Managing Our Inner Worlds

Video Series on Managing Our Inner Worlds

Overview of the Module

These videos have been put together as a module which is intended as an introduction to the fascinating art of Managing Our Inner Worlds. Watch the video titled, ‘Overview of the Module’ first to help you understand what this module is about. Then watch the rest of the videos in sequence. Scroll to the bottom of the page to access links to further resources to continue your exploration of this subject.

1. Introduction

In this video we introduce the concept of managing our inner worlds as an information processing system. We discuss two concepts, namely mental models and sensemaking which are core concepts for this course.

2. Pygmalion Effect

In this video we discuss the concept of Pygmalion effect and understand the role that mental models and sensemaking can play in our personal and professional lives through the use of this concept.

3. Bounded awareness

In this video we explore the concept of bounded awareness as a double-edged sword and the potential it has to influence our perceptual lens in sensemaking.

4. Confirmation Bias

In this video we explore the concept of confirmation bias which makes us focus more on some parts of reality and neglect the rest, based on the mental models that we hold.

5. Self-fulfilling Prophecy

In this video we examine the feedback loop which links sensemaking, mental models and confirmation bias and how this feedback loop could lead to the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. Creation of mental models

In this video we understand the process of formation of mental models through repeated associations. We also discuss how this process can influence not only our actions but also the actions of others through Pygmalion effect.

7. Memory

In this video we discuss memory as a creative construction of past events; and not just a simple process of storage and retrieval. The act of recollection is explored as a sensemaking process in which narrations are built around the associations in our minds which we access at a given point of time and in a given context.

8. Subjective Reality

This video explores the subjective nature of reality where we distinguish between our individual conceptualization of ‘a truth’ and a universal ideal of ‘the truth’. We argue that the basic associations and mental models that we hold in our minds are unique to us and how this therefore gives us an opportunity to craft our unique experiences.

9. Working with Mental Models

In this video we discuss different ways to work around dysfunctional mental models. We focus on two specific work-around strategies. We also explain why breaking past associations that have been created in our minds may not be an easy task.

10. Identity

In this video, we use the concept of self-identity to show how certain mental models can become more salient (intentionally or unintentionally) thus making a particular facet of identity stronger in a particular context. We also introduce the concept of psychological priming as a tool which can be used to consciously make a particular facet of one’s identity more salient.

11. Crafting Our Inner Worlds

In this video we summarize how creating and nurturing new or alternate mental models forms a key part of crafting our inner lives. We also explore how we can work on our inner worlds just by bringing chosen mental models into salience depending on the requirements of the context.

12. Self-efficacy

In this video we explore the concept of self-efficacy. We highlight how we can improve our self-efficacy using affirmations in our existing areas of strength. We also explore some common pitfalls that need to be avoided while using affirmations.

13. Framing

In this video we discuss the concept of psychological framing with appropriate examples to highlight how frames are mental models with specific applications. We look at the implications of changing the frame and how this can influence our experience in the outer world.

14. Conclusion

In this video we bring this module to closure and highlight an important distinction between ‘influence’ and ‘control’. We discuss how investing time, energy and effort in managing our inner worlds can open up opportunities to have desired influences on the outer world but how it cannot guarantee control over the outer world.

Further Resources to Continue Your Exploration

1. ‘Pygmalion’ by George Bernard Shaw – It is a light comedy which portrays the Pygmalion effect through the characters of a flower girl and her speech professor in the witty language used by Shaw.
You may watch this short video on Pygmalion effect where Dr. Robert Rosenthal himself talks about the power of positive expectations.

If interested further you may invest in CRM learning video called ‘Pygmalion Effect: The Power of Expectations, 3rd Ed’. For more details visit the website http://www.crmlearning.com

2. ‘Reconstructing the Past: How Recalling Memories Alters Them’ and ‘How Memory Works: 10 Things Most People Get Wrong’ are blogs by Dr Jeremy Dean a psychologist and the author of PsyBlog. These blogs also have links to various interesting experiments done on memory working by various psychologists. The links are given below-

http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/02/reconstructing-the-past-how-recalling-memories-alters-them.php

http://www.spring.org.uk/2012/10/how-memory-works-10-things-most-people-get-wrong.php

3. ‘Self-Efficacy’ by Albert Bandura from Stanford University (link below) has all the summary on the concept of self-efficacy, the sources of self-efficacy and various processes through which self-efficacy beliefs affect our behaviours. For details on the theory of self-efficacy you may read the book- ‘Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control’ by Albert Bandura (1997). The link to this article is below-

http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Bandura/BanEncy.html

4. ‘The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice’ is a well cited paper by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman which gives the details on how evaluation of prospects, framing of contingencies and framing of outcomes have the potential to influence our decisions in various situations. The artcile can be accesed through the link below-

Click to access tversky81.pdf

You may also view the video at this link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng9V2JneJ68&hd=1#!

5. ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell is an interesting book by this journalist who gives examples of how people think without realizing the underlying mechanisms which make them think in a particular way and take decisions acorrdingly . Watch him talk on the concept of priming in the link below.

6. ‘Self-awareness Without Awareness? Implicit Self-focused Attention and Behavioral Self-regulation’ is an award winning paper by Paul J. Silvia  and Ann G. Phillips

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15298868.2011.639550

7. ‘Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior’ a design practitioner book by Indi Young shows the application of the knowledge on mental models to business scenarios. She explains through examples that understanding the mental models of the clients can help design for them in better ways.

8. ‘A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald’ by Errol Morris is a book which brings out different aspects of confirmation bias on the investigation of the murder of Jeffery MacDonald. Watch Errol Morris talk on the video –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy2ScUoXWdU

9. ‘Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises’ is a journal article by Raymond S. Nickerson which explains the concept of confirmation bias along with examples. The link to the paper is below

Click to access nickersonConfirmationBias.pdf

10. ‘Teacher Expectations and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Knowns and Unknowns, Resolved and Unresolved Controversies’ is a journal article by Lee Jussim and Kent D. Harber in Personality and Social Psychology Review 2005, Vol. 9, No. 2, 131–155. This article questions the experiments on self-fulfilling prophecies and their findings and is an interesting reading.