Tag: human mind

The study of the human mind is not only important to the philosopher and the psychologist. Anyone who cares to understand human behavior should endeavor to understand the human mind. The human mind is a complex system that has evolved into what is known as the Theory of the Mind. In this article, you will learn that:

• The human mind is the non-material part of the brain
• It is the center of creativity, and the power house of meaningful invention.
• The human mind is the seat of consciousness or awareness. As the seat of consciousness, the mind is creative.
• The success or failure of any individual begins within, which is in the mind
• There is a connection between the brain and the mind. This connection is explained by the cerebrospinal venous system and the sympathetic system.
• The philosophy of the mind tries to explain how the mind functions. It connects the nature of feeling, perception, thought, and consciousness with personal identity.
• How does the human mind affect whom we are? To answer the question, monism and dualism schools of thought emerged.
• Monism states that the mind and the brain are the same. It explains this using three theories: physicalism, idealism and neutral monism.
• Physicalism or materialism states that there is nothing like the non-material mind. Thus, whatever anyone feels is as a result of the physical occurrence.
• This means that mental states or state of the mind at all times come from the observable physical state.
• There are two types of materialism: reductive physicalism and non-reductive physicalism. Reductive physicalism is divided into four theories: behaviorism, type identity, token identity, and functionalism.
• Behaviourism gave us insight on the importance of observation while type identity aroused our curiosity to the importance of the mental state and imagination.

Theory of the Mind

Theory of the mind is a maxim used to explain how the mind functions and how it affects consciousness and behavior. A good understanding of the human mind can enhance ones success in life. The human mind has been viewed as the center of creativity, the powerhouse of meaningful invention. In spite of this, discussions on the mind are often overlooked.

Most study of the human mind center on mind-body problem, and the relationship between the mind and body. Study on the impact of the human mind on creativity and success is scanty. This study attempts to correlate the human mind with creativity and success using the philosophical theory of the mind.

There are different theory of the mind which studied the relationship between the mind and the brain. Most of these theory originated from philosophy and psychology. While some focus on mind-brain relationship, others focus on the prediction of human behavior and self-consciousness.

In a later post, we discussed the brain and its processing power in detail. We observed that the brain is:

In todays article, our focus will be directed towards understanding the human mind. Our understanding of the human mind and its power can boost our success in any chosen career. The human mind, like the brain, is a very powerful tool of creativity at everyone’s disposal. But the problem is our inability to understand how the mind works. Therefore, we will explore the following:

• What is the human mind?
• Is there any relationship between the brain and the human mind?
• To what extent does the mind affect creativity and success?

What is the Human Mind?

The free online dictionary defines the human mind as the faculty by which one is aware of the surroundings and by which one is able to reason, remember, make decisions, and experience emotions.

In other words, the mind is the seat of consciousness or awareness. As the seat of consciousness, the mind is creative. Scholars who understood the power of the mind through study of the human mind describes the mind thus:

“Mind is creative. Conditions, including environment and all experiences in life, are the result of our habitual or predominant mental attitude.”

Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

Joseph Murphy saw the mind as the treasure house of all human. In The Power of your Subconscious Mind, he says,

“There is a gold mine within you from which you can extract everything you need to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly.”

Joseph Murphy, The Power of the Subconscious Mind

Highlighting on the power of the mind, Daniel Webster quotes, “Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the process by which human end is ultimately answered.”

What these people are saying is that thinking, reasoning, emotions, logic and many more takes place in the mind. If so, then the success or failure of any individual begins within, which is the mind.

Hence, success or failure reflects what we harbor within us. If this is true, then the human mind is critical to every success or failure.

The sympathetic system

How does the brain relate to the mind? Is there any connection between the brain and the mind or are both the same? Before we proceed, recall the central nervous system and take note of the following:  

• The nervous system coordinates information from the bodily senses through the brain and the spinal cord.
• There is a connection between the brain and the mind. This connection is explained by the cerebrospinal venous system and the sympathetic system.

