Psychology 409B: The Unity Model of Marriage 1/24/06
Mental Anatomy of Husbands and Wives: The Threefold Self
By Carly Kanemaru
Dr. James, Leon; Dr Nalh, Diane; Unity Model of Marriage ver. 10b, University of Hawaii, 2006, sections 1-2, http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409b-g24-lecture-notes.htm#threefold-self
I. Introduction
-We are born with an “immortal spiritual body that contains our mind, that is, our mental organs called the affective organ, the cognitive organ, and the sensorimotor organ.”
II. The Affective
-This is the “organ” which specifically operates to provide feelings and emotions. These feelings nourish the experiences we have in our lives.
-There are different lives in the affective level:
a) Affective Consummatory Life is the life that includes “needs, wants, desires, satisfactions, pleasures, interests, attractions, etc. (and their opposites)”
-This is the more outward life that is satisfied by worldly desires and worldly solutions.
b) Affective Optimizing Life is the life that includes “intentions, motives, purposes, endeavors, resolve, compassion, love, etc. (and their opposites)”
-This is the inner life that is enriched by elements that the spiritual being contains and nourishes.
III. The Cognitive
-This is the “organ” which specifically operates to provide thoughts. These thoughts “give social and cultural content to our life of experience.”
- There are different lives in the cognitive level:
a) Cognitive Appraising Life is the life that includes “memory, imagination, words, meaning, concepts, topics, knowledge, logic, common sense, conversation, etc.”
-This is the more outward life that is satisfied and gains cognition through the worldly experiences.
b) Cognitive Planning Life is the life that includes “rational reasoning, inventiveness, predictions, hypotheses, fantasies, schedules, blueprints, management policies, etc.”
-This is the inner life that is enriched by elements that the spiritual being contains and nourishes the cognition of one’s self.
III. The Sensorimotor
-This is the “organ” which specifically operates to provide actions by “sensing the environment outside the body.” These sensations “give us the life of experiencing the world outside of us and motor determinations give us the ability to make our bodies move and interact with the environment.”
-There are different lives in the sensorimotor level:
a) Sensory Noticing Life is the life that includes “seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, pleasure, pain, heat, cold, etc.”
b) Motor Execution Life is the life that includes “moving, pushing, pulling, dancing, chewing, verbalizing, writing, drawing, etc.”
IV. The Threefold Self
a) Affective self
- This is the self which “operates the feelings and motivations we maintain in dating or in marriage relationships.”
- This is the deepest level at which we are concerned of in merging together with our spouses.
b) Cognitive self
- This is the self which “operates the thinking and reasoning we do in these relationships.”
-This is the inner level at which we are truly concerned about the inner person within our spouse which takes into consideration the thoughts inside.
c) Sensorimotor self
-This is the self which “operates the sensations, perceptions, and motor acts we perform in gender relationships.”
-This is the outermost level at which concentration is based upon the physical stimulus surrounding us in the physical world.
V. The Gender Differences Between Men and Women
A. Men
-“At birth, a man’s mind is made of interior good or love, veiled over with external truth or wisdom.”
-I understand this to mean that a man is born with intentions of doing good and to love.
-However, they are covered and consumed in learned truth and wisdom from the world and its socialization.
-This outward truth and wisdom is the main motivation for the sensorimotor, cognitive and affective self with a man.
-Thus, the negative influences that surround a man cause him to do things despite of the good intentions they are born with.
B. Women
-“At birth, a woman’s mind is made of interior truth or wisdom, veiled over with external love or good.”
-I understand this to mean that a woman is born with the internal knowledge and wisdom of what should be and what is.
-We are veiled by love and goodness which promotes us to do the right thing which is the knowledge we have internally.
-The inner truth and wisdom guide and enrich our physical and spiritual beings to elevate.
-Our inner wisdom also inspires us to teach and guide those who have been misled (ex. men).
-The outward love and goodness is the main motivation for the sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective self with a woman.
-However, women are also influenced by outward worldly socialization and experiences which can turn the outward love and goodness to do the opposite of what the inner wisdom knows is right.
Related Links
The New Sex Scorecard- This article is written by a woman named Hara Estroff Marano who discusses the differences between men and women cognitively.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-2832.html
Women Suffer More Than Men- This article is written by a man named Michael Schirber and it discusses how the different genders experience different overall amounts of pain and suffering.
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050706_pain_gender.html
The Differences Between Men and Women- This website is written by a woman named Nancy Clark and it discusses the differences in conversational styles between men and women.
http://www.womensmedia.com/new/Barletta-Women-Men.shtml
My Home page:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bs2006/kanemaru/kanemaru-home.htm
Class Home Page
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm