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The (In)flexible Agency "DESIRE" WORKSHOP

ROME 31.10-01.11.2014

Piotr Makowski Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan

http://pmakowski.com/ email: makowski@amu.edu.pl

OVERVIEW1. INITIAL IDEA

2. FLEXIBILITY IN PSYCHOLOGY (DEFINITION, DISTINCTIONS)

3. WHERE TO SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY IN ACTION THEORY: RESISTANCE AND RIGIDITY OF ATTITUDES

4. TWO EXAMPLES: RESISTANCE OF DESIRE AND INERTIA/STABILITY OF INTENTION

5. SUPPLEMENTING THE PICTURE OF FLEXIBLE AGENCY IN ACTION THEORY: PLASTICITY OF PLANNING

6. CONCLUSIONS2

INITIAL IDEA:

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\ˈflek-sə-bəl\

• capable of bending or being bent, • able to change or to do different things, • willing to change or to try different things;

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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5http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_stretching_at_Ouwehands_2010.JPG

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(Thurston & Runco 2011: 730)

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FLEXIBILITY - A FEW SAMPLES

• Kate is flexible about her working arrangement. • They can flexibly add more speakers. • Flexibility is not what describes her attitude

towards my lifestyle. • You shouldn’t have been so flexible in

accepting his plan!

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PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY [PF]

'a slippery construct to define', reffering to different dynamic processes:

(1) adaptation to fluctuating situational demands, (2) reconfiguration of mental resources, (3) perspective shifting, (4) balancing competing desires, needs, and life domains.

(Kashdan & Rottenberg 2010: 886)

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PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY [PF]

’a slippery construct to define’, reffering to different dynamic processes:

(1) adaptation to fluctuating situational demands, (2) reconfiguration of mental resources, (3) perspective shifting, (4) balancing competing desires, needs, and life domains.

(Kashdan & Rottenberg 2010: 886)

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DEFINITION OF [PF]personality trait: capability of adaptation to fluctuating environment (by reconfiguration of our mental resources and change in perspective)

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH: • COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY [CF]: readiness with which the

person’s concept system changes selectively in response to appropriate environmental stimuli (Scott 1962: 405).

• PHYSICAL FLEXIBILITY [PhF]: the scope of movement in a joint and length in muscles that cross the joints to produce motion.

BUT: [PF] is supported by [CF] and [CF] is supported by [PhF] (Masley et al. 2009)

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DEFINITION OF [PF]personality trait: capability of adaptation to fluctuating environment (by reconfiguration of our mental resources and change in perspective)

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH: • COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY [CF]: readiness with which the

person’s concept system changes selectively in response to appropriate environmental stimuli (Scott 1962: 405).

• PHYSICAL FLEXIBILITY [PhF]: the scope of movement in a joint and length in muscles that cross the joints to produce motion.

BUT: [PF] is supported by [CF] and [CF] is supported by [PhF] (Masley et al. 2009)

THE ROLE OF [PF]• FLEXIBILITY

- performance enhancement (improvement in response shifts, adaptability to find alternative routes), - psychological health (ego-resiliency, switching between life domains and time perspectives), - well-being (openness in aceptance emotional experiences, engagement in difficult activities connected with important values),

• INFLEXIBILITY

- psychopathology (anxiety disorders, experiential avoidance, depression, emotion context insensitivity, ADHD, schizophrenia);

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[PF] AND ACTION THEORY

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WHERE TO SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM?

- RESISTANCE AND RIGIDITY OF ATTITUDES

- FOLK-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS

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WHERE TO SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM?

- RESISTANCE AND RIGIDITY OF ATTITUDES

- FOLK-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS

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WHERE TO SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM?

- RESISTANCE AND RIGIDITY OF ATTITUDES

- FOLK-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS

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DESIRE

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DESIRE (Airaksinen)

• 'subjective state of mind', entails wanting, • unsatisfiable (is 'about distant possible worlds') - unlike

mere choices or needs, • exists in the 'architecture' of an agent’s individual

character: presupposes fantasy (but realistic) narratives, • different from detached empty wishes (which

pressupose unrealistic narratives), • personally resisted

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RESISTANCE OF DESIREINTENTIONAL OBJECTS OF DESIRE

• are desirable not per se, but because we stick to them with our narrative about it,

• cannot give genuine reasons for action because they are strange (they can give us apparent reasons),

• leave an affective sediment after the desired goal is putatively archieved (e.g. regret) = result of unsatisfiability

'INERTIA OF DESIRE'19

RESISTANCE OF DESIREINTENTIONAL OBJECTS OF DESIRE

• are desirable not per se, but because we stick to them with our narrative about it,

• cannot give genuine reasons for action because they are strange (they can give us apparent reasons),

• leave an affective sediment after the desired goal is putatively archieved (e.g. regret) = result of unsatisfiability

'INERTIA OF DESIRE'20

NORMATIVE CONSTRAINT

how to cope with the resistance of desire? • controlling the personal wants without additional wanting • ABANDONEMENT OF DESIRES ('wearing them out’)

restoration of normal attitude towards our goals

/[PF] via reconfiguration of our mental resources and change in perspective/

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NORMATIVE CONSTRAINT

how to cope with the resistance of desire? • controlling the personal wants without additional wanting • ABANDONEMENT OF DESIRES ('wearing them out’)

restoration of normal attitude towards our goals

/[PF] via reconfiguration of our mental resources and change in perspective/

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INTENTION

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FUTURE-DIRECTED INTENTION (Bratman)

• mental state of planning: pro-attitude with commitment (cf. future-directed decision (Ferrero 2006)),

• structured hierarchically (when enters complex planning structures; goals embed means),

