00100	Pragmatics of Human Communication
00200		Paul Watzlawick,Janet Beavin,Don Jackson  (MRI)
00300	
00400	Cases of fox and rabbit population,
00500	Point is made that individual phenomena often do not make sense
00600	until considered in some wider system (ecology, the family).  Psychology
00700	has tended to concentrate on individual in isolation.
00800	
00900	Communication
01000		syntactics-coding and devices
01100		semantics-conventions of meaning
01200		pragmatics-behavior
01300	focus on sender-receiver relation mediated by communication.
01400	Wants to avoid reification of concepts such as dependency,etc.
01500	
01600	Feedback systems:
01700		negative feedback-stability
01800		positive feedback-change
01900	this language is that of reinforcement. Couples, families, therapy
02000	groups are feedback systems.  Example from schizophrenic families
02100	that the patient is essential to stability of family.  Such systems
02200	cannot be analyzed by isolating variables.
02300	
02400	Redundancy=predictability of language and communication.  Awareness
02500	of behavior being out of context.  We are in constant communication
02600	but we do not have much ability in communicating about communication,
02700	meta-communication.  Observationally find "rules of game".  
02800	There is a difficulty that meta-communication must be in the same
02900	language as communication, while meta-mathematics is in natural
03000	language and mathematics in symbolic terms.  
03100	
03200	We cannot really know the internal structure of others, ie
03300	know intention. Thus we find it useful to adopt a black box approach
03400	and search in the here and now behavior for rules.  Why might be
03500	replaced by "what for".  In a feedback system, A's behavior affect
03600	B's and B's affect A's behavior.  We cannot really talk about one as
03700	the cause and the other as the effect, even though it is the common
03800	way of thinking and perceiving.  Normal/abnormal depends on situation;
03900	schizophrenia can be seen as a reasonable reaction to an untenable
04000	communication context.
04100	
04200	Impossibility of Not Communicating
04300	We cannot avoid communicating; we cannot avoid behaving.  Even if
04400	communication is not intended, conscious, or understood.  The schizophrenic
04500	behaves as if he would avoid commitment by not communicating.  Any
04600	communication implies a commitment and defines the relationship; ie
04700	a communication not only conveys information, but imposes behavior.
04800	"report,command"  "content,relationship" . "Communication,metacommunication".
04850	In spontaneous and healthy
04900	relationships, the relationship aspect of communication recedes into the background;
05000	in "sick" relationships, communication is about the relationship
05100	and not content.
05200	
05300	The sequence of exchanges in a communication has different meaning
05400	to participants if they punctuate the sequence differently.  The feedback
05500	system: eg he withdraws, she nags.  He perceives his withdrawl in response
05600	to her nagging; she perceives her nagging in response to his withdrawl.
05700	Inability to meta-communicate about their patterning of communication.
05800	The nature of a relationship is contingent upon the punctuation of the
05900	communicational sequences between communicants.
06000	
06100	Symbolic=verbal communication; analogic=nonverbal communication.
06200	Relationship, ie metacommunication is often analogic=nonverbal.
06300	No non-verbal equivalents of logical operations (if,and,or,not);
06400	
06500	Complementary(dominant-submissive) and Symmetric (competitive)
06600	changes.  All communications are complementary or symmetric,
06700	depending on whether they are based on equality or difference.
06800	
06900	Response to communication
07000		reject communication
07100		accept communication
07200		disqualify communication
07300			misunderstand,switch subject,be unclear,
07400			literal interpretation of metaphor
07500			metaphorical interpretation of literal
07600			inconsistencies, contradictions
07700		the symptom as communication;feign inability to communicate
07800			may convince himself
07900			McGinnies' expt on perceptual defence
08000				subjects exclude critical words
08100	
08200	Content and relationship
08300	Many arguments apparently over content are really arguments over
08400	metacommunication, and never end if carried on at the content level.
08500	The metacommunication is about the relationship, who has the right
08600	to speak for whom, etc.
08700	A meta-statement can be "This is how I see myself" or 
08800	"This is how I see myself in relation to you".
08900	Responses "This is how I see you"
09000		Confirmation
09100			stabilizes self-awareness
09200		Rejection
09250			"you are wrong"
09300		Disconfirmation
09400			discounting.  "you do not exist"
09500	Typically, a parent of a schizophrenic fails to register his child's view
09600	(discounts), while the child does not register that his view has not
09700	been registered.  For example, the parent insists that the child believes
09800	what the parent feels the child "should" believe.  The child fails to
09900	recognize this.  He feels his message has gotten through and has been
10000	understood.  Subsequently the child is confused.  It is typical of
10100	families with a schizophrenic patient, that the patients perception of
10200	himself is very different from the parents'.
10300	
10400	Discrepancy in punctuation of sequences represents a different perception
10500	of cause and effect; often the difference in perception lead to charges
10600	of madness or badness (ill-will). These vicious circles cannot be
10700	broken until communicants are able to metacommunicate:
10800	Nation A arms because it is threatened by B while B arms because it is
10900	threatened by A.  
11000	
11050	People in communication often have different perceptions about
11100	non-verbal communication.
11200	One of the basic mistakes of translating between non-verbal and verbal
11300	communication is that non-verbal messages are declarative or assertive.
11400	Bateson states that they are more like questions or proposals concerning
11500	the relationship (propose love,hate,fight,etc).  The logical operators
11600	are not well-defined in non-verbal communication: "I will attack you"
11700	is clear, but "I will not attack you" is difficult to signal.
11800	One way of expressing negation in animal behavior is to propose the action
11900	and then not carry it out.  Similarly "or" is not well-defined in non-verbal
12000	communication.  In some cases, there is a translation from verbal to
12100	non-verbal communication.
12200	
12300	Symmetrical escalation: a way out is acceptance of one another.
12400	Pathological complementary relationships tend to amount to discounting
12500	and are more important in psychopathology than symmetrical relations.
12600	P demands that O confirm P's definition of self.
12700	O perceives P differently. In a complementary relationship, O must
12800	change his self definition to confirm P.  
12900	In a healthy relationship, there seems to be a mutual variety of
13000	symmetrical and complementary relations.