Modeling: A Brief Introduction

The world is filled with human beings manifesting an endless variety of behaviors and abilities. These human abilities are as diverse as being able to effectively negotiate, tell a joke, empathize with others, manage a large group, compose music, write a book, promptly pay bills, be thrilled by an abstract painting, plan the future, learn from the past, or erase the fears of a child. Every human being is a repository of abilities in which they are an expert, or in our terms, an "exemplar."

Is there a way to transfer the ability of an exemplar to someone who needs and wants that ability? The purpose of modeling is to enable us to answer this question with a "Yes."

The fundamental presupposition of Modeling is:
Experience has structure.

Our experiences are comprised of various elements: behavior, emotions, patterns of thinking, and the beliefs or assumptions on which those patterns are based. Differences in experiences are a direct result of differences in how these elements are structured. That is, your behaviors, what you are feeling, what you are thinking, what you are believing , and how all of these elements interact with one another, combine to give rise to your experience at a moment in time. That array of content and relationships constitutes the structure of the experience.

It is within these structures that we find the differences that distinguish someone who is adept at an ability from someone who is not. In modeling, we are "mapping" out the under-lying structure of experience that makes it possible for an exemplar to manifest his/her particular ability. If we – or anyone – structure our experience to match that of the exemplar, that structure will enable us to manifest (to a great extent) that same ability.

Modeling, then, is the process of creating useful "maps" (descriptions of the structure of experience) of human abilities.

• Such maps are useful because they allow us to understand the experiential structure that makes it possible for a person to manifest a particular ability.
• Such maps are useful because they can make it possible for anyone to have that experience or ability by making that map their own.

The overall Modeling process involves the following stages:

• Identify exemplars of the ability to be modeled.
• For each exemplar, gather information with respect to what and how she/he is thinking, feeling, believing, and doing when manifesting the ability. (The Experiential Array and Belief Template are our information gathering tools.)
• Use contrast and comparison of examples to identify the essential structural patterns for each exemplar.
• Use contrast and comparison of exemplars to identify the essential structural patterns for the ability.
• Test and refine the Model.

Why Model?

Modeling is a doorway into the vast storehouse of human experience and abilities, providing access to anyone willing to turn the key. For the individiaul who pursues modeling this means:

• Access to an every-widening range of new experiences and abilities.
• An increasing ability to bring those same experiences and abilities to others.
• A finer understanding of the structure underlying unwanted experiences and behaviors so that you know precisely what to change in those experiences and behaviors.
• Ever-increasing flexibility in your experience and responses.
• A growing appreciation of the beauty to be found in the patterns of human experience.

Modeling Presuppositions

• The map is not the territory.
• Everything that is said (done, experienced) is said (done, experienced) by someone.
• Experience has structure.
• Experience is mutable.
• Mind and body are aspects of the same cybernetic system.
• Human beings are meaning making beings.
• A prime directive is to maintain subjective coherency.
• If an experience or behavior is possible for one person, it is possible for anyone.

Modeling: Establishing the Goal

The following questions will help ensure that you are modeling both the person and the ability you want to explore. Selection

• What do you want to model, and why?
  • Describe the ability, skill, or experience.
  • In what contexts or situations is it usually manifested?
• Who is the model for? That is, who will use it?
• In what contexts or situations do you want (or want others) to manifest this ability?
• Will this ability get you what you really want?

Scope

• Does the ability naturally break down into "sub-abilities" (arrays, activities, etc.)?
  • If so, which "sub-abilities" are of interest to you, or are probably relevant to being able to do what you want to do?

Exemplars

• What behaviors, verbalizations, experiences are evidence that a person is an exemplar (that is, has the ability you want to model)?
• Where can you find exemplars?

The Experiential Array

The usefulness of a map is largely determined by whether or not the distinctions used to draw it are appropriate for its intended purpose. For example, a map that records distinctions regarding the placement of roads and cities is useful for travel, but not at all useful if we are looking for a dry, warm place. For that we will need a map that records distinctions about rainfall and temperature (or hotels).

In mapping human abilities, we use distinctions about patterns of thinking ("Strategies"), feeling ("Emotions"), doing ("External Behavior") and believing ("Criterial Equivalences" and "Cause Effects"). Most human abilities involve the simultaneous expression and interaction of these "elements of experience" (Of course, for some abilities a particular element will be relatively unimportant—e.g. External Behaviors when "appreciating a painting"). The dynamic relationships between these elements of experience are captured in the Experiential Array:

All of these elements interact simultaneously to make possible the expression of the Ability. They do not, however, necessarily exert equal influence on each other. Instead, there seems to be a "flow of effect," as indicated by the relative size of the arrows in the Array above. While your behavior does affect what you are feeling and thinking, the impact is not as great as that of your feeling and thinking patterns on your behavior. Similarly, your beliefs have a greater impact on what you think, feel and do than any of these elements has on what you believe at a moment in time. (Though, clearly, over time these elements may contribute experiences that ultimately do change what you believe.)

To map the structure underlying an ability, we make a number of distinctions within each of the elements of experience.

