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Psychology
Approach to Theistic Science
Genetic Culture:
The Primacy of the Affective over the Cognitive
Dr.
Leon James
Dr.
Diane Nahl
(c) 1982-1999
(original URL at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/already.html)
This is a working paper that we
have been extending and restructuring for several years. It will
no doubt continue on this developmental process for a few more years!
The Argument
In psychology there is an important
debate that has not yet been resolved by generations of researchers. This
is the question whether the affective or the cognitive is primary.
To say that the affective is
primary is to say that feelings cause thoughts. Or, that feelings direct
thoughts. Or, that thoughts are from feelings. Or, first there is a feeling
-- then there is a thought. Etc.
To say that the cognitive is
primary is to say that thoughts cause feelings. Or, that thoughts direct
feelings. Or, that feelings are from thoughts . Or, first there is a thought
-- then there is a feeling. Etc.
It is easy to see why some psychologists
say that feelings are from thoughts. This is exactly what it looks like
to external observation. For instance, we can observe ourselves get angry
when we recall an unpleasant situation. It seems then that first, the unpleasant
thought comes into our awareness, second, we react to it emotionally. Or,
in another situation, we ask someone to explain why an action and the person
replies "I thought he was picking on me, so I felt bad and left." It seems
here that, first the person has a thought or conclusion ("he is picking
on me"), and second, an affective reaction ("so I felt bad").
Swedenborg
refers to this appearance of the cognitive being primary as the Jacob and
Esau story. In the Old Testament of the Bible, Jacob and Esau were twin
brothers born to Isaac and Rebecca. Esau was positioned to be born first,
but at the last moment, Jacob displaced him and was born first. In the
language of spiritual-natural correspondences, all names, objects, and
events have reference to the mind or spirit. Jacob always refers to the
cognitive and Esau to the affective. The significance of this historical
episode, as analyzed by Swedenborg, is that the affective (Esau) is primary
in reality, but in appearance, as viewed externally, the cognitive (Jacob)
is seen first.
The drama of Jacob scrambling to come
out ahead of Esau represents the battle we have in becoming wise and loving
adults. As children, we begin life in apparent innocence. We are lovable
and attractive affective (right-brained) creatures. Our appeal as infants
lies in the fact that we are happy to obey the wisdom (or cognitive) of
the adults and authority figures. With an immature cognitive, an infant
has no other choice but to obey the rule of authority, and their willingness
to do so (affective) makes them irresistible to most parents and adults.
Things begin to go wrong at around
the age of 7 or 8, when the permanent "adult" teeth push their way out,
and the young individual begins a life of cognitive independence.
Now the child suddenly changes interaction styles and begins to act like
"I'm in business for myself now." It ushers in the age of arguments. For
a young mind, this developmental phase begins the Golden Age of the
Cognitive. The mind's computing power grows at a dizzying rate. The
cognitive soars into the stratosphere of self-reliance and becomes rebellious
to authority, disdainful of tradition, and fills itself with fake sentiments
of grandeur or dejection. It is the period of Jacob setting forth in life
and doing his thing no matter who gets stepped on. In human development,
the cognitive appears to be first. But this is an illusion, like the appearance
that the sun moves around us instead of the other way round. It is a characteristic
of the mind that thoughts are more visible to our awareness than feelings.
We are expected to know what we are thinking about something (that's part
of one's IQ), but only mature well-put together people know how they feel
about many things. When we act like thoughts precede feelings, that is,
when feelings remain invisible in the background, we operating in full
or partial blindness.
This state of mind and character is
represented by the wily Jacob who maneuvers himself to come out of the
birth canal first, talks Esau out of his birth right, deceives his old
father into giving him the blessing intended for Esau, enriches himself
at the expense of his uncle Lavan who hires him to tend his flock, and
so on. But in the end, reality prevails. In adult life, Jacob fears Esau,
humbles himself before him and calls him "My Lord." This is the recognition
of the cognitive that the affective is in reality primary.
What about the appearances? The famous
James-Lange theory of emotions says that first, we see a bear, then we
decide it is dangerous, as a result of which our adrenaline begins to pump,
which we then sense in our body, which feels like fear, and that finally
makes us run away. The sequence seems to be:
The Apparent (not Real) Sequence
external stimulus ----->cognitive
interpretation----->physiological response----->sensing physiological
response----->affective state----->sensorimotor act
Without prejudice, let us try to accept
the other model, namely where the affective is primary, and see if we can
give a rational account of events as we can observe them. We see a bear.
