vital lies

8/10/2019 Vital Lies

1/143

Also

bg

Daniel

Goleman

Vanrnrrps

oF

THE

Mrorrarrvt

ExprnrENcE

Wrrar

psycrrorocy

Krvows

Trrer

Evnnyor*n

S'our,o

co-author)

VIML

LIES

SIMPLE

TRUTHS

The

Psychology

f

Self-Deception

Daniel

Goleman, h.D.

A TOUCHSTONE

BOOK

Published

y

Simon

&

Schuster

NEW

YORK

LONDON

TORONTO

SYDNEY TOKYO

SINGAPORE


2/143

-

zt\

Copyright

O

1985

by DanielGoleman,

Ph.D.

All rights reserved

including

the

right

of

reprocluction

in whole

or in

part

n

any orm

First

TouchstoneEdit ion,

1986

Publishedby Simon & Schuster, nc.

Simon

& SchusterBuilclins

s

Rockefeller

lenter

l2 l0

Avenue

f the

Amer icas

New York, New York 10020

'11)LI(IIIST'ONr.

and colophon

are

reglistered

rademarks

of Simon

& Schuster, nc.

Designed

by F.dith Fowler

Manufacrured

n

the United

States f funerica

Library

of Congress

Cataloging n Publication

Dara

()oleman,

Daniel.

Vital

lies,

simple fuths.

Bibliography:p.

Includes ndex.

l.

Cognit ion. 2. uth-Psychological

aspects.

l. Tiuth-Social

aspects. 4. Defense

rnechanisms(Psychology)

I.Tit le.

I lF31l.G584

1986 l5 l

85- l i t60

ISBN

0-671-450.58- l

ISBN

0-684-U3

07-4 Pbk.

I ior

pcrrnission

o

reprint

excerpts, he

author s

grateful o

the

following:

Irrternrrt ional

Universit ies

Press, nc.

for TheDenial

of Stress,

dited

by

SIrl,

nro

lrczr r i tz .

Oopvr ight

9f l3

hy Inrernat ional

Univers i t ies,

nc .

It t t t 't 't t : t t iott :r l

Iniversit ics

)ress, r.rc.


3/143

FOR

TARA

"oM,

TARE,

urrAnE,

TURE.

wAHA "

ACKNOWLEDCMENTS

In

the

spring

of

1978

I'had

the

pleasure

of

visiting

with

Gregory

Bateson. Although Bateson

was whe ezing

badly

because

of the lung cancer that

would end his life several months thence,

his spirits

were high, his mind as alive

as ever.

Bateson was

reviewing his intellectual

odyssey.

A

break-

through had occurred for him just after World War II, at the Macy

Foundation conferences

where Norbert

Wiener's

group

developed

cybernetics.

"Then,"

said Bateson,

"I

got

on the right

track: I could

see more clearl y the

propert ies

of

whole systems,

of

the

interl inked

patterns

that

connect

things."

He abandoned then-fashionable

views of

behavior:

"Those

theories of

man which start from his most animalistic,

maladaptecl,

and

lunatic

psychology

turn out

to be improbable

first

premises

from which to

approach

the

psalmist's question,

'Lord,

what is

rnan?'And this

narrowness led u s to

a

failure to

discern

the

pattern

which connects."

"What,"

I asked,

"is

the

'pattern

which connects'?"

"The

pat tern

which

connects,"

said he,

"is

a'metapat tern, '

u

pattern

of

patterns.

More

often

than not,

we fail

to

see it .

With

t lrt '

cxception

of mtrsic,

we

have been trained

to think of

pattenrs

ir s

fixed affairs.

The

truth is that

the right way to

begin to think alrorrt

the

pat tern

which connects is as a dance of

interact ing

purts,

st 't '-

onclari ly

pegged

down by

various sorts

of

physical

l i r rr i ts

rrrr l

,r '

lral l i ts, ancl >y he

naming

of

states

and

comlront 'nt t ' r r t i t i t 's ."

A

dance

of interacting

part.s.

Tl re

l rat tcrrr

lurt

corrrr t ' t ' t .s .

l ' l rc

it l t 'us

strrck

with rnc.

Ovt'r

tht 'ncrt [ t 'w

y( ' l t rs

l rcv

glr \ ' ( 's l rrprc

o: r

scirrclro{ ' rr ty

own.

I l r i r< l

orrg

rt ' t ' r r

nl r igrrcr l

l ) \ ' i l

n l rrr t r 'o l ' l r rc ts

rrrr l

rrs iul r ls

l r ; r l

; r l l

s r ' ( 'nr( ' ( lr,

l l , r i rr t

o l l rc

s ; lnrr '

1l : t l l l r

r , rrr l rr)nr

\ ' rr l r ' l r

, l t r , ' r r1r ' t r l

; rrrr1l , 's

\ l r ' l r : r i rr i rr t { rr

r ' l i r r i r ' : t l ; , r1, ' l r , , l , r1i1rl

l l ,u\ .11(l

r . r , l

pt r l t r t r '


4/143

8

|

acxN


5/143

l0

|


6/143

/1s

rtr ' \ ' t ' t t

t t l l ,

t

prt 'r ' l rohrr ' , is l

rl

Sl;urf i rrr l 's r .rr l r .r

i rr l rr lcr

rr; t l torr; t l

r 'r ' tn

l t

:rrr , l ' \ r

rrs

rrrtrol

l l t r ts

i t ,

"In

irr l r .r 'rurt iorurl

lx)\ \ '( ' r

clrr t iorrs,

x.r '( '( .1) l iorrs

l ' t l re

superpowermil i tary

balarrce

:u'r' tlrc

t'oinagc

of international

affairs

even though all the key

llirrtit:s

involved

seem

to recognize

hat the coins

are counterfeit.

l'he situation resembles

nothing

so

much

as a drawing-room

comedy.

All of

the key characters know

a certain secret-that

strategic asymmetries

are militarily irrelevant in an age

of over-

kill-but

because hey

think that

others do not know the

secret

they

act

as f they

do not know the

secret

either."

One upshot of this

"secret"

is that, in recent years, the major

powers

have been spending

one million dollars

a minute on

their

nuclear stockpiles, which

are already estimated to

contain

the

explosive

equivalent

of

3.5

tons

of TNT for

every

person

on

earth.

How does self-deception

enter

in?

People who

are not

privy

to the

"secret"

seem

to

want

to

go

along with it,

to be deceived.

A recent

national

poll

found that

about 90

per

cent

of

Americans

agreedwith the

proposition

that

"a

nuclear war

is unwinnable."

And

yet,

in

the

same

poll,

just

over

70

percent

also

agreed

with

the idea that

"we

should continue to

build

new and better nuclear

weapons.

At the heart

of this doublethink

is a classic self-deception.

Indeed, it was noted thousandsof yearsago n the ancient Indian

epic, the

Mahabharatta, n whicfa

sage

poses

he

riddle,

"What

is

the

greatest

wonder of the world?"

The answer:

"That

no one, though he

sees others dying

all

around, believes

he

himself

will

die."

In the

face of our individual

powerlessness,

we

find

it some-

how reassuring

o cling

to the illusion that

there is somethfrrg-

some new weapor,

a defensive

shield n space,

a

new missile-that

can

protect

us

againstnuclear

death.

And so the strategists'

secret s

abetted by

the

self-deception

that leads people

to want

to

play

along,

to believe, to deny

the

truth of futility and hopelessnessn planning for nuclear war. If we

are to avoid

the endgame

of human history, we would

do well

to

consider

ust

why we

fall

prey

so readily

to su ch a

fatal

delusion.

The

answers,

no doubt, speak

also o the second

peril

we face

at this

moment:

the rapidly

growing

ecological deficit-soil

ero-

sion, shrinking

forests,

grasslands

urning

to

desert, depletion

of

the

atmosphere's

protective

ozone layer, and the

poisoning

and

drying up

of water tables.

Our

habits of

consumption, on

a

worldwide

scale,are destroy-

11r,,

l r r '

1l t : t t rr ' l ' .

l r" ' t l t l t r ' r ' \

' r l

:t

t ; t lc

l l l l l ) : l l " l l t ' l ' ' t l

l l l l t t r lot t

, ' l lc t ' l ,w(' l t l ' ( ' ( l r" ' l t t )\ l l lL ' . l l rr '1rl : rt t r ' l lotot l l ()\ \ ' t l l l t l t t l ( l t ' l rr l t l t t ' t t '

, rrrr l l lV

l ly

. r r '

l r, ' , ' .11, 'rsrt t 'ss

[ ' i l t t '

t i rrks

l l (-t l ' t ' t ' l t

l t t 'u '

u ' r '

l i r ' t '

' t rt t l

t l rt ' t ' f lccts

rl t t

t l rt '

Pl ;rt tc t

, . . -----1..

