Cognitive Styles 31ways of evaluating information. The Teacher, Exhorter and Mercy use
emotion, while the Perceiver, Contributor and Server work with confidence.
The emotional person evaluates information based on how it makes him
feel. Emotion can vary all the way from horrible, to bad, to „blah,‟ to fair,
to ecstatic. In contrast, the person who uses confidence knows what is right
and wrong, what works and what doesn‟t. Confidence also can vary from
uncertain, to reasonably confident, to absolutely certain.
Confidence and emotion interact with each other. The level of
confidence determines the emotional pressure that a memory can handle
without falling apart. This interaction can be compared to driving a car
down a road full of potholes. The bumps are the emotions, while the
confidence is the structural integrity of the vehicle. A poorly constructed
car will fall apart if the road on which it is driven is too rough. A tank, on
the other hand, can handle the „emotion‟ of roaring across hills and gullies
and still stay in one piece.A
Stage fright is another example of emotion affecting confidence. A
person may be able to perform adequately at home where no one is
listening, but he easily loses confidence when standing in front of a big
crowd. His level of confidence is great enough to handle the small
emotions of home, but it is insufficient to deal with the stronger feelings
associated with public performance and audience response.B
You will notice that the diagram of mental symmetry has been drawn in
two ways. In the first picture, abstract and concrete form the left axis,
while in the other drawing, the left axis contains emotion and confidence.
These two diagrams contain exactly the same information, and are drawn
in different ways to make certain features more obvious. The first drawing
emphasizes the different types of thought. The second makes it easier to
see the flow of mental processing. Notice in this diagram how thought
starts at the top with emotion, moves through a layer of confidence, and
then is channeled through Facilitator strategy. These three stages of mental
processing will become very significant when we look at the three styles of
Exhorter, Contributor and Facilitator.
The mind uses two types of processing with two types of information.
Thinking can be either analytical or associative.A When it comes to physical construction, the sturdiest structure is not
always the one with the strongest material. Instead, the best choice is
usually a well-engineered combination of strength, shape and flexibility. I
suggest that a similar principle applies to the mind.
B As a violinist, I know about stage fright, and have found public
performances to be excellent for applying principles of mental
programming.