Information is received
to the brain using our five senses, sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell and
how we process and use this information can affect our state, physiology and
behaviour. In order to make changes in
how we communicate and understand others it is useful to understand an overview
of how we as human beings make sense of the world around us and how we
construct our own reality.
It is said that our
brain receives anywhere between 2 million to 14 million bits of information through
our senses every second. Whichever
figure is true it is a staggering amount of information and if we were to take it
all in consciously it would drive us mad!
So what happens to all this information?
Well, according to memory theorist (George Miller), we can only
consciously process 7 +/- 2 bits of information at any given moment. So in the speed of a second, the mind has to
compress (lets go for the bottom amount...) about 2 million bits of information
down to 7 +/- 2 bits of information.
In order to make
sense of this enormous difference (two million down to seven) our brain takes
the information that is coming in through our senses and starts to delete it,
distort it and generalise it by filtering it through our experiences, values,
beliefs, physiology, etc. This allows us
to them make an internal representation of the world around us which makes
sense to us and gives us a state of mind that can change our physiology and
affects our behaviour. All this happens
in no particular order and only takes a fraction of a second and it means our
language can affect our attitude just as easily as our physiology can affect
our behaviours.
So what does this all mean - well the world
we experience is not external to us it is the world we have created inside us -
our own perception of reality. As we all
have different sets of filters (different experiences, values, beliefs,
physiology etc.), we all have our own unique perception of the world. This helps us explain how two people can be
part of the same event, training etc and report completely different
experiences of it.
We need to be able to delete, distort and
generalize the events we consciously take in, otherwise we would feel
overloaded. Another side to this is that
our subconscious can take in 40 pieces of information and so it is always worth
listening to your 'instincts' as this is normally coming from your subconscious
which is using more information to reach a conclusion - however remember it has
to still filter the information through your own filters!
A quick overview of what Delete, Distort and
Generalise mean in this context.
Delete – This is when we omit
data or selectively pay attention to certain parts of our experience and not
others. Think of a time when you were so
engage in a conversion with someone that you were unaware of other events going
on around you.
Distort – This is when we can change the information around us
to fit what we expect or believe. Do you
remember a time when you where looking for your keys and not seen them because
they weren’t where we expected them to be.
Someone else helps you look for them and finds them instantly, ‘but I
looked there’ we say not realising that we have experienced a distortion in our
sensory information!
Generalise – This is when we put ideas, people or things into a
convenient group or category. We may
generalise that all swans are white, until we come across Australian swans –
which are black.
By making small changes
to our thoughts (internal representation), our emotions (our state) and/or our body (physiology), you can make a big difference in your behaviour and
therefore your outcome.
You can change one or
all three and start in any order. They
are all linked neurologically together.
Annie
Live, Laugh, Enjoy
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