In
FL achievement motivation is correlated with the movement
toward. See: Affiliation, Avoidance, Power.
affect
– is the feeling dimension of life, part of one’s general
outward emotional expression. Someone with a flat affect
expresses little emotion.
affective
– characterised
by emotion
affiliation
– one of four motive systems discussed by David McClelland
in Human Motivation (1988). It is the motivation to seek
out and maintain friendly relationships. In FL affiliation
motivation is correlated with the movement with.
agency and communion
– terms made current by Ken Wilber. For Wilber, reality is
constituted of “holons,” by which he means wholes which
are simultaneously parts of larger wholes. Every holon has
two tendencies. Agency is its capacity and drive to
maintain its own wholeness, identity, autonomy in relation
to its environment. Communion is its capacity and drive to
align with and support the other wholes constituting its
environment on which its survival depends. In FL these
words are associated with tendencies identified in Spiral
Dynamics and other frameworks as “self-directed” thinking
and acting and “sacrifice-of-self” or cooperation-directed
thinking and acting.
algorithm
– is a finite sequence of instructions, a step-by-step
procedure for completing a task.
alloic
– other-oriented
(in Apter’s reversal theory)
amygdala (pl., ae)
– structures in the limbic system of the brain involved in
emotional processing and memory. Responses by the amygdala
to threat range in intensity from the milder forms of
stress response to the most fully aroused
fight-flight-or-freeze reaction. An “amygdala hijack,” so
named by Daniel Goleman, bypasses the reasoning cortex and
goes straight to the amydala often leading to an
undifferentiated, disproportionate response to a perceived
threat.
analysis of variance
– a statistical
method for testing for significant
– differences between groups of data, which may be
‘explained’ by one or more variables
analytic
– focusing on
the parts of a whole or on underlying
– basic principles
alpha (coefficient)
– a measure of
internal consistency, to be interpreted
– as an average correlation coefficient, showing how well
– a set of test items ‘hangs together’
archetype
– the concept of
an archetype /ɑrkɪtaɪp/ is found in areas relating to
behavior, modern psychological theory, and literary
analysis. An archetype can be:
– a statement, pattern of behavior, or prototype which
other statements, patterns of behavior, and objects copy
or emulate;
– a
Platonic philosophical idea referring to pure forms which
embody the fundamental characteristics of a thing;
– a collectively-inherited unconscious idea, pattern of
thought, image, etc., that is universally present in
individual psyches, as in Jungian psychology;
– or a constantly recurring symbol or motif in literature,
painting, or mythology (this usage of the term draws from
both comparative anthropology and Jungian archetypal
theory).
http://leadu.org/a/archetypes/
assimilation
– absorbing new information and fitting it into existing
knowledge (in Piaget’s theory)
authority
– the power vested in a person by virtue of the role to
expend resources: financial, material, technical and
human.
autic
– self-oriented (in Apter’s reversal theory)
auxiliary function
– See Type Dynamics (MBTI)
avoidance
– One of four motive systems discussed by David McClelland
in Human Motivation (1988). In his earlier work McClelland
identified six motive systems, each of which could be
identified by the condition it moves toward (approach) and
the condition it moves away from (avoidance), but in that
framework avoidance was not itself a motive system. In
Human Motivation, avoidance is a motive system
(www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/David_McClelland). In
FL avoidance is correlated with the movement away from.
See: Achievement, Affiliation, Power.
[ B ]
beneficial behaviors of
people flourishing
– higher morale, lower turnover, spend more time in flow
(the zone) fully immersed in work, intrinsically
motivated, healthier — fewer sick days, better with
customers, increased sales, more resilient to stress,
perform better in leadership positions, receive higher
performance ratings, energetic, emotionally intelligent,
forgiving, less likely to be depressed or anxious, more
socially connected, enjoy better quality sleep, experience
fewer headaches, stay more engaged in the face of
difficulty, rise above obstacles more easily, better at
their jobs, report more job satisfaction, experience
positive emotions such as joy, interest and pride, greater
likelihood of working actively toward new goals, more
likely to succeed, more likely to recommend their
organization to others, spend double the time at work
focused on what they are paid to do, feel better about
themselves, and enjoy life.
bi-conditional
– a relationship
in logic in which q can occur if-and-only-if p occurs.
blank slate
– A current catch phrase from the Latin, tabula rasa,
which indicates the view that each of us is born with
essentially the same potential capability and anyone who
strives hard enough can learn and do whatever all but a
few exceptional geniuses can do. According to this view,
each of us is born primarily a “blank slate,” so our
nature is highly malleable and our development depends on
nurture—on prenatal environment, life conditions,
prevalent social views, family, and education, which
inscribe on our blank slate the specific capabilities we
mature into. One implication of blank slate is this: If
our potential is so malleable, when there is a gap between
us and the requirements of our work and life, our most
efficient, effective, and sustainable solution is often to
be trained how to do it ourselves rather than assigning
the requirement to someone naturally predisposed for it.
FL believes this underrates the individual
differentiations of genetic predisposition toward varying
talents, motivations, personality types and traits, and
intelligences which fund our particular profile of
capabilities.
blips
– is Internet Time Lab’s mobile app that captures an
individual’s self-report of thriving and displays it on
the web in aggregate form.
[ C ]
capability
– the ability of
a person to do work.
– the amount of available potentiality already actualized
as some ability. See: Potential, Capacity.
capacity
– the complete available potentiality for actualization of
some ability. See: Capability, Potential.
catalytic validity
– the extent to which those involved in research become
motivated to understand and transform the situations in
which they operate
cerebral dominance
– an outdated theory, claiming that one half of the brain
controls or takes precedence over the other
clarification
– The second core competency of the Coach2 Coaching Model.
Once the coach establishes a connection with the client,
their work together begins with a process of clarifying
the client’s self-knowledge and self-awareness, values,
relevant beliefs, motivations and capabilities, purposes,
blocks to realization, and discernment of Right Action.
See: Connection, Commitment.
coaching
– regular discussions between a manager and an immediate
subordinate in which the manager helps the subordinate to
increase his/her skilled knowledge so that the subordinate
is able to handle an increasing amount of the full range
of work available in the subordinate’s role.
code (e5-4)
– is
made up of the rules or algorithms which comprise a
person’s operating system. The field of our algorithm-set
varies in density. It
is very dense in our areas of skilled performance, where
we have immediately at hand a large collection of
familiar, differentiated, and nuanced ways to achieve an
end. It
is sparsely populated in our areas of minimal competence.
Because they are maxims of know-how, the rules and
algorithms of the code are a set of means.
– These codes as means are in the service of the ends to
which we are most attracted, which appear to be given as
genetic predispositions by the core. The core also
contributes some genetically-guided constraints on the
ways we operate, which form a supplementary code. For
example, an introvert will typically prefer means
different than those preferred by an extravert. This is an
example of what we recognize more generally as the
interdependencies among the elements of the e5 and between
the e5 and the core. The code not only operates in the
service of core ends and within constraints rooted in the
core, it also uses a reading of the content, context,
conditions, and culture together to make a sort-of
comprehensive context for the right choice of operating
system.
– the
algorithmic code of a person is a more permanent,
intrinsic, and defining aspect than the other elements of
the e5. As a leader, co-team member, or coach, we want to
identify and relate to the more stable and guiding code in
order to determine the level of capability actually
present in someone and to situate and facilitate her work
to enable maximum effectiveness, efficiency, and
sustainability. Using the e5 and core can help us make
this discernment more accurately.
– See also in this order: Epigenetic5, Content(e5-1),
Context(e5-2), Conditions(e5-3), and Culture(e5-5).
cognitive
– concerned with the psychological processes of
perception, memory, thinking and learning.
Cognitive complexity
– as one type of conceptual skill, includes the ability to
use environmental indicators to make distinctions,
classify things, identify complex relationships and
develop creative solutions to problems. — Yukl G. 2002:
Leadership in organizations, 5th edition. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall Inc.
commitment
– the third core competency of the COACH2 Coaching Model.
Following upon the establishment of connection between
coach and client and clarification leading to discernment
of RightAction, the client comes to commitment and
RightAction itself. There may follow a recursive process
of further clarification and revised RightAction. See:
Connection, Clarification.
communion
– See Agency and Communion.
competency
– see strength.
complexity
– determined by the number of factors, the rate of the
change of those factors and the ease of identification of
the factors in a situation.
complexity of mental processing
( CMP )
– the complexity of mental activity a person uses in
carrying out work. There are four types of mental
processing.
conative/conation
– refers to effort, endeavour and the will to achieve
Concatenation
–Concatenation
(from Latin concatenare, to link together) is taking two
or more separately located things and placing them
side-by-side next to each other so that they can now be
treated as one thing. In computer programming and data
processing, two or more character strings are sometimes
concatenated for the purpose of saving space or so that
they can be addressed as a single item. (Of course, some
way may be needed to know how to unconcatenate them
later.)
A simple way to
remember concatenation is to think of any word. What makes
a word separate from other words is that all the letters
are lined up together with no intervening spaces. That is,
in a word, all letters are concatenated. Sometimes new
words can be made by concatenating two existing words –
for example, “airline” is a concatenation of the words
“air” and “line” into a new word. -Mike
concurrent
validity
– support for the meaning of a construct or the value of a
test, based on correlational evidence from another set of
measurements taken at the same time.
conditional
– a relationship in logic in which if p occurs then q will
occur.
conditions (e5-3)
– are circumstances that require a response from us. In
framing the response we envision a goal-state which will
place us in a desirable relationship to the conditions,
for example, changing them, stabilizing them, or fleeing
them. This appeal to goals or ends tacitly brings into
play our personal core, which is the domain of our
end-goals. We are always living and communicating within a
network of such conditions and desired or avoided
goal-states, large or small in scope, felt urgency, or
anticipated duration. Each of us identifies differently
what conditions are significant and will move us toward
goal states we desire or resist. This factor enables an
encoder to further determine his meaning. Yet even this
further specification by the encoder leaves in some degree
a gap that must be left empty or be supplied by the
perceiver.
– See
also in this order: Epigenetic5, Content(e5-1),
Context(e5-2), Code(e5-4), and Culture(e5-5).
connection
– this is the first core competency of the Coach2 Coaching
Model. The connection the coach establishes with the
client, involving elements of knowledge, moral commitment,
and emotional and social intelligence, creates a habitat
of trust which supports the client’s work with the coach.
See: Clarification, Commitment.
construct
– abstract or general idea inferred from specific
construct validity
– how far test scores can be interpreted as measuring only
what they are intended to measure
content (e5-1)
– is the most plastic and open to change of the five
meme-aspects making up the e5. Using a framework developed
by Fritjof Capra, FL defines content as bare form,
process, and manner without meaning. Traditional
linguistics would call content in this sense a naked
“signifier”—letters, sounds, graphics, acts—detached from
a “signified” or correlated meaning. The example of
content as a single word lets us see most clearly what
this means in the communication transaction between an
encoder and perceiver. If the perceiver does not know the
word, she will spontaneously hunt among words of similar
phonetic elements to try to categorize it in some fashion.
If the perceiver is familiar with the word, she will
depend on that prior association of meaning to impute
meaning in this case. In either case, on the level of
content, there is little the encoder can do to make an
intended meaning of the word more determinate. The
decoding perceiver will either abstain from assigning
meaning or the meaning will be almost completely meaning
she assigns. This is the first appearance of a key
principle which the e5 discloses and addresses: Every
communication is always incomplete. The e5 is an
instrument for discerning relevant incompleteness and
making the kind and degree of completeness more
sufficient.
– a question which will help an assessor judge what
understanding the decoder may have of the word’s meaning
on the basis of the perceived content is: Can the person
use the word in a sentence?
– See also in this order: Epigenetic5, Context(e5-2),
Conditions(e5-3), Code(e5-4), and Culture(e5-5).
context (e5-2)
– may be an intrinsic part of a communication; or it may
consist of facial expressions and postures of the encoder;
it may also tacitly depend on the shared intellectual,
social, and experiential environment of the encoder and
perceiver. The addition of context to content makes the
meaning more complex and at the same time more
determinate. In pure content, as we saw it at the
single-word level, it was impossible for the encoder to
make his intended meaning determinate enough for even an
imagined perfect perceiver to decode the communication as
the encoder meant it. Even content and context leave large
gaps of meaning that must be left empty or supplied by the
perceiver.
– a
question that will allow one to assess the degree to which
someone understands the content in context is: Can the
person apply or relate it?
– See also in this order: Epigenetic5, Content(e5-1),
Conditions(e5-3), Code(e5-4), and Culture(e5-5).
convergent thinking
– thinking directed at finding a single correct solution
to a well-structured problem
core
– refers to factors in a person that seem to be in
different degrees innate and genetically guided. It
embraces a person’s motivational profile, natural
capability and talents, the speed, degree, and scope
within which a person’s ability to handle complexity
matures, and some personality traits like being
introverted or extraverted and drawn in thinking to
sensory details or intuitive patterns. A person’s core
includes areas of incapability as well as capability,
motivation for avoidance as well as motivation toward. The
core and the meme-based epigenetic5 are always interacting
in multiple ways that together form each person.
correlation
– a measure indicating how far two variables are totally
unconnected (zero correlation), or are negatively
(e.g.–0.5) or positively related, as determined by
underlying or outside influences.
culture (e5-5)
– surrounds us like an ocean we live in. It is what
we look out from and what we see before us. On its
surface, the memes which culture carries are as
iridescent, shape-shifting, and difficult to detach into
stable determinate parts as an oil slick riding on water.