, , , -, '

' the

virgi ,r

, l , , i , r

i r ' t rs ts

of

the

Atnaz't t ,

l i l r

ex i tr. l l l t t '

t rrt '

l r t ' i rrg

rl t ,s troyecl

at

arr

incrccl ible

rate,

to

rnake

t?u:t

for

catt lc

to

gt 'rtz 'r"

l.lr


7/143

( ' \ ' ( ' r

l rr ' ; r l t l r '

rrrssr.rrr ,

\

st i rrr .rr .

r i rk.

t l rr .

cir .s(,

'r

trrr .

srrrrrrr :

rplrsirrr .

'r ' rr .

l r igrrt

* 'r i r*,

r .rrrrcfr

w'

engineers

tr. ,rrgr l ,

' rr_

j .r ' l r '


8/143

;urrr 'r

l r. rrr i l l r

rr

r l l r

\ l rrr

rrr, l r l

( l (, \ . ,

\ r,rt

rf , , rr, l r,

rno\(.

l l rc

l ,ooL

5,rrrr.rr

l rcr, ,

l r, . l r l , r. t , l r

l r, l r

lur(l

l i l t t , r, rr

s(.(. l rr

o

rl is i r; l ; l t , t t r. .

l r; rrr, l

rr ' f r i l r.

for.rr. ,urr,rr

l l rr.

Iorv l l rr l

-r ' , , rr

ln(l

t , , r,

.

.u1.un.

i rrc, l rc .s

way

l l rr,


9/143

t8

|

rNrnooucrroN

ki l l

Jack

or

get

ki l led.

So

suppressed

t.

It

years

ater.

But

that

was

the

,-rit.,..

of

life

zone.

The

f l ip

side

of that

story,

n

u

s(rlse,

s

told

by

Bar'ey

s i rrron,

a South

African playwright,

ref lect ing

on

an

unspoken

tnrth

it l lout

apartheid.

If

in

America

blacks

suppress

rage

towarcl

wlrites,

in

south

Africa

whites

repress

tenderness

towarJ

blacks:

,

white

south

Africans

are

br.trght

up

in

early

childh..d

black

women.

I

remember

the


10/143

20

|

rnrnooucrroN

spontaneous

unanimity,

with no hint ol 'other forces

at

work

iunong

the membership.

Such heavyhanded

censorship is

obvious. I t is

not

so r. rrsy

o

see a similar

edi t ing in

our own awareness.The inc i t l t , rrl

ol ' the

cropped

picture

is

a

part icularly

apt

metaphor

for what

g()('s

orr

in

our

own

minds.

What

enters our attention is within t lrt ' l i 'rrrnrr

f

awareness; what we

crop

out

vanishes.

The f rame around a picture is a visual directive Iot ' rrs i rrg t rr

gaze

toward what

it surrounds

and away from

everythirrg

r.lst..

It

defines what is in

the

picture

and

what is

out. The franrt.r"sart is

to

build margins

that blend with a

picture

so we

notice what

is l i 'rrrrrcd

rather

than the frame itself.

So with attention. I t defin es

ushot we notice. btrt

wit lr srrch

subtlety

that we rarely notice

how we notice. Attention is t lrt ' {i ' irnre

around

experience.

Except in special

cases-say,

a

gi lded,

baroque monstrosity-

we don't

notice the frame. But

just

as

the wrong

frame intrtr


11/143

22

|

rxrnonucrroN

Neither

Freud

nor

any other student

of the

min


12/143

24

|

rNrnooucTroN

This

is

not

a book

of

easy

answers

(I

suspect

ther.

itrer

nens),

nor

a

profi le

against

which

to

measure

oneself.

It

sirrrply

offers

a

new

map

of experience,

with

part icular

emphasis

on

s()nr()

f

the

Torg

shadowy

patches.

The

topic

is

how

things

work,

rrot

what

to

do

about

them.

The

new

understanding

of the

mincl

tlritt science

has

come

to, I trust,

can

offer insights

into

our

personal

irrr


13/143


14/143

THOUCHTS

ON

BEING MAULED

BY

A LION

r\

D*rd Livingstone, he

Scott ish r issionary

f'

Livingstone,

presume"

farne,

was

once

attacked

by a lion.

rrrcident

auntedhim

for

years;

he

haclcorne

close

o dying.

"Dr,

The

Re -

,

i t l l ing

it some

twenty

years

later, Livingstone

was

struck

by

an

,,rlclity.

n what

should have

been

a moment

of utter

terror, he felt

,r c t rr iol rsdetachment:r

I heard

a

shout.

Starting,

ancl kroking

half round,

I saw

the

l ion

just

in

the act

of

springing

upon

me. .

.

.

He

caught my

shoulder

as he sprang,

and

we

both came to

the

ground

below together.

Growling horribly

close

to my

ear, he

shook

me

as

a terrier does

a rat.

The

shock

produced

a

stupor

similar to

that

which

seems to

be felt

by a mouse

after

the first shake

of

the

cat.

It caused

a sort

of dreami-

ness

in

which

there was

no sense

of

pain

nor feeling

of

terror,

though

[I

was]

quite

conscious

of all that was

hup-

pening.

It was like what

patients part ial ly

under

the inf lu-

ence

of chlorofonn

describe, who

see

the operation

bu t

feel not the

knife.

Why should we be able to respond

to

pain

by numbing

it s

, ' l l ircts?

Dr.

Livingstone's encounter

with

the l ion

of fers

an

exem-

plrrry

event for

considering

this

question,

and a

seminal

jumping-

, l ' l ' l roint

for

exploring

the

nature

of

our

reaction

to

pain

and what

rls

rlynnmic

might mean

for

the rest

of mental l i fe.2

My

premise

is that the

brain's basic

design

offers

a

prototype

,

l 'how

we handle

pain

of al l

sorts,

nc luding

psychological

distress

;rrr


15/143

, t( l

I

rrt

rt I

n

\,

\ l\n't .r.

nrrrnts

nr'ur, r l rrcrrr l r \

( l rrr l rrrr t ' t ' .

rr t lris

rcgard,

s another s l ighted

sense).

. '\s

r r l l r l l r r . r

st.rrst 's,

l re

tsychological

experience

of

pain

depends

orr

l ru 'nr()r ' ( ' t l r i rn

he simple

st rength

of nerve signals:

fear

of

th e

osite

irections.

The

brain has discretion

in how

pain

is

perceived.

Our view

of

the neural

plasticity

of

pain

is

based on

evidence

which

has come

to l ight

only

in

the last

few

years,

mainly

from research

on animals.

For

decades researchers

had misgivings

about the relevance

to

humans of f indings based on the reactions of laboratory animals.

Animals

were thought

to have a very

simple

pain

system, while

humans

had

a complex

one

intertwined

with

the

higher,

distinctly

human

brain centers.

Veterinarians,

though,

had long

known that

stroking

an animal's head made

probing

a

wound

easier-animals,

too,

had a

psychology

of

pain.

A closer analysis

of

the

pain

tracts in humans

and animals

revealed

that the system

had taken shape so

early in

evolution that

animals

as

primit ive

as snails

and mollusks

shared with humans

the

basic design. This

discovery meant

that experiments

on

animals

could offer

us an understanding

of the

human

pain

response; a

f lood

of

research

in the

last decade

on the neurology

of

pain

has

been the

result

of that discovery.

While direct stimulation.of nerves in many parts

of the

pain

tract

evokes

pain,

stimulation

bf other

parts

of

that

tract

does

quite

the

opposite:

it

eases

pain.

The effect is so

strong

that

stimulating

a certain

brain site in

a rat

will

allow

it to

stay calm

during stomach

surgery

without

anesthetics.

Analgesia, the

soothing

of

pain,

is

as

much

a

property

of

the

system

as

is

the

perception

of

pain.

Pharmacologists

had

long

assumed that

a neurotransmitter

ex -

isted

with

the capacity

to

numb

pain.

But it was not

until the late

1970s

hat Solomon Snyder

at

Johns

Hopkins

(as

well

as other brain

researchers

working

independently)

showed

that

the brain tracts

where

morphine

acted had cells

with receptors

that were specifi-

cally fitted to

the shape

of

opiate molecules, like

a lock

to a key.

What were these sites of action for? As one researcher notes,

"It

seemed

unlikely

that such highly specific

receptors should have

evolved in

nature

fortuitously

only to interact

with

alkaloids

from

the

opium

poppy."

The subsequent

discovery of

"endorphins,"

a

group

of

neuro-

transmitters

that

act like

opiates in the brain, resolved

that

ques-

tion.

The

pathways

where

morphine

could evoke

analgesia

are

precisely

the site

of action

of

the

endorphins. Endorphins,

which

have

been called

"the

brain's own morphine,"

are a

natural

pain

balm.

ntr ltrr ; l l

ls

()N

tl, l lN(;

l\ tAtr l. l ' l l)

l t \

. ' \

l . l()N

I

' l 'he

endrl r l>hins

rre

part

of a

larger

clrtss

ol ' l l l i r i t t

t ' l t t 't t t i t ' i t ls

[ . r ,wn

as

"opioids."

