AOC & OBSERVER INTRUSION

F Richard Singer III 11/11/08

mailto:pndp@sbcglobal.net

This paper is available on: http://www.conceptualstudy.org/

Observer Role: Referring to a person an actor or an observer or a critic is a short way of saying that the person is functioning in one of these roles. Actors use their world for the opportunities it provides. To be most useful, the critic and observer roles are primarily to support the actor in spontaneously acting as an author of the actor’s behavior. Observers note the current state of affairs, what is happening, has happened, happens generally, how things work, external relationship, relationships to the actor, etc. In doing so, observers are selective. Moreover altho it is critic who judges that what is happening now is not satisfactory and formulates an account of what is wrong and a specification of what to do differently if possible. I will conceptualize the observer role as also making evaluations that the critic uses in this process. Consider the Lion In the Room Example. The observer not only notes that the lion is in the room, but also observes this as something especially noteworthy and perhaps dangerous. The critic then appraises this situation as dangerous and prescribes running from the room. This may differ somewhat from the conceptualization of the observer role as used in Descriptive Psychology, but I find this the most convenient in thinking about these roles.

Excessive Observers: Any behavior role can sometimes malfunction. One type of observer malfunction can be characterized as excessive use of the observer role. In one form, the excessive observer is directed outward in ways that diminishes being an actor in a noteworthy manor. The term couch potato is indicative of such a malfunction. Being in an ivory tower can also be considered as being an excessive observer. In another form, it is being preoccupied with self-observation in ways that diminishes being an actor. Narcissus from Greek mythology is the extreme case, as he was then turned into a flower as he continuously gazed at his own refection. This paper briefly examines a form of excessive self-observation that I call observer intrusion or the intrusive observer. This form involves the observer being so preoccupied with self-observation as to interfere with being an actor or a critic. Observer intrusion also involves a frozen critic. By this I mean that the critic fixates on this is bad but cannot even think about a prescription. This can be a temporary minor problem, as in the first example below. It can also be a major factor in a pathological state, as in the guilty look example and the enervating tension example.

Jingle Example: Nan complains that the jingle she heard kept running thru her mind kept her form going to sleep. Not only did she keep hearing it, she kept observing the fact that she was hearing it and that as a critic she had no solution. As critic she judged that having no solution was unsatisfactory, but then she had no solution to this either. Here the actor’s role may not seem to be very active, but going placing oneself in a position to go to sleep is a form of intentional action.

Batting Slump: Rachel normally bats over 330. At the plate, she normally observes the pitcher and then keeps her eye on the ball. Unless she has two strikes against her, she usually waits for a pitch she likes. Moreover, even when she has two strikes, she seldom swings at a bad pitch. All of this involves actor judgement, i.e. something that she usually does without thinking about how she does it. Her batting average has been dropping, now a mere 289. She is constantly observing her stance, her swing, her reluctance to fall behind in the count, etc. Her coach tells her that she is thinking too much, implicitly telling her that the actor role is being diminished. This could be interpreted an excessive critic, but as the critic is neither able to spot what is unsatisfactory nor make a prescription, I will consider it as more of an excessive observer. Rachel can focus on what she is doing, and is in fact preoccupied with this, but she can neither act as a critic nor ignore it and just act spontaneously.

Term Paper Example: Jim needs to work another two hours to finish a term paper that is due that afternoon and was assigned by a rather dogmatic professor. Jim has a headache and he feels that it is getting worse. He is worried that this will prevent him form completing it on time in a way that will satisfy his teacher. He not only observes this as he starts writing, he continues to observe as he proceeds. This preoccupation worsens the headache and his worries, interfering with his writing to the extent that the paper he completes is not up to his standards. During this time, not only is only the actor’s function diminished, the critic function is almost totally immobilized. Jim merely pushes on uncritically. After turning in the paper, he rebounds. Altho in the critic role he judges the whole episode as unsatisfactory, he puts it in the past, except as a personal learning experience. He decides to revise the paper later according to his own personal standards. He focuses on the fact that his worries were a temporary lapse, hopefully out of character. He reminds himself that he has not totally mastered the attitude of focusing on his own writing standards rather than on how he might be graded.

Guilty Look Example: Ned has the feeling that his guilty thoughts are going out to others. He has just returned form a store where he was tempted to steal that he was admiring. He is sure that this thought is going out to his father and that his father will punish him. Since his father happens to be frowning, Ned takes this as how his father is punishing him. He is preoccupied with the guilty look that he senses is on his face. He sees thoughts coming out of his head like those bubbles with writing in a comic strip. The most the critic can do is appraise the situation as unsatisfactory and hopeless. This aggravates his guilt, for why would he be punished with such hopelessness if he were not such a worthless person. His guilt is more than wanting to steal. It is a pervasive guilt and God is punishing him. He must be is guilty. Altho he cannot actually look at his guilty face, he continues to see his guilty look. This is not an isolated incident. Frequently when in a state of stress, Ned becomes preoccupied with the guilty look he sees on his face and the guilty thoughts he see coming out of his head.

Enervating Tension Example: Recently it occurred to Ben to think of his problems with enervating tension in terms of observer intrusion. On a typical evening, Ben has little or no tension. He easily goes to sleep. He awakes before dawn, notes that it is early and goes back to sleep. When he later awakes and notes that the day is upon him, he observes that he might be about to feel some tension and then begins to feel tense. As critic, he notes that this is not satisfactory, but is unable to provide a satisfactory solution. He then usually moves into the actor role and tension eases or drops below the threshold. However the observer role periodically intruded, and he continues to spot underlying tension and extra effort needed for his actions. This interferes with his attempt as actor-critic to work down enervating tension. Later in the day, when the observer role notes that it is about time for his tension to subside, it usually does. One evening he observed that the next day was Sunday and that the previous Sunday that the observer intrusion found no enervating tension. He also observed some reason that might generally become the case. The next day there were was no enervating tension. The next Saturday he looked forward to another Sunday without enervating tension, but the observer expressed doubts. Sunday came, with tension as enervating as ever. After two months of this pattern, the observer begins to doubt that the tension will subside in the evening. Observer intrusion then begins to expand into the evenings.

Restoring the Actor: In each of the above examples, there is a need to restore the actor, perhaps by first unfreezing the critic. The self-help group called Recovery Incorporated has a simple maxim for restoring the actor role. They say that moving the muscles trains the brain. This is something they recommend both for the excessive observer and for the frozen critic.

Suppose Nan had merely said I could do something different. It is likely that the critic could have said that going to sleep may be what I want to do, but I could turn on the TV, call a friend, etc. For almost any such activity, she would likely stop hearing herself hear the jingle. Of course, the jingle might return. Using the critic to restore the actor does not always work.

Rachael came out of her batter slump. After dropping below 270, she just assumed the worst and stared worrying about so many other things that she stopped seeing herself as a batter. I am just going to swing at the ball whenever I feel like it and see what happens. She decides to try to hit any pitch that she can possibly hit. She deliberately refuses to consider her batting average. Etc.

After turning in his paper, Jim did restore the critic function. On reflection, he knew that he could have done so earlier. Ned is still plagued by being an excessive observer. In spite of this, there are times when doing something different can help him cope with being in the role of an excessive observer and a self-destructive critic.

Ned appears to be in a perpetual pathological state.

Ben keeps trying new tactics.