The Meta-States model of Dr L Michael Hall (1995) and the Cognitive Psychology concepts
of Cognitive Labelling Theory and the Cognitive Triad naturally complement each other
in providing insight and understanding as to how beliefs and belief structures are
formed. However, the models do need to be linked to provide the fuller picture.
The linking mechanism is provided by the vMEMES of Spiral Dynamics. For some people,
their temperamental Dimensions of Temperament may also be of importance.
When he first publicised the Meta-States concept in 1994, Michael Hall pretty much
took the world of NLP by storm. Meta-stating, more than anything before that had
gone before, provided a structure for understanding how belief systems built up -
either positively or negatively.
In the Meta-States concept, we take in information from our five senses. This produces
a 'primary state'. The primary state itself is best understood through the Cognitive
Labelling Theory of Stanley Schachter & Jerome Singer (1962). According to this,
we can have quite different cognitive interpretations of the same set of physiological
symptoms. Eg: the physiological symptoms of acute fear - fast breathing, pumping
heart, pounding temples, dry mouth, tight stomach, etc - can be very similar to those
in the build-up to intense sexual excitement. What makes the difference is the basic
meaning we apply to the raw physiological state - ie: fear or excitement.
Usually we apply meaning to the primary state from a governing frame of reference
- eg: "I'm frightened to death of flying insects" or "Women find me incredibly sexy".
This creates a first level meta-state - our thoughts and feelings about our initial
thoughts and feelings. We then abstract further (usually through that same frame
of reference) - effectively interpreting the first level meta-state - to create a
second-level meta-state. Now we're thinking and feeling about the thoughts and feelings
our initial thoughts and feelings generated! From that second-level meta-state, we
tend to abstract further, interpreting those thoughts and feelings to create a third
level meta-state. From there we abstract even further, going on and on, to create
more and more levels of meta-stating - all further removed from the initial sensory
input.
Meta-stating processes can create new frames of reference, depending on the (external)
memes involved in the creation of the primary state, the (internal) schemas referenced
in the meta-stating processes and the structure of the current vMEME stack.
The example in the graphic to the left shows a man creating a chain of meta-states
from the simple primary state of the woman not looking at him.
Belief systems can be either healthy or unhealthy - in that they enable people to
cope success-fully with life or else inhibit people from leading fulfilling lives.
Unhealthy beliefs
about self or others create attribution biases.
Michael Hall and a number of other leading NLPers have devised therapeutic strategies
for undermining and collapsing unhelpful meta-states and building enabling chains
of meta-states.
The
Cognitive Triad
Although it is more commonly associated with Aaron T Beck - Beck,
Rush, Shaw & Emery (1979) - the Cognitive Triad was first brought to life by the
work of Lyn Abramson, Martin Seligman & John Teasdale (1978).
However, the Cognitive Triad also draws heavily from Attribution Theory with its
concept of dispositionalism (I am the cause of my own behaviour, positive or negative)
and situationalism (the situation determines how I behave, beneficially or non-beneficially).
In many ways the Cognitive Triad refines Attribution Theory.
Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale developed their ideas from studying people who were
overwhelmed by their problems and felt helpless to improve their lot - a condition
Seligman (Overmeier & Seligman,1967; Hiroto & Seligman, 1974) had earlier characterised
as 'Learned Helplessness'.
They identified that people tend to either:-
- attribute failure to themselves (dispositional) and success due to sheer luck or
the efforts of others (situational); or people attribute success due to their own
efforts (dispositional) and blame failure on others (situational)
- attribute success or failure with either timeless (never-ending) or timebound (it
will end) properties
- attribute success or failure as either being global (all encompassing) or specific
(one-off) events
This is represented in the graphic.
It was Aaron Beck who popularised the Cognitive Triad as a means of analysing depressive
schemas. A Failure Internal/Timeless/Global attribution is vulnerable to Depression.
Someone with a Failure External/Timebound/ Specific attributional style is more likely
to believe both in their own ability to succeed and their
likelihood of success.
Beck has spent much of his working life devising interventions
to correct maladaptive schemas. His work has helped hundreds of thousands deal with
Depression and been foundational to the development of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy.
However, what Beck calls a depressive or maladaptive schema is, in Michael Hall's
language, an unhelpful meta-stating pattern. The very act of attribution moves the
level of experience upwards in the meta-stating process.
Meta-Stating via the Cognitive Triad
From
an Integrated SocioPsychology view: if the Cognitive Triad influences what we believe
about ourselves and the situations we find ourselves in, then the proposition must
be that every new level of meta-state is formed through the Cognitive Triad.
To understand how this takes place, we need to consider the attributional style of
the dominant vMEME as the new meta-state is formed. An individual's vMEMETIC style
of attribution may also be influenced by their temperamental Dimensions of Temperament.
The 'cooler' vMEMES tend to attribute success to external factors and failure to
internal while the 'warmer' vMEMES work the opposite way around.
For example, RED will attribute success to its own efforts and blame others for its
failures. BLUE, on the other hand, will blame itself (the selfplex) - eg: for not
conforming - when things go wrong and attribute success to external factors - eg:
there being rules to conform to.
So whether we meta-state in an unhealthy or an enabling manner will be influenced
by the attributional style of the vMEME most dominant in our thinking. Of course,
vMEMES inevitably skew our perception of reality in the creation of meta-states and
this can lead to attribution biases.
There is significant evidence in the work of
Julian B Rotter (1966) that attributional style has an innate temperamental element
to it: some people attribute one way or the other througout life, regardless of circumstance.
Interestingly the work of Rotter's contemporaries Jerry Phares, Elaine Ritchie &
William Davis (1968) suggests that people with a Melancholic disposition are much
more likely to meta-state negatively about themselves.
It may also be that the Timeless/Timebound element of the Cognitive Triad is influenced
by vMEMES as well. For example, RED has no real concept of time especially if fuelled
by the impulsiveness of Psychoticism. However, BLUE - running a Move Away From meta-programme
- is concerned with what could go wrong in the future.
So, if we wish to facilitate the destruction of disabling meta-states and enable
positive meta-stating processes, one way is to change the vMEME pattern in the Cognitive
Triad at one or more levels - the closer to the relative reality of the primary state,
usually the better! By doing this, we are much more likely to create healthy frames
of reference for meta-stating processes.
The influence of vMEMES and temperament in the formation of unhealthy meta-states
is discussed further in the Article, 'Can vMEMES cause Clinical Depression...?'
Click here to learn about Integrated SocioPsychology ‘open’ workshop programmes,
several of which consider how vMEMES influence meta-states via the Cognitive Triad.
Meta-States® is a registered trademark of Dr MichaelHall/The International Society
of Neuro-Semantics, USA.
Cognitive Triad Resources
The Beck Institute for Cognitive Research & Therapy
The Institute web site offers
resources and training for those working in Cognitive Therapy
International Society of Neuro-Semantics
Web site of L Michael Hall & Associates
Where others feature in the creation of the primary state - and they usually do!
- then Covariation Theory is a way of explaining how we refine our existing frame
of reference with regard to the others’ behaviour. Where the other(s) are unknown
to us, then we are more likely to use the mechanisms of Correspondent Inference Theory
to make some sense of the information we are taking in about them.
