The Four Options and the Two
Bridges:
Annotated Bibliography
Raemie
Noelani Monces
February 26, 2002
See
Instructions For This Report
I. INTRODUCTION
III.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I.
Introduction
Everyday throughout our lives we are encountered with emotions. And by these emotions our lives are shaped. How we address and handle them define who we are as a person, how others see us and our environment surrounding us. In us are three basic functions (The Threefold Self) they are habits of feeling (affect), habits of thinking (cognitive) and habits of sensation and acting out (sensorimotor).
From the time we are born these functions are shaped by norms in which we were raised. By them we are able to see how one would react in a particular situation. If you think about your everyday to day, hour by hour emotions you will find that it boils down to two basic things: (1) others and the world and (2) self (private inner world). These two arenas can be broken down into negative and positive of the threefold self. The connections that drift us back and forth through the negative and positive zones are labeled as bridges.
A negative feeling against others and world under the “Four Options Model” would be rage. Opposite of this negative feeling would be the positive feeling of compassion. The bridge that connects between the negative about others and the world and positive about others and the world is called the red bridge. This is similar to the case for the negative about self and positive about self. How we feel about ourselves in a negative or positive way determines what option we choose and crossing from either side involves using the blue bridge.
All of this is put in to a simple and easy to follow diagram which Dr. James Leon developed called the “The Four Options Model”. It is called the four options because there are four choices in which you can function.
Example taken from “The Four Options Model” of Dr. Leon James
Negative About Others and The World Positive About Others and The World
red bridge feeling thinking acting out Supportive and Constructive Behavior Emotionally Intelligent Thinking Resolve With Compassion Aggressive or Destructive Behavior Emotionally Impaired Thinking Rage or Arrogance
blue bridge Enthusiasm and Self Confidence Optimistic and Realistic Thinking Self-Enhancing Behavior Depression or
Inadequacy Pessimistic or Cynical Thinking Self-Destructive Behavior acting out thinking feeling
Positive About Self
Negative About Self
This Four Option Model is what I will be focusing on for two of my reports. This report is the first half describing in detail what is involved with our emotional spin cycle, going over terms that intertwine with the Four Options. The second report will be a self-evaluation of what my emotional spin cycle focusing on one aspect of my life and creating a baseline observation in order to assess what type of intervention I would need to use in practicing the bridge technique. Both reports enhance each other and will help you get an overall understanding of the concept of emotional intelligence.
Terms:
- Cognitive Scripts are beliefs or knowledge that we develop from prior repeated experiences that we are exposed to. By these cognitive scripts we will be able to see what the potential outcome might be to a given situation.
- Behavioral Routines are habits that we acquire throughout our everyday life from the social environment, which surrounds us. From these routines of behavior that we are accustom to, we develop schemas for the situations that we are in, to help guide us in future scenarios.
- Cognitive Appraisal internal logical discussion that involves the your self cognitively appraising the situation, which will determine how it will effect your emotion. Using cognitive appraisal guides you to relevant, logical thinking corresponding with the positive red and blue, of the emotional spin cycle.
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Emotional Intelligence The way in which you
handle your three fold self with other people and how you relate to others emotions
in an understanding way. Emotional
intelligence coincides with the positive red and blue zone.
How do these terms interrelate?
Examples derived from general instructions
Example of Blue Zone
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Suppose there is a boy in your class
and you like him but think, “He doesn’t like me.” This is because of your cognitive scripts of boys
that don’t like you (the way he might look at you, he might avoid you)
depending on your schema. You are in
the Negative Blue Zone, cynical thinking. Your Behavioral Routine would be to stay
away from him fearing rejection. You
then use Cognitive Appraisal for more rational, logical
thinking towards your situation and by doing this you cross the Blue
Bridge to the Positive About Self. You become optimistic towards the situation, realizing things
are not always how they seem. |
Example of Red Zone
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Suppose there is a boy in your
class and you think, “I’m not going to get along with him.” This is because this boy fits the cognitive
schema of a bully you had gone to high school with. And in school your behavioral
routine was to ignore or bully and walk the other way. All of this leads you to condescending
thoughts about this boy. This has
already set you up in the Negative Red Zone which is not a good place
to be. However, through Emotional Intelligence you cross the Red Bridge into greener positive pastures (Positive Red Zone). |
(a) In this excerpt it explains about when schemas are wrong. Here it talks about police officers that killed an innocent man because of their previous cognitive scripts of criminals. The man later was found to be an innocent immigrant worker who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
(b) This is relevant to the spin cycle project because, it falls under the negative about others and the world. By the policemen’s schemas, which they had acquired in their everyday activity as a cop, they developed a schema of criminals. It falls under this category because the whole scenario stayed in the negative about world and self. None of the policemen stopped to deny their schema, which would have then helped them cross the red bridge into a positive arena. As policemen they develop cognitive scripts from previous encounters with criminals and this was what in the end had killed Diallo, the innocent immigrant worker. Several cognitive scripts that played in to these circumstances were that Diallo appearance fell into the schema of a rapist or a robber. Diallo also walked into his entrance way as the police watched him, another schema the police had applied to criminals that flee when in plain sight of a cop. A schema that many policemen form is when a criminal sticks his hand into his pocket, because it is then the police draw out their guns in anticipation for a shoot out. These schemas played into the facts that helped them come up with the feeling (affect) that allowed them to be careless and negligent, wanting to discriminate against this person because of their schemas of previous criminals. This automatically led to the emotionally impaired thinking that Diallo must be some sort of criminal because his actions fit the description of one. Finally when Diallo reached for his wallet, police officers in fear for their lives, Acted Out and shot at Diallo, there was so much shooting that one officer thought he was shooting in defense from Diallo gun, which in fact was his wallet. Here we find the consequences of a cognitive script and how our emotional spin cycle when not examined and understood can lead to devastating consequences.