*

Opiates

ike

morphine

and

her


16/143

32

|

vrral

LIES, sIMPLE

TRUTHS

sponse

s

a

universal

reaction by

the body

to

tlrt 't '; t ls;tn, l, l , t t ,1, i, 'rt

lf

a l l

sorts,

anging

f rom burns and

bacter ia

o

l l t ' r r ts

rrr , l

, ; t , l

, , ' t r ' t .

In br ief ,

when a

person

perceives

an ev('t t t

l ts;t

sltr". ', ,rr, l l te

brain

signals

he hypothalamus

to secrete

a

srr l ls t iur( ' r ' , ' ; r l l , ' ,1(: l lF,

or

"cort ico-releas ing

factor." CRF

travels

throrrgl r

;r

\ l )r ' (

r , r l

r ' , ; r l t ' -

way to the

pituitary

gland,

where it triggers

tht:

t ' t ' l t ' r ts , '

l

, ' \ (

' l ' l l

( for

adrenocort icot rophic

hormone) and

opioit ls,

l rrr l i t ' r r l , rr

r l l r t '

endorphins.*a

Presumably,

early

in evolut ion

this

l rr i r i rr l rrr

nr

u'r ' t t l

off

when a saber-toothed

iger

came into

view.

Itt

t t tot lctrr

rnr( ' \ , r t

meeting

with the accountants

wil l do.

In sum,

whether

physical

or

mental

in or igin,

pi t i t t

t ' r 'g is l r ts

rr t

the brain

v ia a

system that

can dampen

its signals.

I rr t l r r ' l ' t ; t t t t's

des ign

the

rel ief of

pain

is built

into its

percept ion. ' l ' l r rr t

is;t

t ' l r r t '

to Livingstone's

numbness in

the l ion's

jaws-a

c l t r t ' to

u' l r i t ' l r I

w i l l return.

But there

is more to

the

story. Consider

t l rc

rol l ol

attention

in

all

this.

*

Not tr ll

s t ressevokes endorphins,

although

the

stress

esponse

nvar ir r l r l t

t trr ', , lvt 's

ACTH.

It was

ACTH that

Selye thought of as

the

prime

brain

chet r t ic 'u l

t trr l, 'r lvirrg

the

stress

response. There

are

several others,

but few

neurotranstrr it t t 'rs

trrt l rcctr

ident i f ied

at the

t in ' re

he was formulat ing

his theory.

The endorphins,

l i r t

crrrrrrplt ',

were completely unknown. 1$

THE

PAIN-A'I ' ' f I iNTION

LINK

I

r . rro

o

t:ut

i f -one

cannot

the

othe

and

if

we

cun't

t lu'

gir'curT

e.

c. washpots

prizeblootn

capacities-[11v71i,t{4

rtt-reTtlaced

bu

the

head patterns

y_U

qun

capucitit:,y-l

u;as

not

DertJ

ind

to

them.

e.

C.

washpots

underputtcrned

againrtJbred

to

pattern.

Ani-

mal

sequestrutiott

u,tucitiei

and

animal

sequestered

a-

pacitiesunder leash-and animal secretions . .

This passage

has

an

almost

Joycean

ring.

There

is

an appeal-

ing

li l t

to

"Now

to

eat

if

one

cannot

the

other

can";

it

woid

'' t

e

out of

place

in

Ulgsses.

But

it

was

written

by

a

diagnosed

schize-

phrenic

in

the

ward

of

a mental

hospital.

Textbloks

on

ps),-

chopathology

enumerate

many

similar

e*a-ples;

clinicians

take

language

patterns

like

these

to

be

one

diagnostic

indicator


17/143

34

|

vrrel

LrEs, TMPLERUTHs

lead

by associat ion

o

bonds,

Wal l

Street, divirk 'rrrl ;

, , t

l.

r ' ; r l t le,

barn, and farm;

or

to theater, summer company, ittrrl

s'

,n

Ordinari ly

the

mind sorts through these i rs . \ ( , ( ' t ; r l rrrr ' ,

rrrd

chooses

only

those that complete the thought

we

wirrr t

o. r l )r( 'ss .

For

the schi zophrenic, though, a faulty

capacity to

i rr l rr l rr l

rrr , ' lc -

vant

thoughts

ets

associat ions tray

nto the sentenct 's

rc rrr , rrrrr l i r r ' -

tures. Such lapses signify a breakdown in the abil i ty

to

i r t lc rrr l

Attentional breakdown

in

schizophrenia

has bc,t,rr

wr'l l rr'( 'rg-

nized for at least

a century.

But only

recently

has this

t l t ' l i , ' r l l rc t 'n

l inked to another odd characteristic of schizophrenics:

t lrcr'

lurvc

ir ,

higher than normal tolerance of

pain.

A

series

of experiments

by

a

psychiatrist,

Monte

l l rr t ' l rs l , : rrurr,

and

a

group

of co-researchers at

the

National

Instittrtt'

ol N'|r'rrtul

Health make the case that

both

the schizophrenic atterrt iorr:rl

l t '{i-

cit

and heightened tolerance

to

pain

are due to an

allnorrrr, t l i tv

in

the endorphi n system.6

Several

ines

of evidence

point

to

an

endorphin abnorrrr i r l i ty

n

schizophrenia. One study, for example, compared a

grolrl)

ol'scv-

enteen hospitalized schizophrenics

with

a

normal

groul)

rrrrrtclrcd

for

age and sex. Both

groups

went

through

identical

proccrlrrrt 's

t< r

measure their reaction to pain. Res8archers administere


18/143

36

|

r ' r ra l

LIES,

sr\I lt-[ , ] 'rRUTHs

the stress esponse.But thc

rel t r t ive at io

of each

wil l

r lc l , ' r rnnrc

o

a

large

degree

how

attentivt '

ut -rd ow

pain-sens i t iv r '

\ ' ( ' r r , '

l ' l r t 'se

two

elements of

experienc 'r ' - the

numbing

of

pain

rrrr t l

l r rrrnrrrrq

I

at tent ion-seem to

hnver r

( 'onmton

prl rpose:

dimrtt i

u : r l

c

r r, ,r

is

one

way to numb

pain.

' fhut

these neurochemical

svslt 'nr\

\ l r , ' r r l t l

be

l inked

attests

o the elcgurrceof ' the brain's des igrr.

The concepturr l

split lrt 't r.r,ecn

t r in

percept ion

lurr l

: r l l . rr l iorr

may be more art i f ic ial tharr rvc rcirl ize. The brain clocs rrr l n( ' ( ' ( 's -

sari ly

parse

mental functi rlrrs rs we cl


19/143

: lu

l

vrler. .rES,IN{pt-Ft 'rRU'I 'us

r ' : r ts l row i r

st l 'ong

post-f ight

analgesitr,

rrc l ic ' i t t i r ru

'1, ' r , r l . r l

. rr t l< l r-

l l l r i r r

evels. This suggests

hat

the

pain-nt rnr l r i rrg

\

s l r 'nr r ' , l rsc ly

l inked to those

designed

for

handl ing danger

i t rr< l

l rrr ' ; r l

ll

' . r ' ( ' rns

reusonable-though, admittedly,

speculativ- to

srr

l

, ' , r '

l

: r l

lt e

pain-numbing

system evolved

as

part

of a

ptrckilg(' lut l

, r l l ' r r

s

t lt t :

brain to rally

to the

challenge

of a

physical

threat.

This,

then,

is

the

alternative

to Livingstone's

t l rcorr.

l "r l rr t 'ss

for survival fal ls to members of a species who, wltt 'n ( ' \ ' ( ' t t ls r ' i t l ' -

rant,

are best

able to

ignore

their

pain

whi le deal ing

u' i t l r

l l r r

t l t t 't ' i t t

at

hand. The high

survival

value of

pain-numbing rvorr l , l

' rpl r t in

why

i t is

found

in

primit ive

l t rain

areas,

which hutrt i trts

l r , rrcn' i th

more anc ient

species.

ndeed, opiate

receptors

ht rver

r< ' t ' t r

i , rrrr t l

n

every

species

examinecl,

nc luding those

with nervorts

srs l ( 'nrs ls

primitive

as leeches.

Another

l ine of

research

supports the

not ion that

l l r l

c rr t lor-

phin

response

s

tailorecl

or handl ing

emergency,

not l i r

r , ' ( ' ( ) \ ' ( ' l 'y

afterward.

A

UCLA

research tetrm

found

that

inesc i tyrrr l , l r '

i tot

shocks-but

not escapable ones-heightened

endorphirr

l t ' r ' t ' ls

n

rats.s Shocks tha t

can

be escaped,

they

fbund, trigger

it

n()nopioid

release;escapable

shocks

lre

ess

qf

a threat

han

inesc i tprt l r l t '

t tes.

