Our Mental Maps Need Constant Updating

By Lynn L. West, PhDc, BCETS, LCPC

Lynn L. West & Associates, LLC

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Our Mental Maps Need Constant Updating

Scientists in many different disciplines have studied decision-making behaviors in humans. We all have a mental map representing all the bits of information we have stored in our mind that represent our own personal point of view, which interprets the way we comprehend something and translates sensory impressions into a coherent and unified view of the world around us.

Our perception is truth to us.

In August 2016 medical research involving children ages 4-10 years of age preparing for surgery, showed that iPad’s are as good as pre-operative sedatives in calming children down before surgery. The general characterization of the children’s iPad experiences focused on describing the observed behaviors in the children, characterized as simply “distracting the children.”

Parents often proudly state they have strict rules about limiting their child’s “screen time.” When asked where they got their time limit decision from, it is always based on something they were told by friends, or that they never had this when they were growing up.

Most adults do not play the games their children play or even understand the games. Adults often have a general tendency to expect their child to be productive and learning something educational from the iPad or phone, and will get angry if they see that their child is just flipping through screens (self calming behavior) or repeatedly tapping over and over (also self calming behavior), which the parent views from their mental map as being a waste of time.

At the same time there is often a lot of interpersonal screaming and demandingness going on among household members. This is expected to be life as normal for their children, when at a cellular level it records in the body as a life-threatening event, whether or not someone intellectually thinks it is or is not affecting anything.

The human brain and central nervous system are extraordinarily complex cellular systems that cannot be understood through Wikipedia or Google searches. The best way to approach understanding a behavior is not by making a judgment based on your own experience, but by observing without judgment or applying “your label” of what it means, when your own database is not inclusive of all elements needed to make an informed decision.

In learning about why children or adults do what they do, try to find an expert who can explain the cellular interactions in the brain and central nervous system that underpin what is going on.

Each expert comes with a particular frame of reference that colors their advice. Listen to people who are trained, but also know the limits of their perspective and advice. Seek multiple sources.

And give up using yourself as an authority about all things based on your memory of how it was for you growing up. That is not even relevant in today’s world, unfortunately. Times have changed.