According to Charles Haanel, the sympathetic system has its center in the ganglionic mass. Which is at the back of the stomach known as the Solar Plexus.

The connection between the cerebrospinal system and the sympathetic system is made by the Vagus nerve. This nerve passes through the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary system to the thorax. It sends out branches to the heart and lungs and finally passes through the diaphragm. It then loses its outer coating and becomes identified with the nerves of the sympathetic system. All these form a connecting link between the two and making man physically a “single entity.”

Scientifically, the fields of philosophy, psychology, and religion are most interested in the subject of the mind. To clearly understand the human mind and its power, we will explore how these fields view the subject.

Study of the Human Mind: Philosophical View

Philosophy of the mind studies the relationship between the human mind and the physical body. Philosophy is basically concerned with the nature of a thing. Therefore, the philosophy of the human mind tries to connect the nature of the mind and the following:

• personal identity,
• self-consciousness,
• self-esteem,
• emotion,
• memory, and
• perception.

To explain further, the philosophy of the mind tries to explain how the mind functions. It connects the nature of feeling, perception, thought, and consciousness with personal identity. It also tries to answer the question; how does the human mind affect whom we are? What influence does the non-material part of the brain, the human mind, impose on the material body which we see?

To answer the above question, philosophy came with two schools of thoughts: monism and dualism.

Monism

Monism tries to explain that there is no distinction between the human mind, and the brain. Proponents of this theory include Baruch De Spinoza and George Berkeley, among others. They explained that the mind and body are a single entity that has the same potential.

If this explanation should be relied on, then how do we explain the relationship between the mind and the body? To explain this relationship, or resolve the mind-body problem, 3 theories emerged. Namely, physicalism, idealism and neutral monism.

Physicalism:

Physicalism is also called materialism. Proponents of this theory believe that only the physical entity or physical substance or matter exist. They argue that there is nothing like the non-material mind. Everything is physical.

According to materialism, perception, emotions, memory, etc are the resultant effect of the physical processes only. This means that anything anyone feels is a result of the physical occurrence.

For example, if I love a person, then I love him/her because of what I saw or observe in him/her. This could be beauty, charisma, and many more. This means that mental states or state of the mind at all times come from the observable physical state.

There are two types of physicalism, they are reductive physicalism and non-reductive physicalism. Reductive physicalism is divided into four theories, namely: behaviorism, type identity, token identity, and functionalism.

Non-reductive physicalism is divided into 3 theories, namely: anomalous monism, emergentism, and eliminative materialism. Each of these theories shall provide an answer on how the mind affects creativity and success.

Behaviourism

This school teaches that the state of one’s mind or the mental state is being influenced by what one observes. This can be true in observable behavior, for example, if I am learning a skill, say, how to play the keyboard, how to dance, etc, then I can learn by observation. But it does not explain some states of the mind such as sorrow, pain, depression, and many more.

Observation, when enhanced by concentration and interest can arouse the creative mind. Thus, you can enhance your creative ability by observing what other people are doing. From your observation, you can gain ideas on innovation and outright creation of new products. To boost your creative ability, learn from others through observation.

Type identity

This theory arose due to the failure of behaviorism to explain the cognitive state of the mind. The theory states that mental state is identical to the physical state of the brain. This means that the state of the mind equals (=) the state of the brain.

To illustrate further, since mind and the brain are the same, and is physical; then, the state of the mind is the same as the state of the brain. For example, if I feel hungry, then, it is because a particular region of the brain sends a signal to the body to reflect hunger.

From our discussion on the functions of the brain, we can say that this is true to some extent. However, the brain event that caused a particular mental state in an individual may be different in another organism, especially, if the organism does not have a brain. This is called multiple realizability. This is one thing that is not clearly explained by this theory.

How will this theory of the mind boost your creative ability? To activate your creative mind, the region of the brain responsible for creative thinking will send a signal for the mind to be in a creative state.

Thus, to be creative, both the brain and the mind will be in the creative state so that all the brain networks responsible for creativity will be activated. At this point, you don’t need to observe anyone, but you can begin to imagine and visualize things.

