Using tools developed in An Aesthetic Approach to Decision Making, OPIM 402-301, the paper makes a model of the concept of positioning based on a mime’s performance. Once the model is described, the terms of a potential are explained and exemplified, often drawing on vocabulary from Chess. Finally, the model and concepts are employed in an in-depth, cognitive analysis of social situations, spanning friendship, family, and business which serve to enrich our intuitive processes, therefore improving our abilities to make decisions and exploit opportunities.

To create a position; to develop it; to promote a predisposition for further development => These actions bring opportunities for an individual. Positioning is necessary in multi-stage, indeterministic systems, when time is out of joint, and there is no complete and consistent linkage between one’s actions and the achievement of the final goal. If a complete and consistent linkage were possible, an algorithm, a procedure outlining each step, would be implemented. If there were only a consistent linkage, probabilities could be formed to aid in the decision processes. When neither of these conditions, completeness nor consistency, are available, positioning must be used. Techniques for positioning have been developed in chess by C. Shannon, in the study of aesthetics by G. Birkoff, and economics by A. Katsenelinboigen. Katsenelinboigen has built a broad concept of positioning, named The Calculus of Predispositions, wherein a position is a function of material and positional parameters and their evaluations.

Life is a multi-stage, indeterministic system. Often we do not know how our actions will effect us in the middle- or long-term. How do we improve our abilities for success in life? How do we gain opportunities? They are achieved through positioning and our potential. Katsenelinboigen’s concepts can be applied directly to life, to understanding ourselves, our evaluations of others, and our capacity to exploit situations for our betterment. An individual becomes a function of his material and positional parameters and their evaluations. His potential is developed to assimilate unforeseen events to the individual’s own advantage; to prevent undesirable consequences of unforeseen events, and induce the environment to the individual’s own advantage.

This paper makes an analogy of the development of a position to a mime’s performance. The mime begins with two sets of parallel lines drawn in the air which form an initial condition of a box. By increasing his box, stretching it vertically and horizontally, he increases the area in which he may operate. Eventually, the space becomes so large that he no longer needs to operate within the constraints of two-dimensions. He steps through the box (a door) to a three-dimensional world. This world may be further elaborated than the two-dimensional space. From the beginning, each of his moves creates a position for evolution to the next stage. Every stretch and pull of the box gives him new exploration abilities. He sets a goal to build a world and goes about achieving it from the beginning stage. He must start at the beginning and carefully develop his project so that the audience may be taken into his work. If he commenced within the three-dimensional world, the audience would not have the same level of satisfaction or suspension of disbelief.

Using the tools of predispositioning developed by Katsenelinboigen, along with the Mime-Box analogy, the paper becomes cognitive analysis of social situations which serve to enrich our abilities to make decisions. These situations include a relationships between a father and son, between friends, brothers, and in business. The findings were that Katsenelinboigen’s terminology can be applied directly to life. The concept of predispositioning is useful not only in analyzing these situations, but in aiding an individual’s decision-making processes which further his abilities to exploit opportunities.

Katsenelinboigen’s concept of predispositioning is a powerful device which he has used to explain diverse subjects, such as Chess, Economics, Biology, and Aesthetics. This paper brings the language to the field of Psychology and, from the empirical application, concludes that the language of predispositioning fits. The implication for the discovery adds evidence to the confirmation of the hypothesis that predispositioning is a universal language which links all disciplines. Katsenelinboigen’s concept of predispositioning can be utilized in a full gamut of situations and disciplines. Further applications are necessary to confirm this assumption. Yet, if the hypothesis is consistently supported, predispositioning is a language which can be used for interdisciplinary communication and teaching. With predispositioning as a point of departure, we can easily find the parallels between the disciplines. Predispositioning gives us the methods to analyze specific situations, to improve our decision processes, and to find similarities between disciplines. These similarities advance our understanding of specific concepts, while bringing the disciplines closer together. Once these parallels have been fully realized, we will then conclude that Katsenelinboigen’s theory of Predispositioning is an underlying master system.

Coming home from school for Thanksgiving Break, I had a lot of homework to do. But, it was Thanksgiving, a time for family and friends. I went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with my parents, my brother and his wife, and took part in devouring Nana Minna’s 25 lb. turkey and Aunt Ellen’s sweet potato pie. I reacquainted myself with my close friends from high school, assessing how they had developed from their college experiences. It was an all around pleasurable time: I slept when I was tired, ate when I was hungry, and even began to read a book for recreation — something the semester rarely gives me adequate time to do. I still had my homework though. It was Saturday. Due Monday was a seventeen page paper for Art History, along with several Math problems, Economics articles, and French grammar exercises. After dedicating most of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to seeing old friends and extended family, I sat down to finish the Art History paper with the intentions of returning to the University early on Sunday morning in order to complete my assignments.