They are the face of e5-1, sheer Content. In its depths,
culture conserves patterned memeplexes and larger groups
of memes called co-adapted meme complexes that have proven
relatively stable and been copied and passed on together
as forms of individual and group development. They become
the culture of ways human beings have done things in this
family, this religion, this social class, this role as man
or woman. Because culture is heavily reinforced among its
members, it is mimetically dense and therefore changes
only gradually over time. Because culture is rooted in the
varied range of human nature and typical human conditions,
even when particular cultures have been lost or are only
tacitly present, they are not simply past, but remain
present potentialities for recurrence. Almost any of them
may attract those who find them congruent with their e5
elements and satisfying to their core motivations,
personality types, and other innately shaping aspects. In
this respect culture is a library of tried solutions to
the problems of being human. These solutions surviving in
memes of memory constitute culture-borne archetypes.
– has an important role as support and scaffolding in our
lives and work. Depending on context, the role may have
positive or negative consequences. Positively, cultural
support and scaffolding enables workers to perform at a
higher level than their intrinsic level of capability,
making them more productive. Negatively, such cultural
support and scaffolding may lead observers to overestimate
a person’s intrinsic capability and send the person into
situations of uncertainty, crisis and cultural regression
which strip away the scaffolding and leave the person’s
capability too low to handle conditions of such
complexity. Resilience demands a degree of meme density
that keeps one stable under pressure but not so dense that
it prevents adaptability.
– See also in this order: Epigenetic5, Content(e5-1),
Context(e5-2), Conditions(e5-3), and Code(e5-4).
current
applied capability ( CAC )
– the
capability someone has to do a certain kind of work in a
specific role at given level at the present time. It is a
function of his/her complexity of mental processing (CMP),
how much s/he values the work of the role (K/S), and the
absence of pathological temperamental characteristics
(minus T). We can think of this as CAC=f CMP
V K/S (-T)
current potential capability (
CPC )
– a person’s highest current level of mental complexity.
It determines the maximum level at which someone could
work at the present time, given the opportunity to do so
and provide that the work is of value to him/her, and
given the opportunity to acquire the necessary skilled
knowledge. This is the level of work that people aspire to
have and feel satisfied if they can get. When people have
work at their CPC, they feel they have an opportunity for
the full expression of their potential.
curvilinear
– in a curved line, expressing a non-linear relationship
between variables
cynthesis
– is a coinage by Mike Jay from the words “creative” and
“synthesis.” The reason for coining a new word is the
special range of cynthesis. The Integral Transformative
SystemTM of Flawless Living is an example of cynthesis. In
the adventure of living flawlessly, we collaborate in our
emergence by working with the creative processes both of
unconscious natural design and conscious nurtural design
to support our emergence. In doing this, we are
cynthesizing the crucial elements into a whole at a number
of levels. A religious perspective might say it is no
surprise that a God who brought forth epigenesis would
also bring forth cynthesis and require us to share in the
process.
[ D ]
decision
– the making of a choice with the commitment of resources.
deductive
– reasoning from a general statement or definition to a
particular instance
defense mechanism
– self-protective reaction to avoid distress or anxiety
(in Freudian theory)
diagnosis
– identifying the nature or causation of a problem
dialectic
– involving a contradiction of ideas which acts as the
determining factor in their interaction
dichotomous
– dividing into two sharply distinguished part or
classifications
disposition
– habit of mind, mood or attitude
discriminant analysis
– a statistical method for assigning new cases to groups
on the basis of characteristics shared by the members of
existing groups
divergent thinking
– exploratory thinking, seeking different possible ways of
coping with ill-structured problems
dominant function
– See: Type Dynamics (MBTI)
dyad
– pair
[ E ]
ecological validity
– the quality of being well grounded in the reality of a
particular context
effect size
– a measure of difference or gain in average scores,
whereby effect sizes of less than 0.2 are usually
considered trivial; between 0.2 to 0.5 small; between 0.5
and 0.8 moderate; and when 0.8 or more, large.
electroencephalographic (EEG)
– using a technique whereby electric currents generated by
the brain are recorded through sets of electrodes glued to
the scalp.
emergent
– was coined in 1875 by G.H. Lewes, a psychologist and
longtime partner of the writer, George Eliot (Mary Anne
Evans), who treated similar shapes of reality, for
example, in her novel, Middlemarch. Lewes contrasted an
emergent with a simple resultant: Every resultant is
either a sum or a difference of the co-operant forces,
their sum, when their directions are the same – their
difference, when their directions are contrary. Further,
every resultant is clearly traceable in its components,
because these are homogeneous and commensurable. It is
otherwise with emergents, when, instead of adding
measurable motion to measurable motion, or things of one
kind to other individuals of their kind, there is a
co-operation of things of unlike kinds. The emergent is
unlike its components insofar as these are
incommensurable, and it cannot be reduced to their sum or
their difference.
– A current definition of emergence retains and elaborates
on the characteristics noted by Lewes, “[Emergence is] the
arising of novel and coherent structures, patterns, and
properties during the process of self-organization in
complex systems.” (cited fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence)
emotional intelligence
– the most widely known current body of work dealing with
emotional intelligence is by Daniel Goleman. Goleman
defines Emotional Intelligence as “the capacity for
recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for
motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in
ourselves and in relationships.” FL takes into account
that EI capability depends in part on genetic
predispositions which may not be present in those who
share the deficits of the “mechanistic cognition”
characteristic of the Asperger’s-autism spectrum. See: EQ,
Relationship Management Self-Awareness, Self-Management,
Social Awareness, Social Intelligence, SQ. Also:
Mechanistic Cognition, Mentalistic Cognition
emotion
– refers to a relatively specific pattern of short-lived
physiological responses. Emotions arouse, communicate,
direct, and sustain behavior.
employee
– A person who agrees, in exchange for agreed-upon
compensation, to:
– apply full capability to all tasks
assigned by their manager (there will be an agreed-up
range of tasks).
– give their manager their best
advice.
– stay within policy.
epigenetics
– a genotype is a set of instructions encoded in the DNA
that guides the development of the phenotype, the sum of
the organism’s observable characteristics. I as a
phenotype write and you as a phenotype read this account
of the relationship of genotype and phenotype.
– in this context epigenetic mechanisms are factors in the
inner or outer environment which alter, not the DNA itself
(that would be mutation), but the expression of the DNA.
