Step up a level when one frame keeps repeating
When the same failure keeps coming back, place your current way of seeing the problem inside a larger system of ways to see it.
Why it works
The 2007 introduction says: “Some adults are said to develop alternatives to, and perspectives on, formal operations.” Formal operations (Piaget’s stage of abstract, rule-based reasoning, the highest stage in his model) is where that model ended. The introduction describes such adults as using formal operations within a higher system. In the model, a higher order organizes and transforms the lower-order actions rather than simply adding more of them. This page applies that idea to a personal frame: you keep the frame as one part of a bigger organization instead of the only option. The introduction does not discuss personal frames.
How to do it
- Write down the frame you are using, such as “this is about my effort” or “this is about their attitude.”
- Ask what that frame has produced across your last few attempts.
- Write one alternative frame that would organize the same facts differently, and check whether it explains the failures.
- Keep the original frame where it works and use the wider one only where it does not.
Evidence
The 2007 introduction hedges, saying some adults are said to develop alternatives to formal operations, and that the theories it draws on argue for converging evidence. This practice applies that idea to a personal frame; no study tests it. (mechanistic)
The introduction reports this as the view of several theories, not as a result of its own. Whether a wider frame helps any particular person is an open question.
Sources
Common mistake
Replacing the frame that has failed with another one, instead of placing the first inside the second so each still has a use.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for The Model of Hierarchical Complexity, Explained
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- Tell apart too much information from too little connection
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