This

precise

difference

in rehctions to

types of

strt'ss, they

observe,

is also

found in

turnor

growth.

When

laboratil i ty o

rrrrrrr l l

i r i r r

lrv

t t rrr i r tg t

orrt . Thi t t

pat tern,

us wc shall

s ( ' ( ' , ( ' l ) ( ' i r ts ts r ' l { ' i rgl r i rr

r t t r t l r t1rr i rr ,rr

( ' \ ' ( ' r ' \ '

r r i r jor lorrr l r i rr ( ' lnunlur

rt ' l r rrr or ' .


20/143

MENTAL

PAIN

MAKES

COCNITIVE

STATIC

lst

once in

my l i f 'e have I

been

paralyzed

bv

l i , rr ' . ' l 'he

occasion

was

a calculus

exam

during my fresh[lan year

i rr r ,ol l r .ge

for

which

I somehow

htrd managed not

to study.

Looking lxrt 'k, i t

was

a minor

event,

but that

day it loomed

enormous.

I

still remember

the

room

I marched to

that spring

nrorn-

ing, with

feel ings

of 'door-n

and

{brgboding

heavy

in my ht. iu't .

had been in that lecttrre hall for fiany classes: history, lrrrrrrrrn-

it ies,

physics.

It was

a

large

amphitheater with

bolted-in

woorlen

straight-backed

chairs,

euch with

a fold-up arm

for note-takirrg. I ts

large windows

looked

out over

a vista of hills

and

woods. I had

gazed

out those windows,

Iost in

thought, while

one

prof 'essor

or

another droned

on

about the Carthaginians,

Henry

Janres,

or

Planck's

constant.

This morning,

though,

I noticed

nothing through

the

windows

and did not see

the

hall at trll. My

gaze

shrank

to the

patch

of

f loor

directly

in front

of me

as

I nrtrde

my way to a seat near

the door. I

don't recall looking

up

as

the te sts were

handed

down the rows,

as

I folded

out the

arm,

as I opened the blue cover

of

my

exam

book.

There was a smell of old lacquer from the wooden floors, there

was

the thump in my

ears of heartbeat,

there was

the tast e of

anxi-

ety in the

pit

of

my

stomach. There

was the blank

page

of the exam

book.

I looked

at the

exam

questions,

once,

quickly.

Hopeless. F'or

an hour I stared

at that

page,

the

green

lines thinly

etched

on

white.

My mind

raced

over the

events that had

brought me

there, unready,

und over the

consequences

I would

suffer. The

same thoughts re-

pcatecl

hemselves

over and

over, a tape loop

of fear and trembling.

I sat

Itr


21/143

' t2

|

r ' r ' r 'nr,

,n, ls,

r \ r , r , r , , ' fRU'r 'ns

"ori t ' r t t ing

response,"

it

combinat iorr ol ' i r rc l t ' i ts


22/143

ANXIETY

IS

STRESSOUT OF'

PI,N

;I. :

- ' r '

A". iety is t lre

extreme

end

of

the orc l i rr i ' r

< ' , rr t in-

uum of arousal.

Grappl ing

u, i th

a tough

mental

problcrrr ot r t ' t r t rn-

ing a ter-rnis erve both ac't iva.te rousal. This incret rserl t r , ,rrsrr l

s

f it t ing

and

uselul; such

trrsks

ec lui re ext ra

mental

arrr l

yrlrvsical

reserves.

But

when the

arousul

rl


23/143

16

|

r ' r ' l ' ,1r,

,n,;s,l\n,r,r, :

t ' r t (r ' l

\

.

Hgperuigilunce,

excessive

alertn( 'ss ,

s( ' :urnnrl i

nrr

' . r

rr , r i rrg

with

a tense

expectancy.

. lnsotnnic,

intrusive

ideas

and images l rat

r l rs l rrr [ ,

.1,

1,

.

Bad

dreams, including

nightmares

an(l

rrn\ r . rr ' ,

, rrr , r l . r ' r r i rrS,

as well as any upsett ingdream. The

bacl

< l rr ' : rnr

1, , , " .

r . l

n( ' ( ' -

essari ly

have

any

overt content related to: r l r , rr l

' r , ' r r l

.

Unbidden

sensotions,

the

sudden,

urrr l , rrrr l r ' ,1

rr l r

r int


24/143

48

|

vtrel LIES,

s l l \ l l ' l , l t TRUTHS

Once a

person

has

rl t . { i rr t , ( l

situation

as

a

pot t ' rr l i ; r l

l r rc rr l ,hi s

stress

esponse

wil l

f lrrc 'tutte

with

his

appraisal .

I "ot

, ' \ ; rrrr l r l r ' , n

Lazarus's

ab,

students

n

iur

experiment

sat

wai t i rrg

l i , r

; t t t

lc t ' t t ' ic

shock

for

periods vary ing

f i '< lm 0

seconds

o

20

rrrit t t t lcs

''

Slt 't 'ss

varied

with how

threat t ' rr ing

he

student

found

the

sitt t :rlrort. ' '

For

example,

oner

tt i t t t t te

was

long

enough

for t l l t '

s t t l '1r ' r ' l

to assimilate

he

thrt ' i t tening

dea

that

he

was

goi t r I

lo lct ' l

pain when the shock ( ' i l lne,but not lo19 enough to


25/143

Alr, r . i r is i r l

rcgi rrs

rt

he

i ' i t ia l

in.st.rrt

'1 .

r

t . l r i r i rr

of 'cogni t ion

aimed

at

f inding

th e

sponse.

When

reappraisal

fails_the

ihreat

then

other

strategies

are

needed.

ol i t . rr f

t rg

rrrr l

rr i t iates

nt


26/143

l l r r- l l r l . rr l rc

rrror lc rrrvor ' l r l , rrc ' l t

l l t r r)ns u'( .

' i l r ( . .

\ lot ' r 'o l i t ' r r

t lri t tr

tot, he

person

s lclt to lt irrrrl lr . :r

r l rr . r t rrrrr

l r : r t

is

t r t r l r igt rorts ,t tcertAin,

and

ongoing.

When the

ul lpr; rrs ; r l

,1

l rrr ' ; r t

l ras ed to

a stress esponse, his

means he is stewirrg, rot lr rrr lrt ,

lrrain' s stress hormones and in

his

worries

about

the

thrr. rr t . ' l ' l r rr t

stew is what we

call

anxiety.

While

a threat can call forth

any of a

range

of emotions,

fi'om

anger to

depression,

anxiety is

the most

pervasive

reaction.

Emo-

tional coping

generally

means calming

anxiety.

If

anxiety

goes

un -

allayed,

it

wil l intrude

on

attention

in one or

another of the

many

guisesHorowitz describes.

Those intrusions can

interfere with

the

whole

range of cogni-

tion, in ways we

will investigate later in more

detail. For now, it

will suffice to

point

out that

anxiety

spews

cognitive

static,

which

makes reappraisal

difficult. Anxiety

itself

can hamper

the reap-

praisal

that might

allay the sense

of threat.

I f reappraisal

fails,

one or another {brm of denial may work.

In

the natural course

of

recovery

frorn a devastating

event l ike the

death of a loved

one or

loss

of a

job,

there seems

to be a sponta-

neous

oscil lat ion between denial

and

intrusion.

Mardi Horowitz,

the

psychiatrist

who enumerated the variet ies

of

intrusion,

pro-

poses

that following

any serious l i fe

event,

intmsion

and denial

come and go in ways that suggest asic phasesof adjustment.

Horowitz

offers as extensive a list

for the

varieties

of denial as

he did for int rus ion. The forms

of denial include:2r

.Aooided

associations, short-circuiting

expected, obvious

connections

to the event that

would follow from

the implica-

tions

of what is said

or thought.

.llumbness,

the sense of not having

f 'eelings;

appropriate emo-

tions

that

go

unfelt.

.

Flattened response,

a constriction

of

expectable

emotional

reactions.

.

Dimming of

attentiorl, vagueness

or avoidance of focusing

clearly

on

infbrmation,

including

thoughts, feelings, and

physical

sensations.

.

Duze, de{bcused

attention that clouds

alertness and avoids

the significance of

events.

.

Constricted

thought, the

failure

to

explore

likely

avenues of

meaning

other

than

the

obvious one at

hand;

an abbreviated

range

of flexibility.

.

Metnorg

failure,

an

inability

to recall events

or their details;

a selective

amnesia for telling facts.

.

Disarsousal,saying

or

thinking

that obvious meanings

are

no t

so .

[:'*-'.-'

"'

I

s'l' lt , ;ss

l)ts(

) l

) l, . r

ANI)/()t t

ANXil, l' l ' l '

s'r ' t tHss

RESPONSE

*ft"

l.-[

t,(,

\,

,,,'.

