Systems Thinking Ep. 6 - Schemas (Mental Blueprints)

good morning everybody David Shapiro here with another video about systems thinking so today's video is about schemas or mental blueprints let's get right into it what is the definition of a schema for the sake of this video this is the definition that I'm using cognitive uh schemas are our cognitive Frameworks or mental models that shape how individuals interpret process and respond to various elements and interactions within a system these schemas provide the guidelines for understanding complex relationships Communications transactions cultural norms problem-solving approaches and informational flow in other words schemas are patterns of thought Behavior expectations

interactions and and reactions patterns blueprints that's the that's the name of the game here okay so relationship schemas this is the first one of I think about eight or nine that we're going to go over relationship screen schemas are mental Frameworks that guide expectations and behaviors in interpersonal relationships so for instance expectation settings what you can anticipate from interpersonal relationships and various contexts this is how you relate to people and the patterns of behavior and interaction in words and how you interpret uh you know various encounters with uh with people particularly in Intimate settings such

as romantic Partners families siblings that sort of stuff uh there's also behavioral patterns such as uh how you are supposed to act and how other people are supposed to act uh and the communication Styles particularly around conflict resolution or hurt feelings and that sort of thing uh then there's about uh some of those behavioral patterns are about how to react to transgressions uh role definition is another part of this and so what what I mean by role definition is um who's the breadwinner who's the caregiver who's the Homemaker that sort of thing and there's uh

lots and lots of roles that are often um uh trained in by family and culture so that's another thing to just be aware of for schemas uh emotional responses so again how you react to things um recognizing that you know you might have an emotional schema or an emotional reaction and the other person has an emotional reaction and actually a big part of marriage is learning to recognize your schemas and their schemas and then update them so that you can better fit together adaptation and change over time so one thing to keep in mind is

that all schemas are learned so this is a trend that you're going to see throughout this video is that all schemas are learned there's very little about your schemas that are intrinsic or innate um certainly people might have more intrinsic empathy or might be more intrinsically emotional uh emotional creatures but those things only inform your schemas but schemas exist at a higher level of cognition and practice and training communication schemas so communication schemas are cognitive structures that shape the understanding and execution of social interactions through verbal and non-verbal means so this is speaking writing emails

that sort of thing so verbal cues these vary a lot from family to family and across cultures where you know whose turn is it to speak um how you interpret words what words are expected and in what order non-verbal signals such as body language and facial expressions you might notice that some cultures like Russia for instance many Russians are kind of very uh short on facial expressions whereas some other cultures are about big Expressions right you know the the Latin temperament so Spanish Italian uh known Greeks known for big Expressions Russians not so much uh

contextual understanding so understanding uh the the the context in which communication happens is it at home is it at work is it formal is it informal um is it with friends is it with family that sort of thing so again a communication schemas change depending on context so that's the key thing to understand here conflict resolution so this comes up again and again because most schemas in terms of how we interact with each other uh have to do a lot with how you handle uh conflict emotions and other uh bad stuff that happens or maybe

not bad stuff we don't necessarily want a pathology it but difficult things that come up and then finally social norms such as cultural and societal expectations about what is appropriate and effective in terms of how to communicate so for instance there are some cultures where you know raising your voice and gesturing and shouting are just considered default effective ways of getting your point across one of the you know tropes that we see in movies is like you know Italians get stuck in traffic and they start yelling and you're like ah you idiot or whatever and

they don't really mean anything by it whereas you know if that were to happen somewhere else it would might be perceived as violent um so again communication schemas uh have to do with you know tone of voice pitch volume um you know Associated hand gestures that sort of thing and different cultures different families different people interpret communication schemas vastly differently uh transaction schemas so this is a very interesting one so transaction schemas are conceptual models that outline the steps and rules involved in exchanges or interactions often in a commercial con context not always so exchange

