| News
& Views
- Dec, 1992 Issue |
SUWS Methodology
Perceptual Levels Of Thinking
George Church, Admissions
(206) 881-7173
Taken from the Adolescent Behavior Change (SUWS) brochure titled "Adolescent
Program."
Students think about various subjects,
or even conversations, at different levels. The same information given
to several students often has different meanings for each student. For
example, you could say loudly to a student, "Close that door." There
are several levels to think about that statement. One student might
think about what the statement means about him or her as a person. Does
this mean I'm a slave -- an idiot -- a peon? Another student might think
about what the statement means about the speaker, the weather, what's
in the next room, etc. Another student might think about his or her
ability and behavior to close the door. And last, another student might
think about any environmental interferences to closing the door, like
furniture, rusty hinges, etc.
Messages, spoken or unspoken, at one level
are often perceived at another level. Relationship problems are often
conceived when communications are perceived at an unintended level of
thinking. That is a classic miscommunication. ...Many students get stuck
at one level. Perhaps you have known individuals who take the shutting
of almost all doors as a message about them, not the door. These people
lead stressful lives at best. Much personal progress is made by skillful
use of "level" thinking.
Copyright
© 1992, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
