Hues of the World to the Heart's Eyes

Through my eyes I see a world without colors while my soul sees a world with a million hues

Have you ever been stuck for long years with a SAD person?

Wait... SAD doesn't mean sorrowful or morose. I am talking about someone suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder. That feeling, where you cannot quite relate to anyone or anything around you or across you - it is horrifying, and perhaps mortally damaging. Cynicism, Illusory Superiority, Belief Bias form just the tip of the iceberg of the Cognitive biases SAD might result in.

This is one of the likely resultant states of mind for those who think along slightly different logic processing. Process any information quite 'literally' can be analogized to sort of thinking in black-and-white. Today's tediously fast-paced world and its gripping pressure can be tolerated by a simple binary mind-frame - those who are generally good at " not complicating with overthinking". Such a trait would allow more cognitive space in us to process numerous loads of information, content, human relations, and activities, that are generated around our life and their various links across the personal, professional & social spheres.

But for those who don't do so, a small clarification - It is NOT a flaw, definitely not even a shortcoming. It just means a different construction on the mind's working. This is the minority, the lesser-known legion of humans who are more 'imaginative' (for the lack of a better word). The likes of such entities speak and think in metaphors, personifications, allegories, and anything that renders one's mental projections way more vivid by several notches.

A nature like this is what one might understand as being 'symbolic minded' - with the ability to picture, illustrate, construct, project or create a mentally vivid manifestation of the message being communicated, which is quite rare and equally valuable. It induces in humans a unique trait to stay active - focus on every minute detail being conversed, rather than skipping over to the gist and moving on without making an impact on the listener.

Metaphorical perception: the difference between 'You'​ and 'Me'

Metaphors: Thinking in terms of Symbolic Pictures than Facts

Listening to one’s conversations through a metaphorical filter often reveals the intuitive human ability to see the ‘similarity in dissimilars’ ( Aristotle c. 335 BCE)

Symbolic visualization during Cognition helps connect different threads or fabrics of facts to the total information that is absorbed. It elevates whatever knowledge the audience gathers - beyond subjective, descriptive, intuitive, and in-depth comprehensions. A curious form of symbolic thinking exhibited is the conventional "Speaking-In-Metaphors" during verbal exchanges or 'discourse'. I describe this as the various hues of the world a Heart can see

‘Metaphor’ is a form of discourse structure, wherein individuals talk and, possibly think about something, fact, event, or object, in terms of something else. The closest explanation to Symbolic Thinking using Metaphors was captured in the Research Digest article 'Life is different for people who think in metaphors'. The author, Alex Fradera precisely captured a technical analysis of investigations into this issue, pointing out the difference in mental configurations between people who talk metaphorically and objectively.

Tracey Bowens for FluentU Business English Blog nailed the upside of Metaphors-in-Speaking:

1. Metaphors help capture attention.
2. Metaphors create connections with other people.
3. Metaphors simplify complex ideas.

Jaynes, J. (2000) quoted that a schema (psychology: a framework to organize and interpret information) allowing new facts to be interpreted in terms of previous knowledge allows these new facts to fall into place. In thinking of consciousness, or more broadly, of mind, we usually resort to a metaphor of actual physical space, with memories and ideas as objects in the space.

"We think of our minds as places that hold things. We speak of holding ideas in mind, of ideas being in the front or back or top of our minds. Ideas may be in the dark comers or dim recesses of our minds; ideas are difficult to grasp or have difficulty in penetrating our minds. Some people are said to have broad or deep or open minds, while others' minds are narrow, shallow, or closed. We should allow room for new ideas that must sink in" [Talk about the Idiosyncrasies of English!]

Yet, beyond these inferences & critiques, what is the real significance reflected by color-minded thinking? Something deeper than those simple analogies to render a conversation entertaining? Also, what kind of picture actually gets painted in their inner eyes? The best inference is that "One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words".

Thinking in terms of Metaphors & Symbols

Being metaphorical, in expression and discourse, of one's unvoiced thoughts and feelings elevates the clarity levels and emotional context. For instance, making a straight point, like "it was quite difficult to understand the concept of Lightning, but now I finally got it", sounds quite textual, factual, and reminds me of reading from a big fat library textbook. However, the alternate version; "I was struggling to figure out how lightning works, but then it struck me", immediately paints a comic illustration of me getting struck by lightning, and clubs it to the understanding of lightning "striking" me from up above.

To demonstrate the details, let's orchestrate the task of "Defining the Pros and Cons of Digital Literacy".

Possible Outcome 1: I can write a well-structured content-compact essay, with highlight points that go like;

According to experts at Deakin University, while digital literacy may be understood and defined differently within disciplines, the concept is primarily about literacies rather than digital technologies or digital competence. Digital literacy involves finding, using and disseminating information in a digital world. Digital Literacy underpins teaching and research, regardless of discipline, and is an essential graduate skill for effective participation in employment and all aspects of life. Building on all Deakin Graduate Attributes, digital literacy already has a good foundation in many unit curricula, with many academic staff modelling aspects of this literacy both in their teaching and their research practice.

Possible Outcome 2: A different, more visual cognition element strengthened descriptive version, as follows;

Students are digital natives - growing up in the lap of technology has woven digital capabilities into their everyday lives. But using technology in the classroom isn’t just about digital devices in class — it relates to any aid that builds the interactive bridge between a teacher and students. Classroom engagement is at an all-time low and lecturers are competing against countless diversions like phones, tablets, and laptops. Technology now manifests as the culprit, which can potentially be harnessed to improve engagement and effectiveness. Based on the insights in 6 Pros & Cons of Technology in the Classroom in 2019, by Vawn Himmelsbach

Now, examining the cognitive responses both these passages create in the listener:-

Scenario 1:- It is well structured, crafted with domain-specific jargon (the kind of technical terms, definitions, and vocabulary applicable to a very specific topic). This hints at professional opinions, like work done by experts of the field who are perhaps the Digital Literacy Developers or Content Creators at the organization. It creates an impression of a two-column article at the most.