They block the accurate expression of the genetic program
by activating or silencing particular genes. Therefore the
phenotype develops according to a different pattern than
that encoded in the DNA. Sometimes these epigenetic
changes of the DNA’s instructions continue over a lifetime
of cell-division and can even be inherited.
– more generally, the term “epigenesis” is used to
describe the full process of interaction between genes and
environment that results in the fully developed organism.
The epigenetic environment is first the cell but over time
extends to embrace all of nature, nurture, and culture in
the environment that interacts with the organism’s genetic
program.
– the unit of heredity is the gene. The unit of culture
was originally named by Lumsden and Wilson, a
“culturgen”(Lumsden and Wilson,1981). Later Wilson adopted
the name meme for the unit of culture, following Dawkins’
The Selfish Gene (1976), which made the term prevalent.
See: Epigenetic Rules; Epigenetic5 (E5).
epigenetic5 (e5)
– epigenetics examines the interrelations of genetic and
cultural factors in organisms. The unit of genetic
transmission is the gene. Richard Dawkins, in his book,
The Selfish Gene (1976), introduced an analogous unit for
cultural transmission, which he named a meme. There are
well-developed taxonomies of genes. There are no analogous
taxonomies of the parts and transactional processes,
internal and external, which characterize memes and their
activities. The e5 was created by Mike Jay in 200_ to
provide such a
taxonomy.
– a meme
is a unit of meaning embodied in language, ideas, beliefs,
any sensory mode, action, practices, all forms of
meaningful human relationships from parenthood to war, and
any other imitable phenomena which are replicated by means
of conscious and unconscious imitation. The meme takes its
name from the classical Greek word, mímema, meaning
“something made by imitation.”
– Jay identifies five crucial perspectives in which to
understand a meme’s functioning. When we look at a meme as
a unit, we have a “naive” apprehension of it as a whole.
This apprehension is true, but if we want to develop the
ability to understand and manage a meme we use, we must
differentiate it into its functional parts. In Jay’s
taxonomy these are, naming them from the most fluidly
changeable to the most stable over time: content, context,
conditions, code, and culture. These epigenetic factors
pattern our thinking and doing in association with a sixth
“c,” our genetic core. Once we have differentiated these
in a particular instance, we can reintegrate them, seeing
how every differentiated perspective co-creates and is
co-created by every other. This replaces the original
“naive” apprehension of the wholeness of the integral meme
with a more determinate and actionable grasp of its
wholeness.
– the
e5 has many uses. In FL, for example, it is an instrument
for understanding the capability of individuals or team
members in relation to the requirements of an undertaking;
or to distinguish whether the complexity of a person’s
thinking is hierarchical, indicating an ability to handle
a more multidimensional quality of complexity at a higher
level, or horizontal, indicating an ability to accumulate
and assimilate a large quantity of complexity at a single,
perhaps low level.
– See also in this order: Content(e5-1), Context(e5-2),
Conditions(e5-3), Code(e5-4), and Culture(e5-5).
epigenetics: primary and
secondary epigenetic schemas
– epigenesis
refers to the interaction between genes and the internal
and external cues that change the patterns of gene
expression and thus heritably modify an organism. Such
interactions are what we might call in the title of Matt
Ridley’s book, Nature via Nurture, or in Edward O.
Wilson’s phrase, “the co-evolution of nature and culture.
For the purposes of FL epigenesis is differentiated into
two schemas called the Primary and Secondary Epigenetic
Schemas.
– the
Primary Epigenetic Schema embraces the genetic processes
of organisms. It functions automatically and
unconsciously.
–
the Secondary Epigenetic Schema embraces the cultural
processes of memes, conceived as units of culture
generally parallel in structure and action to genes. The
action of memes is not altogether independent of the
action of genes. Genes create predispositions to think,
feel, be motivated by, and behave in certain ways that
lead to accepting, using, and transmitting certain memes
available in the culture over others. Thus the meme schema
is rightly called secondary. Often what the genes
determine in such cases is the freedom to choose within a
large and variable predisposed range.
– See also: Epigenetic5 (e5) and references there.
epistemology
– the philosophical study of theories of knowledge.
EQ
– these initials stand for Emotional Intelligence
Quotient, understood as analogous to IQ. See also: EQ,
Relationship Management Self-Awareness, Self-Management,
Social Awareness, Social Intelligence, SQ. Also:
Mechanistic Cognition, Mentalistic Cognition
equilibration
– the balancing by managers of the standards being used by
their immediate subordinate managers in appraising and
directing their own immediate subordinates.
equitable pay differentials
– differences in payment between work at different levels
that are experienced by the incumbents as fair and just.
espoused theory
– one of two correlated terms developed by Chris Argyris
and Donald Schon, to distinguish two “theories of action.”
Espoused theory is what we say and believe or want others
to believe when we report what we do. It is usually
inaccurate because of elements of self-deception or
deception of others. See Espoused Theory.
explanatory style
– how we explain the nature of past events. People with an
optimistic explanatory style interpret adversity as being
local and temporary while those with a pessimistic
explanatory style see those events as more global and
permanent.
external validity
– a form of concurrent validity, in which a particular set
of test scores is correlated with scores from
another instrument which is supposed to measure the same
construct.
extraversion
– the inclination to be involved with social and practical
realities rather than with thoughts and feelings
extrinsic motivation
– the desire to do something in order to obtain an
external reward
[ F ]
face validity
– support for an assessment tool based on common-sense
judgement that the test items appear
to measure what they are claimed to measure
factor
– an underlying dimension or influence
factor analysis
– a statistical technique which identifies underlying
dimensions in a set of measures by finding groups of items
which vary between individuals in similar ways
factorial validity
– a form of construct validity in which the proposed
constructs emerge as recognisable factors when
datasets of item responses are factor analysed
feeling
– refers to the subjective experience of emotions;
feeling can be complex experiences, involve several
different emotions at once.
field dependence
– responding to structures in a holistic fashion
field independence
– being able to see parts of a structure distinctly and
objectively
formative assessment
– evaluation carried out in the course of an activity in
such a way that the information obtained is used to
improve learning and/or instruction.
free energy
– is energy available as a reserve potential to be
activated in conditions of uncertainty, unanticipated
difficulty, or other stressors. It is analogous to the
free cash flow kept in reserve by a business for
conditions of emergent need. As a precondition and result
of following a resilient path, we design our lives to rely
on our strengths and preferred motivations and innate
personality dispositions, which demand from us less energy
for greater productiveness, and assign or hire others to
carry out activities in our areas of limitation, which
require greater expenditures of energy for less
productiveness. Sustaining continued free energy is a key
to resilience.
freudian-bernaisian model
– In the early 1900s, particularly following the First
World War, Sigmund Freud’s American nephew, Edward
Bernays, invented a new profession he named “public
relations.” Its purpose was to adapt his uncle’s
discoveries about unconscious motivations into potent
methods of manipulation of conscious and unconscious
desires and fears for commercial, social, and political
ends. Bernays was a key figure in the deliberate
transformation of American and European-centered cultures
into consumer cultures above all else.
future potential capability (
FPC )
– the maximum level at which a person will be capable of
working at some time in the future, say at 5, 10, or 14
years from now.
