Map for Module 2: Allness

Map for Module 2: Awareness and Action - Allness

In Module 1 we addressed the question, "What is General Semantics?" During the next two weeks, we will focus on applying what we learned about GS to produce more effective language behaviors.

Mary will lead this module based on excerpts from her PDF textbook, Awareness and Action Download Awareness and Action

. These excerpts can be read within the Canvas pages so it's not necessary to download the PDF textbook. Because minor changes have been made to accommodate the online format and module numbering, we prefer and recommend you read the pages from within Canvas to complete the assignments. But you are welcome to download and read the complete Awareness and Action textbook.

Introduction

As a communication studies professor who is also a parent, I often advise my children, “Change your perception and you change your world.” As a researcher with interests in general semantics and appreciative inquiry—a method for organizational change that involves stakeholders focusing on what is going well—I recently updated my advice to include, “Words create worlds so choose wisely” (Whitney & Trosten-Bloom, 2010, p. 52). Regardless of the contexts in which we find ourselves, we might communicate more effectively if we explore our daily language behavior. A general semantics methodology provides the opportunity to do so.   

I first learned about general semantics in a 1982 Language and Thought class taught by Paul Keller at Manchester. Professor Keller studied general semantics with Irving Lee at Northwestern University. Since 1996, I have taught a number of courses using books by William Haney (1992), Susan and Bruce Kodish (2001), and Steve Stockdale (2009a). I credit these authors for the various sections of Awareness and Action:

1. Stockdale (2009a) outlined a “structured system of formulations” to explain general semantics, and I address two of its premises, “scientific orientation” and “time-binding,” in Chapter 1, leaving “abstraction,” “nonverbal awareness,” and “verbal awareness” for Chapter 2.
2. Kodish and Kodish (2001) operationalized “nonverbal awareness” with student-friendly exercises that I include in Chapter 2. 
3. Haney (1992) explained “contributing factors” and “correctives” for patterns of miscommunication that occur when we are not aware of the abstraction process. I introduce several of these patterns in the following four chapters: Allness, Inference—Observation Confusion, Bypassing, and Differentiation Failures. For each pattern, I include case studies developed by former students. 

 

In short, Awareness and Action shows how general semantics can be used as a systematic inquiry into language behavior, followed by an application of these formulations. I use case studies to engage readers in all four phases of Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle: 

1. When discussing the abstractions of characters in the cases, we work with accommodative knowledge: the “transformation of the intuitive aspects of experience through active experimentation."
2. When applying the contributing factors needed to address characters’ faulty language behaviors, we develop divergent knowledge: the “transformation of the intuitive aspects of the experience through reflection.”
3. When working together to evaluate how one corrective is better than another for each character in a case, we acquire assimilative knowledge by “deciding on the best solution.”
4. When role playing a case with appropriate correctives for each character to address faulty language behaviors, we create convergent knowledge by presenting “an implementation plan”  (as cited in Kreber, 2001, p. 224). 

General semantics is not just a theory but a practical approach to delay the way that humans automatically respond: it is something we must do. The case studies approach ensures that we practice applying the formulations, taking action with our newfound awareness of faulty language behavior.   

Module Learning Objectives

After successfully completing this module, students will be able to:

• Identify the GS premise that explains allness.
•  Explain the contributing factors to allness.
• Use the structural differential to explain why we neglect to distinguish between a group and individuals within the group.
• Identify the correctives needed to combat allness.
• Explain why we are closed to new and different ideas as we grow older.

Module Activities

This week we will learn how the GS principle of allness applies to our language behaviors. You will:

1. Read the excerpt from Chapter 3: Allness of Awareness and Action.
2. Analyze character behaviors from a sample Case Study (Case 3.1).
3. Participate in a Discussion related to allness.
4. Choose one other Case Study for further analysis (from Cases 3.2, 3.3, or 3.4).
5. Complete the module quiz.