A

More on Teacher Strategy 305

think that it is inaccurate. I suggest that there are two reasons for this
possible response. We will spend some time on the first point and then see
how it leads to the second.
First, the Teacher person cannot see how he thinks. Like the Mercy
individual, he lives within an isolated mental world; he cannot „see‟ the
other rooms of the house from his conscious „room.‟ But, the thinking of
his room is heavily influenced by what happens in the rest of the mind.
Therefore, when we describe the operation of Teacher thought, we must
include a description of mental processes which he will not notice.
I have mentioned that Teacher feelings of generality are related to
repetition. When the same feature repeats itself many times, the result is
positive Teacher emotion. This is how I as a Perceiver person would
describe Teacher emotion. It also explains, from my viewpoint, the
subconscious processing which is occurring within the mind of the Teacher
person—he is unable to see it, but it is responsible for creating his good
feelings.
When building a general theory, the Teacher person does not look
consciously for repetition. Instead, he finds some attractive memory within
Teacher thought and attempts to hold on to it, in the same way that Mercy
strategy wants to preserve experiences which are pleasant. This „attractive
memory‟ becomes a potential theory. In order to test it, Teacher strategy
moves around to different areas of the mind while „holding on‟ to his
intellectual „possession.‟ If he succeeds in mentally grasping this potential
theory while accessing other memories, then it becomes a more general
theory which explains those other memories.A The result is positive
Teacher emotion. On the other hand, if he is unable to hold on to this
memory, then he knows that his potential theory is inadequate, and the
result is Teacher pain. The area of thought within which a Teacher person
can hold on to a specific theory becomes the domain of that theory. In
terms of our illustration, Teacher thought chooses some Teacher memory,
acts as if it is an „elephant,‟ and then tries to preserve the „elephant‟ status
of this memory while „walking‟ around a „field‟ of other theories.B

A For the technical person: It becomes general by developing slots for

variables. For instance, the specific statement, 50 °F = 10 °C, is turned into
the general statement, °F = 9/5°C + 32. Both of these are Teacher
sequences of „words‟, but the general one has become „fuzzy‟ in certain
spots. „Fuzzy‟ areas can temporarily take on the shape of specifics. In
mathematical terms, these „fuzzy‟ regions are variables.
B It is difficult to be around a Teacher person when he is thinking. This is

because conscious thought for him involves turning „animals‟ of all sizes
temporarily into „elephants.‟ When he is working with major concepts, the
rapidity and totality with which he lifts up seemingly insignificant concepts
can give him the appearance of mental instability or even insanity—pity