Frcunr

2. Options

for short-circuiting stress: If an event appraise-das

a

threat

can

be reappraised

as a non-threat,

the

stress reaction

will not

begin.

Once

begun,

the coping

options

are external-change

the

sit-

uation

to make

the event

no longer a

threat-or

internal-soothe

th e

arousal.

If these

fail or are

not tried,

stress arousal

can lead

to stress-

based

diseasesand/or

anxiety

states.

.

Blocking

through

antasg,

avoiding

eality or its

implications

by fanciful

thoughts

of

what

might have

been

or could

be .

The operative

principle

that

unites

these forms

of denial

is that

they all

betoken

a

way of blanking

from

awareness

a

troubling

fact.

These tactics are countermoves to the intrusions listed

previously.

Denial and

intrusion are

the

two sides

of

attention,

the

one an

avoidance,

the other

an

invasion.

Neither

is

healthy; both

skew

attention.

While the

multiple

forms

of denial

do not

lead to a

more

realistic appraisal

of

what is

actually

happening, they

can

be

pow-

erful antidotes

to anxiety.

Lazarus

lumps

such

intrapsychic

maneuvers

with taking

drugs

or drinking

to ease anxiety.

All are

palliatives:

they

reduce

anxiety

without changing

the

status

of the

threat an

iota.

Such

a strategy,

says

Lazarus,

is normal:

"For

many

serious

sources of

stress n

life,

there's

l i t t le or

nothing

that can

be done

to

change

things.

If so,

you're

better

off

if

you

do

nothing

except

take

care of

your

feelings

. . . healthy

people

use

palliatives all the time,

with

no

ill effect.

Having

a drink or taking tranquil izers are pall iat ives. So is denial,

intellectualizing,

and

avoiding

negative thoughts.

When they don't

prevent

adaptive

action,

they

help

greatly."

22

Palliatives

are

intrinsically

rewarding,

just

by

virtue of their

easing anxiety.

What is rewarding

is

habit-forming.

There

is

ample

proof

that a

person's

palliative

of choice,

whether

Valium or

Jack

Daniels,

can be

addictive.

So also,

I

contend, are

the

mental

ma-

neuvers on

which

we

rely

to ease our

private

anxieties.

The cognit ive

palliatives

fall, by and

large,

within the

rangt:

ttf'

PALLIAI'IVI.;


27/143

5.1

|

r

r ' , rr ,

.n,;s,

l\n,r,1,, 't

(r ' l \

rvlrt t t

"t 't t t t t l

lescri l les

tts

"c lef 'ense

rrrt ' r ' lurnisnrs . l l r , '

lrolcrrcy

of

t lre t lef 'eltses

s in

their

al lay ing

anxit 'ty. As

l , rrz , rrrr . ,

r i rr ts

out,

pall iat ives

are the

norm; al l

healthy

people

rrsr. l rrrr t , ,

\ ()rrr t :

e-

gree.

But

as Freud

observed,

al l

normal

peopl t .

u\ ( .

, l , . l , .rrs.

ncch-

anisms to

a

degree, too.

Mental

pall iat ives

skew

one's abi l i ty

to

sec

t l r i rrr is

rrs t

rs hey

are: that

is,

to attend clearly.

When

anxiety is

at l : rrur.

rr

l r t . rrr inc l ,

even if capped

by an

art ful

mental

maneuver,

t l r t ' r t .

r\

;r t ,ost

o

mental

eff iciency.

Denial compromises ul l , unf l rr t ' l 11r .


28/143

FREUD'S

M0I)I. ; I

OF

THE

MINI)

A, was

lr t , t . ; rsr .

r 's ,

nrany

deas

n

psychology,

he '

f irst

to

anticipate

a

corrt ( .nr l )()r ' iu ' \ ,

, i t^w

of

the

mt.rd;s

mechanics

was

Sigmund

Freud.

I rr

l lXX),

rr

l lrt .st 'venth

chapter

of The

Inter-

pretat ion

of

Dreams,

[ , ' r ' r , rr t l

t 't

l i r r t l r

a model

of

how

the

mind

handles

information.r

l "r ' r ' r r t l 's

rr , rk . l

is

remarkable

in

how

wel l

it

anticipates

what

has

lrt 't '


29/143

58

|

vr rel LIES,

sIN{PLE

TRU'l ' l ls

@H+ggE[fgil_:u'l

Flcunr

3. Fret rd's

model

of

the

rrr i rrr l ,

rr l rr l r tet l

' rom

he

l t t l t ' r '1t t ' t' t r t i t t r- t

f

Druo*r, Informat ion

is sorted

hrorrr l l ,

, , , l i t '. ts

emory

stt lr-sl

l t ' t r rs '

he n

finally

passed

n

{iom he

unc


30/143

60

|

vrrel

t .n. ls,

sr\{pLE

TRUTHs

cepted in

the conterrryronu'y

iew,

each of which ofl i 'r 's rrsiglrts

how

the

mind ca n skr,w,

rttention:

.Information

fkrws.

t rrd

s

transformed

during

ils

; rrssrrgt :

tween

inter l i nkr '< lsrrbsystems.

.

Informati


31/143

( i2

|

r 'r 'r ', t t-

LIt , .s,st i\ tr)LE

TRU't 'ns

' l ' l rc

i rrrpl icat ions

or how

the mirrt l 's

workings

rur ' , , r , ' l rcs t rated

:u( '

(1rit t :

di f ferent for

each of thest '

irl tcrnative s. l irrs rn r('sl)o nse

srrggt 's ts

hat

this is merely

an

inst rrrrceof

socit l

t l iss , ' rrr l r l ing-

rrothing

very start l ing.

But

a bias

i rr

pt:rception

irrrpl i r .s

ur rrncon-

sciotts

center

at

work

in the mincl,

i rrrpos ing

ts

j rrr lgrrrr . rr ls

n

al l

we

perceive,

shaping

our experienct: to fit its

pri

-_-l>

-+

-.->

- '>

SENSORY

STORE

AND

FILTER

*|;lD@

Ftcunr

4'

Broadbent 's

r ' , r lel

of

the

mind,

slightly

modi f ied:

sensory

st im-

uli

are

analvzed

as they

reach

the

sensory

store

and

sorted

and

filtered

on

their

way

to

awareness'(or

short-term

memory),

tion

that

impinges

on

it

through

the

senses

ecause

t

has

only

a

limited

capacity.

The

selective

flt"r,

h"

t"tl"rrra,

is

essential

here

because

f

a bottleneck:

here

s

asharpry

imited

channer

apacity

at

the

next

stage

of processing,

often

"ir"a

..short-terrn-

n.

..pri_

mary"

memory.

Primary

memory

is

the

region

of

perceptirn

that

falrs

under

the beamof attention.For our purposeswe wiil cail

t

..uwareness.,,

The

contents

of

the

zone

of

awareness

re

what

we

tilke

to

be

..on

our

minds"

at

a

given

moment;

t

is

our

window

t>nt


32/143

rrrr

lr(. :r. \ ,o.r.own

nrrnle

mentionecl.

l )rrr i r tg

t l rr '

(

( t rr ts r '

of 'these

frrrr t . -9rrt .s

tpCl

ttne-inS,

the

SOUndS

t l rrr i r t$

o

yorrr

t ' ' t ts

tt taly

be

i


33/143

I

I t rr .n(. \ { ,s l )rr l )( . r ,

ou wil l

notice

those

itetms

l t l t t v r) l l

( ' l l l ' ( ' l rbout .

Wlrrr t

gt,ts

l rnxrgh

enters

awareness,

atnd

lnly

wlrrr l

t\

rr \ ( ' l i r l

occu-

pics t l r i r t

t ret r tal

pace.

l)crception,

SayS

NOrman,

is a

mat ter

Of

c l t 'gr ' , ' , ' .

rr

s t ' i tnning

irr


34/143

Int r igued,

Marcel began

to

study

t l r t '

l t l rcnorn( 'n.n

nr()r 'e

me -

thodically.

He would f lash words {br

jrrst

a

lcrr '

l l r , , rr . ' , , rr , l t l rs

f a

second-so

quickly

that

people

did not even

kn,,, ,

t l r , ' r

l r :ul

seen

a word. Then

he

would ask

his subjects

wlr i t ' l r

s ' , ' r , l

rr, ,r subse-

quent pair

meant

or

looked

the

same as

he ont '

l l r ; r l

r . r ,

l r rs l

ashed

bV. If ,

for

example,

the

unseen

word

was

"l look,"

l l rr ' l . ,okal ike

would be

"look,"

the

related word

"read."

Even

though

his subjects

had not

the sliglrt , 's l

rr l r ' ; r

vlrt t t

he

first word had been, they were right in their gu( 's \ rrrr1r l rout 90

percent

of

the t ime-an

astounding

rate

of

accttri t t 't '

,

t

1, , ' , ,ple

wh o

did not

even

know

they were reading.

The

results of

these

studies on

what Marcel

t ' irl ls

un( 'ot rsc ious

reading"

and

on

blindsight

are

inexplicable

in tt 't 't t ts

ol

lrow we

commonly

think about

the mind.

But contemp()r'irr'\ '

, 'st ':rrchers

have

adopted

a

rather

radical

premise:

that

mtrclt

ot rt tost

conse-

quential

activity

in the mind

goes

on outside

awar('tr('ss.

The tenabil i ty

of this

proposit ion

hinges on two

litt'ts:

lrc

chan-

nel

capacity

of awareness-the

amount it can

hol


35/143

he

began reading

thc

storv

and

click it

off when hc f irrislrt 't l ,

he n

take

a wri t ten

test to

scc

l row

well

he had

followecl t lrt , rrirrri t t ive.

At

the

outsct,

t lrt ' strrclents

ound

it impossil l l t '

to

rt ' r rc l

an d

write

at the

saln(r i r t r t ' .

l ' l te i r

reading

would

go

in s tol rs rrrr l

tarts,

with

a halt whilt ' t lrcv t 'opied

each

dic tated

word.

' l ' l r r .

rr l t t , rnat ive

is

to read slowly rt rr< l nrr lers tand

i t t le.

Neither workt.


36/143

hours.

A

jogger

( ' ()nr( 's

rr

ol 'a

shower

anc l

hrows

his ' l ' -s l r i r . t

n

th e

toilet insteacl

of ' t l r< ' l r ; rrrr l rc r ' .

orneone

says,

I

warrt

yorr (6

l le

me,,

instead

of

"y


37/143

THE

PACKETS

KNOWLEDGE

(;0NI

.,S N

I

\ro.rnd

the

age of

four,

I had a

vivirl l irrrtusv

about

the construction

of

reality.

I entertained

the

benignly

paranoid

notion that wlrcrever

I

went

and

whatever

I saw was

made of stage sets,

r:rt lrt 'r ' ike Hol-

lywood

studio

streets which

from one side

appear

to lrc real

and

from

another

stand

revealed

as false

fronts.

The

houses,

rees,

c i rrs ,

dogs,hnd

people

I

passed

on

the

st reet ,

I was sur e, were

props

placed

there

just

before I came on tl-re cene,

which vanished

after

I le{t.

The

rooms

I

entered

likewise

came into

being

and

evaporated as I

made

my way

through

them.

This

Herculean task was

accornplished by

some

group

or

force

outside my ken.

I

imagined

a

htrge, unseen

horde of workers f 'ever-

ishly-but silently-at work

constructing these sets

as

I ap-

proached,

and

just

as

f'everishly

dismantl ing them and storing them

away as

I left.

All this

work was

gtrided

by hands I

never could see

directly, and with

purpose

and motives I never could know.

That childish fantasy, I have since

come

to realize,

is a rather

close metaphor

for the

workings

clf

our minds.

The

stuff

of

experience

from moment

to moment is

concocted

for us just beyond the periphery of awareness, in realms of mind

which scan, select,

and

filter

the

array

of information

available

from

the sensesand memory.

The

pervasive

il lusion is

that

we

dictate

the

scope

and direc-

t ion of

awareness. The

facts

seem

to

be more

akin

to my

childhood

fantasy, in which

the

mind is

arranged by unseen forces that oper-

ate to

present

us with a constructed reality,

which

we

apprehend

in its final, finished version.

It is as though th ere were invisi ble

stagehands

erecting a

set-the

world around

us

and in trs-in f irl l

intricate clettri l .moment

to

moment.

Wlr< l night

l l t '

t l tcst '

t inkeri rrg

l )r( 's ( 'n( ' ( 's

i t l r i r r t l rc rrr i rrr l . rrrr l

u ' l rc rr ' < lo

l r t ' r ' < 'r l rrrr 'i 'orn

They

are

tts-

l l rr" ' rrs"

that

accrues

rom the srrrrr

ot rr l ol orrr

l i f 'e

experiencr: .

" l ' , r1rcr. i t .nce

is

kaleidoscopic;

the expt,ricrrcc ol

every moment

is

ut r i r lut '

rnd unrepeatable, "

writes

J:urcs

l l r i t torr

in

Language

and

l t ' t t t - t t i r rg.

Llnt i l

we

can

group

items in

i t r l rr

l rr .

l tasis

of their

s i rrr i l r rr i tv

we

can set up

no expectations,

make

rr


38/143

+

+

Ftctrnn .

\ / l r< 'rr

l rr ' ( ' \ ( ' . r ' l ' , . t \

iur rrr l>r ' t 'ss i t>n,

chentrrs

rrs t i rnt lv

rnalyze

its

at t r i l r rr t t 's ,

rt ,

r ,n, ' , ,1, , r rr , , l r l r , r1r,' ,

rrrc l

c , rn

ll

possible

t r t ' i r rr ings

s

t

pi rss( 's

l rrorrgl r

l rr ' : r ' r r \ ()r \ l . rc

rrrrr l i l ter.

The


39/143

UNDERSTANDING

UNDERSTAN

)ING

A

Vchemas

are

the

basic

rrni ts

ol cxPtt

i .n( ' ( ' .

L ike

mol-

ecules,

they

organize

esser

: l t : r 'nt 'nts

tt to

lt

w,,t 'krt l , l t '

whole.

Only

when

expt:rit : trct,

s

t lrgit t t iz,t '


40/143

fbcus

ol ' i t t t t ' r t tiot r .

l ' l rc

vrtsl

rr 'pt ' t ' t< l i re f

schemas

Iit :s t lormant

in

rt tgrrrr) t ' \ ' ,

qtt icst 'r't t l

rrrl i l lrt 't iv it ted by

at tent iOn.

Oncc active,

they


41/143

, , ,rt , . ,*-\

\,

, , , ,

)

),

'

1',.Lr.G1

'

\1*t

tnuz

i

I

t\

I

I

I

r.AR(il. ,

A 'RAIDI']

ADVANCI' ON

SNAKI,]\1I{Y

QUICKIJ

;''

r\

/

I

\ t 'tu

\

\ ) l (

|

\Bty

Ftcunn

9.

Schemas or a

person

afraid of snakeswho conrt 's

ul ).n

()n('whi le

walk ing alone in the

woods.

Emotions such as

fear

are

stnrrrg:r


42/143

AWARENESS

S NOT

A NECESSARY

STOP

l f crit ical information -processing

g(x 's

()u

lrcyond

awareness, hen much

of

what

we think

and do is rrrrr l t ' r l r t , spel l

of inf luences we

cannot

perceive.

F'reud's

sense t lrrt t lris wars

so

led

him to

posit

that

there were

three zones

of consci()usn()ss:

he

unconscious

(bv

far the Iargest),

preconscious,

l rr< l

r.onscious.

George Mandler,

a

cognit ive

psychologist,

suggests l rrr t F 'reud's

model f its well with how schemfs act to guide at tcrrt iorr.r ' r he

preconsciotts

is

rl sttrge midway

between

the uncorrsc'ious

an d

awareness,

a sort


43/143

(( 'onrr ' l r

c

slut l lcs

a

variety

of oddly

sh:rpccl

c t i lgorr. , )

l rrr t

hey

ha d

lrt ' r 'n cr l rosct l

to without

being

consciotrsly awrrrr'

l r ; r l

they

ha d

s( '( 'n

l t t 'nt .2( j

he famil iar,

the data showed,

becorrr.s

l rr '

preferred

-

-('\ '( 'rr

r.r'hen

amiliarity

is

unconscious.

A

great

deal

of other research has

made t l rr , \ rnr( '1roint,

that

i rr{ i l rmat ion which

never

reaches awareness

n(.\ '(.rt lrr. lcss

as a

st rong

inf luence

on how we

perceive

and act . Fr)r ' ( . \ ; rrrr1r l t ,,

ow -

ard Shevrin

at the University

of Michigan measur'( . ( l , r : r i rr

waves

while showing student volunteers a seriesof wor'


44/143

'l

l r , ' r rrs l r

rctor

hen released he

volrrr t teer i ' r , rr ,

,r

, rrot ic

deaf-

n(", \ i r rrr l rsk t '< l

hat he thought

had

happened.

"l

r ' r 'ur. r , t l r t ' r , " aid

l l r . r , l r rrr tc t ' r ' ,

yollr

tel l ing

me that

I

would

be

tk';rl

rl

l rc

count

of

l l rr . r ' .

rur


45/143

r l i r , ' t ' t l ) . "

l )rrr ing an operat ion a

tapc,

1>lityed

rr lo

r ' . rr1 ' l rr)nes

or n

lrv rtrrcst lrt 't ized

atients,

suggested


46/143

JOHN

l) l, ,AN'SMEMORY

y nrincl

is

not

a tape

recorder, but

it

certainly

rcceives

the

message that is being

given."

The

words are

John

l)ean's,

from the Watergate hearings in

]une

of

1973.