It was late afternoon. I was working on my paper, when my father walked in my room. "I was just offered two tickets to Sunday’s New York Giants football game," he said. "Would you like to come?" I immediately thought of all the homework to be done, the Math, French and Economics, and responded, "No, thanks. I have to much work; besides, I was planning to go back early tomorrow morning." "OK," he said, a bit solemnly. "I guess I could give them back then." He left, and I returned to my work. Then, I began to think.

(INTERNAL MONOLOGUE)

The father/son relationship has always been an important one. Artists, such as Cat Stevens, in his song, Cats and the Cradle, and Stephen Sondheim in his musical, Into the Woods, stress the importance of this relationship and exhibit the tragedy that can occur if the family is not close. The bond should be strong; it is an invisible asset that must be promoted. According to Aron Katsenelinboigen’s concepts, we learn that there are material and positional parameters which need to be taken into account for appropriate decision making. In the case above, the material parameters were the assignments I had to get done, while the positional parameter was the relationship with my father. Before college, I was living with my parents, while going to school. I would see them in the morning and the evening of each day, and on most Friday nights, we would have Shabbat dinner together. During our times together, we would invest in our relationship and thus strengthen our bond. The institution of the family bond was self-perpetuating do the fact that I lived in the same house as my parents, and therefore shared time and space with them. When I was in high school and had to do homework, if my father asked me to a game and I did not want to because of my responsibilities, I did not go. I knew he would see me the next morning for breakfast or in the evening for dinner. That was O.K. However, now that I am in college, my time at home is scarce. The family bond is no longer self-perpetuating, and so I must work at it. When my father asked me to go to the game, I was using my old, high-school decision-making process wherein my material and positional parameters had semi-conditional values of some sort of a degree. After reflecting upon the situation, I realized that I had to change the criteria of the semi-conditional values. Our objective in decision making is to induce the environment to create a predisposition for further development. In the case with my father, I did not realize that I did not see him as much. In order to create a predisposition for further development, I had to invest in our relationship because I no longer had the luxury of being around him that often. As for my homework, it could be done at a later time, either on the train to Philadelphia, later that evening, or even early on Monday morning. There was only a window of time, however, where I could be alone with my father. I re-evaluated my criteria for the material and positional parameters and reversed my decision. I had new semi-conditional values for the relationship with my immediate family. Their rise in importance was do to the scarcity of time spent together. My family became another set of relationships which had to be worked at in order to strengthen my position with them. My father and I went to the game and had a wonderful time. When I made my decision, I was not certain if our experience would be positive. It might have rained; I could have been sick, etc. I chose to go anyway. While there is no direct way to measure the amount our relationship changed, the investment was worth-while in that it created more opportunities for us to explore ourselves and our relationship as father and son. This relation seems more important than an early completion of Math assignments.

Life is a multi-stage process where time is out of joint. In the situation with my father, I made a positional sacrifice wherein I gave up material (my homework) for the positional relationship with my father in an effort to further my potential. Our discussions will be an elaboration of the concept of improving one’s potential and one’s overall improvement.

To create a position; to develop it; to promote a predisposition for further development => These actions bring opportunities for an individual. What is an opportunity? Webster defines opportunity as a set of circumstances providing a chance or possibility // a stroke of good fortune which presents itself and can either be grasped or lost. The more opportunities that are available, the easier it is to take advantage of some of them. A strong position is one that attempts to form opportunities so that other opportunities can occur.

Creating a position can be explained through the example of the mime and the box. The mime begins by drawing, in the air, two parallel lines horizontally about six inches apart. He then draws two vertical parallel lines, also six inches apart. He has just created the initial condition of space — a six by six inch square. He looks at the box, and then stretches it vertically, then horizontally, then vertically, then horizontally. Eventually, it becomes a big two-dimensional rectangle. The mime looks at this newly established door, and decides to step through into a three-dimensional world where he can explore and interact with the creatures he creates. Beginning with only two pair of parallel lines, the mime constructs an entire universe. The mime does not know exactly how to link the beginning to the end step, so he plays positionally. Mime is often done in improvisation which involves evaluating the environment and then determining the next step. He builds this universe through a combination of heuristics and intuition. The successful mime makes an audience laugh by inducing them to suspend their disbelief and inviting them to join him in this newly-built world.

This Mime-Box example properly analogizes the establishment and development of a position. The mime began only with lines drawn in the air and from that created a predisposition for further development. By increasing his box, he increases the area in which he may operate. Eventually, the space becomes so large that he no longer needs to operate in two-dimensions and steps through the door into a three-dimensional world. This world may be further elaborated and more clearly defined than that of the two-dimensional space. From the beginning, each of his moves, creates a position for evolution to the next stage. Every stretch and pull of the box gives him new exploration abilities. He sets a goal to build a world and goes about achieving it from the beginning stage. He must start at the beginning and carefully develop his project so that the audience may be taken into his work. If he commenced within the three-dimensional world, the audience would not have the same level of satisfaction or suspension of disbelief.