[ G ]
g ( general intelligence )
– an general cognitive ability factor which, in addition
to specific abilities and skills, contributes to
performance on a wide range of tasks.
gearing ( for talent pool )
– the process whereby the MoR and immediate subordinate
managers check their judgments with each other regarding
the levels if current potential capability of individuals
in the next two layers down.
generati
– A word coined by Mike Jay in the late 1990s. It is a
play on two already existing words, literati, the literary
intelligentsia, and digerati, the cyber elite. Generati
are not concerned with a restricted domain of practice,
but with a quality that may pervade the lives of all of us
in our dealings with every domain. Generati are those who
intentionally design their activity to foster the most
generative results collectively for themselves, their
work, and their social-political and natural surround.
– People behaving in a generative design: “generative, meaning that you could generate an infinite number of options from a finite set of rules.” — adapted from Chomsky
global
– not interested in detail: holistic
[ H ]
happiness = eudaimonia
– Living well, psychological well being
– Greek for ”human flourishing.”
– doing well and living well (Aristotle)
– reflective psychological well-being characterized by
virtue and reason.
– the joy we feel striving after our potential (Achor)
– a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an
exceptionally healthy mind…not a mere pleasurable feeling,
a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of
being (Matthieu)
happiness = hedonic
– pleasure
(Seligman)
–
pleasure (fleeting) and passion (flow) (Hseih)
– having frequent positive feelings as well as having
infrequent and less intense negative feelings (Gaffney)
haptic
– perceiving through physical contact
hedonic adaptation
– Habituation. After a while, anything seems
ordinary. Also known as the Hedonic treadmill.
heritability
– the degree to which something is inherited, expressed as
a percentage
heuristic
– rule-of-thumb strategy intended to increase the chances
of solving a problem
holistic
– perceiving a whole object or focusing on the organic
nature of a system
homeostatically
– so as to maintain a state of equilibrium
[ I ]
inductive
– reasoning from particular facts to a general conclusion
internal consistency (
reliability )
– the degree to which the items in a test measure the same
thing, measured by the average correlation between each
item and the other items
intrinsic motivation
– the desire to do something for the sake of the
experience alone
introversion
– the inclination to shrink from social contact and to be
preoccupied with internal thoughts and feelings
inventory
– detailed checklist
ipsative scoring
– scoring an instrument with forced-choice items,
resulting in scores which are not comparable across
individuals, artificially created negative correlations
and the invalidation of factor analysis
item analysis
– a process for identifying good items in a scale, usually
those which have at least a moderate positive correlation
with the scale as a whole
[ K ]
kinaesthetic
– perceiving through an awareness of body movements.
knowledge
– consists of facts, including procedures, that have been
articulated and can be reproduced.
– is anything you know. It does not exist in us innately,
although we may have a natural propensity for acquiring
certain kinds of knowledge over others. Knowledge must be
acquired through the appropriate kind of formal or
informal education. (adapted from the Gallup
Organization.)
See : Skill, Strength, Talent.
[ L ]
level of work ( low ) in role
– the weight of
responsibility felt in roles as a result of the complexity
of the work in the role. The level of work in any role can
be measured by the time-span of discretion of the tasks in
that role.
levelling
– tending to rapidly assimilate and oversimplify one’s
perceptions (in Holzman and Klein’s theory)
Likert scale
– a scale in which the user can express a degree of
agreement and/or disagreement
limbic system
– a group of interconnected mid-brain structures found in
all mammals
loading
– in factor analysis, a correlation coefficient between
item and a factor
losada line 2.9013
– the ratio of positive to negative interactions
necessary to make a corporate team successful. This means
it takes about three positive comments to find off one
negative one.
[ M ]
manager
An employee who
is accountable for:
– the outputs and working
behaviours of others.
– exercise of managerial
leadership practices.
– building a team of increasingly
capable employees.
– continuous improvement of
processes used by subordinates.
managerial accountability
– the accountability managers have for their own
effectiveness; the output of their subordinates;
exercising effective managerial leadership of their
subordinates; building and sustaining an effective team of
subordinates.
managerial accountability
hierarchy
– an organization of employment roles such that each role
is subordinate to one and only one managerial role. The
CEO is the only exception as it may be subordinate to a
board of directors.
managerial authority
– the power vested in a person by virtue of role to expend
resources: financial, material, technical and human.
managerial hierarchies
– organizations used for employing people to get work
done. They are employment systems organized into
accountability hierarchies of manager and subordinate
roles.
manager once removed ( mor )
– the manager of a subordinate’s immediate manager is that
subordinate’s manager-once-removed.
maturation
– a process in which a given aspect of a person is
biologically innate and grows in a regular way to a
predictable end state, so long as the individual does not
encounter any severely limiting environmental conditions,
especially in infancy.
measurement
– the quantification of a property of an entity by means
of an objective measuring instrument.
mechanistic cognition
– one of two types of human cognition described by
Christopher Badcock. It focuses on science, technology,
and engineering; on objects rather than subjective
experiences; on skills of mathematical reasoning, logic
and spatial awareness; and is more commonly highly
developed in men. It can be present in an individual in a
range of degrees and in company with or exclusive of the
complementary qualities of mentalistic cognition. In its
extreme and exclusive forms it appears as autism. See:
Mentalistic Cognition.
memes
– “Cultural evolution, including the evolution of
knowledge, can be modeled through the same basic
principles of variation and selection that underlie
biological evolution (Boyd & Richerson, 1985;
Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman, 1981). This implies a shift from
genes as (replicating) units of biological information to
a new type of (replicating) units of cultural information:
memes (Dawkins, 1976). A meme can be defined as an
information pattern, held in an individual’s memory, which
is capable of being copied to another individual’s memory.
This includes anything that can be learned or remembered:
ideas, knowledge, habits, beliefs, skills, images, etc.