This theory of the mind, though did not explain clearly how it happens, it gives insight on how new ideas are formed.

Token Identity theory

The token identity theory attempts to solve the problem which the type identity theory could not resolve.

This theory of the mind states that particular instances or occurrences of a mental state are identical with particular instances of the brain. This theory shifts from the type identity theory that states that brain state correlates with a mental state.

It rather illustrates that only a particular token or occurrence of the brain is responsible for a particular occurrence of a mental state. These two theories are similar. The difference is a matter of descriptive abstraction, according to proponents of functionalism.

Functionalism theory

This theory of the mind reduced materialism to the functional roles of mental states characterized by non-mental functional roles. In functionalism, the physical state is not important, but the role of the mental state at that point in time. For example, what is the functional role of hunger, pain, and love? According to functionalism, the functional role of these mental states is realized in multiple levels. In their description, they equated the brain with the computational power of the computer. They maintained that the brain is a physical device that performs computations based on inputs to produce an individual’s behavior.

This theory when combined with the token identity theory, I believe, will make one creative. Why? Because functionalism does not focus on the brain state but on the role or output or effect. In creativity, it emphasizes the role of visualization in creative thinking. Put differently, if visualization is a state of the mind, it doesn’t matter what is being visualized. But what is the outcome of visualization? What does it produce? I believe, that acknowledging this theory will make us more productive, rather than daydreamers. It doesn’t matter what you know; what you did with what you know is more important.

Anomalous Monism theory

This theory teaches that the mind and the brain are identical, however, it noted that the mind sometimes deviates from the state of the brain. In this case, the mind is not strictly guided or regulated by the brain. According to the theory, every change in the state of the mind is guided by a change in the state of the brain.

This theory helps to understand the power of concentration in creativity. When the brain deviates from its conscious thought, concentration is lost. And nothing is impressed on the mind.

Emergentism theory

This theory attempts to explain the mind-body relationship using a layered view of nature.

Accordingly, the mind and its causal effects are arranged in layers of increasing order of complexity. Each layer corresponds to its own special science. When these layers interact, there emerges a complex state of the mind.

To explain how this theory applies to creativity, we can say that when the layers of the brain interact with each other, it creates a variable state of the mind. This variable state of the mind gives room to the influx of new ideas.

Eliminative materialism theory

This theory states that one’s common sense might misrepresent or misinterpret what he/she naturally know. That is, what we sometimes believe, “common sense” is false, and these beliefs can be eliminated and replaced with an alternative. In other words, certain mental states are false, hence, can be replaced.

This theory is very important in creativity. It tells us not to believe the world’s standards. As we are growing, we tend to believe certain standards. Sometimes these beliefs might be false.

But we might not know except if we critically analyze them. Discarding existing standards and assumptions is a step forward in creative thinking. If I may ask, what were you told when you were little that turned out to be false?

Conclusion

Study of the human mind is important because it explains things we do not ordinarily know. But, one problem with this study is that is that most theories are not applicable to everyday life. The theories we examined thus far, are intuitive in understanding the relationship between the brain, the mind, and creativity.

These theories on their own did not explain these relationships. But by intuition, we can deduce what relationship each has with creativity.

Behaviourism gave us insight on the importance of observation while type identity aroused our curiosity to the importance of the mental state and imagination.

These mental states could make us daydreamers; with no guided thought and no direction. This is where functionalism comes into play. Because the functional role of our mental state is important in bringing our thoughts to reality.

The mind without concentration is unproductive. Anomalous monism exposed us to recognize the importance of concentration in creativity.

Furthermore, emergentism opened up a scope to let us understand that layers are important in creating room for inflow of ideas. Because, if there is no opening, there is no filling.

Finally, eliminative materialism underscores the importance of common sense and discarding of existing assumptions.

This knowledge is important in building a creative mind. However, it does not come in isolation. Proper coordination will help us achieve a greater result.