In the establishment of a position, as seen through the Mime-Box example, the initial opportunity window is established and through its expansion, one creates further opportunities. Some people are more successful than others in creating these opportunities. Why is this the case? Each mime is unique in his ability to captivate his audience. More broadly, each person is unique in his ability to exploit a position. A individual’s success will be determined by his potential. Based on Aron Katsenelinboigen’s discussion of potentials as it relates to chess as a multi-stage process, the function of one’s potential is to assimilate unforeseen events to the individual’s own advantage, to prevent undesirable consequences of unforeseen events, and induce the environment to the individual’s own advantage. The functional viewpoint is seen in the Mime-Box example. The mime’s induction of the environment is the stretching of the box; his taking advantage of unforeseen events is his improvisational skill. When doing street-performance, the mime may incorporate passers-by into his routine.

From the structural viewpoint, Katsenelinboigen explains that potential of any system is comprised of material and parameters, as independent variables, and their evaluation as semi-conditional values. The same can be said about an individual. For the individual, material parameters include one’s age, height, weight, skills, training, interests, etc. The positional parameters of an individual are his character and relations to others. These parameters are also called relational parameters, but we will use the term positional parameters. They include curiosity, sensitivity, friendliness, seriousness, etc. There are semi-conditional values for all these parameters which measure how important the parameter is to the individual or how much priority they are given. These evaluations are done both intuitively, based on emotions, and cognitively. The processes of evaluation of a position are first done on an intuitive basis. (The improvisational actor does not think analytically, he just does.)

In the Mime-Box example, each mime has a different way of performing which is a function of his potential. This potential determines his capacity to entertain his audience. Similarly, in a broader context, each person’s potential, which lead to his actions and opinions, will be a function of those material and positional parameters and their evaluations. How do we improve are ability for success in exploiting positions? Certainly, experience is one method — "As I got older, I got better!" went the ‘80s commercial for Francisco Ranaldi Marinara Sauce. There are other available ways, however. We have two processes of thinking, cognitively and intuitively. Cognitive processes are logical and reason-oriented, while intuition relies on our feelings. The more harmoniously the two processes operate, the more opportunities will be available. By cognitively analyzing social situations of friendship, family, and business, we may enrich our intuition and therefore further our potential to create predispositions for development.

How do we meet new people, become friends and develop these friendships? The issue of friendship can be seen through the Mime-Box example. When meeting someone initially, we do not know who the person is. As the first introduction is the exchange of names, the initial 6 by 6 box is drawn. The French use the term faire la connaissance de quelqu’un when they meet someone for the first time. This phrase could be translated as to gain the knowledge of someone. As one is welcomed in another’s domain, the knowledge of her existence is recognized and the opening stage is formed. It is then up to those involved to stretch their friendship (the box) vertically and horizontally, to have it expand until it could become a window to another world. Issues of timing, compatibility, and mutuality as positional parameters are key factors in the ability to create predispositions. Friendship, another positional parameter involves aesthetics since a person’s actions are coupled with emotional magnitude and evaluations of those actions by both the sender and receiver. Analytically articulating a social situation would enrich our intuitive strategy-skills and allow us to pursue more satisfying relationships.

To commence the understanding of friendship, we must first understand the individual who is pursuing the relationship and articulate his potential. The stories used for empirical evidence that follow are taken from my own life, since a self-study was the most available, least costly, and most efficient for me to utilize. Looking at my potential from a structural point of view, there are the material parameters: I am male, almost twenty years of age, 5’11" 1/2, 160 lb., with brown eyes, and brown hair. I like theater, art, music, poetry, and the outdoors. I have received a certain level of education which has given me a fair amount of knowledge. For the positional parameters, I am sensitive, kind, curious, outgoing, etc. There are also the evaluations of these parameters. My height and weight have some level of importance which I evaluate to be less than my intelligence or love of theater. For the positional parameters, I evaluate sensitivity with a higher level of priority than outgoingness.

From a functional perspective, my potential operates to induce the environment and take advantage of opportunities, both seen and unexpected. My potential has given me certain qualities. For example, I am a friendly person. Friendliness, as the adjective describes, gives me an ability to make friends. Those friendships give me the opportunity to have specific experiences which may not be available without those friends. Those specific experiences and through the entire process of living and predispositioning, learning takes place which furthers my potential via the material parameters (as the experiences hone my skills, increase my intelligence and my interests), as well as the positional parameters, in that my character develops; I become more friendly, or more curious. Through experience, I could also increase my potential by changing my semi-conditional values for the parameters; I may have the same amount of sensitivity, but I may evaluate it at a lower or higher degree. There is an ongoing process wherein I am using who I am to gain experience, while simultaneously I am learning from my experience and improving myself.

Concerning an individual’s evaluation of the beauty of an object, we can continue to use the chess model of the potential as a function of material and positional parameters and their evaluations. These evaluations are subjective because the evaluator can not separate his judgment from the ability to implement his potential; the person doing the evaluating will bring his unique values to the parameters.

