Levels of study
One of Gregory Bateson’s most fundamental concepts is the idea of logical levels of learning and communication.
Its basis lies in Bertrand UK theory of logical types, which can be briefly stated as follows: all objects of thought are organized in a kind of hierarchy, the zero types of which includes individual objects (for example, a spoon). The first type includes sets of objects of zero type (for example, spoons as a set); the second – are sets of these objects (for example, “cutlery” as a set that unites spoons, forks, knives, and other devices), etc.
Thus, a strict distinction is made between objects, properties of objects, etc.
About learning, the theory of logical types is as follows:
According to Bateson, the ability to achieve certain A level online classes is directly related to the ability of the system to form contours with the appropriate level of reclusiveness.
► Zero learning – a linear response to a change in the environment, characterized by the specificity of the response that cannot be correct, whether right or wrong.
Bateson also stressed that “learning” is impossible without assuming a reproducible context. At the same time, the concept of “context” is subject to logical typing: “a stimulus is an elementary signal, internal or external; stimulus context is a met message that classifies elementary signals; the context of stimulus contexts is a meta-meta-message that classifies meta-messages.
►Learning-I is the change in response specificity due to the correction of selection errors within a given set of alternatives.
The most typical case is the classic Pavlovian conditioning (saliva to a bell, for example). This level includes: “learning” that occurs in the context of instrumental encouragement and instrumental avoidance, the phenomenon of learning through repeated repetition, in which one unit of the organism’s behavior becomes a stimulus for another unit of behavior, the phenomena of habituation and extinction, etc.
► Learning II is a change in the process of learning-I, i.e., corrective change in the set of alternatives from which the choice is made, or it is a change in the division of the sequence of experience.
“Context” defines the choice from different sets of responses: learning-I is the change in response by adjusting the selection from a given set of responses. Learning II is a change in the process of learning-I, i.e., it is an adjustment of the set of alternatives from which a choice is made, or it is a change in the division of the sequence of experience.
A good example of learning II from psychotherapy is psychoanalysis’s “transfer” phenomenon.
Consider an instrumental view of life. An organism with this view in a new situation will undertake “trial and error” behavior to obtain positive reinforcement from the situation. His target philosophy is not denied even if he fails to get this reinforcement. His “trial and error” behavior will continue. The premises of the “goal” belong to a different logical type than the material facts of life and, therefore, cannot be easily refuted.
A practicing magician does not unlearn his magical vision of events, even if his magic does not work. Statements that govern punctuation have the general property of being self-validating. What we call “context” includes the subject’s behavior and external events. But this behavior is controlled by the previous learning II, so it will be of the sort to mold the general context into a pattern corresponding to the expected punctuation. Overall, this self-reinforcing characteristic of learning II makes this learning almost ineradicable. It follows that learning courses in UK, received in childhood, will be preserved for life.
► Learning III is a change in the process of learning II, i.e., corrective change in the system of sets of alternatives from which a choice is made. (For some humans and some mammals, this requirement level may be pathogenic.)
Learning III is a rare phenomenon and difficult to describe. This is largely due to the self-validating nature of the prerequisites obtained during training II. However, we can assume that the contradictions generated at the second level, as it were, push to the third level of learning. Learning III is conventionally described as a profound character reorganization that can be either a breakthrough to something radically new or a psychotic failure.
Among the changes that make it possible to speak of Learning III are: learning to change the habits acquired in Learning II, to direct or limit Learning II, and finally, if Learning II is learning in contexts of learning-I, then learning-III must be learning in contexts. These contexts.
Consider the small learning-II unit mentioned above as a source of loopholes for avoiding learning III. A certain personality characteristic (call it “persistence”) is generated by the experience of multiple sequences with intermittent reinforcement.
We must now ask about the broader context of such sequences. How are such sequences generated?
For example. The body is looking for the desired or lost object. A pig sniffs out acorns, a player does not leave the slot machine hoping to break the bank, and a man is looking for the keys to his car. There are thousands of situations where living beings must persist in certain kinds of behavior precisely because reinforcement is sporadic or unlikely. Learning II simplifies the universe by putting these cases in the same category. But if learning-III concerns the contexts of these cases, then the categories of learning II explode.
- All that we call our “character” (“I”) is the “result” of Learning II.
- That is, “I” are the habits of actions in context.
- But at the level of Learning III, it is about perception and action in the context of contexts, so the “I” loses its meaning and becomes irrelevant.
- The concept of “I” no longer functions as a central argument in the punctuation of experience.
- In other words, at the third level, we will deal with a greatly changed picture of the world and the punctuation of experience, which is still difficult to describe in the usual terms. Training III blows up the categories of Training II.
► Learning IV would be a variation of learning III, but it does not seem to occur in adult terrestrial organisms. However, the evolutionary process has created organisms whose ontogenesis brings them to the level of learning. III. The combination of phylogenesis and ontogeny achieves learning level IV.
Summarizing, several conclusions:
- Life in general and learning in particular as a process can take place at different logical levels, and these levels must be distinguished from each other in order not to confuse a bulldog with a rhinoceros and not fall into the trap of “double binds” – both in the outside world and in one’s thinking.
- Mixing logical types is a very common thing in both thinking and life – and it can be negative and paralyzing, and promote creativity and reach a new level.
- Structuring contexts is a way to organize a person’s perception in one way or another, which is constantly happening in human life and interaction. A vigilant attitude to this can improve the quality of life and the emergence of new ways of learning and transmitting information.
