Dc: 2015

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Steve Peter’s ‘The Chimp Paradox’

From DNAPeople from Steve Peter’s ‘The Chimp Paradox’.

In The Chimp Paradox, Peters argues there are three elements to the psychological mind. He labels these the ‘Chimp’, the ‘Human’ and the ‘Computer’. Peter’s model is a tool for understanding and managing the functioning of the mind. The model is not a hypothesis nor strict scientific fact but based on the neuroscience of the brain. The model sees the brain as being divided into three teams:

The first team is you, the Human. You are a conscious thinking analyzing being that works with facts and truth and then makes deductions using logical thinking.

The second team is the Chimp, an independent thinking brain that is not under your control. It works with feelings and impressions and then puts the ‘information’ together using emotional thinking.

The third team is the Computer. This is really a brain that is at the disposal of the Human and Chimp to put information into for reference. It acts as a memory and can also act as an automatic thinking and acting machine that is programmed to take over if the Chimp or Human is asleep or if they allow it to run ahead of them with preformed decisions and beliefs that it can act with.

"Learn ways to control your Chimp to train the brain to manage surges of emotion"

Realize you can’t bully your Chimp, you have to nurture it. Meet the needs of your Chimp first and it will be in a position where you can then talk to it rationally and it will listen. How? Allow it to have its say, in a safe environment, for as long as it takes (typically about 10 minutes), without interruption. Relax, go with the flow and let it out, however irrational.

From Chimp Management