The evaluation of beauty of an individual is parallel to that of an object. There is the material itself, the physical material, the intelligence, skills, talents, interests. There are the evaluator’s subjective feelings to these parameters. There are the positional parameters, the individual’s character and relations to others, coupled the evaluations of those parameters. As time increases, more parameters along with their evaluations come into play. The amount of beauty that one sees in another can increase by a change in the individual’s material and/or positional parameters, as in exercising, getting a new hair style, increasing one’s interest in art (material parameters), or becoming more friendly or courageous (positional parameters). The level of beauty can also change if the evaluator changes his semi-conditional evaluations of these parameters, valuing sensitivity more than physical appearance. Finally, the level of beauty can improve by adding more parameters to the individual, as in taking up a new hobby or learning a new subject. These new parameters will of course be coupled with their evaluations.

The Situation:

Sitting in the Fisher Fine Arts Library, I was reading André Breton’s Manifesto on Surrealism. The library has a large, open reading room where many undergraduates study. I was feeling sort of bored and decided to look around at the other students, as most do from time to time. I saw an acquaintance sitting across the room. I found her to be pretty which was based on her physical features (material parameters) and my semi-conditional evaluations of them. Her physical attractiveness made me curious to learn more about her (to find out her additional parameters). Yet, in the past, when I had tried to talk to her, she always blew me off; she was not nice (a positional parameter). As time increased, I discovered her positional parameters which I evaluated negatively. Therefore, her overall level of beauty was lowered in my eye and I no longer was curious about, nor wished to deal with her.

While looking at the acquaintance and contemplating our relationship, or lack thereof, I had a strange feeling that someone was staring at me. I looked over my shoulder; my intuition was correct. She had the stare of potential romantic interest. I smiled at a girl, who I found to be decently physically attractive. (Her level of beauty equaled her physical features and my semi-conditional values of them.) She smiled back at me, blushed, and went back to her reading. I reacted to the girl’s stare (the material), added my emotional magnitude, along with the positional parameters, as a smile equals friendliness; I added my emotional evaluation of the smile and evaluated the action positively. The evaluation led to my smile. Her smile back seemed to me a signal of a possibility for an emotional connection. Her overall beauty potential expanded, since both the physical and relational attributes were activated. (She had material parameters and showed her positional parameters both of which I evaluated positively.)

I am a shy person when it comes to women. I rarely go up to random girls and flirt with them or exchange phone numbers, etc. It’s just not in my nature, which may seem odd, since I am a friendly person. The issue of romantic involvement makes me bashful. That is a part of my potential. Unfortunately, shyness is a positional parameter that has a high evaluation. However, once I have met the girl, my confidence increases above the threshold of my timidity; the evaluation of shyness is lowered and I am more at ease. I returned to my reading, because while a smile signifies potential, more interaction must occur for any possible relationship development. Since I was not feeling bold enough to make an introduction, something else had to spark for our meeting to occur .

A few minutes later, the same girl walked passed me and went to talk to a friend. I recognized the person she was talking to as Rachel, a girl with whom I tutored elementary school students in West Philadelphia. Having enough of Breton’s discussions on chance, I decided it would be more pleasurable to have an introduction. (It’s better to take a chance than read about the concept.) So, I went over to Rachel and started an unimportant conversation about our upcoming tutoring session. My real intention was an introduction to the girl. After all, she had been staring at me, and I thought she was pretty. Albeit brief, our introduction gave me her name — a precious piece of information because as we mentioned above, it creates an opening position. Saying my good-byes, and "its nice meeting you," I left the library.

In this part of the scenario, we have a triangle of friendship which is formed, as demonstrated by Figure 1.

I wanted an introduction to the girl who smiled, as shown by the doted line. However, I felt shy. When I saw we had a mutual friend, it acted as a crutch. The girl was friends with Rachel; I was friends with Rachel; thus, Rachel could serve as the mediator of our introduction. Her presence gave me the confidence necessary to develop the initial stage of the Mime-Box theory

and the beginnings of our relationship. [This triangle will become more important in the next part of the situation (Figure 2).] In this case, my potential made me friendly which gave me the ability to make friends. I activated a specific friendship with Rachel in order to increase the particular potential of a relation to the girl. I was able to utilize Rachel’s friendship to induce the meeting. When I met Rachel for the first time, I had no way of knowing I would need her in order to have this specific experience. But, it pays to be friendly, because it gives the opportunity to induce the environment for more opportunities.

Unfortunately, I am very bad with names — an important material and positional parameter because it shows a level of connection. When the girl said hello to me two hours after our introduction, I couldn’t remember her name. Though I was cordial, it was bad to have forgotten. No problem though; after the initial introduction is made, I was in a position to cultivate the relationship further. I was curious to find out more about this girl. There was an initial emotional magnitude. When Rachel called me the next day about a tutoring meeting, I asked for her friend’s name. She told me it was Laurie. I wrote it down and decided, quite impulsively, to write her an e-mail message as sort of a re-introduction. My first line of text mentioned our mutual friend, Rachel. The relationship I had with Rachel was crucial to the success of the primary stages of the new friendship. I intentionally included Rachel in the message as a way of establishing credibility. My thought process was the following: Rachel thought that I was a good person. She recognized my potential. Laurie and Rachel were friends, so Laurie would go to Rachel for a character reference. Rachel would be supportive of me which is important in these situations, as her recommendation would reinforce Laurie’s feelings and begin to curb the uncertainties that most have for people they do not know. Of key importance was my intuitive assumption that Rachel would not sabotage the relationship in pursuit of other interests, i.e., her own secret desires for me. Our friendship had been platonic; I saw her as being happy to help two of her friends get to know each other. She is shown in Figures 1 and 2 as a circle, while Laurie and myself are shown as squares, since the three parties were building the relation between the squares, while the circle was a vital consultant to the process.

Although I was a little scared to send the e-mail message (my shyness), I realized that I should not be so fearful. Besides some pride, I had not much to lose from sending this message. The possible gains were immeasurable — when investing in relationships, the investor does not know the extent to which his actions will bring rewards. I sent the e-mail.

The next day, I was once again in the library, when I recognized Laurie. I went quickly to check my e-mail. If she had written me back a positive message, I could make the next move and thereby increase our window of friendship in creating a predisposition for further development. Her message was long and quite interesting; I was pleased. I e-mailed her back extending an invitation to a party at my fraternity, the following evening. That was my mid-range plan. After sending my message, I went to increase my short-term position by talking to her. I went over and we started talking. In these stages, similar interests and values spur on possibilities for further inquiry. In talking with Laurie, I found our interests to be alike, including Art History, Theater, French, Music, and Painting. I found it enjoyable to talk with her and asked if she would like to get some coffee following the library. She said that while she was busy with a paper, perhaps another time. NOTE: When people say perhaps another time and don’t give a specific date, it is up to the individual to ask the question when?. Otherwise, there may be no other chance for further development. Patience is also a big virtue in these situations; it is a key positional parameter of an individual’s potential. Those who are impatient might miss out on potential opportunities, as they fail to see the long-term horizon for relationship investment. In my conversation with Laurie, we got on the topic of courses. She mentioned that she had a paper for her gender class in which the assignment was to interview males from the North and the South and write about their courting processes. The material parameters of my potential became important, as I am a male from the North. Seeing this as a rare opportunity, I asked her if she would care to interview me. She said O.K. and asked me when. I responded that on Friday, we would go out for dinner and she could conduct her interview. She agreed.

The next day, Thursday, she showed up to the party at my fraternity house; it paid to write the e-mail. We talked for three straight hours. I found our conversations to be stimulating. The question is why? My reaction to the girl is a function of her actions. Thus, its not only her smile that evokes my response, but a conglomeration of her smile, along with my evaluation of her smile that gives my reaction. There are possibilities for communication errors here, because her subconscious choice of action is a function of the action itself and her evaluation of that action. She sends an action I react to it. The possibility for communication error appears when the emotional evaluation levels are not equal, assuming that the parties don’t know each other’s evaluation levels. If the sender of the action values the action higher than the receiver, given the receiver does not know the discrepancy, he might react "less-positively," to the sender. For example, for a shy girl giving a smile to someone may be something very special to her. However, if the receiver does not know she is shy, he might wonder why she did not give him a hug, or another action that is more meaningful in his eyes. If they had a more substantial relationship, their experiences would give them intangible insights into the other’s personality, emotions, and actions. If the evaluator values the action higher than the sender, he will react strongly to that action while valuing the sender more. His expectations of the sender might increase, as he believes that the emotional ties are stronger than the sender does. Emotionally sensitive people are susceptible to the case when they evaluate actions and reactions. Unfortunately, some people often make assumptions that the sender and the receiver value the actions to the same degree which is not necessarily true. These assumptions become false signs of mutuality, where one party feels that the other is reciprocating at an equal level. The occurrence of over-evaluating actions would become a problem in my relationship with Laurie.

The issue is more complicated then described above. The psychological concept of reflexivity, with an elaborate mathematical formalism, brings a relevant tool to such a situation. Reflexivity will not be discussed in this essay, but should be taken into account as necessary in relationships.

The reactions to actions and their evaluations can be similar to reactions personality traits, beliefs, or hobbies. When I discovered our similar interests, I thought that was a sign that we spoke the same language and could communicate well. I assumed that we evaluated objects in the same way and therefore evaluated the other to the same degree. This assumption should never be made, because one may release actions or thoughts that are too extreme for the stage of relational development at that time. This concept will be elaborated upon later. My false correlation between interests and understanding came about through my desires to fully express myself to another, to be completely understood. My theory of correlation sprung from my longing for a soul mate. I evaluated Laurie’s actions or interests so highly, because of my emotional magnitude that I raised her to demi-divine status. My soul-mate objective would have been satisfactory had it been equally met. But, few people are able to release their hidden needs to another, unless their relationship is thoroughly developed. The equality of objectives needs to come about via verbal, written, or visual communication, not through assumption. If the latter occurs, a discrepancy will present itself which will result in anxiety and frustration. The words, "I love you," are so emotionally charged because the sender is verbally verifying the level of his evaluation of the other directly, while the receiver has the sense of humility that comes with being cared for. Verbal communication is a risk, because the speaker is uncertain how the other will react. If "I love you" is said sincerely, the speaker is left totally exposed and thus, his thoughts should only be said after substantial development of the relationship. If the feelings are not mutual, discomfort/awkwardness can result.

That Friday, we went out to dinner. She said the interview would be saved for another date. I had a marvelous time — it was so natural for me to be around her. While on subsequent occasions, we did spend time together, in the end however, the relationship ended. Articulating the possible causes for the closure of the relationship will help us in the future:

Assumptions kill relationships as they are negative substitutes for direct communication. As mentioned above, I supposed that Laurie and I evaluated our actions in a similar manner which was not the case. I also evaluated her actions at a very high level because of my emotional magnitude which did not match her intentions. My assumptions inclined me to release emotional intensity at too early a stage. My actions resulted in Laurie’s fear, as she was not ready for the emotional charge. The intensity of the relationship is analogous to the pH-scale, wherein emotional intensity can be seen as acidic and disinterest is viewed as basic. The idea is to have a balance. Too much emotional intensity on the part of one person, could scare the other away, while too much disinterest would also cause the other go away. As density is key to pH-concentration, it is also important in relationships. To build on the Mime-Box model, on issues of friendship, in the beginning stages of a relationship especially, one must realize how fragile the friendship is (the small area of the box). If both parties are not mutually ready for emotional intensity and one person releases himself, the other will be frightened away which is the exact opposite of the first person’s intentions. In this scenario, the fear-felt person will lower the level of beauty of the other, as he changes his evaluation of the positional parameters. The lower degree of beauty would create disincentives to expand the position on the part of the one who felt fear.

In the case with Laurie, not separating the action from emotional magnitude in the evaluation, and not separating parameters from their evaluations, lead me to believe in the equality of our emotions which caused my intense response. The proper strategy seems to be a time-release mechanism for emotions: as the Mime-Box continues to expand, more acid, emotional intensity, or base, disinterest, may be added to keep the pH-balance neutral.

Another assumption I made was that we were both pursuing the same type of relationship when in fact, we were not. While we may have had similar interests, we had different objectives. As a sophomore, I have spent a time meeting a broad number of people and have done a lot of exploring of Philadelphia and the University on my own. I was then looking for a companion with which to share my adventures. I saw Laurie as being that person, since we shared so many interests. She, on the other hand, is a Freshman who is still interested in exploring on her own, in increasing the quantity of people to faire la connaissance. Breadth of friendship was more important than that of depth. She was not ready to have a companion. I am not saying that these different needs are demarcated by year in college; they come about by personal growth which is not necessarily a function of age; my separation was just a simpler way of dividing the two feelings. The important point is the was a difference in our needs. While I looked for a companion, she looked for more acquaintances. Since we were not able to change our objectives, there was no mutuality our relationship. We sought different aims. This problem is shown in Figure 3. While both are graphs of sine functions, which are our similar interests, the phase shift of P /2, our different objectives, shows a zero sum gain when the functions are added.

We have come a long way in analysis of this story using the terminology of the position, the potential concept and the Mime-Box analogy. Some concluding comments to summarize:

1. One’s potential allows him to take advantage of opportunities =>The friendship with Rachel was crucial in meeting the girl. Her friendship came naturally out of my potential to be a friendly person.
2. The evaluation of level of beauty that the evaluator brings to an individual is a function of the individual’s material and positional parameters and the evaluators semi-conditional evaluations. The level may change in three ways, either an change in the parameters, a change in their evaluation, or the addition of new parameters and their evaluations.
3. Relationships involve patience and timing. We have to make sure not to get too intense or the exact opposite of our intentions will occur.
4. Through experience, we learn and develop, therefore improving our potential to enjoy current and future relationships.

After looking in-depth at friendship and analyzing a specific instance in detail, we can broaden our topic to include that of family and business. These stories will not involve as much analysis of the potential and its material and positional parameters and their evaluations as the story above. Having pointed out these concepts at length above, we have made ourselves familiar with them and have bettered are intuitive processes with the cognitive analysis. The stories below demonstrate how cognitive and intuitive thinking can cooperate to capitalize on a position.

My brother, Joel, is eleven years older than I. While growing up, whether feeding me when I was a baby, teaching me how to play baseball, or advising me on problems with my friends, he was like a third parent. When I was seven, Joel went away to college and I did not see him very often. When we would see each other, our relationship would be that of older advisor and little child. As the years went on, he continuously failed to realize that I, too, was growing up. In his eyes, I was still very young and innocent. Though it bothered me, I would play the part for some reason. After awhile though, it was getting inappropriate. I was much different from when I was little. I loved my brother — I idealized him as a child, but wanted to restructure our relationship so that it would develop as we matured.

