Elephant as metaphor of the unconscious (original) (raw)

Climate Change and the Elephant in the Living Room (Part #7)

David Brooks (Teaching the Elephant, New York Times, 3 December 2006) provides a summary of current use of the elephant as a metaphor of the human unconscious -- the automatic processes in contrast with the conscious intentional parts of the mind:

he cites Jonathan Haidt (The Happiness Hypothesis: finding modern truth in ancient wisdom, 2005) for whom the elephant is the unconscious part of the brain, the amygdala and other regions; it produces emotions and visceral reactions, as well as processing information and forming intuitions.
he cites Malcolm Gladwell (Blink: the power of thinking without thinking, 2006) describing how the elephant can pick up and process information, and even draw instant conclusions before the conscious mind is aware of what it is seeing
he notes Daniel Goleman (Social Intelligence: The New Science of Social Relationships, 2006) describing how elephants talk to each other while scarcely involving the corresponding conscious minds in the conversation; fear, laughter and other emotions can sweep through crowds before the individuals in the crowds understand what's going on.
he sees the elephant as the repository of tacit knowledge, acknowledging the insight of Robert Sternberg that tacit knowledge is procedural -- knowing how, not knowing what.

For Brooks:

The elephant doesn't acquire its knowledge from self-conscious study. The elephant absorbs information from the environment. The neural architecture of the brain is shaped by experiences and habits, often during the sensitive periods early in life. This way of dividing the self is beginning to have a powerful influence on education policy and urban policy, and across a whole range of other practical spheres.