(c) The policemen’s development of the schema brought about horrible consequences but, here it talks about how the policemen use their schemas to help them in their job.
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Law enforcement officers are
trained to react to events that, based on previous encounters, are
potentially life-threatening. The way a suspect reaches into a jacket pocket
may indicate he is about to fire at the officer. A person who stops dead in
his tracks and runs the other way when he sees an officer approach may be
carrying contraband. |
Here it talks about the policemen’s misguided actions brought about by their schema.
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Unfortunately, Amadou Diallo, the innocent immigrant who was killed
when hit by 19 of 41 bullets fired by New York City police officers in February
1999, was the victim of erroneous schemas. On February 14, 2000, Officer Sean
Carroll, testifying in defense of his and fellow officers' actions, described
the misperceptions that guided their conduct. Diallo looked like a serial
rapist who eluded them for months. That rationale quickly gave way to
suspicion that Diallo was, at that moment, involved in criminal conduct.
Because Diallo moved from the sidewalk in front of his dwelling into the
vestibule, Carroll thought he was acting as a lookout for a robbery in
progress. When Diallo reached into his pocket as the officers approached him,
Diallo must have been about to shoot them. |
Media Violence, Children and Aggressive Behavior
(a) This was a speech given by Margot Prior at the “Stories We Tell Our Children” conference. It talks about the dangers of media violence and aggression in children. She makes a point that aggression is learned and that children watching violence in their everyday lives are in some way translating such violence in to their cognitive scripts. Each video game, movie, cartoon, etc. is in some way affecting them and being exposed to such aggressive media shapes what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
(b) This ties in with the spin cycle, because how the child cognitive script develops plays a role in how their emotional spin cycle works. Most likely these aggressive exposed children will handle their emotions in the negative blue and red zones. Since our cognitive scripts is the knowledge that we develop when being exposed to repeated and familiar events watching shows that have actors dealing with their daily circumstances in a violent way, will help the child respond similarly in the same situation. Some who watch this type of violent media act out their cognitive scripts in real life circumstances. By having such negative cognitive scripts there is a less than likely chances that they will be able to bridge over to the positive red and blue zone. The child might use their cognitive scripts to deal with problems in an aggressive way.
(c) This excerpt explains about what role the cognitive scripts play in aggression
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This should not surprise us since
human behavior is multiply determined, and violence viewing is only one of a
myriad of influences which impinge on the growing child. There are important
moderating effects on this relationship between exposure to media violence
and aggressive behavior. These include parental attitudes and reactions to
aggression in their children and the individual predisposition's of the
child. There is also the way the material is translated by the child into
cognitive scripts about acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and here
parents have a particular influence in the ways that they talk to their
children about what they see. I am talking here about what it is that
children learn and internalize from what they see on the television |
The risk factor of having aggressive media absorbed in the children’s lives
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There are bidirectional effects here. Aggressive children prefer
violent media which then stimulates and feeds their aggression and provides
them with models of behaviour which they take out into the world and try.
Television is a powerful teacher. And nobody is providing them with
alternative ways of being |
Paternal Practices, Parental Occupation and Children's Aggression
(a)
This paper
written by Andrew L. Reaves suggest that children learned violence can be
influenced by their parents, depending on what parental practices, socio
economic level and parental occupation they might have. He says that cognitive scripts are developed
in the child through parent and child interactions and through observation of
the child; the parent’s behavior is a role model to how the child might respond
in future circumstances.
