Elements of a Curriculum on the Psychology of Living 3: Three Brains & Three Forms of Attention

Introduction to the series

How is it that children spend a thousand hours a school year in classrooms, but over the course of a dozen years come away with having learned so little about themselves -- practical knowledge about the psychology of being human.

The following series of blog entries explores the elements of a curriculum on the psychology of living, with the aim of providing children a toolkit for understanding themselves and their relations at a deep level.

There is nothing novel in these ideas; none belong to me. They are, I believe, generally accepted concepts from cognitive, social and clinical/counseling psychology, and deserve to be as much a part of the pedagogy of schooling as math facts and decoding skills.

I've shared these ideas with students and parents in recent years, typically in the context of a parent-student conference, or in response to unnecessary dramas associated with managing a classroom of two dozen or so diverse children.

The entries are not referenced, but the concepts can be found in an entry-level psychology text. The bibliography may be developed at a later date.

Imagine that we are studying life on Earth through a very large telescope from a distant world. What patterns might we observe in the lives of humans? What might we conclude about the nature and organization of their minds, their so-called psychology?

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We have three brains: one that thinks -- is analytical, one that feels, and one that moves.

There is a fourth brain, which we might refer to as the intelligence of the body -- managing and regulating its systems, keeping us inhaling, digesting, beating, and pooping. I don't make the blood flow, it flows. It's better than I stay out of it.

The three brains are qualitatively distinct. Compare the experience of doing a crossword puzzle, or troubleshooting a computer problem, with the experience of elation while lifting into the air on a plane headed for holiday in Hawaii, or the sorrow associated with disappointment, with the experience of doing the dishes, or reaching out to shake someone's hand. The three brains are qualitatively distinct, and we can get to know the differences by taste through reflection and observation.

There are also three forms of attention. Attention can be active and focused, as when we're learning a new skill, be it surfing or converting fractions to decimals; attention can be passive and diffused, as when I walk from the living room to the kitchen to replenish my coffee -- actually, it's more accurately said that it's walking, requiring little active attention, save micro-adjustments in balance and space; and attention can be attracted or repulsed, in motion, as when I'm drawn to a favorite song, or repulsed by the thought of eating beets.

These two sets of ideas can be combined -- three brains and three forms of attention -- to experience first-hand, by taste, the variety of ways in which we function. The intellectual-thinking brain may be focused, as when we're actively engaged in a problem, doing a calculation, or weighing the pros and cons of a career change; it may be passive and diffused, as when it chatters away mechanically, repeating stories or scenarios, whether within ourselves or in conversation with friends; or it may be attracted to good or interesting ideas, or repulsed by ideas we perceive as bad or disagreeable.

Are these ideas that children deserve to know and explore? How important are they? Who is responsible for teaching them, in whose classrooms will they be discussed?