A rough simplification of the 5 Categories:
In any situation… We observe information (1), define it (2), connect definitions to related memories (3), use these to guess what will happen (4), and act according to our judgment of possible outcomes (5)
We will define The Five Categories more rigorously after just two more items of context.
Emotion drives behavior. As David Hume noted, "Reason is, and ought to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
Emotions are evolved motivators for behaviors which make people more likely to survive and reproduce. Emotions motivate people to utilize the five processes (Perception, Rationalization, …). Behaviors enact the five tasks (Sense, Explain…).
Though emotion and behavior are incredibly complex topics, there are just five basic scales underlying each. These emotions and behaviors are universal across human cultures.
The Five Fundamental Emotional and Meta-Behavioral Scales (5CO):
Emotions: Meta-Behaviors:
Curiosity/Disgust Interest/Aversion (Perception, Sense)
Calm/Anger Cooperation/Confrontation (Rationalization, Explain)
Love/Hate Affection/Disaffection (Categorization, Sort)
Fun/Fear Excitement/Apprehension (Expectation, Plan)
Happiness/Sadness Enthusiasm/Reluctance (Motivation, Act)
(Chart formatted awkwardly to work on both mobile and desktop)Emotions motivate people to solve problems. Each human experiences the same types of problems.
All humans must learn information, discern truth, make connections, extend patterns into the future, and act. These tasks underlie further common tasks: resolving disagreements; persuading people; deciding who to like and dislike; dealing with loss; responding appropriately to danger; predicting the likelihood of different outcomes; exerting self-control; riding a bicycle; etc.
Ethics solve these problems; ethical behaviors generate five types of reward:
The Five Ethical Beginnings and Ends (5CO):
Knowledge Adds information (Perception)
Rationality Removes information (Rationalization)
Organization Connects information (Association)
Ability Creates information (Expectation)
Happiness Implements information (Motivation)
Certain ethics lead to more knowledge, rationality, organization, ability, and happiness than do others. I discuss ethics in much greater depth throughout the model.
Now that we understand the basic tasks, processes, emotions, behaviors, and problems of the human condition, we can define The Five Categories: