Like any processing system, our mind uses a series of instructions that configure a kind of “mental program” which directs the entire process, organizing the information perceived by the sensory organs to create an explanation of the world around us.
On the other hand, from a psychological point of view, constructivist theory states that the senses provide us with information about reality, but this is too chaotic for our brain, so it has to structure and organize it. Below we will break down this mental program to understand how the human mind works with examples.
The mental program is made up of two types of instructions:
- Innate: They are inserted in certain brain structures involved in information processing and are common to all people.
- Acquired: they emanate from the social sphere and depend on the socio-economic-cultural context of the moment and the authority that establishes them. They evaluate, order and classify the information received from the environment.
The set of these instructions, if they are consistent, allow the result obtained from processing our brain the information perceived from the environment to be coherent (coherence is a mechanism that associates the information incorporated by the stimuli perceived by our senses to that which is already stored in other pre-existing neural networks). The mental program “sees” sequences in the data it perceives that coincide with those stored in memory and slowly develops rules that relate them.
This mechanism prevents the acceptance of any result to explain the event, limiting them to those that are coherent and, in addition, avoids the psychological tension of cognitive inconsistencies (cognitive dissonance, self-deception, mechanism of repression of unpleasant and traumatic memories, etc.).
The neuroscientists Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili point out that there are neural structures (network of nervous tissues that perform specific functions) which they call cognitive operators which, acting simultaneously, proceed as algorithms to order the perception of reality (when an operator is activated, various brain areas that are far from each other come into action). They constitute the central axis of the analytical functions of the brain and arise from brain structures (they represent the biologically determined impulse towards order and meaning and depend on genetic endowment and its development during the first stages of life). According to these authors there are the following operators:
- The holistic operator It allows us to see the world as a whole. Thanks to it, from a set of leaves, branches and trunks, we recognize a forest. The holistic operator is due to the activity of the temporal lobe of the right hemisphere. In the following article, you can see more information about the.
- The reductionist operator works in the opposite direction of the holistic operator. It represents analytical capacity. With the help of it we divide the whole into parts. It lies in the left hemisphere.
- The abstractive operator draws general concepts from individual circumstances. Thus, for example, it allows you to sort a German shepherd, a bulldog and a poodle under the “dogs” category. This function lies mainly in the left temporal lobe.
- The quantitative operator It is the calculating mind, it appreciates sizes, quantities, times or distances and carries out mathematical calculations.
- The causal operator interprets reality as a chain of causes and effects. The causal operator stimulates our curiosity and motivates us to decipher the secrets of the world around us. Thanks to this operator we find solutions not only for empirically verifiable events, but also to find a cause-effect relationship in all types of phenomena, without excluding metaphysical mysteries such as the emergence of the cosmos or the meaning of death.
- The binary operator It introduces order to the world and helps us give meaning to the different phenomena that occur around us. It helps our imaginative capacity to reduce complex situations to simple opposite pairs: up and down, left and right, inside and outside or in front and behind. This binary thinking provides quick and simple data to guide us. The binary operator is located neurologically in the lower area of the temporal lobe.
- The emotional operator assigns emotional values to each element of perception and knowledge. This operator also presides over our intentional world, it ties together all these perceptual contents with feelings and emotions.
Cognitive operators constitute a first line of ordering of the stimuli perceived in the environment, but they do not have the capacity to offer a more specific explanation. It must be taken into account that human society is very complex in many aspects and requires greater depth and precision in the explanation of the events that take place in our environment.
To resolve this situation, the mind needs specific instructions more in line with the real situations of the moment that help you organize the information you receive. These instructions (normative codes, value systems, historical beliefs and traditions, fashions) emanate from social organisms and are integrated into the areas of the cognitive and emotional systems where the perceived information of an event is processed to give it meaning and valuation. .
The acquired instructions form a broad and highly diverse set and are not identical in all people, but they do have in common the principles from which they are nourished. These principles serve as a reference to interpret and evaluate the different scenarios through which our daily lives occur, and among the most relevant are:
1. Benefit-harm principle
It serves as a reference to classify a wide variety of situations as beneficial and acceptable, or harmful and rejectable. This principle encourages us to evaluate the dangersrisks and harms of any kind (physical effort, time spent, moral dilemmas, economic cost, personal resignations, compliance with legal norms and traditions, possibility of family, work or social conflicts, etc.) and compare them with the benefits that the situation brings. One consideration to this principle is that, because people often live in groups, it admits a distinction between “what is good or bad for me” and “what is good or bad for the other.”
2. Principle of relativity
Based on this principle, we organize, classify and value the elements and events in the environment: big, small, good, bad, useful, useless; and also to the people with whom we interact: clever, proud, criminal, wise, etc. To achieve this, the strategy of relate and compare some elements with others and some events with others, so that an element adopts a value when compared with another element, since none has a specific value by itself. Something is big or small, tall or short, sweet or salty depending on what it is compared to. Likewise, no one is absolutely intelligent, rich, tall, honest, etc., but rather in comparison with a typical model for each characteristic (what we call archetype).
3. Principle of interrelation between the emotional and cognitive systems
Both systems usually act together, although sometimes the emotional system acts first and other times the cognitive system acts first, depending on the circumstances. When emotion, which by its nature is rapid and ambiguous, becomes the dominant “qualifying” force, it initially prevents or hinders the passage to reasoning and reflection (and with it, common sense), leaving them in second place.
If reason intervenes later (a few milliseconds later), takes care that the interpretation promoted by emotion takes place within “reasonable” limits and is not harmful, analyzing the possible results and their consequences (temporal projection of the action). But sometimes, this control of reason is not strong enough and gives way to the dictates of emotion. The problem can arise when the two systems provide opposite qualifications, that is, the emotion we feel when faced with an event does not correspond to the reasoning used to interpret it. The struggle between both options can lead, if persistent, to a mental disorder.
4. Contingency principle
Our actions are part of the causal chains that lead to an expected result, but it may happen that, due to various causes, this result does not happen and another unforeseen result takes place. For this reason, we must consider the expectations that certain events will occur as possibilities that will be more or less likely to occur. This principle brings us to an important question: the distinction between the possibility of an event occurring and the probability of it actually occurring. An event may be possible but unlikely (fear, for example, makes us see an event as very likely that, although possible, would be unlikely to occur).
5. Affinity principle
Life tends to form groups (from simple cells we reach complex organisms), and in human groups something similar happens, loneliness is not natural, since survival is more feasible in groups, and these are formed by virtue of the principle of affinity (the most common affinity criteria are: physical appearance, beliefs, traditions, desires, hobbies, interests, etc.). Despite individual differences, the need for coexistence induces the creation of similar groups in which each person contributes in a specific way (a function) to its balance and survival.
Two types of “mental” forces act in this principle: some of attraction that encourage relationships with other people, and others that tend to rejection from the same. If the former predominate over the latter, the relationship will be stable and fruitful; But if those of rejection or indifference do, the relationship will tend to disappear or become “toxic.”
Finally, the fundamental question about these instructions, given that they are created by groups and social entities, is to designate who decides what instructions should be followed in each matter or situation and the limits that should be imposed. They are normally created by a local or national authority, a group of experts, international organizations, etc. Your job will be to decide which references we should use to evaluate and qualify the daily events that affect us. It is about defining what is good and what is bad, what is fair or unfair, what is acceptable or unacceptable, what is right or wrong.