This article is more my own conscious stream of thought, and designed to be used with social/psychological models/theories/concepts. Even hard scientific facts are wrong though, as we continue to disprove theories and make new discoveries, however this article is aimed at the psycho-social concepts.
“All models are wrong and some are useful” The phrase was coined by George Box who was a British statistician, so what does he have to do with meaning making?
In the last few years, I have trained in transactional analysis and whilst I have a deep understanding of this field, I am always wondering how this works in other areas. I have most recently completed a certificate in neuroscience and dipped into systems thinking.
What does transactional analysis, systems thinking and neuroscience have in common?
All of them explain a way of the thinking process or how we develop our perceptions or our sense of reality. All of them a right and they can all be wrong, and this comes down to the lens you look through.
We are more receptive to some ideas more than others and what does that say about us, what does it mean when we cannot accept an alternative model/theory or perspective?
This is often known as cognitive dissonance, where our brain finds it hard to accept an alternative view as it clashes with your own beliefs or values. In my training as a TA practitioner, I have spent may hours grappling with reality, particularly on the illusion of control. The illusion being that when I was being rebellious that this was me exerting control, in fact is was not. It was an automatic reaction to an external stimulus. I said it was control, because that was the story I wanted to tell myself. I was wrong……hence the catatonic state I found myself in.
Impact of teaching and learning
Taking control of your own learning and not listening to the dogmatic views of ‘gurus’ or ‘thought leaders’ is and was critical for me. I do not accept theories blindly, sometimes they fit our situation or story nicely and other times they don’t. I critically analyse all concepts which I come across, like many things in life you will discover that every theory has holes, they have limitations, they are dependent on a situation and they can be ‘wrong’.
How we teach and how we learn is important, and it’s easy to get so consumed with the content than to question the teaching. This is a mistake, I am on a lifelong journey to poke holes, but also to understand.
More importantly how does the way we look at a piece of theory impact how we teach, I have been fortunate to be taught by a number of skilled trainers and they all hated a piece of theory which I grew to love.
I digress, but these are important questions for any teacher and facilitator as what they teach can narrow or broaden the views of their students.
Journey into meaning making
I heard this saying by George Box in 2017 and I took this to mean that we have a preference with models or theories which make more sense to us, however as I began to develop a deeper understanding of TA and other fields I began to realise how wrong I was.
It may be to do with preference, but all theories, models, diagrams, charts are there to enable us as humans to make meaning. We are after all meaning making beings! We develop and find patterns; this helps us operate better in the world we live in.
Theory is a story we tell ourselves to make sense of our world, because we need to understand our world to survive and thrive.
Why is meaning making important?
Imagine if we could not make meaning? We make meaning to understand and understanding helps us process what is happening around this, therefore this is a vital tool for us. If we could not make meaning I think it would be hard for us to get out of bed to make a cup of tea!
Have you struggled to understand what is going on around you, there is a deep sense of something not being right but yet you cannot place your finger on it? This is us struggling to make meaning/sense and this could be down to difficult in articulating what is happening too. The amount of time and energy this takes up is significant, more so if you are reflective like me.
What now?
Even scientific facts and theories are wrong as we begin to discover new things about our species, we are limited to our own views and the current technology we have. A classic example of this is when people believed the earth was flat, until we discovered it wasn’t. We make new discoveries every day.
We can also see how relevant Maslow’s is currently, would you rather be cold or would you want access to decent wifi? We have all seen the memes going round about this. We should also remember that the hierarchy of needs is different for infants and babies, they need love and contact which enables them to access the food, warmth and safety they need. We as adults could and should consider this a basic and fundamental need, as we are social beings.
We use theories as a framework to hang our narrative, stories, situations on to make it easier to process and gain insight. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good piece of theory, I also like creating my own models and perspectives in the view that there is someone else like me that can find what I create useful.
Theories are incredibly helpful:
- They are useful in taking emotions out of situations
- Helping others frame their thoughts
- Using insight to learn for the next time
Consider the science behind the theory, and aim for an evidenced based approach (says the OD practitioner in me!). Hold any model or theory loosely and be open to new ideas no matter how crazy they may seem.
Check out this cool Ted Talk by David Hoffman – Do we see reality as it is?
Perceptions are not reality – Psychology Today
Nims is an Organisational Design and Development consultant at the MOD, she also freelances and supports SMEs. She is an executive coach and a trainee transactional analyst in the field of organisations.
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