Ego Maniac

As I write this, I'm keeping tabs on the Nuggets vs. Cleveland game. It just went into overtime. I am also awaiting Jacob's bedtime so I can relax with a blu-ray movie. Maybe Dark Knight... maybe Star Trek. It's a nice relaxing evening.

Anyway, I just finished book number six on the year, and it again pushed my interest in behavioral science (specifically dissonance theory) to new heights. We have all taken an introductory course in psychology or sociology that mentioned the "ego" and the "super ego," and we have all mocked such things incessantly. I know I have.

I'm not real big into Freud or anything of that nature, but I am quickly taking a liking to cognitive dissonance. The two books that set my fire most recently are "Mistakes were Made (but not by me)" and "Predictably Irrational."

Although neither book expresses ideas of the Super ego, they do illustrate that our perceptions of ourselves justify our actions. At times, even irrationally.

The theory, in short, is that we have an opinion of ourselves; actions happen that challenge that view of ourselves (we appear to have been less than honest, as an example); this creates discomfort to us; we use justifications to restore our notion of who we are; and, this rarely leads to admissions of mistakes. This can also explain why person already standing in a deep hole can somehow manage to dig deeper. This is done with what I'll call the "self-justification Shovel."

I love books that help me on a daily basis, and both of these titles do just that.

This may sound like a justification for manipulation, but it also taught me how to better recognize dissonance in myself and others and how to "influence" a person to feeling consonance (comfort), which lessens the need for self-justification.

(Carmelo Anthony just hit the game winner in the face of LeBron James. I am now pumped. Justify that LeBron!!).

OTHER UPDATES

.... Now that my reading pace has taken me through March, I have created the space necessary to make a real push for a first draft of my story. I have pushed forward and written another 5 or 6 pages, and I have done a lot more mapping. Now is my big writing push.

.... Jacob has been doing well. He's as playful as ever. We have decided to take more pictures and I will try to post some soon.

.... I am tired of this winter.