Scheme #1: *taskob: This is a figurative scheme of the tasks–objects that
the subject regards as worthmastering(the mastery affect is possibly innate—
Pascual-Leone, 1991).
Scheme #2:self1: The self’s primary consciousness representation.
Scheme #3: *context: As previously described, a representation of the
context or situation.
Scheme #4: AGENCY: A practical operative scheme of Agency, that is,
a disposition to actively and personally solve tasks or object problems. The
mastery primary affect helps to develop agency, or at least the desire for it,
across experiences.
Scheme #5: #successfulad: This is a practical concept–predicate (an ad
scheme) that functions as a parameter (i.e., a condition, this is the meaning of
the prefix #) to the operative AGENCY. Children whose life experience has
given occasion for many successful acts of agency, already have struc-
tured–chunked together schemes #4 and #5. Children whose experiences of
agency have been predominantly unsuccessful, might have to activate the two
schemes separately in order to reach the idea–motive of independence.
Scheme #6:self2: This is the child’s self-conscious self, which we call
self 2.^5
Scheme #7: BE-INDEPENDENT: Operative scheme, supported by the
innatemastery affect,expressing the affective need for independence (i.e., do-
ing things without help).
Using these schemes the mental operation for constructing theindepend-
encemotive might be as follows:
BE-INDEPENDENT(AGENCY(#successfulad,
*context,self1, *taskob)self 2) (F#2)In English this expression might be paraphrased as follows: “When a
child’s unreflective consciousness (self1) has sufficiently experienced across
tasks (taskob) and in various contexts (context) his or her own powers of
agency (AGENCY), his or her reflective self (self 2) develops the desire–mo-
tive of being independent (BE-INDEPENDENT).”
Consider children who have had few experiences of self-produced success.
For these children, schemes #4 and #5 will still be separated. To achieve the
motive of independence, they must first internalize the idea of their own suc-
cessful agency. This is attained (look in F#2 at the schemes inside the
AGENCY-parentheses) when self1has repeatedly achieved successful
Agency. This primary-consciousness experience involves coordination of five
- AFFECT, SELF-MOTIVATION, AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 219
5 5 Others might perhaps consider this to be a higher order consciousness or autobiographical
consciousness of a very low level (Damasio, 1999; Edelman & Tononi, 2000).