Scenario 2:- It relies on constructing a storyboard of sorts, linking each idea or fact to a specific event, like a child growing up in the lap of his mother, a bridge with teacher and students on either side, & Lecturer, and a bunch of electronic gadgets on a race-course. Definitely more of a map of ideas than an article. This makes the ideas and more simplified with lesser content, and not too jargon-heavy.

From someone who has navigated this reasoning disparity for quite a while, and thanks to my experience as a teacher, I have found that, if a layman comes across both these excerpts, it's highly probable that the latter article will create a better lasting effect, with higher attention-capture and better recollection stats. Even on a personal note, I am definitely someone who observed how one read of the 2nd outcome creating a lasting impression even 5 reads and an interpretation of the former couldn't generate.

So, What's Behind the Scenes?

So, what's the reason for this distinctive effect? The factor that sets the course for such a mental framing can be inferred as Visualization & Sensory perception embedded onto the Human Cognitive Development.

As a newborn grows and develops human abilities, the first stages of cognition (meaning: the gaining of human intelligence) are closely tied to mainly visual and then auditory cues - what the baby sees & then hears. Many studies have proved the immense knowledge discovery & mental development in growing children & newborns by the sights and sounds around them.

Speaking of Adult cognitive processing, our minds absorb information as a 3-dimensional matrix, like a cube or flow. The sense of sight alone holds depth width and height, not to mention sounds and movement adding even more dimensions to the information absorbed. Over time, we are trained by practice to absorb all those information dimensions from conversations or discourse in general. The mere example of reading a story out to children versus using a Storyboard highlights the rift in information intake quality - in terms of time spent, efforts invested versus. attention, retention, impact and reach into the audience's mind.

Hence, for anyone seeking to enhance communication capabilities, in terms of a more 'transformational' impact, by influencing and connecting with the other end, a visually augmented communication model pays off. As far as taking ideas across to the listener is concerned, tapping into this potential is a true game-changer.

The Implications: Creativity induced Cognition

Now, having the conversational upper hand is definitely a huge plus, right? That leads us to the epiphany in this context; 'What does this mean in terms of defining one's character or personality?' The Effect of Metaphor on Attitude and Communicator Credibility and various other theories have been discussed in cognitive psychology literature.

One major finding is that persuasory superiority exists over literal language use when the discourse is metaphorically constructed (Sopory, P., & Dillard, J. P., 2002). When a symbolic thinker engages in any contact with another professional, they end up as the influencers, and their agenda play out eventually, winning the desired formal outcomes. Thus, the color-minded holds the edges of the conversation, and the impact is the ability to inspire, engage, prod, trigger deep thoughts, evoke strong empathy and other emotions, or even develop a mind-to-mind connection, in almost every interaction. This root incentive in being so illustratively and descriptively communicative forges robust human relationships. The creative power of the metaphorical mind is reflected in their day-to-day. From entertainment, personal relations, across study, profession, all the way to emotions and memories.

Certain contextual metaphor definitions also build on features that strongly cement analogies between explanations given to the parent metaphorical statement and the semantic interpretation. For example, examine the headline quoted by Kövecses (Kövecses 2009: 18):

"The Americanization of Japan’s car industry shifts into higher gear". The basal explanation is the American behavior of the Japanese automobile industry elevating or growing further, but 'shifting into a higher gear' is a clever form of relating the act to the actual operation of a car, referencing the change of growth speed. At the same time, however, the more intricate 'Americanization' itself is a reference to everything technical business-related, and commercial that is typical in the American Car industry and markets. The whit and rhetoric of the former are strongly linked to the common knowledge inducing latter fact, solidifying the reader’s attention.

This kind of language device even works towards bridging the gap between translational understanding developed in non-native speakers, like an immigrant trying to acquire the ways and habits of the native westerner. Not to mention, in the working professional contexts, especially when you have to orient towards building interpersonal relationships, or your role is heavily influenced by your people skills, this trait is a game-changer. The ability to rapidly project vivid imagery schema onto the audience's minds, whereupon you construct your ideas through solid utterance-world links makes a more ideating impact than a regular speaker. Even in the informal workspace co-workers, acquaintances, networking contacts, stakeholders, persons of interest and even third-degree contacts off the internet might develop a slightly more impactful picture of the idea-conveyor in case of a metaphorical exchange.

Alas! The blaring Downside

Clearly, using such descriptive communication models gives one an edge over the generic exchange. But let's not overlook the fact that this is still not a commonly spotted communication format. That makes the lesser sub-populations religiously sticking to "metaphors in every sentence" quite tedious to perception. In fact, as much as one may find oneself at the center of the awe-inspiring attention, the positive effects might tend to be short-lived.

On a longer time scale, individuals of similar manners may find themselves shunned or avoided in a social setting to be engaged in casual conversations. Being the outcast might often be reasonably damaging to an individual's social acceptance and forging long-term healthy relationship constructs.

But then, considering the great professional advantage it garners - especially to the lesser prominent classes of the workforce fabric, a lady for instance - those who pick 'that' road less traveled tend to stick to it and enjoy the thick underbrush than walk the popular paved road with dull grey sidewalks.

After all, as Kurt Cobain once stated, "They laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at them because they're all the same"