Narrating Self

The War of Words: The Invisible Logic of Political Language and Automated Influence 1 The War of Words - Part 1: The Invisible Logic of Political Language 2 The War of Words - Part 2: The Tyranny of the Narrating Self 3 The War of Words - Part 3: The STEPPS of Automated Influence ← Series Home The Calculating Machine’s Fatal Flaw The enduring Western ideal of the political actor is framed by the dispassionate mind, a figure often celebrated by philosophers and economists who weighs evidence objectively before making a reasoned decision. This conception gives rise to the belief that citizens should respond primarily to detailed policy arguments, cost-benefit analyses, and factual lists. Yet, decades of scientific inquiry reveal that this vision is fundamentally inconsistent with how the human mind and brain actually function; in reality, decisions are rarely dispassionate, particularly when they involve deeply held political commitments. The profound disconnect between this idealized rationality and the actual workings of human cognition means that political messaging built solely on logic is perpetually vulnerable to defeat by appeals rooted in emotion and narrative coherence. ...

Arenas of Influence: Shaping Belief in the Digital Age 1 Arenas of Influence – Part 1: The Politician's Playbook 2 Arenas of Influence – Part 2: You Are What You Buy 3 Arenas of Influence – Part 3: The Lies We Tell Ourselves ← Series Home Experiencing self Transient sensations and emotions Kahneman Narrating self Coherent fictions and plans Behavioral psychology Peak-end rule Prioritizing dramatic moments Memory bias Consistency Shield against admitting error Psychological defense The Tyranny of the Narrating Self The human experience is characterized by radical discontinuity—a constant flux of transient sensations and fleeting emotions perceived by the “experiencing self”. To impose order on this chaos, the mind constructs the “narrating self,” a psychological entity perpetually spinning coherent, simplified fictions about the past and making plans for the future. This narrator is inherently duration-blind and often unreliable, prioritizing dramatic moments (peak-end rule) and internal coherence over factual accuracy. ...