Negative behaviour caused by misinterpretation of past experience

By the learning of concept for perception, we know the perception is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their impressions to give meaning of their situation. Therefore, what we have perceived can be substantially different from the objective reality. In addition, people’s behaviour is based on their perception of what reality is.

Based on what have been discussed above, I want to bring up an idea which is people could change their defect to be betters ones as long as they have courage to do so. It is people’s understanding of experience that shapes our behaviour and personality, not the past experience. The Law of Causation is not an apodictic proof on psychology. Therefore, any psychological trauma can be overcome in the world. To contemplate it further, we may introduce the Theory of Teleology, which is a powerful tool for us to perceive current phenomena and then solve them.

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Practical Example – Positive behaviour result from correct purpose

I have a cousin named Tom. Although he cages himself at home, Tom actually not only wants to go out but also wants to have a job. He truly has a desire of changing himself. However, he has a sense of fear to leave the room and face the outside world. As long as he steps out, he would experience palpitations and rapid heartbeat. It’s like a neurosis. We take it for granted that the cause of his negative behaviour is due to his past experience. He used to be a victim of domestic violence, which result in his reserved personality, and then makes him scaring of leaving room. Therefore, even he wants to change his life, he can do nothing without proper understanding of his past experience.

The Law of Causation is vulnerable

By the explanation of determinism, the past experience decides his status quo. However, if it is right, children grew up in an environment of child abuse should all cage themselves in the room. As everyone knows, past is the father of the present. If we only focus on the previous reason and use it to explain current situation, we will be limited by determinism and never have the chance to solve the problem objectively. In fact, one can change himself by understanding their past experience objectively rather than subjectively.

When it comes to the Theory of Teleology, I don’t admit that past definitely decide present. However, what your understanding of the past is the core issue, for it is chosen by yourself on purpose. All the traits you have are benefit for you and the personality you possess is on purpose, although you might not be totally satisfied with it.

If we use this idea to think about Tom’s psychologic trauma, we can do a simple backward induction. His feeling of isolation and anxiety is truly existed, but all of those emotions serve for the purpose of “not leave the room”, and “the mention of past experience is just an excuse for his negative behaviour.”

Let’s keep going. Why don’t he want to leave the room? As long as he does not leave the room, his parents will definitely concern about him intensively, reconsider their educational methods, which comfort him quite well. Instead, once he leaves the room, he will lose all the attention, and nobody will take him seriously anymore.

Second Example

Therefore, when we realize our subconscious purpose under the behavior, we can clearly find the crux of the matter and face it with courage. For example, for the people who are smart but cannot study assiduously and perseveringly, they use laziness as an excuse to explain their failure. If they don’t work persistently, they could attribute all their failures to their attitudes. That the fear of the truth that being persistent may also lead to failure is the crux of themselves.

Conclusion

Overall, the Law of Causation is the explanation of past experience and the sources of any excuses, but the Theory of Teleology is to find the essential causes and then solve them successfully. My idea of thinking about your “purpose” is based on our learning of perception and it is an effective way for us to rethink about ourselves and be a better person. Be courageous to face your life, and hope you can get any benefits from my idea. 😀