What Words Do and Don’t Mean

Get Properly Oriented

The mentalities that determine the way we interact with others, to gain benefit, cannot be captured by observation in a single context or by use of a single phrase. The key terms in the Process & Benefit column of the matrix are important, but they cannot be totally and exclusively owned by any Approach.

ClosedExamples

Here is a Game for You

To get the most out of some easy applications, you must acquire a basic feel for the seven mentalities. The more complex, intellectual technologies are impossible to grasp without that basic feel. This Game is designed to help you know where you are.

Consider any of a range of social and interactional phenomena that everyone must deal with. These are listed in the left-hand column of the matrix below.

Your challenge is to determine how people with the different mentalities will respond to or engage with each item. Once you have your answer, click on the cell and compare with what is shown there. (A second click hides the cell again.)

You can’t see it until you see it, but once you see it, you can’t not see it!


Better viewing: narrow or close left navigation column; use browser zoom if needed.

Interactional Phenomena MARKET
-centred
POWER
-centred
CAUSE
-centred
COMMUNITY
-centred
KINSHIP
-centred
PERSPECTIVE
-centred
REALITY
-centred
Handling the social system ?Closed Adapt to the system ?Closed Work the system ?Closed Fight the system ?Closed Improve the system ?Closed Ignore the system or put family first ?Closed Define the system ?Closed Predict the system
Competition focus ?Closed For money: target customers ?Closed For dominance: target rivals ?Closed For adherents: target: wider society ?Closed For appreciation: target members ?Closed For attention: target kin ?Closed For relevance: target viewpoints ?Closed For accuracy: target predictions
Evaluating situations ?Closed Check whether it makes money and will be a good deal ?Closed Check the pecking order and show your strength ?Closed Check if/how it fits with your ideology & furthers the cause ?Closed Check it is non-discriminatory and gives benefit widely ?Closed Check that the family is protected & its bonds strengthened ?Closed Check that all views and all parties are given fair hearing and due value. ?Closed Check the essence and its implications for change.
Feelings ?Closed Keep in check ?Closed Use to manipulate and gain respect ?Closed Mixed up with the cause ?Closed Use to enable acceptance ?Closed Display to get attention and gratification ?Closed Apply sensitively to understand ?Closed Note and view as signals or
by-products.
Risks ?Closed Avoid ?Closed Ignore ?Closed Deliberately engage ?Closed Share out ?Closed
Dump on outsiders
?Closed Manage ?Closed Perceive and reformulate
Change ?Closed Resistant: Be driven by competition ?Closed Focus on shifts in the power structure ?Closed Focus on reform or revolution ?Closed Focus on social improvement or general benefit ?Closed Resist: Celebrate unavoidable rites of passage ?Closed Draw on new perspectives: even if radical ?Closed Flow with multiple dimensions and many levels
Authority source ?Closed Expertise & experience ?Closed Power & position ?Closed Doctrines & ideologues ?Closed Consensus or the majority ?Closed Elders & tradition ?Closed Oneself: due to value of autonomy ?Closed The Cosmos
Resource handling ?Closed Develop and exploit for profit ?Closed
Get control for leverage over others
?Closed Apply in service of the cause ?Closed Provide fair shares for all ?Closed Keep within the family ?Closed Manage rationally given diversity of uses and preferences  ?Closed Discover and create more via potentials
Money ?Closed Make it and spend it ?Closed Use it to control others ?Closed Accumulate for the cause ?Closed Contribute to social programs ?Closed Keep within the family/clan. ?Closed Use sensibly and flexibly ?Closed Observe its nature and use accordingly
Attitudes to people ?Closed Build networks and show integrity in all dealings ?Closed Use respect-contempt hierarchy to exploit and manipulate ?Closed Moralize and convert ?Closed Listen, cooperate and assist where needed. ?Closed Distinguish insiders (to be trusted/helped) from outsiders ?Closed Validate and value diversity and distinctiveness ?Closed Be an influence for the good
Learning ?Closed From doing and from experienced colleagues: distrust book learning ?Closed Mainly irrelevant: focus on manifest weaknesses of others ?Closed Focus on orthodox doctrines and their dissemination ?Closed Focus on issues and views of group members ?Closed Focus on traditions, customs and family history ?Closed Assign a high value, focus widely, accept any genuine source ?Closed Value highly: attain certainty via observation, reading, debate, reflection, meditation.
Attitude to self ?Closed Be instrumental & allow immersion in practicalities ?Closed Dominate or be dominated: control or be controlled ?Closed Identify with the ideal ?Closed Exist as a group member & be obliged to and dependent on the group ?ClosedBe inseparable from the clan and subordinate yourself to its needs ?Closed Self is a social construction ?Closed Self is part of a larger whole, serving the self
Group formation & bonds ?Closed Partnerships: for short or long-term monetary gain ?Closed Hierarchy: maintained by fear & respect ?Closed Sect: requiring identification & obedience ?Closed Community: based on sharing common values ?Closed Clan: linked by blood ties (e.g. racial, ethnic) ?Closed Socially constructed: so dependent on willing co-existence ?Closed Fluid: depends on freedom and responsibility

Having Problems? Then remember:Closed to assimilate this framework, you must (temporarily) identify with the mentalities. Memorizing won’t help much. If you still can’t get it, discuss with friends, post a query or perhaps re-read.


Originally posted: July 2009