Unlearning LO24387

From: Morty Lefkoe (morty@decisionmaker.com)
Date: 04/18/00


Replying to LO24316 --

Dear Dan:

You said:

> Do we really "unlearn" anything. I don't believe so. Instead, we do
> one of two things:
> FORGET (a passive act), or
> MODIFY (the activity of learning a different habit or idea in order to
> overcome one which we think undesirable or incorrect.

I'm not sure what you mean by "modify"? Assume you have learned as a U.S.
auto manufacturer that foreign competition will never exceed 15% of
domestic sales, and that was true for many years. For you, that is a
fact, which you base your strategy on. Then you notice one year that
foreign competition amounts to 16%. Because you have learned, because you
know, that it cannot exceed 15%, you concude that the 16% is a statistical
aberration. Next year 17% is attributed to an imbalance between the
dollar and the yen. Eventually, you conclude that what you thought was
the truth is no longer the truth -- it is possible to exceed 15%.

Is this a modification of what you had learned or have you learned that
what you knew was incorrect, i.e., you have unlearned?

There are hundreds of examples like this in business every day.
Individuals conclude that people can't be trusted. For them, that is a
fact that drives their behavior. When they give up that belief through
therapy or in some other way, have they modified their learning or have
they unlearned something?

If you "give up" something you learned and replace it with its opposite, I
would call that unlearning. To modify, according to the dictionary, is to
"change somewhat." The examples I've given don't seem to fit that
definition.

Regards, Morty
Morty Lefkoe
For information about the Decision Maker(R) Institute or
Re-create Your Life: Transforming Yourself and Your World
contact: morty@decisionmaker.com or visit www.decisionmaker.com

> There appears to be two discussions going on that are merging here. This
> and the "Expressing human experience" discussions are both delving into
> similar effects. First, experiences are processed internally
> (perception.) Do we not in turn "experience" previous perceptions?
> Assuming that we do, perception then feeds upon itself; therefore, how we
> perceive ourselves, our actions, our habits, has significant influence on
> our perceived ability to create change within ourselves, action, and
> habits.

-- 

"Morty Lefkoe" <morty@decisionmaker.com>

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