Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The other sides of the napkin - On visualization and other mental represntations

Last IS class we discussed the great effect that visualization has on our perception. In short, it has been suggested that simple drawings, sometims on the other side of the napkin, could explain more effectively, intuitively and rapidly complicated things that sometime could be too trying to explain them using only words.

That approach, although sounds very compelling, assume that we are all coding and decoding our senses information more easily and effectively using visualization. Meaning, when we hear someones story about a carriage full of cabbages we immediatly picturizing it in our minds (the brain create simulations of the story). And therefore the information is easy to retrieve by using relevant visual cues.


But, are we all using the visual modules so extensivelly? Is visualization is always the preferable or default way of codint and decoding the environment?


According to the NLP theory (Neuro linguistic Programming) People may have and use different Representational systems (also known as sensory modalities) as their lead infromation processes mechanism. The main representation system is linked to one the senses - Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic. The other two senses, gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell), which are closely associated, often seem to be less significant in general mental processing, and are often considered jointly as one.
The lead representational system is reflected by the way people are tends to think to themseleves and by their everyday language. For example, Einstein credited his discovery of special relativity to a mental visualization strategy of "sitting on the end of a ray of light", and many people as part of decision-making talk to themselves in their heads.
In this way people may choose different way of expressing their ideas


The one that use Visual representational system as his prefered one may say:
  • "I see what you mean"
  • "You have shown me a bright idea on how to proceed and I would like to look into it further".
  • and will probably use more of: see, look, bright, clear, picture, foggy, view, clear, focused, dawn, reveal illuminate, imagine, hazy, an eyeful, short sighted, sight for sore, eyes, take a peek, tunnel vision, bird’s eye view, naked eye, paint a picture
On the other hand, the Auditory one may prefer to say
  • "You have told me of a way to proceed that sounds good and I would like to hear more about it."
  • “I can’t hear what you are saying”
  • “This doesn’t sound right.”
  • And use more of: hear, tell, sound resonate, listen, silence, deaf, squeak, hush, roar, melody, make music, harmonize, tune in/out, rings a bell, quiet as a mouse, voiced an opinion, clear as a bell, give me your ear, loud and clear, purrs like a kitten, on another note
Kinethetic -
  • "You have handed me a way to proceed that is on solid ground and I would like to get more of a feel for it. "
  • “I can’t grasp what you are saying”
  • “I don’t have a feeling for this.”
  • Common/ prefered words in use: grasp, feel, hard, unfeeling, concrete, scrape, solid touch, get hold of, catch on, tap into, heated argument pull some strings, sharp as a tack, smooth operator, make contact, throw out, firm foundation, get a handle on, get in touch with, hand in hand, hang in there
The actual thing behind it is that the way we communicate with each other can become far more effective if we only pay attention to the represntational system of the other person and use the language that fit that system.




In my opinion, although most of the people representational systems are indeed visual one (around 50-60%), there are many others (40-50%) that are using different way of decoding information, and therefore it could be even more efficient to use different ways other than drawing visualizing your ideas and try to use more auditoric ways and words to appeal, create rapport and influence your listener.

1 comment:

  1. Well written article focussing on various aspects of representation !!!!! The articles leads to think on futher investigation on what is the pefect mix for representating to various set of people ??? Do cultral differences induce a need of different mechanisms for building rapport !!!!!

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