There

was to

lre

an ironic twist to Dean's comparing

his memory to

a

tape recorul-

irrg.

Soon

after

his testimony

came the

revelation

that

President

Nixon had

taped conversations

in

the

Oval Office, including

many

l)ean

testified

about.

Dean's comments were remarkably long and detailed; he strlr-

rrri t ted

a 245-page statement

recounting

events and conversati


47/143

: rrrr l

' , r r t l i r t l .

President

then

t


48/143

WHO CONTROLS

CONTROLS

TH E

THE

PAST

FUTURE

ne's

past

is a

gradual ly

increasing

wt ' igl r t , "

wrote

Bertrand

Russell.

"I t

is

easy

to think to

oneself

that

on('

s emotions

used

to be

more vivid

than

they

are and

one's

mintl

nrore keen.

If

this is true

it should

be

forgotten, and

if it is

f irrgottt 't t ,

it

will

probably

not

be true."

Russell's

sentiments

are

giverrr

t

rrlore sinis-

ter

twist

in a

slogan

from Orwell 's 1984:

"Who

corttrols

the

past

controls

the

future: who cbntrols

the

present

controls

the

past."

Who, in the realm of mind, does control the past?

Memory

is atrtobiography;

its author

is

the

"self,"

i ln

especially

potent

organization

of schemas.

Sometimes

also

called

the

"self-

System"

or

"self-concept,"

it is that

set

of

schemas

hat define

what

we mean by

"1,"

"me,"

and

"mine,"

that

codify

a

sense of one self

and

one's

world.

The self

is

built

up slowly,

from childhood

on, as

perhaps

the

most

basic

grouping

of schemas

the mind

holds.

Its

origins

are

in

the

interactions

between

parent

and

infant; its

development

runs

along

lines carved

by

the

contours of

relationships

with

parents,

family,

peers-any and all

significant

people

and events

in one's

life.

The self-system

sculpts the

way a

person

filters and

interprets

experience; it invents such self-serving readings of past events as

Dean's

and

Darsee's.

In doing

so,

the self has

in

its

power

all

the

tools-and

temptations-of

a

totalitarian

state.

The

self

acts

as a

censor,

selecting

and deleting

the flow of

information.

In

an

article

entitled

"The

Totalitarian

Ego,"

Anthony

Green-

wald, a

social

psychologist,

makes

the

case

for

the analogue

be -

tween

self

and

dictator.T

Greenwald

paints

a

portrait

of the

self '

from

many areas

of

research.

"The

most striking

features

tlf tht'

port rai t , "

says he,

"are

.

. . cognit ive

biases,

which corr(rs l )orr< l

l is-

turbingly

to

thot rght control

and

propagiurt l i r

l t 'v i t ' t 's

t lrt t

r t t ' t '


49/143

rr iz i rrs

rr i rrc iple:

what matters

o the se lf. Withorrt

srr, r

: rrr

organiz-

i rrs

s l l rrc t ru' t ' ,

nowledge

and behavior would be

l i rrk , ' ,1 'i l ly-nil ly;

rv i t l r

i t rrcw

informat ion is

assimilated

in

an

ort l l r l r

, rrrr l

useful

l rrs l r iorr,

nc lexed n

the way that wil l be

easiest

o l i rrr

.

' l ' l rc re

is, in

other

words,

a

structural

advantrrgr ' l , r

nrv ing

th e

sr ' l l ' i ts

ar entral framework for memory

and actit)n;

( ' rrr t ' i r r l

nowl-

t 't lgc can

cohere wi thin a s ingle coding scherrrt ' .

l ' l r .

i rnalogue

(l rcenwald

uses is a cataloging system in a l ibr ar'\ , :

' ( )rr t 'c

a com-

rrr i t rnent

s made

to a sp ecif ic cataloging schemr',

l

rrurv

re

more

efficient

to maintain consistency with that

schenrt '

t lurrr o

allocate

librarian

effort to . . . recatalogui ng

and

reshelving t lrt '

t 'rist ing

col-

lec t ion . . .

every t ime another indexing system conr('s

r long."

Th e

self holds sway

as the

Dewey

Decimal System of 't lrc

rrr i rrr l .

In

a

review

of the

self-concept,

Seymour Epstt ' irr

r t ' r rrarks

n

how

inaccurate

people's

views

of themselves can

lr< ' .

l ' l re

inaccu-

racy is not

always

in

keeping with

the

positive

biast 's

(

)reenwald

describes:8

People who

are

highly

competent sometimes

lircl t lceply

inadequate;

people

who

arqinferior feel superior;

people

with an ordinary appearance feel beautiful; ancl

people

who

are attractive

feel

ugly. More impressive

yt't,

some

people

who

have

lived

exemplary

lives

are

torn with se-

vere

guilt

to the

point

they no longer wish to live,

while

others who have committed horrendou s crimes suf'fbr not

a twinge of conscience.

The

basis

for these skewed

perceptions,

says Epstein, is

peo-

ple's

self-esteem. A scho ol

of

thought

argues

that

one's

sense

of

value

and

worth is

embodied by the sel f-system. A threat to these

views

of oneself

is

part icularly

upsett ing; there

is

an overriding

need to

preserve

the self-system's integrity. Information

that fits

the self-conce pt is

easily assimilated- Dean was

glad

to report how

important his efforts were considered by the President-but data

that challeng es the self is hard to take; Dean is

oblivious to the

fact

that the President

did

not

actually

say most

of the

laudatory

things

Dean

recalls.

Information

that threatens

the self-that does

not support

the

story

one tells oneself

about oneself-threatens

self-esteem.

Such

threats are a

major source of anxiety.

For animals,

stress

is nrtlst

often

in the form of a

threat to

l i fe

or

l imb. For

humans,

thorrgh, rr

challenge to

self-esteem is enough to brew

anxiety.

Aaron Beck, a

psychiatrist,

describes


50/143

I rr '

. r l l r

" l rost rr lates")

are arranged n

a

hierarchy. , , rrvcr ' -


51/143

THE

SELF.SYSTEM:

COOD.ME,

BAD-ME,

AND

NOT-ME

a

-

Ul"h"^as

change

continually

through

life,

as

do

im-

ages

of

the

self.

Past

self-images

leave

their

trace:

no

one

has

us t

one^ ully

integrated

self-image,

a single

harmonious

version

of

the

self.

various

points_

and

stages

in

li ie

accrue

overlapping

selves,

some

congruent,

others

not.

A

new

self-image

emerges

and

be_

comes

dominant:

A

gangly,

isolated

adolescent

can

become

a

svelte, gregarious

thirty-year

oldi6but

the

svelte

self

does

not

com-

pletely eradicate traces of the gangly one.

Trauma

in

later

l i fe

can

activate

an

earl ier

self-image.

says

Mardi

Horowitz:12

If

a

person

has

an

accident

with

subsequent

loss

of his

slm, or

if

he

is

fired

from

his

work,

therd

may

b"

"

."pia

shift

from

a competent

elf-image

u

ry

"t."oav-"*i;iilg

ut previously

dormant

one

as worthless

and

defective.

. .

. suppose,

that

a

person

has

a

dominant

self-im"g"

u,

competent

that

is

relat ively

stable

and

usually

,".rr"",

u,

the

primary

organ

izer

of

mental processes.

suppose

also

that

this

person

has

a dormant,

inactive

r"lf-iriiJ";;;"

incom_petent.

. .

'when

that person

sustains

a

lois

or in-

sult,

the

event

will

be

match-ed

against

t*o

,"lf-i-ag"r,

competent and incompetent. For i time the incompet"ent

self-image

may

dominite

thought,

leading

to

a

temporary

reaction

of increased

vulnerabil i ty

working

from

an interpersonal

view,

the

psychiatrist

Harry

stack

sull ivan

"-am_e

o

a

parallel

notion,

one

that

presents

a

simple,

plausible

model

of how

we

learn

to

trade

off

diminished

atterntiorr

for

lessened

anxiety.t3

Sull ivan

traces

the

root

of this

proc()ss

e

tlrt .

infant

learning

to

pilot

his

way

through

the

worl,l

,,,i

ir


52/143

, , rr l t ' r ' .

A l t l rough

the

bad-me

arouses

anxiety, ts corrtt .rrrs

the

spe-

t ' i l i t 's

ol 'what

arouse

that

anxiety-remain

in

awiu'(,n(.ss. ot

so

u' i t l r

the

not-me.

The not-me

evolves from

expt 'r ' i t . rr , ' , 's

f

what

Srrl l ivan

calls

"uncanny

emot ion"-feel ings

of terror

rrrr< ll read

so

powerful

that they

disrupt

the

ability to

compreht'rr


53/143

NOTICINC

WHAT

NOT

TO

NOTICE

II

I I schema

mplicit ly selects

what

wi l l l rc noted

an d

what

will not. By

directing attention

to one

pattern

ol'rneaning,

it

ignores

others.

