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2 Changing the Categorization ↑

metanymous в посте Metapractice (оригинал в ЖЖ)

Experiment 2

Begin by thinking of someone you have strong feelings about — either positive or negative. . . .

Now imagine that person fairly close to you in a specific context, and notice both what your image of this person looks like, and your feelings toward them. . . .

Now describe that person with a more general word such as “man,” or “woman,” or a word that describes that person’s occupation, and notice how that image changes, and how you feel toward that changed image. . . .

Now use an even more general word, such as “mammal,” and notice how the image, and your response to the image changes. . . .

Next use the word “vertebrate” and notice how your image and response changes. . . .

Next use the word “animal,” and notice the changes. . . .

Next use “organism,” and notice the changes. . . .

Finally, notice what image and response you have to a “flow of energy and information.” . . .

 

As you went through this process of going from a very specific and “concrete” image to a much more abstract and general one, I want to point out three things:

  1. Each successive image became less sensory-based and detailed, more fuzzy, vaporous, and indistinct. Typically the only relatively distinct part of the image is the part that represents the key criterion for the category, for instance the breasts for the category “mammal,” or the spinal column for “vertebrate.”
  2. The context soon vanished, making it impossible to identify a specific time or place for your experience.
  3. Your feelings became less intense, perhaps dwindling to near zero with “flow of energy and information.”

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