Assuming it is unexpected and unchained, we become aware of our thoughts
-- "what's it doing here; it's unchained; it's mad; it's gonna get me,
etc." In fact however, the sight of the bear instantly arouses the affective,
whose explosive activity gives rise to these various thoughts. This scenario
requires the assumption that the affective is faster, more differentiated,
more integrated, and less visible to awareness than the cognitive.
The Real (not Apparent) Sequence
external stimulus ----->differentiated
affective states----->congruent cognitive interpretations----->physiological
responses----->sensing physiological responses----->sensorimotor
acts
Thus, in reality differentiated affective
states pre-exist as person variables and these are selectively OCCASIONED
under appropriate sensory input. Once these affective states
are selected or occasioned, it selects from the available cognitive hierarchies
and items that are CONGRUENT with the already existing affective states.
These congruent cognnitive interpretations or understandings or meanings
(powered from within by the affective state), THEN elicit specific physiological
responses that one can sense through feedback and they alos come out into
overt action (senorimotor acts) unless inhibited by contrary or ambivalent
affective states that are unconsciously occasioned by the same sensory
input. These unconscious affective-sensorimotor connections are established
as part of the individual's ontogeny and cultural experiences.
The sequence affective--->cognitive--->sensorimotor
is found everywhere in Swedenborg's writings, as in the following samples:
| AFFECTIVE---->COGNITIVE----->SENSORIMOTOR |
| Love |
Wisdom |
Use |
| Good |
Truth |
Appearance |
| Will |
Understanding |
Action |
| Intention |
Plan |
Execution |
| Source |
Cause |
Effect |
| Desire |
Belief |
Conduct |
| Spiritual |
Intellectual |
Sensual |
| Feeling |
Thinking |
Sensing |
Swedenborg was always meticulous in respecting
the primacy of the affective. In the paragraph quoted above (DLW 384),
the following stands out:
Moreover, the brain itself
is divided into two hemispheres, the heart into two ventricles, and the
lungs into two lobes; the right of all these having relation to the good
of truth, and the left to the truth of good, or, what is the same, the
right having relation to the good of love from which is the truth of wisdom,
and the left having relation to the truth of wisdom which is from the good
of love.
Note his care with the expressions "the
good of truth" and "the truth of good." First, he specifies that "the good
of truth" (right brain) is the same as "the good of love from which is
the truth of wisdom." Translating, we have "the affective of the cognitive"
= "the affective from which is the cognitive." It is thus explicitly stated
that the cognitive is from the affective. The affective is primary.
Second, it is specified that "the truth of good" (left brain) is the same
as "the truth of wisdom which is from the good of love." Once again the
directionality is strictly maintained: the cognitive (truth or wisdom)
is from the affective (good or love). There are many
more such passages, as discussed
in this entry.
Genetic Culture
The unconscious connections between
the affective states and their sensorimotor instantiations are established
by two human growth mechanisms where the cognitive is as-if bypassed, and
feelings or emotions trigger sensations and acts that remain unconscious
to the individual, but is visible to others. One is the formation
of basic personality habits, moods, and temperaments in childhood prior
to the talking phase or not much further beyond (up to age 4 on the average).
The other is from automaticity of habits that were conscious in their formation
and early use, but sunk into the unconscious due to cessation of conscious
monitoring. Examples are:
- the gate or manner of walking
- the facial expressions that accompany
conversation
- the characteristic manner of reacting
to some things that others can witness
- the
way we drive (aggressive, competitive, supportive)
- our ethnic traits (religion, eating, lifestyle,
political ideology, discourse patterns)
As individuals mature over the decades,
a series of sensorimotor instantiations are triggered in relation to sequence
and biographical teleology or spiritual fate known to God who directs the
progression in its least details. without this divine intelligent
and purposive management, the teleology would be impossible and the entire
scheme would be sytematically downgraded by the second universal law of
thermodynamics (chaos). But the opposite actually takes place:
less chaos, more order towards an ideal goal or end. This end has
been revealed to us by God--see my article on dualism
in science.
This process of unconscious, sequenced,
and ethnic sensorimotor instantiations
can be called GENETIC CULTURE.
Objective methods of investigating genetic culture include:
self-witnessing methods involving
community-classroom methods involving
methods of community cataloguing practices
involving
See also this statement:
Effects
of Mere Exposure: a Comment on Zajonc's Attitudinal Enhancement Hypothesis
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