The transition began when Joel met the woman he would go on to marry. It was the summer of 1994. While in Europe studying theater, I received a letter from Joel professing his love for a woman named Randee. It was the first time he had ever opened up to me about his feelings of deep emotion. The previous times were the traditional counselor/counsellee alliance where problems flow in one direction and answers in the other. In a brotherhood relationship that stresses sharing, the questions and answers flow back and forth. Sharing is what makes the relation so unique. My brother’s opening up gave me the hope and eventually the goal that our brotherhood would equal our friendship. When I returned home, however, I found the changes were not as dramatic as I had wished. Yet, the mere existence of the letter established the opening position of the Mime-Box, which if properly exploited could be lead to my goal to make brotherhood equal friendship.

After Joel became engaged, my brother’s closest friend, Steve, and I planned the bachelor party. In this male-bonding experience, ten guys floated down the Delaware River in inner-tubes and then drove to New York City for dinner at a microbrewery. My brother’s friends said good night after dinner; while I was left with Joel and Steve. They planned to go to a few more bars and asked me to join them. Though very tired, I thought of my desire for brotherhood to equal friendship. We went to three bars and had a good time. I remember my brother telling me that I was his best friend. Though his comments may have been alcohol-induced, I felt happy. In my times spent with my brother, I began to develop a predisposition for further development of our relationship. To use the Mime-Box analogy, I was stretching and pulling the box, thus creating more area in which we could explore each other.

The first weekend in December, my brother and his wife came to Philadelphia for a visit. The main event was the Army-Navy Football Game. (Sports are big in my family; my brother is a sports-television producer in New York.) "What to do with them afterwards?" I thought, "How do I continue to expand my position." I evaluated the situation: He is married and I am not. What to do? I needed to do something in which my maturity would come across. I would have gone to a bar, but then I got a better idea — we would go on a double-date. I would take a friend and together, the four of us, would have an adventure. The restaurant I chose was Circa on 15th and Walnut, which The Practical Penn Guide reviewed favorably saying,

This place was perfect; we were lucky to get reservations for a table in the vault. (The restaurant was in a converted bank building.) The music in the club was 1970’s disco, the type my brother grew up to and I also enjoyed. We had an fabulous time, drinking wine, eating delicious food, and dancing. It was an experience where we were great friends. The restaurant provided an appropriate atmosphere in which our relationship could metamorphosize. I did not know to what extent our experience would improve our relationship, but I had a feeling it would help. This experience allowed us to inquire the possibilities of the amount of satisfaction gained from our shared company.

While sometimes there are slip-backs in our relationship, it is beginning to come to an equilibrium. My brother will always be older than me. With age comes experience, but I have had very different experiences from him. I have a lot to share. When I induce the environment in a way that reminds him to look at me as an individual, our relationship develops. We have made substantial progress in the last few years. My experiences with him and his wife in Philadelphia were quite positive. And as we get older, the marginal difference in our ages will continue to decrease. In fact, if my age is x; his age would be x+11, then Lim x-> ¥ of x/(x+11) = 1. As we continue to intensify our relationship, by investing time in each other, we should approach the goal of friendship=brotherhood.

We have seen the importance of relations in friendship and family. Keeping the Mime-Box analogy in mind, we may explain the importance of relations in business. Our findings may be similar.

I am a regional representative for a promotional apparel manufacturer located in Los Angeles, California. The company produces custom embroidered and silk-screened wearables and accessories such as hats, T-shirts, jackets, and bags. Some of the company’s clients include Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, and MCI. They have also manufactured the merchandise for concert tours of Sting and Eric Clapton, among others. The promotional apparel market is very competitive. Because the company is factory-direct and enjoys large economies of scale, they can offer high quality at competitive pricing. Still, this quality/price ratio of the goods are not enough for a successful business. Client-relations are vital. My experiences working for this company has shown me that the establishment and development of a position, wherein a positive company-to-client relationship is developed, creates potential for profit opportunities.

The Public Theater of NYC, my best account, is a non-profit theater company on the rise. With a new artistic director and marketing department, the Public set out to position themselves as young, energetic, and urban, producing plays that would evoke while entertaining its audience. Each year, they sponsor Shakespeare in Central Park, the New York Shakespeare Festival. Their Summer 1995 production of the Tempest starred Patrick Stewart. I had a friend, an intern in the Marketing Department of the Public, who told me they were interested in starting an apparel program. I sent him a brochure which he then gave to the Director of Marketing. Two weeks later, I scheduled an appointment with the director and met with him on a warm Monday afternoon. He was excited to hear of our movie-producing clients, as that was an image he was going for. He liked our products, their prices, and our fast service, and told me we would keep in touch. I wrote him letters thanking him for the meeting. Three weeks later, he placed an order for 750 hats for the show Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk. After he placed an order, I called to thank him. I called him again 10 days later to remind him when the products were being delivered, though I had previously mentioned it. After they had arrived, I called to see what he thought of them. He was pleased and four days later placed an order for 250 more hats. I also contacted the director when I thought of a new item that might be profitable and appropriate for one of his shows or if we were having a product sale. I called to wish him a happy Thanksgiving and the company sent out Season’s Greetings cards. All of these phone calls, these costs of transacting were done so that a feeling of kinship might be established. One day, I was reading the New York Times, when I noticed an article reviewing the Public Theater’s Fall show. The critic thought very highly of the production. I called the director to wish my congratulations. He was glad I did, saying thank you and that while sales were doing well, he did not need anything to order. I said no problem, that I was calling simply to offer my compliments. We said good-bye and hung up. The following day, he called and asked for 500 hats. I did not know that he would call, I phoned him in the name of relations.

