Facts and Frames

George Lakoff recently wrote a Change This Manifesto. This terrific site has had 250,000 or so downloads since August. Lakoff's piece is on the "linguistic frames" used by cultural/political conservatives. While the specifics of his analysis of potential progressive responses is clearly of interest, I'm more intrigued by the bigger point his thinking highlights: the way language and thought affect perception.

I've written before about the definitive impact of what the Germans called einstellung, a word for which we have no perfect English translation. Kurt Lewin called this concept "perceptual set," with the implication being that each of us observes the world through these lenses, which only permit us to see in accordance with their refractions.

"Frames" perform a similar filtration. Once we frame up situations in particular terms (for example, "talking about team interaction is getting into non-productive 'touchy-feely' stuff") it is practically impossible to perceive those situations in other terms. Even if the facts contradict the frame, ("the best teams pay attention to their interaction patterns") the frame endures.

I keep coming back to what Einstein meant when he said, "if the facts don't match the theory, change the facts." This is what we do with frames every day.

This is one of the biggest barriers to change: literally not seeing circumstances that make you believe change is necessary.

Comments

[Connie]

Is there a difference between "not seeing" and willful blindness?

[Tom Guarriello]

You've hit on the essential existential question, according to Sartre. He would distinguish between "bad faith" (willful blindness) and the universal existential condition of falleness (following Heidegger) to which we are all given.

Short answer: yes, there is a difference.

There is a moment at which I become aware of the condition in which I find myself. Confronting that moment is the crux of human freedom. If I am "unable" to confront that moment, I am in "bad faith" and will experience consequent anxiety. If I do confront that moment, I am placing myself in a position for authenticity, in which I experience myself at the center of my own existence.

Sorry to be so cryptic, but this is a complex question.