Ability

An ability is anything a human being is capable of doing and/or experiencing. While there are many abilities shared by most human beings, the abilities that are usually of most interest are those that are either relatively rare (e.g. composing music, recognizing winning commodity trades, enjoying public speaking) or relatively common but you or I do not have personal access to them (e.g. keep organized, learn from mistakes, exercise regularly). *By the way, abilities that we do NOT want to acquire—such as the abilities to be jealous, to procrastinate, or to fear public speaking—are just as worthy of modeling, as it will give us tremendous clues regarding what elements of experience to change to have an impact on ourselves when we manifest these unwanted abilities.)

A person is considered an exemplar of an ability if it is something she/he consistently manifests in appropriate situations.

Beliefs: The Belief Template

An absolutely essential element of experience in the manifestation of most abilities are the beliefs the exemplar is operating out of. As explained in the description of the Array, beliefs have an extremely compelling and pervasive impact on all of the elements of experience.

The range of content and expression of beliefs is infinite. Nevertheless, all beliefs have as underlying structures Criterial Equivalences and Cause-Effects. The relationships between the relevant Criterial Equivalences and Cause-Effects are captured in an information gathering graphic we call the "Belief Template":

Criterial Equivalence

Criterial: Our beliefs about what is important in a situation. Human beings are meaning-making creatures. One way we make meaning is through evaluating the significance of our ongoing experience against certain standards or "Criteria." For example, as you read this you are likely to be evaluating to what extent you "understand" what is written. "Under-standing," then, is the criterion (the standard of evaluation). It is what is important to you as you read this information.

Criteria are the standards of evaluation you are using within a particular context. Of course, the criterion you are holding as you read this may not be "understanding." It may instead by "usefulness," "clarity," "fun," "power," "possibilities," or any other human concern.

The significance of Criteria is that they have a tremendous impact on what we attend and respond to in our experience. For instance, reading these notes 'through' the criterion of "usefulness" is likely to take your thoughts to ways in which the information can be applied. But opportunities for application may not occur at all to someone who reads these same notes using the criterion of "clarity." That person may instead by occupied with considering how well things are being explained, and may even generate possibilities for clearer explanations. (Of course, one may be using more than one criterion at a time, i.e. evaluating both the "clarity" and "usefulness" of the material.)

Definition: A description of the kind of experience tied to (labeled by) a Criterion.

But what do we mean by "usefulness," or "clarity," or "fun"? Each of these criterial serves as a label for a particular kind of experience. What the experience will be can vary greatly from person to person. (We don’t all mean the same thing when we say we had "fun.") We need to know what the relevant experience is for the individual we are modeling. (Sometimes only one particular experience will satisfy the criterion for that person. More often it is a particular kind of experience.)

To fully understand what a criterion means for a erpson, then, we must have his/her "Definition" for that criterion. For example, one person’s definition of "useful" (in the co text of reading these notes) is "The information helps me put things together in a new way," while another person may define "useful" as "I get practical ideas about how to help others." Though they share the same criterion, these two people are evaluating different aspects of the material and processing that material differently:

Strategy

A strategy is, of course, a plan of action for accomplishing something—in this case, satisfying a Criterion. Any strategy involves both an aim of some kind and a set of steps for accomplishing that aim. Both aspects are represented in the Array.

Strategies are important because they reveal what the exemplar does with his/her internal representations and external behavior to attain what she/he considers an important aim within the context (that is, to satisfy his or her Criterion).

When we look at human abilities, we find that people are always (consciously or not) testing whether they are accomplishing their aims, expressed as Criteria (that for which they "Test" in a strategy). We engage in patterns of thinking and behaving ("Operations") to satisfy or fulfill our Tests. In the contest of modeling, then, a Strategy is
a sequence of internal representations and external behaviors that is intended to satisfy a criterion.

"Internal representations" are our ways of "knowing" our experience. (Note: "knowing" is not the same thing as "conscious of"--consciousness is knowing that you know.) We can see and hear the world around us, as well as generate internal images and sounds; we can feel a range of sensations on our skin, such as pressure, pain, temperature and texture, as well as feel a range of internal sensations having to do with tension, position, pressure and so on (and these may be localized to a particular part of the body or may be aspects of a whole-body "emotional" response); we can taste and smell; and we can use language to engage in internal dialogue with ourselves or imagined others. (Using language to speak with "real others" is external behavior).

The Strategy distinctions are:

Test

What is being tested for is whether or not (or to what degree) a Criterion is being (or has been) satisfied. Therefore, in the context of modeling, the "Test" is a description of what the exemplar sees, hears and/or feels to know that the Criterion is met. (For instance, a person adept at having an organized office might hold "efficiency" as a criterion and have as a test, "When I leave at the end of the day, I see that my desk is clear.")

Primary Operation

The "Primary Operation" is a description of the sequence of internal representations and external behaviors she/he normally engages in to ensure that the Test is satisfied. (Our organized exemplar, then, may have as a Primary Operation: "I consider in what ways a document could be useful, make a copy of the document for each of those uses, find an appropriate file or create a new file for each one, etc.")

