Brains On Purpose™

Now online: A new article by Jeff Schwartz and me, plus the newest intallment of my ADR column

The new edition of The Complete Lawyer includes an article by Jeff and me entitled "Exercise Mind Hygiene On A Daily Basis." Excerpt:

Become More Self-Aware In Three Steps

Your reflective mind is your shield against living reactively. It can help you become wiser, healthier and more satisfied—which is worth more than any imaginable income. It is easy to use—but not often simple. Here are three steps that will help you separate yourself from your reactive brain and begin to move into your reflective mind.

The edition is focused on "A Sound Mind in a Sound Body" and has articles for everyone. While you are over there, please take a look at the second installment of my ADR column "The Human Factor." I cowrite it with my terrific ADR sisters Victoria Pynchon, Gini Nelson, and Diane Levin.

What's the quickest route from reactive brain to reflective mind (and a new kind of dispute)? Climb a tree

As I have discussed before, disputes sometimes occur between minds, sometimes between brains, and sometimes we will see what can be called a "conflict combo." Possibilities:

• people interacting with their reactive brains
• people interacting with their reflective minds, and
• reactive brains interacting with reflective minds.

Each results in a different quality of dispute and method of resolution.

A diagram of the possibilities is to the left. (Click on it to make it big enough to read.) People may move back and forth between reactive and reflective during a conflict, of course.

A self-aware person is using his or her reflective mind. This weekend, my friend John Warnick kindly alerted me to a great graphic: a tree of practices that can lead one to self-awareness. This tree is for the spiritual, the religious, and the secular:

[T]he roots symbolize the two intentions that are the foundation of all contemplative practices: cultivating awareness and developing a stronger connection to God, the divine, or inner wisdom. The roots of the tree encompass and transcend differences in the religious traditions from which many of the practices originated, and allow room for the inclusion of new practices that are being created in secular contexts.

Take a look at all the included practices. In how many do you participate? As I often say, self-awareness is not cultivated by meditation alone. Anyone who wants increased self-awareness can find a practice that fits. Now go climb that tree.

Conflict Zen: A "centered, balanced, and intentional" approach to conflict

I am delighted to see a new blog in the conflict resolution blogosphere: Conflict Zen created by Dr. Tammy Lenski. Her message seems aligned with ours in valuing self-awareness and mindfulness. A while back we posted this quote:

There is a dimension to the practice of mediation that has received insufficient attention: the combination of psychological, intellectual, and spiritual qualities that make a [mediator] who he or she is.   . . .   Indeed, this . . . may be one of the most potent sources of the effectiveness of mediation.

--Daniel Bowling and David A. Hoffman, Bringing Peace Into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution

I think those qualities of the mediator are the most important "sources of the effectiveness of mediation."

And it look as if Lenski will be speaking to those qualities. She writes:

Conflict Zen is the intersection of the threads of my professional life: teacher, professional mediator, executive coach, and writer. It is the place I will offer up simple, mindful practices for keeping your balance and changing your reaction in conflict. It's a site for anyone who wants to keep their balance better during difficult conversations, including mediators . . .  .

In that same post in which I included the above Bowling quote (Asclepius, JD: What can this god's daughters teach us about conflict?), I talked about the impact of the reactive brain and the reflective mind on  conflict, and mentioned one key on the path to reflective mind—self-awareness. I think I have a fellow blogger walking that path with me. I look forward with great enthusiasm to reading more about her "centered, balanced and intentional reaction" to disputes. Tammy, I am excited to welcome Conflict Zen. You are in both my Google reader and my esteem.

Hat tip to Geoff Sharp at mediator blah...blah... .

Asclepius, JD: What can this god's daughters teach us about conflict?

"There is a dimension to the practice of mediation that has received insufficient attention: the combination of psychological, intellectual, and spiritual qualities that make a [mediator] who he or she is.   . . .   Indeed, this . . . may be one of the most potent sources of the effectiveness of mediation.

--Daniel Bowling and David A. Hoffman, Bringing Peace Into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution

Asclepius, the  Greek god of medicine and healing, had five daughters. For conflict resolution professionals, two of his daughters represent different roles these professionals can play with clients. Daughter Hygieia represented maintenance of good health and the prevention of sickness. Her sister Panacea represented cure from sickness. Hygieia was preventative; Panacea was curative. Both roles have a place in dispute resolution.

As I am sure both Hygieia and Panacea know, the reactive brain can lead to unhealthy conflict just as the reflective mind can facilitate healthy conflict—and resolution. Noticing the reactive and reflective gives us a way of looking at who is in a conflict. For the Neuroscience of Conflict Resolution seminar, I created a diagram to clarify the various combinations of parties to the dispute. (Click on the diagram to make it larger.)

In the seminar we look at conflicts between

• people interacting with their reactive brains
• people interacting with their reflective minds, and
• reactive brains interacting with reflective minds.

Each results in a different quality of dispute and method of resolution.

Self-awareness is a requisite for using one's reflective mind. (In the seminar, I present a top ten list of practices to improve and strengthen self-awareness.) A self-aware person will likely experience fewer

Feelings as facilitators: Emotions can either enhance or impede communication

Jeff was interviewed on national radio last week when he was in Australia. Several of the points he made are very useful for conflict resolution. (Click to listen to Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz) [no longer available]. Jeff begins right about one-quarter of the way in.) Just one example: he talked about the role of emotion in communication.

In the interview, Jeff described self-awareness, and the observing self, and explained some of the benefits of watching what your brain is doing. One of these benefits is the positive use of emotions. Awareness of what our brains are up to allows us to use emotions wisely—instead of them using us. The wise use of emotions is probably one of the most important skills in conflict resolution. As Jeff said in the interview, this awareness allows us to  "use emotions in a way that enhances communication rather than perhaps getting in the way of communication which emotions sometimes do."

Yes, they sometimes do, don't they? Emotions are often an impediment to resolving a dispute. So the more people's minds are in charge of

Applied Improvisation Network—November, 2007, Banff, Canada

Last post, I mentioned some benefits of learning and practicing improv. In November, the Applied Improvisation Network is holding its annual conference. Here's a quick overview of the sessions (PDF) and detailed information about each session (PDF).

Looks like a great event for both those beginning and those experienced in improv. Are any of you attending?

Hat tip to Johnnie Moore.

Note: Here's the Applied Improvisation Network blog.

Conflict: Is it all in your head?

Since neuroscience is one eye through which we look on this blog, and the brain is in the head, I am glad to be reminded of how important the rest of the body is to conflict resolution. The mind and the brain are important but so are the foot and the ankle and the shin . . .

The latest reminder was in an article from The New Mexican: "Mapping the mind." The reporter Jennifer Strand tells us the story behind the soon-to-be-published book The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better written by science writers Sandra Blakeslee and her son Matthew Blakeslee, and gives an overview of the book . . .

The book explores the concept of “body maps” in the brain that trace their routes throughout the body and beyond. According to the book, your body is actually mapped onto your brain (homunculus). All these maps together create your sense of your body (body schema) and you create your own map with your attitude toward your body (body image).

“Research now shows that your brain is teeming with body maps — maps of your body’s surface, its musculature, its intentions, its potential for action, even a map that automatically tracks and emulates the actions and intentions of other people around you,” the Blakeslees write. “These body-centered maps are profoundly plastic — capable of significant reorganization in response to damage, experience, or practice.”

Practice. There's self-directed neuroplasticity again. Be sure to take a look at the article then don't miss the exercise near the end of that page.

An excerpt from the book was published in Scientific American in an article entitled  "Where Mind and Body Meet." In the article, the

Brains of a feather: What brains do when thinking about someone in the ingroup versus someone in the outgroup

Following up on the last post in which we looked at homophily or the "birds of a feather" phenomenon, let's consider a Harvard study about what a brain does when it thinks about people believed to be different, perhaps people of a different ethnic, cultural, or political group. Researchers looked at what happened in the brains of liberal college students when they thought about Christian conservatives.

From "Brain Scans Get at Roots of Prejudice" (an article covering the study) . . .

As they did so, a brain region strongly linked to the self and to empathy with others nearly shut down, while another center -- perhaps linked to stereotypic thoughts -- swung into high gear.

"It's as if you think that 'they' don't think like you do -- it's like you believe they are governed by a different set of rules when they think," explained study author Dr. Jason Mitchell, . . . .

According to Mitchell, social psychologists have long known that people engage different mental criteria when thinking about the possible thoughts and actions of people within their own ethnic, cultural or political group, vs. those outside that group.

Knowledge of cognitive biases such as ingroup bias is certainly not new but learning about the neurological mechanisms is. There is still much research to be done to achieve fuller understanding  of how we think about others but this study is a step.

One focus area of Mitchell's research is something very important for anyone wanting to understand interpersonal communication and conflict: "other-ness."

"Our work is about 'other-ness,' " Mitchell said. "There's this question of 'How do I figure out what's going on inside your head? How do I make inferences about what you are feeling?' "

How do we figure it out?