Memetics can then be defined as the theoretical and
empirical science that studies the replication, spread and
evolution of memes (Moritz, 1990). – Francis Heylighen: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/MemeticsNamur.html”
mentalistic cognition
– one of two types of human cognition described by
Christopher Badcock. It focuses on moral, spiritual,
aesthetic, and psychological matters; on subjective
experience rather than objects; on skills of social
judgment, empathy, and cooperation; and is more commonly
highly developed in women. It can be present in an
individual in a range of degrees and in company with or
exclusive of the complementary qualities of mechanistic
cognition. In its extreme and exclusive forms, a
particular subjectivity correlative to the subject’s may
be projected onto another, as malicious intent is
projected in paranoia or sexual intent is projected in
erotomania. See: Mechanistic Cognition.
mental mode
– the highest level of mental processing to which an
individual will finally mature.
mental processing
– the use of particular mental process for handling
information in order to do work. The four methods of
processing information are: Declarative; Cumulative;
Serial; Parallel.
mentoring
– a periodic discussion by a manager-once-removed (MoR) to
help a subordinate-once-removed (SoR) to understand
his/her potential and how that potential might be
developed to achieved as full a career growth in the
organization as possible.
meta-analysis
– the process of synthesising a range of experimental
results into a single estimate of effect size
metacognition
– awareness and conscious use of the psychological
processes involved in perception, memory, thinking and
learning
metaphysical
– dealing with highly abstract ideas about being and
knowing which are not derived from the material world.
Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (
MBTI )
– this psychological type assessment was developed by
Katharine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Meyer
from an analysis of personality types by the psychologist,
Carl Jung. The MBTI measures a person’s preferences in
four dimensions of personality. This results in a four
letter type designation, for example: INFJ. Position 1
records the preferred source of personal energy of the
person assessed. This determines what is named one’s inner
attitude: whether one is an Extravert, who renews energy
in being outgoing with a lot of active stimulation, or an
Introvert, who renews energy by turning within and being
quiet. Positions 2 & 3 are bracketed together because both
designate cognitive functions of the personality: Position
2 designates the preferred mode of perception for the
person assessed and Position 3 the preferred mode of
reaching a judgment about what has been perceived. The two
perceiving functions from which a choice is made in
Position 2 are iNtuition, which spontaneously perceives
patterns of meaning implicit in what is experienced, or
Sensing, which spontaneously perceives sensory objects and
details in themselves. The two judging functions from
which a choice is made in Position 3 are Thinking, which
utilizes objective criteria and rational methods, or
Feeling, which uses emotional intelligence and an appeal
to values. Position 4 makes what we may call a
meta-distinction, for it designates a preference not
within a Position but between the two Positions 2 and 3,
designating whether we spontaneously prefer the activities
of Position 2, Perceiving our experience, or of position
3, making Judgments based on our experience. This is
called a person’s outer attitude: it tells whether the
Perceiving function of Position 2 or the Judging function
of Position 3 is extraverted or used in dealing with the
outer world. Thus the example of a type formula given
above, INFJ, designates a person who prefers to turn
within and be quiet to restore energy (I), spontaneously
sees patterns of meaning implicit in what is perceived
(N), relies on emotional intelligence and an appeal to
value standards in arriving at judgments F), and prefers
to reach judgments about experience rather than to rest in
perception (J). Does this mean that someone with the type
designation ESTP and the one designated INFJ have no
qualities in common? The answer is that all people have
all the dimensions of personality in common. For someone
whose type is ESTP the personality dimensions designated
by INFJ are present but not preferred, so they are less
used and therefore take more attention and energy to use.
The same is true in reverse.
See: Type Dynamics (MBTI).
mindfulness
– opposite of middlessness
– result of meditation
– paying attentional in a particular way: on purpose, in
the present moment, and non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn)
– keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present
reality” (Thich Nhat Hanh)
mood
– refers to a relatively long-lasting state of feeling. A
mood sets the emotional backdrop for one’s experience of
the world.
motivational density
– .this metaphor refers to the degree to which a
particular motivation is present in an individual.
Individuals differ in the density of particular
motivations in them, giving each person a characteristic
motivational profile. See: Motivational Sensitivity, Reiss
Profile, Values and Motives., Value-Based Happiness.
motivational sensitivity
– this expression refers to the degree to which
individuals are responsive to particular motivating
values. Someone who is sensitive to the value of
competition may be intensely motivated to enter a fight at
what appears to a person indifferent to competition the
slightest cue. A high motivational density generates a
high motivational sensitivity. See: Motivational Density,
Reiss Profile, Values and Motives, Value-Based Happiness.
motives
– See: Motivational Density, Motivational Sensitivity,
Reiss Profile, Values and Motives, Value-Based Happiness.
[ N ]
need
–needs
are unconscious strivings wired into us by heredity, wants
develop as a service to those needs…
-needs can be coopted through means/memes/wants and be
obscured by the need of the need
negative capability
– Robert Chia,
an international expert on entrepreneurial thinking,
writes about “negative capability,” a phrase coined by
19th century poet, John Keats, “Negative capability
describes the capacity to be at ease with an inherently
vague, unformed, ambiguous and changing world (Chia, 28).”
This describes the accelerating, many-layered, shifting
complexity of every aspect of the world today. Negative
capability instills “a cultivated resistance to
[premature] conceptual closure (Chia, 27).” As Jay writes
about this space of “contemplation, rather than problem
solving:” “We learn to be with our problems, to allow our
non-conscious processes to work with our inquiry about
self-knowledge…, so that the actions we do take are in
concert with capability, our understanding of
requirements, and our design needs.”
neuroticism
– state of, or tendency towards, nervous disorder
[ O ]
orthogonal
– at right angles; meaning, in factor analysis,
independent or uncorrelated
[ P ]
parameter
– a factor that defines a system and determines (or
limits) its performance
paratelic
– activity-oriented and intrinsically motivated (in
Apter’s reversal theory)
pearson r
– a measure of correlation, indicating the extent to which
two measures co-vary (with 1.00 indicating
a perfect correlation)
pedagogy
– theoretical and procedural knowledge about teaching
percentile
– a point on a scale below which a given percentage of a
population will score
perception
– interpreting and understanding information received
through the senses
phenomenology
– the study of human experience, based on the assumption
that there is no reality other
than human consciousness
positive emotions
– joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride,
amusement, inspiration, awe, and love. They reinforce one
another. More is better.
potential
– the amount of capacity for some ability not yet
actualized as capability. See: Capacity, Capability.
Postmodernism
–A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among http://www.pbs.org
power
– one
of four motive systems discussed by David McClelland in Human
Motivation (1988). It
motivates us to impact and influence others and may be
personal or social. In FL power
is correlated with movement against. See:
Achievement, Affiliation, Avoidance.
predictive validity
– the extent to which a set of scores predicts an expected
outcome or criterion
prosocial
– acting in support of others or to meet their
expectations of good behaviour
psychometric
– concerned with psychological measurement
psychoticism
– a tendency
towards a state of mind in which contact with reality is
lost or is highly distorted
pygmalion effect
– when our belief in another person’s potential
brings that potential to life.