(b) The child’s cognitive scripts that develop interrelate with the emotional spin cycle because through their observation of the way their parent handles a particular situation the child will in turn; use their cognitive scripts when encountering a similar situation. The child learns to interact with individuals by the styles that their parents use to interact with others. The paper states, “antisocial behavior is largely determined by the cognitive scripts which are retrieved in response to frustrating situations.” If a child encounters a feeling of frustration in school when their friend picks on a classmate this falls under the negative red zone, the child might become antisocial (acting out) about the situation in his/her group of friends. But if they learn cognitive scripts from their parents to speak up when someone is being picked on (positive red zone), because it is wrong (thinking) the child might speak up (acting out) against their friend condemning them, because of the cognitive scripts that they have been exposed to. Helping them to become an emotionally intelligent individual.
(c) This paragraph gives a greater understanding of cognitive scripts and how it relates to the parent and child interactions:
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Social behavior is controlled to a great
extent by cognitive scripts
that are stored in a person's
memory and are used as guides for behavior and social problem solving. A
script suggests what events are to happen in the environment, how the person
should behave in response to these events, and what the likely outcome of
those behaviors would be. People appraise situations and decide which scripts are appropriate for the situation. Antisocial
behavior is largely determined by the cognitive scripts which are retrieved in response to frustrating
situations (Berkowitz, 1988; Huesmann, 1988). It seems reasonable to infer
that children learn cognitive schemas and scripts of interpersonal relations from parental behavior
in parent-child interactions; parental behavior is also an important role
model for children's future interactions. |
The way the parent runs the household at home is also a factor to which type of child they are raising their children to be.
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A large body of research relates authoritative parenting with
children's academic achievement and prosocial
behavior. Dornbusch, et al. (1987) found that authoritative parenting is
positively correlated with adolescent school performance, whereas authoritarian
and permissive parenting are negatively related. These findings relate to
aggression because Eron (1987) has found that academic achievement and
antisocial aggression tend to be at opposite ends on a continuum. High
academic achievers tend to behave prosocially, whereas antisocially
aggressive children tend to be low academic achievers. |
How a parent with a job might influence the scripts that are used by their child:
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Parents who have complex jobs could be expected to
value self- direction for their children and to hold sophisticated and complex prosocial skills and conflict resolution scripts which they could teach to their children; consequently, the children would be more likely to use prosocial scripts. |
Violent Video Games and Aggression in Children: A review of the Literature
(a) ‘Does exposure to video games increase children’s aggressive behavior?’ This paper is mostly written from a scientific viewpoint it goes over the many theories that are involved in how video games and aggression coincide with one another. There are also many studies that reinforce the idea that video games have a high correlation with aggression and that in some studies they found no correlation at all. The paper incorporates the cognitive schema in the general arousal theory, stating that when children are aroused they are most likely to behave in a manner that they have recently observed. In the end there is no definitive answer to the question, but seems to agree with the fact that there is no correlation at all that video games co vary with aggression in children.
(b) The explanation for the general arousal theory is cognitive scripts. This coincides with the spin cycle because if a child is most likely to act in the same behavior as the one they most recently observed in that situation, the behavior that is negative would be the child’s initial response in a negative way and vice versa for the positive. Since it is our habits of feeling, thinking and acting out, the habits that the child is exposed to would most likely be the way he/she would relate to others/world and how they view themselves. If the exposure is aggressive (negative) one can only presume that the child being exposed to this would use their schemas of aggression to handle a situation he/she has become familiar with through violent video game exposure of the same scenario.
(c) There is a better explanation of the Generalized Arousal Theory which I found helpful in the paper:
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The general arousal theory suggests that when
children are aroused they will most likely behave in a manner most recently
observed, such as behaving aggressively after viewing aggressive activity
(Silvern and Williamson, 1987). Two explanations for this are “cognitive
priming," or “cognitive scripts.” During cognitive priming one thought inspired by engaging with
violent media, can "prime" other semantically related thoughts,
increasing the chances the viewers will have other aggressive ideas in this
period (Geen, 1994). Cognitive
scripting relies on the viewer encoding an observed event into a script that
the viewer then calls upon as a guide for future behavior (Geen, 1994). |
The conclusion to the paper briefly states what answer developed from the findings
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The bulk of the evidence from the existing
literature overwhelmingly suggests that exposure to violent videogames
increases aggressive behavior, and other aggressive-related effects
(including reduced empathy, negative attribution, and reluctance to make
donations). In particular, through observing the free play of young children,
studies have demonstrated a strong link between the effects of exposure to
violent video games and increases in aggressive behavior. However, the
lack of empirical data, in conjunction with a mixture of methodological
problems and inconsistencies in the data, clearly demonstrate the need for
additional research (Dill, 1998). As the research exists today the
safest conclusion we can make is that video games are neither the menace that
many of their critics portray them to be nor without possible consequences
(Provenzo, 1991). |
ERP® - Exposure Response Prevention
(a) ERP or exposure response prevention is a treatment tool used to help drug abusers using operant and respondent learning. The idea of ERP is strange, but uses cognitive scripts to help these drug abusers get over their addictions. The argument they use is that in conventional treatment when the drug abuser is told to stay away from all or any type of stimuli that might cause the craving, it is nearly impossible to stay away from all stimuli, so they confront it. It is basically confronting any stimuli that might bring about the cravings for the drug and changing your schema, so that you will be able to confront the stimuli without having the response of craving for the drug.
(b) This ties in with the emotional spin cycle because a drug abusers schema has been formed and most likely indicates what will happen in a situation if the drug is presented before him/her. Their feelings, thoughts and actions will revolve around the drug. By changing their cognitive scripts towards the drug and encountering the problem head on, ERP believes that it then will help the drug abuser relate the stimuli to new schemas associated with the drug. By changing their cognitive scripts it would most likely mean that they would be able to cross the red and blue bridge easier, because of their new outlook on the drug.
(c) What is ERP – Exposure Response Prevention
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ERP is based on
principles of operant and respondent learning. Respondent learning takes
place when we associate a new stimulus with one that already has an effect on
us. Operant learning takes place when we associate rewards, punishments, success, and failure with individual patterns of behavior. |
The therapy session using ERP
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A typical ERP session starts with about five minutes of
relaxation exercises. After relaxing the patient is asked to rate their
craving level before being exposed to their triggering stimuli. They use a 10
point scale to do this where 10 represents a desire to use immediately. The
patient's pulse is also measured (pulse rate generally increases as a
patient's craving level rises). Once baseline ratings are secured exposure to
the first level of stimulus begins. After looking, touching and smelling the
object and answering a few questions the patient is again asked to rate their
craving level. Their pulse is taken again as well. Generally, their craving
level is up as is their pulse. If they have become over stimulated then the
ERP stimuli are put away and they return to doing relaxation exercises.
Otherwise, they continue to look at the objects while repeating their
cognitive scripts. Cognitive scripts are motivating statements designed by
therapist and patient. They are associated with the triggering stimulus and
the impulse to use. Typical cognitive scripts include: "Remember the pain and hurt I caused myself and my
family." "I will be able to feel better about myself if I
walk away." "Remember the physical pain and consequences of withdrawal." |
(a) The article Violence and Education consisted of ways which is unacceptable in punishing children such as yelling, hitting, spanking etc. It talked about the detrimental consequences of a child who has been abused and what it does to the relationship of the parent and the child and also how it affects the child in the long run. This also gave alternative to punishing children and some ways in which teachers, parents and even babysitters can create an atmosphere where the children can learn positive behavioral routines and schemas in such situations. This article also addresses those parents that have already abused their children verbally and physically and explains what things they can do to reverse the damage already created. This article served a good example of the behavioral routines that children learn from their parents habits of dealing with frustrating situations.
(b) Since behavioral routines are attained through out our lives since we are children and shaped by the behavior in our upbringing. It is very important that children do get the idea that abuse is okay. By understanding what behavioral routine that was enforced in us as children there is a likely chance that we will see the same scenario being played out as adults. If the behavioral routine you learn as a child is that when someone misbehaves that person must be hit or yelled at, there is a habit that becomes part of the child’s routine that unconsciously makes them yell or hit when someone misbehaves. The danger in this is that since a behavioral routine are habits that are done when a certain situation is presented, it becomes almost molded in to our being. If it is then a part of us in the way we would react in a particular situation there is a less than likely chance that crossing the red or blue bridge is an option.
(c) This brief paragraph explains somewhat a behavioral routine that can be developed in the child through abuse, which will then shape how they handle episodes in their life.
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Violence flips
children out of the learning mode and into the obedience mode. When we are violent with children, we
often succeed in stimulating the behavior we seek, but we risk stunting the internal
growth that could permanently change the child and produce good behavior over
the long term. Since our children
will not accept what we have to teach unless they are in learning mode,
violence is educationally ineffective. |
This is a story told by a man about someone he had counseled
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They complain,
"My child does not share with me. He does not even speak to me. I do not know anything about his
life." I ask them if they struck
the child when he was young.
"Only for educational purposes," they answer. It is painful for me to tell them that
this is the price they must now pay for the blows given years earlier. Violence seethes in the child's
subconscious, often even without the child's awareness, until adolescence
reveals the deep emotional wounds.
The parents are heartbroken when they recognize the roots of this
unexpected rebellion. |
The National Family Violence Survey also revealed that parents who spank children are more likely to hit each other too. University of New Hampshire analysts responsible for the survey's design explained the data:
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We interpret this as
showing that corporal punishment provides a model for what to do when someone
misbehaves and persists in the misbehavior.
Unfortunately, sooner or later, almost all spouses misbehave, at least
as far as their partner sees it, and they often persist in the
misbehavior. Thus, the "Johnny
I've told you ten times" principle applied to children can also apply to
spouses, and that is what we found. |
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Murray Straus,
"Each time a father or mother spanks a child for misbehaving, they are
practicing the idea that people who misbehave should be hit, and a certain
proportion of parents then apply this principle to their partner." |
UCLA Study Shows AIDS-Intervention Programs Curb Risky Sex and Drug Use by HIV Positive Youth
(a) An Aids intervention program decreased the high-risk sexual behaviors of teens infected with the HIV virus. The program was made so that these teens could modify their behavior routines in order to “Stay Healthy” in their lives.
(b) This article pertained to the emotional spin cycle because in these teenagers’ social lives they were exposed to other teenagers in their same predicament. Their behavioral routines evolved by their social interactions and therefore creating a habit of sexual promiscuity and drug abuse when encountering stimuli that triggered their schema of the situation. Behavioral routines that they had developed in a negative sense would then be changed so that they are able to have a new healthy behavioral routine that not only helps themselves, but also others.
(c) Excerpt
from part of the article
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During the study, researchers worked to assist participants maintain
emotional wellness, take responsibility for their health, and reduce their
high-risk behaviors. The "Stay Healthy" part of the program
involved 12 sessions aimed at helping participants change their behaviors. |
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The teens were introduced to modified behavior routines designed to
keep them healthy, and they were educated about how to cope with their HIV
status, disclosure issues, and medical-decision making. |
To see more on the findings of the project: American Journal of Public Health (March Ed.)
(a) This article
is about behavioral routines in adaptive decision-making. There were two phases of experiments testing
the behavioral routine when put in a simulated experience on how they would
adapt to situational changes. Payoffs
were those who were manipulated so that they would have a higher frequency of
choosing one of the three options in decision making (expected
utility, elimination by aspects, lexicographic rule). They also decreased the
time in which the participant would have in making a decision. In the end payoffs would go usually not go
along with their behavior routine, but if they had increased the pressure from
the limited amount of time to make decisions, people would most likely opt for
routine.
(b) In decision making, behavioral routine is key. When making decisions the behavioral routine you are accustom to will guide what decision you will make in a real life circumstance. How does this tie in with our emotional cycle? Since the article found that only under manipulation would the participants change their routine and if not manipulated would use their behavioral routines to guide their decision making, we can see how this would tie in to the Four Options Model. As people with a specific behavioral routine it will guide what decision we choose in a certain circumstance. When stuck in a frustrating circumstance it will be your behavioral routine that will guide which of the four options you decide to choose.
(c) Excerpt of how the experiment was conducted
First Phase:
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In the first phase,
routines were induced by relying upon the human ability to adapt to
situational changes by changing decision strategies. To induce strategy
change, time pressure was varied as a within factor. Payoffs were manipulated
so that an adaptive change in strategy led participants to maximize choice
frequency for one out of three options (routine acquisition). After a one
week time lapse, participants worked on similar problems, containing the
previously preferred routine option |
Second Phase:
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In this second phase,
payoffs favored deviation from the routine option. Results showed that choices
were almost perfectly calibrated to payoffs under low time pressure. However,
if time pressure increased, participants were more likely to prefer the
routine option, even though search strategies were still used adaptively and
evidence discouraged routine selection. |
Crisis Transition and Transformation
(a) There is no constant, there is always change that is why in an unchangeable environment there is are things that we use as humans keep stability in our lives. As humans it is helpful to maintain stability through what is called behavioral routines. The article mainly talks about how to effectively manage change through out our lives.
(b) With our emotional spin cycle, all the various situations that are brought about our way we tend to handle them almost unconsciously because of these developed behavioral routines. In a crisis situation the habits, which we acquire to handle an emotional situation, will determine the negative or positive zone we choose to handle the situation with. It will also determine if it is yourself you are frustrated with or others.
(c) This is an excerpt of the piece written part from introduction and from ending
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Change and transition are facts of life. They are simultaneously the source and the outcome of all interactions within a living system. In fact, it has been argued that, in a dynamic system, “the only co |