rules so exchange rules are the schemas that outline uh the guidelines and protocols for a successful transaction how do you approach business uh you know do you greet people do you get right down to business do you avoid business for 15 minutes there's all kinds of different uh transaction exchange rules around the world value assessment so this is another thing uh transaction scheme is dictate how you uh value or judge or assign the worth of good services and information so this is also going to be very geographically uh contextually dependent because for instance in Pakistan

or India or other places goats have a very different value schema than perhaps in America payment methods payment methods are schemas that Define what is acceptable in terms of money uh barter or you know mediums of exchange that sort of thing uh because you know you might you might uh in some places it's like no it's just money so for instance in America we have a like strictly like money only we don't really do trading here um unless it's between like close friends so again that's a schema is you go to a store the store

is only going to accept money um in other places you go to a market the vendor might accept a trade if you have something you know of equal value or if there's something else like hey you know like I'll clean up your kitchen for you or whatever right we used to do that more in America where like you could go to a library or a restaurant and say Hey you know give me a meal in exchange for you know cleaning up the cleaning up the kitchen we don't really do that anymore but I'm sure there's

plenty of places in the world where you can do that trust and verification so transaction schemas include mechanisms for verifying the legitimacy of the exchange party so for instance in America we have things like Angie's List and Yelp and other things and reviews right so we we look at Google reviews in the past you'd have to you know you trust Word of Mouth to say like hey is this contractor going to screw me over or are they going to do good work um in other places well word of mouth is pretty much Universal if there's

someone that you trust and they tell you hey use this guy I trust them I like them um that is that is pretty Universal now of course with technology and internet we have new ways of establishing trust and legitimacy and then finally risk mitigation so risk mitigation is about okay you know how do I know that like you're going to hold up your end of the bargain um in some cases you're gonna say like hey this needs to be in a contract this needs to be uh you know either verbal contract or gentleman's handshake or

needs to be Inked in paper or so for instance another thing that's very common here in my area in America is when you hire a contractor to do something if it's a big job you only pay half up front and so then you hold the other half hostage in other places they won't even get started until you pay them or you don't pay them at all until the end uh so again there's a lot of these shorthands where it's like you pay half up front you pay half later uh or it's you know you sign

a contract that says you only get paid after this laundry list is is done and verified by a third party that sort of thing cultural schemas cultural schemas are mental templates that influence the interpretation and understanding of events behaviors and Norms based on cultural background so for instance social norms social norms are cultural schemas that Define what is acceptable and unacceptable Behavior particularly within uh certain group contexts so the picture that I have here is some victorians at a fan at a fancy dinner so if you watch any kind of Regency uh or you know

aristocratic you know TV shows or movies Downton Abbey was super popular Bridgerton is popular now you'll see a lot of social norms that are very very explicit and also kind of distinct from our culture today which is one of the reasons why we find it fascinating value systems value systems are schemas that provide a framework for considering what is morally or ethically significant so for instance using this example of the victorians a woman's Chastity was considered incredibly significant and this is a repeated theme in Bridgeton where if a a man is allowed to sleep around

but a woman is not and if a woman is even caught alone with a man her virtue is now suspect and therefore she's considered morally lowered in the eyes of her peers rituals and traditions so one thing an example of a ritual or tradition is like you know ballroom dancing but another one is who is allowed to talk to whom particularly in aristocratic societies you're expected to know the rank the social rank of everyone in a room which dictates who is allowed to approach whom or start conversations or make introductions so that's an example an

example of a social tradition there's of course plenty of other social rituals out there that come from cultural schemes languages and symbols so this is again goes back to Communications teams so I don't think I need to repeat that and then finally worldview so world view is deeply embedded in culture and or cultural schemes which is how you see yourself as a member of society but also how you see your Society your culture in relating to the rest of the world so in the past during for instance the British Empire the British often saw themselves

as the Arbiters of civilization which that changed how they related to themselves and foreigners and other people and of course you know that has changed especially with the disa well I guess the British Empire still exists but it has changed its station like let's say likewise Americans Chinese Indian every culture has different World Views that are either implicit or explicit and often they are established through just cultural mores like kind of embedded sometimes they're explicitly talked about with film TV and movies that sort of thing problem solving schemas the problem-solving schemas are cognitive Strategies employed

for identifying analyzing and resolving issues or challenges so first off the identification process what you even recognize as a problem is a schema and it is often taught to you by your family Society work or school and so in some cases you know one of the age-old adages is you know knowing what the problem is is half the battle and so you know how you how you go about identifying and categorizing uh problems that is a schema and so for instance if you are a an electrician the kinds of problems you are aware of and

looking for are going to be electrical in nature if you're a plumber the kinds of problems that you're going to be aware of and looking for are pipe and water in nature so an electrician walks into a house they're going to look for a certain set of problems a plumber walks into a house they're going to look for an entirely different set of problems that's what I mean by identification process analytical methods so again some of this is is is cultural some of this is occupational but an analytical method is how do you break down

the problem how do you identify the scope of the problem the boundaries of the problem uh the nature and significance of the problem and the ingredients that are going to go into making that problem more solvable uh solution generation so solution generation is what approaches do you use to evaluate possible solutions what does the solution even look like defining the goal is a really important practice in problem-solving schemas and this is again going to vary widely depending on um you know the the specific domain you're in your occupational Training so for instance if you're an

automobile mechanic the solution generation the you know the goal state is get the car running again right but then how do you get from where the car is now to where you're going to get to if you're a software developer as many of my viewers are then the solution generation is what code do I need what tests do I need to verify that this code Works those are all schemas um implementation steps so again this is a road map for getting from here to there and it this is going to vary from Individual to individual

because we all have our own kind of internal schemas that we may or may not be conscious of and by bringing your internal schemas from unconscious or subconscious to conscious you can you can list out the steps that you're going to take and the decision points a lot of people just go based on intuition but the point of this video is to make you more conscious of the schemas that you're using because once you're conscious of them you can list them out and you can work with them as a metacognitive skill evaluation criteria so these

are the parameters for assessing the effectiveness what is your definition of success and done how do you know that you have succeeded so for instance one of the schemas that I adopted a long time ago in my technology career was solve the problem permanently my evaluation criteria was this will never be a problem again if it if that criteria was met then I solved a problem which is one of the reasons that I was top in my my career information schemas information schemas are Frameworks that help in organizing and interpreting uh interpreting data and information

so first is data categorization how do you identify and organize data and information that you're receiving from the world do you consciously categorize it or do you just kind of let your instincts categorize it um by consciously labeling data you can become a little bit more like Sherlock Holmes and I don't know why mid-journey decided Sherlock Holmes had a top hat instead of a deer stalker but whatever search strategies so search strategies are these These are schemas about how you go about finding information this is called information foraging this is about seeking and Gathering relevant

information do you go to Google do you call your best friend do you have a library that you can uh you know that you can go to and look for a book or do you go to tick tock a lot of young people go to tick tock as part of their information foraging strategies today a source evaluation The Source evaluation is how you outline and assess The credibility reliability and validity of various information sources this is also how you handle cognitive dissonance so what I mean by that is you might say well I'm not going

to listen to Fox News because they're conservative and they're mainstream media and they're super biased and they're corporate you know whatever I'm not going to listen to the government because the government is always biased or whatever I'm not going to listen to that person but I'm going to trust this other person so that's what I mean by Source evaluation information literacy is a part of the schema that is about how do you how do you look at specific information how do you critically evaluate and effectively use information judging the merits of that individual piece of

information such as where it came from does it jive with other models that sort of thing so developing information literacy is part of your information schema and then finally synthesis and application which is how do you integrate valuable new information and then how do you use it emotional schemas emotional schemas are cognitive Frameworks that influence how individuals recognize interpret and manage their emotions as well as the extent to which they feel controlled by or in control of their emotional states so what do we mean by this emotion first is emotional recognition emotional schemas uh are

teach you about how to recognize identify and label your emotions so there's a Trope that is seen in all kinds of film TV and movies particularly older stuff and we're becoming more aware of this but a lot of men are like I don't have any emotions while they're screaming angrily um and this is a schema this is a set of beliefs about emotions where because of patriarchy and toxic masculinity men are quote not allowed to have emotions and so because of because of being emotionally stunted many men particularly older men but not exclusively older men

are unable to identify and label their emotions because they are they part of their schema is emotions are bad so I'm not even going to recognize them or acknowledge them a handling methods so part of emotional schemas is how do you respond to emotions so there's a few General patterns of how you respond to emotion emotions you can nurture them by saying hey this is a legitimate emotion what does it mean this is valuable information you might also react by ignoring them again culturally speaking a lot of men are conditioned to ignore emotions due to

beliefs around them you might also indulge them so for instance what I mean by indulging emotions is if your emotions are particularly Intense or you are not taught emotional regulation by your family or in fact you may have been taught emotional dysregulation by your family if your parents regularly fly off the handle and you know just indulge in whatever anger and kind of get themselves worked up that is what I mean by indulging emotions so that's kind of like you can react positively negatively or distantly or hesitantly or whatever suspiciously to your emotions um emotional

trust so this is a even bigger part of your emotional schema which is how much do you trust your emotions do you view them as valid sources of information or do you view them with hostility and suspicion uh and I'm not going to tell you which is the right way but I will say that um that trusting your emotions as valuable sources of information is important but not necessarily indulging them so one rule of thumb that I learned is emotions are always real but they're not necessarily true because this goes back to emotional schemas and

Reactions where you might be programmed to react with a certain emotion but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is the correct reaction or the optimal reaction for you and this is why I'm framing it all in the context of schemas which schemas are learned you can learn to react to things with different emotions locus of control so locus of control is about um where like you know is your control internal or external do your emotions control you or do you control them and of course this is a really big theme in lots of movies particularly

the Jedi and the Sith and Star Wars the Jedi are about I control my emotions I am the master of myself which is based on Zen and Bushido from Japanese culture and then the Sith are about giving in to their emotions and empowering their emotions and saying uh you know the the the the siths don't want to control their emotions but rather than you know uh you know Tamp them down or you know be stoic about it they use their emotions they they deliberately pump up their rage and their desire for control and then finally

coping mechanisms which is when the emotions are too intense or too unpleasant how do you react to them again these are about habits and beliefs and schemas some of it is internal or endogenous which is the level of intensity or emotional sensitivity that you have might be endogenous but then how you react to it the coping mechanisms these are schemas that are entirely learned daily schemas so what I mean by a daily schema is these are cognitive structures that guide daily routines and behaviors in areas such as sleep nutrition Focus self-care and physical activity so

sleep patterns this has to do with timing quality duration of sleep basically how do you get ready for sleep when do you know that it's time to go to bed uh nutritional choices so food food selection portion size meal timing these are all schemas these are patterns that are often learned in childhood and carried throughout life so for instance I am a speed eater I eat really fast and it's very compulsive because dinner time was not a pleasant time for me growing up at least not always um so pretty much I wanted to get away

from the table as fast as possible to go be by myself probably because I was autistic and nobody knew and so sitting at the dinner table with everyone was not a pleasant time and knowing what I know now whenever I visit friends and family that have people with Autism in the family I recognize the pattern where they want to get away from the dinner table as fast as possible so uh if if I had it to do over again I would say like let Dave eat by himself because that's just what he prefers um and

then I wouldn't be a speed eater and I'm still working on unpacking that habit but that is a schema it is a learned pattern focus and productivity so daily scheme is about when how and where you are supposed to focus and work and concentration levels so one thing that I recommend is that while schemas are learned you also have to learn what is endogenous so for me an endogenous trait is that I have the best Focus first thing in the morning so what I do is I get up I make my coffee and I make

my Youtube videos and that is like that is when I do my work and I try and be done by noon every day unless I'm really excited like last night when I was making some of these slides uh self-care practices so again learned schemas and patterns and blueprints about things like personal grooming when do you brush your teeth and take a shower how do you relax what do you do when you relax and mental health these are all schemas these are just patterns and blueprints that you learn and develop over time and then finally exercise