Secondary Operations

If what the exemplar normally does is not effective and the Test is NOT satisfied, the exemplar will turn to a "Secondary Operation" in order to try and satisfy the criterion. Like the Primary, the Secondary Operations are sequences of internal representations and external behaviors. Secondary Operations come into play when:

• The Criterion is not sufficiently met.
• The Criterion is not at all met.
• It does not seem possible to meet the Criterion.

Cause-Effect

"When you trust people, they learn self-respect." Trust People → Self-Respect "You can accomplish anything if you work hard." Work Hard → Accomplish Anything "I like people. And so they like me." I Like People → People Like Me

Cause-Effects: Our beliefs about what makes something happen.

When modeling, the Cause-Effects we want to know about are those that relate to the exemplar’s Criterion. (Remember that the Criterion identifies what the exemplar is most focused on satisfying, attaining or making a reality while manifesting his/her ability.) The two classes of Cause-Effects that relate to a Criterion are "Enabling Cause-Effects" and "Motivating Cause-Effects."

Enabling Cause-Effects identify those behaviors or conditions that help make it possible to satisfy the Criterion. For example, I may believe that in order for material to be "useful" (criterion) it has to somehow relate to my actual, everyday experiences. That is, "Relating to my actual, everyday experiences" Enables (cause) the material to be "useful" (effect):

Enabling Cause-Effect

It relates to my actual ongoing experience → Criterion "Useful"

Motivating Cause-Effects identify a "higher," "more important," or "deeper" level of criterial or values that can be attained through the satisfaction of the Criterion. Using the above example, I may believe that if I can find what is "useful" in this material, I will be able to enrich the lives of others.

Because I perceive a cause-effect relationship between "usefulness" and "the ability to enrich others," AND because enriching others is of central importance to me, "the ability to enrich others" Motivates me to find something "useful" (criterion) in the material:
Motivating Cause-Effect
Criterion "Useful" → Able to enrich the lives of others

All of the significant criterial and causal relationships we have described in the above example of "reading these notes" can be represented in the Belief Template:

Emotions

Emotional experience can be complex. Within one particular context we may experience a changing sequence of emotions, as well as more than one emotion at a time. In modeling abilities, two important distinctions can be made regarding our emotional experience.

Sustaining Emotion

As we manifest an ability, there is often a particular "back-ground" emotion that is most significant in maintaining the physiological and emotional state that is supportive of the ability. This "Sustaining Emotion" is so tied to the ability that if the exemplar is not experiencing it, she/he is not able to manifest the ability. (For example, when I do crossword puzzles I am feeling challenged. At the point I no longer feel challenged it is almost impossible for me to continue on with the puzzle.)

External Behavior

External Behavior includes any part body movements ("wink"), whole body movements ("walk up to the person"), postures ("lean forward"), tempos ("breath slowly"), facial expressions ("smile"), or verbalizations (say, "Cheese!") that contribute significantly to the manifestation of the ability.

External behavior is significant since it is the interface between you and the world. It is through your external behavior (what you say and do) that you are known to, and have an impact on, the world.

Contributing Factors

It is often the case that the success of an ability de-pends not only on perating out of the appropriate structure of experience, but on other abilities, preparations, prerequisites, conditions or considerations separate from the Array itself. These are "Contributing Factors."

For example, suppose we are modeling an expert stock tracer for how to choose what to buy and sell. We identify what she is doing in terms of her behavior, emotions, strategies and beliefs as she analyses the market. At one point she explains that to be smart about trades you need to keep up on what is going on in the country politically. Though definitely important (to this exemplar), keeping up on politics is not something she is doing while she is making trades. Rather, it is something that happens outside of the trading context and, so, is a Contributing Factor. (Of course, if we wish, we could also model her ability to keep up on politics, but that would involve a separate Array.)

Supporting Beliefs

"Supporting Beliefs" are beliefs the exemplar holds in relation to the ability and that may affect the texture and functioning of his/her experience and behavior, but are not central to driving the Experiential Array.

For example, suppose our exemplar who is reading these notes with respect to "usefulness" mentions, "If you dig enough, you can find a nugget of gold in almost any ground." She/He is not evaluating the information with respect to "is this a nugget of gold?" The evaluation is, instead, with respect to the criterion "is this useful?" The belief about always being able to find a nugget of gold, however, gives a certain quality to the person’s way of approaching that criterion. In this instance, it presupposes that there is something useful in the material (in fact, in any material), and she/he will dig for it. (For contrast, imagine that this person instead believed, "If you don’t get a glimpse of what you are after the first time through, you probably won’t ever find it." She/He could still be approaching the material with respect to "usefulness," but would only take on shot at finding it.)

The Belief Template, then, specifies the Criterion and Cause-Effects that are primarily guiding the exemplar’s thinking and behavior while manifesting their ability. And the Supporting Beliefs include any other beliefs that affect the function of expression of that Criterion and its Cause-Effects.

Experiential Array Elicitation