On one occasion there had been a miscommunication on a delivery date for some wool ski hats. When I called the Public Theater with the new date, they were upset because they wanted the earlier delivery. While the promotional company usually ships items by truck, as it is cheaper for the client, shipping the products overnight would get the hats there on time. I told the Public that I was sorry for the problem and would pay for the difference in the shipping cost so they would have their hats when needed with no shipping penalty. They were very placated; I was relieved. When I told my company of my intentions to pay for the shipping, they said they would not cover the difference, so I personally had to pay the cost. I made a positional sacrifice where I lost money on a small order so as to protect and develop my investment in the long-term client relationship.

We see in the Public Theater example, that beginning with an intern’s request for a brochure, I developed a position where I met the director and his staff and went on to sell him over $100,000 worth of apparel. Potentially more important than the sales was that the marketing director, impressed with our company, gave me the names of other marketing directors for the largest theater companies which produce the road tours for shows. He told me that there was a monopoly present in the theater wearables market which could be broken. Judging from our products, prices, and clients, he thought that my company could move in and establish a position. The director told me that I could use his name for a reference. By cultivating my position, I had profit from my commissions, a possible long-term client, new leads, and a reference in the New York Theater market. My strategy stressed a commitment to service and a partnership (mutuality) between me and the client. I attempted to foster an important positional parameter of loyalty. Combining loyalty and service with quality material goods and competitive prices, I tried to position myself as the top choice for his promotional needs. So far, I have been quite successful. By building upon my relations, I created a predisposition for further development in my business practices.

We have seen how family positions can change over time, either by constraint as in the case with my father or choice as in the case with my brother. We have also seen how relationships begin and develop over time whether in business or pleasure. Our cognitive articulation of intuitive evaluations has allowed us to supplement the experiential learning. We have enlivened our thinking. Successful management of friends and business relationships require a lot of work. Issues of mutuality and timing determine the likeliness of the predisposition. While the gains from relationships are immeasurable, the cultivation of friendship is an invaluable skill, as it leads to potential profit opportunities, both monetarily and socially.

The potential of an individual is a function of his material and positional parameters and their semi-conditional evaluations. Through time and with experience, one changes the quantity of parameters, readjusts his evaluations, and adds new parameters and evaluations. These adjustments change the individual’s potential to exploit opportunities. In developing one’s potential from a functional perspective, three components are should be emphasized: to incorporate unforeseen events to the individual’s own advantage, to prevent undesirable consequences of unforeseen events, and induce the environment to the individual’s own advantage.

The Mime-Box analogy works well in explaining the development of a position. The space, made out of two pairs of parallel lines, is extended until a new dimension can be reached. In this new dimension, definitions within the space, along with additions to its boundaries can be made. As one reaps the benefits of a position, new goals are subsequently discovered and set, as the opportunities become available. The development of a predisposition for further development is thus an ongoing process within Life’s dynamic, indeterministic system.

Katsenelinboigen’s concept of predispositioning is a powerful device which he has used to explain diverse subjects, such as Chess, Economics, Biology, and Aesthetics. This paper brings the language to the field of Psychology and, from the empirical application, concludes that the language of predispositioning fits. The implication for the discovery adds evidence to the confirmation of the hypothesis that predispositioning is a universal language which links all disciplines. Katsenelinboigen’s concept of predispositioning can be utilized in a full gamut of situations and disciplines. Further applications are necessary to confirm this assumption. Yet, if the hypothesis is consistently supported, predispositioning is a language which can be used for interdisciplinary communication and teaching. With predispositioning as a point of departure, we can easily find the parallels between the disciplines. Predispositioning gives us the methods to analyze specific situations, to improve our decision processes, and to find similarities between disciplines. These similarities advance our understanding of specific concepts, while bringing the disciplines closer together. Once these parallels have been fully realized, we will then conclude that Katsenelinboigen’s theory of Predispositioning is an underlying master system.

Katsenelinboigen, A. Selected Topics in Indeterministic Systems. Seaside, CA: Intersystems Publishing, 1989.

Art as a Multi-Stage Process

Back to Life

Back to Title Page