[ Q ]
quadrature
– construction
of a square with the same area as that of another figure
[ R ]
Radical Constructionism
– Today, those
constructivists who are “radical” because they take their
theory of knowing seriously, frequently meet the same
objection–except that it is sometimes expressed less
politely than at the beginning of the 18th century. Now,
no less than then, it is difficult to show the critics
that what they demand is the very thing constructivism
must do without. To claim that one’s theory of knowing is
true, in the traditional sense of representing a state or
feature of an experiencer-independent world, would be
perjury for a radical constructivist.
Radical constructivism
– Adds
a second principle to trivial constructivism (von
Glasersfeld, 1990) :Coming to know is a process of dynamic
adaptation towards viable interpretations of experience.
The knower does not necessarily construct knowledge of a
“real” world. Knowledge is therefore is result of a
self-organized cognitive proces
Reiss Profile
– This
assessment creates an individual profile of high and low
motivators among 16 basic desires. The list of 16 desires
was developed from analysis of 10, 000 interviews which
Steven Reiss and his colleagues conducted across several
cultures. The Profile is used in a broad range of areas,
including human resources management, sales, coaching,
therapy, and professional sports to improve fit and
performance by aligning an individual’s life and work
choices with his or her intrinsic high motivations. See
also Motivational Density, Motivational Sensitivity,
Values and Motives, Value-Based Happiness.
Relationship management
– In Emotional Intelligence theory, an ability to
influence others, handle conflict, develop, lead and work
with others. See: Self-Awareness, Self-Management. See:
Emotional Intelligence, EQ, Self-Awareness,
Self-Management, Social Awareness, Social Intelligence,
SQ. Also: Mechanistic Cognition, Mentalistic Cognition.
reliability
– the coherence (internal consistency) of a set of test
items, or the stability (test–retest) of a set of test
scores over time.
requisite organization
– is comprehensive system of organizational
structure and managerial leadership. It was designed by
Elliott Jaques. It shares with FL a concern for careful
definition of the requirements of structure and
performance in different contexts and the specification of
the capability needed for optimal performance in each
defined role. Here are three RO concepts that suggest the
similarity of concern. Complexity of Information
Processing (CIP) refers to the level of complexity of an
issue one is capable of exercising judgment about. CIP is
embodied in the way one organizes, groups, and
extrapolates information in order to solve problems. The
level of complexity defines an organizational stratum. A
role in a given stratum can be measured by the time span
it takes in view. There are eight stratums. Here are four
examples of correlated stratums, roles, and time spans
taken in view: Str. I Bank Teller up to three months; Str.
IV Area General Manager 2 years-5 years; Str. VII CEO 20
years – 50 years; Str. VIII CEO (only in the largest
corporations) 50 years – 100 years. Definitions are
adapted from:www.peoplefit.com/LearningLibrary/Requisite-Organization-Glossary-of-Terms.html
resilience
– Mike Jay introduced the following definition of
resilience in CPR for the Soul: Creating Personal
Resilience by Design (2006): “Resilience is the
differentiated power to persist when things do not work
out at first, the capability to navigate ambiguity and
uncertainty, the motivation to transcend common problems
and barriers and to collaboratively anticipate the future
in sustainable ways.”
[ S ]
scaffolding
– the word names
a way of distributing work in a project we undertake. Once
we know the “programming language” of our core
predispositions and the requirements of a goal-state we
are attempting to achieve, we can assign to ourselves the
project tasks aligned with our intrinsic motivation and
capability and provide a supportive scaffolding for our
efforts by delegating, trading off, or paying others whose
intrinsic motivation and capability are aligned with the
requirements of the goal-state in a way that complements
ours. This process of reaching out for various forms of
scaffolding is a key to sustaining resilience.
self-awareness
– In Emotional Intelligence theory, self-awareness is
defined as knowing your emotions and their effects.
Self-awareness capability depends in part on genetic
predispositions which may not be present in those who
share the deficits of the “mechanistic cognition”
characteristic of the Asperger’s-autism spectrum. FL
therefore depends on self-knowledge derived from an array
of assessment instruments and coaching conversations,
opening to ways in which the deficits of self-awareness
can be overcome by forms of support scaffolding. Emotional
Intelligence, EQ, Relationship Management,
Self-Management, Social Intelligence, SQ. Also:
Mechanistic Cognition, Mentalistic Cognition.
self-management
– In Emotional Intelligence theory, self-management
includes knowing how to manage tour emotions, keep
disruptive impulses in check, being flexible and
comfortable with new ideas. Emotional Intelligence, EQ,
Relationship Management Self-Awareness, Social Awareness,
Social Intelligence, SQ. Also: Mechanistic Cognition,
Mentalistic Cognition.
self-regulation
– the process of setting goals for oneself and then
monitoring and evaluating progress
serialist
– step-by-step: sequential (in Pask’s theory)
sharpening
– tending to separate new perceptions and respond
accurately to complexity (in Holzman and Klein’s theory)
signal and noise
– In engineering the signal-to-noise ratio is the ratio of
a signal to the noise interfering with the signal. It is
often used as a metaphor for the ratio of true or useful
information in a message to the interfering false or
irrelevant data that makes the intended “signal” hard to
discern.
skill
– are basic abilities to perform the fundamental steps of
a task. Skills do not exist in us innately, though we may
have a natural propensity for certain skills over others.
They must be developed through formal or informal training
and practice. (adapted from the Gallup Organization.) See:
Knowledge, Strength, Talent.
social awareness
– In Emotional Intelligence theory, Social Awareness
embraces an ability to listen, to be persuasive, to
collaborate, and to nurture relationships. Emotional
Intelligence, EQ, Relationship Management, Self-Awareness,
Self-Management, SQ. Also: Mechanistic Cognition,
Mentalistic Cognition.
social intelligence
– the intelligence that lies behind group interactions and
behaviors as described by a range of researchers.
Emotional Intelligence, EQ, Relationship Management
Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, SQ.