In

this

sense, even the most inn


54/143

e1}Q#rBF(;;;

-curu)

(n*'.t)

r4't

tx )\r

BY

*

l@@--l

+l

,-p

iil

l@,: ,1

ff;ff

,tln

"T:f

l,-1* il ]::"111,,

hen s

meone


55/143

sr,,(

ru.; 'r 's

E

KEEr RoM unsrlvns

I

l13

rr: lny

variet ies:

t r i rrnrr: r ,

intolerable

ideas," unbearable

feel ings,


56/143

SECRETS

WE KEEP

F'ROMOURSELVES

l"

Notes

from

Underground,

1"v


57/143

corr l t l

f ind i t only

in

retrospect, by

reconstruct ing

wlr; r l

rrt t tst

av e

gon('

on

with

his

pat ients

at

some

moment in the

pirst.

Strch defenses operate

as

though

behind

veils

i rr

. r l rer ience;

we

are oblivious

to them.

R.

D. Laing

observes:2a

The operat ior-ts

n experience

we are

discussirrg

u( ' c 'om-

monly

not

experienced

themselves. So

seldorrr


58/143

rrrr '1, ,

l rr , l i< :ve

Epstein's

own inner

detective work:.rn

' l ' l re

emo-

t iorr: r l

' r ' r rs< lrship

practiced

at

YIVO

could

not by itst. l l uccount

l irr t lris

l i t rge-scale

eturn

of what I

bel ieve is cal ler l t l r r . r t 'pressed.

wlrcrr,

at

what

other t ime,

had I

purposefully

turnt ' t l

r rrv

rack

on

rrrv

t:el ings?.

. . When

my

father

died, thirty

years

ag(),

rrv

brother

rrrr< l did

not

go

to

the funeral . " Instead,

Epstein

trr


59/143

l l r r ' " l t rr t

N l t rn"

and

"Dr.

Schreber, "

Freud

toucht,s

)n

rrrr l re

han

a

rl,rz.rr,

t l ro.gh

not

always

using

the names

by

rvlrit . lr

hey

later

( ' iun(. o

l re

recognized.2e

ll is

general

term

for

these

mental

maneuvers

\\, .s

"defense,"

I t l t l rorrgl -r

e

also

used

as a synonym

"repress iorr

i rr t l rg

broadest

s( 'ns(" '

because

al l

defensive

techniques,

in

Frt ' rrr l 's

view,

entai l

sotrrc

degree

of

repress ion.

Whatever

the

specif ir,s

l ' t l r t .c le{ 'enses,

t l r t 'y share with repress ion a s ingle means and

1rur. t )()s():

hey

ar e

rr l l

cognit ive

devices

for

tampering

with

real i ty

to rrvoi< l ain.

Epstein's

repress ion

is

unique

only in his

alri l i ty

te report

it .

As Freud

points

out:30

"This

effortless

and

regrrlrrr

ur,oidur,""

. .

.

of 'anything

that

had

once

been

distressing

affords

rrs

l ie

prototype

.

.

.

of repression.It

is

a fami l iar

fact

that

much

of ' t l r is

avoidance

of

what

is

distressing-this

ostrich

policy-is

still

to

lre

seen

in

the

normal

mental

l i fe

of

adults."

The

defense

mechanisms

are, in

essence,

attentional

tricks

we

play

on ourselves

to

avoid

pain.

They

are

the wherewithal

for

im -

plementing

the

ostrich

policy.

These

self-deceits

are

not

unique

to

the

psychoanalytic

session.

Frerld's point

is well

taken:

*"

"j l

.rr"

them.

The

way

a

given

defense

creates

ts

blind

spot

can

be analyzed

using

the

model

of

mind

described

in

part

Two.

Each

defensive

strategy

works

in

a slightly

different

way,

and

taken

as a

whole

they

suggest

how

ingeniously

the

normal

mechanics

of mind

can

be

subverted

in the

service

of

avoiding

anxiety.

As

Erdelyi points

out,

this

kind

of

perceptual

bias

can

occur

virtually

a'y*hlre

in

the

mind's

flow,

from

the

very

first

millisecond

brush

with

a

stimulus,

to the

recall

of

a distant

rnemory.3r

There

is

a

potential ly

endless

assortment

of specific

tactics

f irr

creating

the

bias

of

perception

that

leads

to

a

blind

spot.

As Erdelyi

puts

it,

"bias

begins

at the

beginning

and

ends

only

at the very

en


60/143

rrr t , rrror i t 's .

he signs of

repress ion

nclude, of

cot t t 's r ' .

l re

paradox

t f rrr t { 'we do

repress such

items

lrom the

mind,

t ltcrc

rvi l l

be

no

tr i r t ' t ' tht r t

we have done

so.

The

thoughts

have

seer)r i rrglv

erished.

Llsing

our

model of

mind as a

template,

repress('(l

nfbrmation

c.anbe seen

to have

passed nto long-term

memory.

' l ' l r is

passage

rrruy have been

through

awareness.

But

repressiorr

lrlockades its

srrbsequentpath of access o awareness.Although tlr


61/143

t lrt ,

l i r l t ' t 'w l r ich

keeps

mankind

manageable

ant l

t t trtkcs

human

l)r ' (

gr ' ( 'ss

l0ssible.

'l ' l r1

irt tentional

dynamic

that

underl ies

projet 't iorr

o1>erates s

n, r, l l

irr t lrt :se

other

defenses-isolat ion,

rat ional iz i t t iorr .

tnd

subli-

rr l r t ierr.

1 each,

an

actual

state of

affairs

s deniet l - i t

l l t tsses

nt o

tlrt .

rrrrconscious

efore

it reaches

awareness.

Onc 't '

lr

t l - re

uncon-

st, iorrs,

he informat ion

can be

cosmeticized

n a

vitri t 'ty

of

ways.

In

isolirt ion

the

negative

feelings

recede

from atterrt iorr,

while the

t.vt:rrt

tself enters

awareness.

In rat ionalization

it

is

ottc 's true

mo-

tives

that are

split off

and

more acceptable

ones

split 't '


62/143

THE THERAPIST'S DILEMMA

\ I /

Y

Vn"t can't be seen

is hard to change.

Both Freud

and

Sullivan,

working from

not

so

very different

vantage

points,

hi t

on

the

identical formulation: the

person

prevails

against anxiety by

sacrificing

his

range

of attention.

This

failure to see our

self-deceits

protects

them; Sullivan

is struck by

"how

suavely

we

simply

ignore

great

bodies of experience,

any clearly

analyzed

instance

of

which

might

present

us with a

very leal

necessity

for change."

The dance-away lover seems doomed to an endless cycle of

romances

with starry-eyed beginnings

and tearful

endings.

The

abrasive

manager somehow

keeps rubbing

up against

recalcitrant

employees.

The compulsive

workaholic

just

can't seem to

get

hi s

wife

to understand

his

pressing

need

to

bring

work home

at

night.

Our

defenses

insulate

us from the

vital

l ie

at

the heart of otrr

misery.

Sull ivan

marveled

at

the

"means

by

which we do not

profit

from experience which falls

within

our

part icular

handicap." Freu


63/143

t l r t ' r rrx i t ' tv

' l ' l r is

nrent i t l

operat ion

Miss

Freud refbrs

to

as

"r l t ' f 'ense

by

nt(. iurs

ol ' r ic l icule and

scorn."

I t began,

she deduct 's

l i 'ort r

urther

rrrur lv 's is ,

ith

the

gir l 's

identif ication

with

her deir t l

l r t ther,

wh o

"rrst 'rl

to try

to

train

the

girl

in self-control

by

nrakirrg

mocking

rt 'nr i rrks

when she

gave

way

to some

emotional

out l l rrrs t . "

'I 'his

single case

neatly

encapsulates

the

psychorrrrirlyt ic

attack

on cgo defenses.One clue to the shape of defenses is itn odd blind

spot-in

this instance,

the

girl 's

glossing

over

the

fac't

ol 'her

anxiety

attacks. That

sensitive topic

triggers

a strong

reactitltt,

rirned

at

the

anirlyst:

the

girl

lashes

out

at Miss

Freud.

The

analyst

itssumes

ha t

such reactions are

transference,

reenactments

of early

crucial rela-

tionships,

rather than

simple

feelings about

the

therupist.

Reading

these

reactions as

further

clues,

the analyst deduces

the

structure

of

the de{'ense:

here,

a denial

of

anxiety

which

is covered

over by

ridicule.

As Anna

Freud

puts

it , the

necessary echnique

"was

to begin

with the

analysis of

the

patient's

defense against

her affects

and to

go

on

to the elucidatioriof

her resistance

n the

transference.

Then,

and then only, was it possible to proceed to the analysis of her

anxiety

itself

and of

its antecedents."

In

therapy,

the analyst

watches

for

responses

out

of

keeping with the

business

vital lies

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