Effectivity

Building Effective attitudes part 2 - Cognition

I live in Japan, but I don’t look like a Japanese person, I look like a foreigner.  When I meet someone for the first time, no matter how well I speak Japanese with them, they are likely to not understand me.  It could be because of my Australian accent, but mostly it is because my new friend believes that he cannot understand foreigners.  In the past, he has tried to understand foreigners and has failed, so now he believes that this communication will always be an issue.  This belief, this cognition of the situation, determines his attitude, and his attitude corresponds to his view of the world.  As a result, he cannot understand me, no matter how hard we try to make a connection.  Even if my words are spot on, they are scrambled by his cognition that foreigners cannot be understood.  It would be funny if it wasn’t so hard to deal with.

The second part in our series about Building Effective Attitudes deals with cognition.  The first part  outlined the way that our attitudes are made up of Cognition, Affection and Conation.  These next three articles will look at each of these in turn and provide ways to modify your attitude to increase your effectivity.

Cognition is your knowledge and perception about a subject.  Cognition does not necessarily equal truth, it is only your perception of truth.  So there can be accurate cognition as well as false cognition.  There can be positive cognition as well as negative cognition.

Cognition is a concept that dwells partially below our conscious mind.  We absorb information and form associations about our world without thinking about it.  In this way, cognition can happen without our conscious effort.  However cognition can also occur under the influence of our conscious mind.  We can build or modify our cognition about a subject if we set about it deliberately.  In this way, we are able to modify our attitude via our cognition of a subject.  If we do this well we will be able to increase our effectivity as our attitude drives us to achieve what we want with our lives.

The main paths to modifying your own cognition are:

• Information input
• The power of associations
• Reinforcement of these associations

Simple cognition begins with the input of information about the subject, what it looks like, how it fits, does it work.  This information can either present a positive or a negative aspect of the subject. 

“Running is hard” can be a simple negative belief

“Running is good for me” can be a simple positive belief

Both are true but it is easy to see that the one that you allow to become your focus, will decide your attitude to running.  The information that you allow your cognition to be based on determines your over all cognitive perception.  This leads us to the first way that we can control the cognitive component of our attitudes. 

Whatever aspect of a subject you focus on will become the basis of your cognition.  If you choose to focus on a positive aspect then your cognition will be positive and your attitude will tend to become positive.  If you concentrate on negative aspects, then your attitude will become negative.  Pretty simple stuff really. 

In action, what this means is that we are able to deliberately select what information we will focus on and eventually this will modify out attitude in the way that we want.  If we want to form a positive attitude to something (yoga), then we have to focus on positive information  about it (muscle suppleness, relaxation).  This is the information that we should seek, study and focus on.  If we want to form a negative attitude to something (credit cards) then we have to focus on negative information about it (high interest, reduction in savings).  This information will build our negative cognition and help us to form a negative attitude to the subject.

The second means that we have to modify our cognition is the power of associations.  An association is simply a relationship that exists between 2 things.  It may be a real relationship, or simply one created in your mind, but somehow the two things are linked together in your beliefs.  Positive associations lead to positive cognition and then positive attitudes.  When we relate two things together, they share a common cognitive perception.  We believe that the relationship behaves in a certain way.  “Running reduces heart attacks”  - “Stress causes illness”  These relationships occur in our perception without our deliberate action, but we also have the ability to set up our own relationships and associations to modify our attitude. Positive associations lead to positive cognition, which leads to positive attitude, action and achievement.

The more we experience these associations the stronger they will become in our cognition.  Each time we experience the same or complementary associations, we reinforce our current belief about the relationship.  If you believe that there is a definite relationship between lifting weights and pain then you will look for this experience and if you see it again it will reinforce and strengthen your cognition.  This will soon get to the stage that you cannot imagine lifting weights without pain.  You can see what this will do with your attitude.  In the same way, rehearsing or re-visiting a positive association regularly will strengthen the relationship and will contribute to a strong and positive attitude.

3 cognition exercises:

1. Seek out input that will help you form positive associations with what you want to achieve.  Choose a personal goal of yours and find some information today, that helps you to believe that you can achieve it.  Look for case studies or biographies of others who have reached similar goals or dig up some facts that persuade you that what you are achieving will be possible.  Write this information on cards and read them often.  These beliefs will soon enter your cognition and will powerfully charge your attitude towards your goal.
2. Discover or create positive associations with your goal.  Some goals have positive associations naturally (painting beautiful pictures may be associated with fully expressing yourself ).  Other goals may need you to create your own positive associations (associating a successful end of year result with a team party will be a positive association).  The trick is to find or develop a positive association that is personally motivating and rich in imagery.  The more vivid the imagery, the more motivating the association, so work hard to create a full mental image of the relationship.  Choose a goal today that is causing you troubles.  Discover  a relationship between the goal and another positive or motivating  subject.  If none exists already, create your own.  This can be as simple as a celebration or as complex as an association with a childhood memory or previous experience.  No matter what, the association must be clear and motivating to you, personally.
3. Reinforce these associations as often as possible.  Believing the association once is important, reminding yourself over and over again will keep it in front of your mind.  If you remind yourself every day that eating healthy food makes you feel better than eating junk food, then by the end of a month, the image will be so strong in your subconscious that it will have a lasting impact on your attitude and your actions.   Do this for any or all of your goals and you will be deliberately and accurately targeting your attitude for success.

These three simple exercises are just a sample to prove to you that you can manipulate your own cognition and that this can change your attitude.  Use these as a base to develop your own tools to change your beliefs.

Since cognition is based on beliefs, we can see how it is possible to change our beliefs by the information in front of us and the associations between it.   We don’t change the truth, but most of the time it isn’t the truth that limits us. It is usually our cognition of the truth that restricts us and lumbers us with a less than optimal attitude.  This in turn keeps us from optimal action and subsequently limits our ability to reach our goals.  It all starts here.  Deliberately modify your cognition and you are on the right path.  Next we will look at the affection component of attitudes, so drop by again tomorrow.

How will you change your cognition towards your goals today?  How will you improve your attitude and enable effective action?

Thanks

Tom 

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