Two researchers conducted an experiment where they asked one group to view a house with the intention of buying it and another group to view it with the intention of burgling it. They then had each group write down what they remembered about the house. The lists produced by the two groups were very different, showing that a person's ideas and intentions determine what they notice and "see".

1. In 1978, two researches Anderson and Prichert
published a deceptively simple psychological
experiment. They asked 50 people to look at a
house with the view of buying it, then bought
them out and put them in a room. They then
took another 50 people and asked them to look
at the same house with the view of burgling it,
bought them out and sat them in a different
room. They then asked each group to write
down all they could about the house. The two
groups produced lists that were so different
one would not know they had looked at the
same house. Ideas determine what we ‘see’.
We are a spirit within a mind within a brain
The other two factors that shape our responses
are our spirit, and our attention mechanisms.
Full discussion of both is in The Origin of
Consciousness (www.lulu.com/spotlight/
grahamlittle) and I will not go into that detail
here. Suffice, our spirit is the core of our be-
ing, it is that encoded in memory prior to
thinking, and speech. It touches all aspect of
how we think and feel. Our spirit begins form-
ing as our centre prior to birth, and is then
elaborated after birth to take in our self-
esteem, and give ‘feeling’, ‘attitude’ to that
which we think, glass half full or half empty
type of attitude, so our spirit is not the idea
itself, but how our personality slants it, then in
addition the emotions associated give the slant
the momentum. For example we are positive
the glass half empty.
We can understand our attention mechanism as
those inputs into our mind that trigger a strong
emotional reaction, so we attend to them. We
can think of this as sensitized neurons in our
brain that when activated, trigger a cascade of
emotions and the energy then brings forward
the ideas we feel so strongly about...our response, and the
background to it in the thinking lying behind it.
It is how we ‘see’ things that sensitizes our brain to the
inputs from our environment. Then on occasions, one
part of our brain acts as input to another part, and so we
can trigger strong responses from within our own mind.
Ideas orientates us to the environment and directs
what we do. The set of our sail.
We can imagine a simple model of our psychology as a
set of power point frames just behind the eyes. Think
burgle up pops that frame and that is how we ‘see’ the
world. Think buy, up pops that frame, and that is how we
‘see’ the world. ‘See’ is our unique point of view, it is
what we see, it is not merely what is there. It is how we
interpret what is there and orientate ourselves to it via our
ideas in mind. In business, getting it clear on paper is the
role specification, then translating that into the person’s
mind is them adopting their game plan derived from the
role specification.
Motivation is emotions associated with ideas. The
wind in our sail.
Think of something about which you feel strongly. What
happens in your mind? Bring up the idea and try to keep
it separate from the emotions. The ability to do that is
called emotional intelligence. Think of top tennis player,
for example, steely still all game, then after hitting the
game winning shot drops to their knees with emotion and
relief. Getting the result depends on delivery of the game
plan. It is no different at work.
Increased clarity of game plan + positive emotion =
improved performance
Think of power point frames behind the eyes. Think of
work. If someone asked what they did at work, what do
you think would ‘pop up’? The point is to avoid being
too clever or too complex about people at work. What do
they see? How clearly do they see? Are there positive
emotions associated with what they see?
We see with our mind not our eyes. We act according to what we see. Our actions
given momentum by the emotions associated with the ideas in mind
Clarity. Clarity. Clarity.
At OPD we have the rule of CLARITY
FIRST. When a person gets clearer on
the actions that enable greatest chance of
greatest success, the ideal actions, and
then does those actions more often and
more effectively, results improve. As
results improve, the person feels more
pleased with themselves, the boss is
usually pleased, emotions lift, which
gives greater energy to the ideas, so ef-
fort lifts, which gets further gains....
Questions for reflection
1. Could clarity of KPIs and ideal actions be im-
proved in your organization?
2. The game plan is the frame in mind carrying KPIs
-ideal actions for the job. Could game plans be
improved?
3. Positive emotion gives zest and momentum to the
action arising from the game plan. Could positive
emotion be increased in your team, and would that
lift performance.
Newsletter 8 Understanding human psychology
Newsletter topics
1. Seeking new thinking.
2. How to double profits.
3. Goal—action.
4. Linking staff action to
strategy.
5. Human performance
driving results.
6. HR as rollout of strate-
gy.
7. Behavioral structure of
the organization.
8. Understanding human
psychology.
9. Linking people to be-
havioral structure.
10. Perfect human perfor-
mance.
11. Performance manage-
ment moving actual
toward perfect perfor-
mance.
12. Built in flexibility.
13. A scientifically proven
balanced solution to
human performance
as a driver of results.
14. Redefining engage-
ment.
15. Culture.
16. All HR policy changes.
17. Lifting expectation.
18. Redefining leadership.
19. Redefining manage-
ment.
20. Why has it not been
done before?
21. Stop. Reflect. Chose
and improve.
22. Why can’t we do it
ourselves?
23. Mind of the CEO.
24. HR as the ‘right hand’
of the CEO.
25. Building a ‘verbal
ready’ Executive.
26. Understanding human
motivation.
27. Building and imple-
menting an integrated
motivation policy.
28. Human capital.
29. Finding and develop-
ing talent.
30. Choosing better ideas.
Reading these newsletters you will gain
new insight into how to manage the link
between people and your organization so
that both benefit by increased results,
greater success, increased profits, more
fulfilling work, and greater satisfaction.
Contact: info@opdcoach.com to meet and explore how this system will lift results in your business.
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