what kind of exercise do you do when do you do it how often how intense those sorts of things and so one thing that's really interesting is that because there's so much information out there people might adopt very strange or unhealthy beliefs and schemas around exercise so for instance I've known people who because they were very sedentary a little bit of exercise would cause a little bit of pain and then they would react to that pain saying ah well exercise is clearly bad for me so I'm going to do less which actually made them more

infirm and more susceptible to pain and so that was they developed a schema a set of beliefs and patterns and uh and behaviors around exercise that were in response to something that is actually very natural because if I don't exercise for a week yeah it's gonna hurt a little bit because my body is not happy with me but again these are developed schemas that are learned not necessarily endogenous now the Learned might be in reaction to a very real thing such as pain but I just want to point out that be aware of the schemas

that you develop and why you develop them all right so in conclusion everything is based on schemas uh schemas are patterns of behavior and thought at their core they are just blueprints they are Blueprints and patterns that shape our our entire lives um understanding the universality of schemas uh how you relate to yourself uh all the people in your life how you guide your life how you engage in your patterns and habits all day every day even even the the course of your life um can come down to schemas which I didn't address here but

like midlife crisis and you know career progression these are also all cultural schemas self-awareness the whole point of this video is to develop more self-awareness about your schemas my schemas because the more aware you are of schemas the more you have access to them and you can change them so let me give you a story about this why like pretty much the inspiration for this video is I've been collaborating with like professional academics which because I am not an academic I was never trained or indoctrinated into um the communication schemas that uh professional researchers uh

use and so I have been learning like okay the way that I approach email the way that I approach uh disagreements uh is based on you know certain schemas and experiences but the way that they uh that the researchers that I work with approach uh disagreements and uh that sort of thing is very different and so then I'm recognizing ah I had a different schema than from them and it's rather than pathologizing saying I'm right they're wrong or they're right I'm wrong just recognizing that there are different schemas and so that I can then develop

and cultivate new schemas which is just more Tools in my toolbox and so this goes to understanding others which is once you recognize that a lot of the way that people relate to the world and you and each other it all comes down to schemas whether it's negotiation or whatever else so for instance um in uh in many Middle Eastern cultures uh it basically everything is a negotiation everything is haggling and barter and so this is something that's really kind of bewildering to a lot of particularly Americans um having worked on many uh Global teams

I will say that one of the most confusing things about working with middle easterners and uh Indians at first is that a lot of things are negotiations where the based on like every interaction with a stranger they feel like they believe that someone has to win and someone has to lose because it is it is a there is intrinsic tension whereas we Americans really just want the transaction to be as fast as possible so we prioritize different things so that's what I mean by understanding others and so it's like you know I remember one time

that I was going in to negotiate with um someone who is an Indian and I just recognized that he was operating by that schema and so I was like this is what I want this is what I want you to do and like I just I change my tone of voice and treated it like it was a negotiation like it was haggling and he was happy to like roll with that that pattern but you wouldn't use that with say a Japanese person because Japanese people are more about propriety respect and whoever is senior in the

interaction so understanding different cultural schemas uh is a good way to move through the world and then finally as I have said many times schemas are Dynamic and evolving they're not static they are all learned now you might you might have learned them in childhood you might have learned them in reaction to uh pain hunger and you know emotional sensitivity or any number of other things that are endogenous but just remember that your endogenous traits the things that come from within your organism they influence the schemas and how you react to them but if you

bring those schemas from unconscious to conscious you can say oh yeah the reason that I learned that pattern is because I am reacting to a certain kind of pain or a certain kind of memory or a certain kind of hunger or some other need or internal stimuli that is not necessarily it doesn't have to control your schemas but it definitely can influence your schemas and you need to work with your underlying physical needs and emotional needs I'm not saying that oh a schema you can just paper over and adopt any schema that you want that's

not exactly what I'm saying but they're not fixed they're not static so that's the key takeaway thanks for watching I hope you got a lot out of this video like subscribe and share and uh yeah enjoy your schemas cheers