• prompter of practical reasoning (about other intentions), • conduct controller because of its specific inertia or

stability

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'STABILITY OR INERTIA' OF INTENTION

• POSITIVE ASPECTS - STABILITY: - pragmatic dimension of our psychology: future directed intention settles the goal until the time of action,

- 'automatic' control of future action: retention of an intention and its nonreconsideration is the 'default option' (Bratman 1987: 16-17)

• NEGATIVE ASPECT - INERTIA: - inertial actions and errors: when intentions are not reconsidered or abandoned on time (when new relevant information arrives)

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'STABILITY OR INERTIA' OF INTENTION

• POSITIVE ASPECTS - STABILITY: - pragmatic dimension of our psychology: future directed intention settles the goal until the time of action,

- 'automatic' control of future action: retention of an intention and its nonreconsideration is the 'default option' (Bratman 1987: 16-17)

• NEGATIVE ASPECT - INERTIA: - inertial actions and errors: when intentions are not reconsidered or abandoned on time (when new relevant information arrives)

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NORMATIVE CONSTRAINTS?reasonable stabillity*

- aiming to provide non-inertial stability of intentions and plans

'TWO-TIER APPROACH' TO NONREFLECTIVE (NON)RECONSIDERATION

• PRIMARY TIER: pragmatic habits favoring non-reconsideration of prior intentions ('defaultness' of intentions)

• ADVANCED TIER: rationality of (not)following the above habit in a particular case ("right or wrong to retain/reconsider my intention given the change in the circumstances of my agency?”)

* other norms governing intentions not considered here 27

NORMATIVE CONSTRAINTS?'reasonable stabillity'

nonreconsideration reconsideration

('defaultness') [PF]

abandoning intentions? (without reconsideration)

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NORMATIVE CONSTRAINTS?'reasonable stabillity'

nonreconsideration reconsideration

('defaultness') [PF]

abandoning intentions? (without reconsideration)

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NORMATIVE CONSTRAINTS?'reasonable stabillity'

nonreconsideration reconsideration

('defaultness') [PF]

abandoning intentions? (without reconsideration)

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NORMATIVE CONSTRAINTS?'reasonable stabillity'

nonreconsideration reconsideration

('defaultness') [PF]

abandoning intentions? (without reconsideration)

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PLANS (intentions in planning structures)

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http://rpseawright.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/reality.png

PLASTICITY OF PLANS (Kotarbiński)

• ability to adjust ourselves to unpredicted circumstances (different versions of events)

• standard of not containing in our plans anything that prevents changes in the means (or even in the goal) of planning ('switching from one track to another').

• planning should be adjusted to the degree of uncertainty about planning environment. (Kotarbiński 1983: 26)

abandoning our means or goals without wasting our plans

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INTENTION at t0 to Φ at t2

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at t1: retain reconsider abandon

reflectively nonreflectively reflectively nonreflectively

reasonable stability (Bratman)

x x

plasticity (Kotarbiński) x x x

[PF] via reconfiguration of our mental resources and change in perspective

INTENTION at t0 to Φ at t2

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at t1: retain reconsider abandon

reflectively nonreflectively reflectively nonreflectively

reasonable stability (Bratman)

x x

plasticity (Kotarbiński) x x x

[PF] via reconfiguration of our mental resources and change in perspective

CONCLUSIONS

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(IN)FLEXIBILITY OF AGENCY• INFLEXIBILITY: crucial phenomena of action reveal immanent

inertia, which is responsible for:

- increased susceptibility to practical errors, - excessive rigidity of attitude, - unnecessary conservatism (inertial intentions) or utopianism/romanticism (resistance of desire);

• FLEXIBILITY: these phenomena are subject to normative control which

- has deeper rationale in the context of our cognitive abilities, - restores overall effectiveness of (and fluency in) our actions, - is conceivable only in the context of rigidity (=interconnectedness of flexibility and inflexibility)

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META-CONCLUSION

POSSIBILITY OF DEEPER MUTUAL SUPPORT BETWEEN ACTION THEORY (PHENOMENOLOGY OF

ACTION) AND PSYCHOLOGY

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BIBLIOGRAPHY• Airaksinen, T. (2012). Desire and happiness. Homo Oeconomicus 29(3): 393–412. • Bonanno, G. A. et al (2004). The importance of being flexible: The ability to enhance and

suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment. Psychological Science 157: 482−487.

• Bratman, M.E. (1987). Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. • Ferrero, L. (2006). Three ways of spilling ink tomorrow. In E. Baccarini & S. Prijic-Samarzija

(Eds.). Rationality in Belief and Action (pp. 95—127). Rijeka: Filozofski Facultet. • Gardner, F.L. & Moore, Z.E. (2007). The Psychology of Enhancing Human Performance.

Springer Publishing Comp. • Kashdan, T.B. & Rottenberg, J. (2010). Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of

health. Clinical Psychology Review 30: 865–878. • Kotarbiński, T. (1965). Praxiology: An Introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action. Transl.

by O. Wojtasiewicz, Oxford: Pergamon Press, • ______(1983). The general concept of plan. Dialectics and Humanism 10(4): 15–31. • Masley, S. et al. (2009). Aerobic exercise enhances cognitive flexibility. Journal of Clinical

Psychology in Medical Settings 16(2): 186-193. • Scott, W.A. (1962) Cognitive complexity and cognitive flexibility. Sociometry 25(4): 405-414. • Thurston, B.J. & Runco, M.A. (2011). Flexibility In M.A. Runco & S. Pritzker (Eds.),

Encyclopedia of Creativity (pp. 729-732). Academic Press.41

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The (In)flexible Agency "DESIRE" WORKSHOP

ROME 31.10-01.11.2014

Piotr Makowski Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan

http://pmakowski.com/ email: makowski@amu.edu.pl