Also: Mechanistic Cognition, Mentalistic Cognition.
spiral dynamics
– is an analysis of individual and social
development based on the work of psychologist, Dr. Clare
W. Graves, who gave his theory the name, the “Emergent
Cyclic Double-Helix Model of Adult Biopsychosocial Systems
Development.” After Graves’ death, Don Beck and Chris
Cowan elaborated Graves’ theory in their book, Spiral
Dynamics (1996), combining Graves’ value systems with the
emerging theory of memetics to form “value memes” or
“vMemes.” These value systems were differentiated and
ranked by ascending order of complexity correlated with
increasing complexity of life conditions. Most people are
motivated by a mixture of several vMeme codes of varying
intensity. As Beck later wrote, “The model describes and
makes sense of the enormous complexity of human existence,
and then shows how to craft elegant, systemic
problem-solutions that meet people and address situations
where they are…” Later, Beck and Cowan separated, due to
differences over the further development of Spiral
Dynamics. Beck went on to create Spiral Dynamics Integral
in conversation with integral theorist, Ken Wilber, which
resulted in a degree of mutual influence.
split brain research
– studies of psychological function in patients who have
had the largest bundle of fibres linking the two halves of
the brain severed, in order to control or limit the
effects of epileptic seizures
SQ
– these initials stand for Social Intelligence Quotient,
understood as analogous to IQ. See: Emotional
Intelligence, EQ, Relationship Management, Self-awareness,
Self-Management, Social Awareness. Also: Mechanistic
Cognition, Mentalistic Cognition.
strength
– is the ability to produce consistently a positive
outcome through near perfect performance in a specific
task. The components of strengths are skills, knowledge,
and talents. (adapted from the Gallup Organization) See:
Knowledge, Skill, Talent.
subjective well being
– Ed Diener’s term for judging life positively and feeling
good. A person has high SWB if she or he experiences life
satisfaction and frequent joy. Diener chose it because
studying happiness sounded frivolous.
successful failure
– When resilience is understood as emergent from a path
rather than as defined by single events, each failure
becomes an experimental result which informs one how to be
more successful next time. The individual episode of
failure becomes not an end of something but a valuable
instrument of ongoing success.
summative assessment
– evaluation of performance carried out at the end of a
piece of work
[ T ]
tactile
– perceiving through the sense of touch.
talent
– are innate capabilities. Employing your most
highly marked talents is the most efficient, effective,
and sustainable way to perform at levels of excellence
through strengths. Some signs of your highest talents are
innate inclination, rapid learning, satisfaction and the
experience of flow in using them, and recognition of
outstanding levels of performance. (adapted from the
Gallup Organization.) See: Knowledge, Strength, Skill.
taxonomy
– a principled classification of the elements of a domain
telic
– goal-oriented and externally motivated (in Apter’s
reversal theory)
test-retest reliability
– the stability of test scores as indicated by retesting
the same group and calculating a correlation coefficient
using the two sets of scores.
theory in use
– one of two correlated terms developed by Chris Argyris
and Donald Schon, to distinguish two “theories of action.”
Theory in Use is the theory of action implicit in what we
actually do. See Espoused Theory.
thriving
– our term for flourishing at work.
time horizon
– is a property of a
person. How far into the future a person can work.
time span
– is a property of a role
in a managerial accountability hierarchy. The longest the
manager of the person in that role intends the incumbent
to be able to operate marginally below the manager’s
standard before the manager finds out.
time target
– is a property of a
task. The intended greatest period of time to completion
of the task.
trait
– a stable personal quality, inherited or acquired.
traits and types
– these are two different ways of understanding personal
characteristics in personality psychology. Traits share
with types these three characteristics: (1) both are
largely stable over time and in different contexts, (2)
both differ from person to person; and (3) both influence
a person’s perception, thinking, and ways of relating to
oneself and one’s environment. Traits differ from types in
this characteristic: they are measured by degrees along a
continuous scale between opposite qualities. An example
will show you the difference between understanding
introversion and extraversion as traits or as types.
According to trait theory, degrees of introversion and
extraversion exist as a continuous range between opposite
poles. This allows me to express that each of us has some
degree of introversion and some degree of extraversion
mixed, person A with more introversion and less
extraversion, person B with more extraversion and less
introversion, and person C, perhaps, in the middle with an
equal degree of both. Type theories express that each of
us is either an introvert or an extravert. See:
Meyers-Briggs Type Inventory and Type Dynamics (MBTI).
type dynamics
– refers to the degrees of influence within a person of
each of the four functions or cognitive processes in
Jung’s theory of personality. Jung’s initial distinction
in classifying cognitive processes is between Perception,
or simple awareness, and Judgment, the ways we evaluate
and come to conclusions about what we perceive. He then
distinguishes Perception into iNtuition, which perceives
what is implicitly and potentially present, and Sensing,
which perceives sense objects and details, and
distinguishes Judging into Thinking, which uses objective
criteria and rational methods, and Feeling, which is
person-oriented. In each of us the cognitive functions
fall into a sequence from the most to the least used: from
Dominant (most used) through Auxiliary (2nd most used) and
Tertiary (3rd most used) to Inferior (4th and least used).
A simple set of rules allows a person to deduce from his
or her type formula this sequence in his or her own case.
For example, the sequence of cognitive functions in
someone whose type formula is INFJ runs from most to least
used: iNtuition (in this case introverted), Feeling
(extraverted), Thinking (introverted) and Sensing
(extraverted). This information has value for
understanding and making decisions about one’s life and
work. For example, since it takes the least energy to use
one’s highest function and the most to use one’s lowest
function, a person whose type is INFJ would find it easier
to perform activities that require iNtuition than those
that require Sensing. Yet because iNtuition in this case
is introverted, the degree of its presence and power in a
person might not be identified by an onlooker and
therefore not be asked for in a professional situation.
See: Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator.
[ V ]
validity
– the quality of being well grounded in reality
values and motives
– motives and
values always come tied together. What we value as good we
are moved to want and what we value as bad we are moved to
avoid. And the reverse is equally true: What we are moved
to want we value as good, what we are moved to avoid we
value as bad. (B.) Values can be ends-values or
means-values. Our ends we value for their own sake, not
for anything else that may flow from them. We value the
means we use because they help us achieve our ends.
Sometimes the same thing can be seen at one time as an
ends-value and at other times as a means-value. (C.) Our
motivating values contribute to the forming of our
personalities in at least three dimensions: Attention: We
naturally turn our attention to the things we value.
Cognition: We interpret the world we experience in terms
of our values. Behavior: We behave in ways that accord
with or bring us what we value. See: Motivational Density,
Motivational Sensitivity, Reiss Profile, Value-Based
Happiness.
value-based happiness
– this is a term developed by psychologist, Steven Reiss,
to describe the most sustainable form of happiness.
Value-based happiness and the pleasure that attends it is
an indirect consequence of the satisfaction of an
individual’s particular profile of primary motivating
values.
Reiss contrasts it with the less comprehensive and stable
happiness arising from pleasure alone, a feel-good
happiness. See: Motivational Density, Motivational
Sensitivity, Reiss Profile, Values and Motives
variance
– variability of scores in relation to their average
(mean) value in relation
VIA signature
strengths=character strengths
– talents you enjoy using, things you’re good and
feel good using. Generally, the skills you’re using when
you enter Flow. Find them and assess yours at Authentic
Happiness.
[ W ]
[ X ]
[ Y ]
[ Z ]
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You, Me, and We @F-L-O-W
Mike R. Jay is a developmentalist utilizing consulting, coaching, mentoring and advising as methods to offer developmental scaffolding for aspiring leaders who are interested in being, doing, having, becoming, and contributing… to helping people have lives.



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