Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA14067 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 2 Jun 2000 19:03:00 +0100 Message-ID: <3937B00D.3C3D5BA2@mediaone.net> Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 14:01:01 +0100 From: Chuck <cpalson@mediaone.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Jabbering ! References: <NBBBIIDKHCMGAIPMFFPJKEHKEOAA.richard@brodietech.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Richard Brodie wrote:
> Lawrence de Bivort wrote:
>
> <<And one can find out just why a
> peerrson wears a tie by _asking_ him why, by asking what is the value
> behind the behavior.>>
>
> Doesn't this pose a methodological problem? How confident are you that the
> answer you get when you ask someone the reason for a behavior is an accurate
> one? In general I don't think people are aware of all the causality behind
> their behaviors.
This may be a historic moment -- I actually agree with Richard on this. In fact,
the moment his e-mail was coming in I was composing a response saying the same
thing. The more I know about people, the more I know that their answers alone
don't tell you much. Some of the important reasons are that 1) it doesn't pay in
most cases to reveal your reasons - it's called "keeping your cards close to
your chest"; indeed, it often pays to lie about your motivations - and even
believe your own lie to cover your tracks; 2) you may not know your own
motivations - in part because you believe your own lies, but in part because
your conscious mind thinks it has made a decision for one reason while your
lower brain has actually made the decision as much as a full second before.
PS: Although this is a historic moment, it is also probably a unique one!
>
>
> Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com
> http://www.memecentral.com/rbrodie.htm
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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