Steven Hayes: "Turning Toward: The Healing Power of Human Consciousness" (05/11/17)

17 thoughts on “Steven Hayes: "Turning Toward: The Healing Power of Human Consciousness" (05/11/17)”

1. My God. Very good vid.

2. 21:40 guys do you know what meta analysis he is referring to?

3. An email exchange with Hayes
   Below is part of an email exchange with Dr. Steven Hayes, a creator and proponent of something called relational frame theory, a somewhat inexplicable (to me at least) psychological theory that attributes how we behave through a behavioristic analysis of language. It has even given birth to a therapeutic approach called ACT, which presumably will cure all that psychologically ails you. The problem is that modern neuroscience tells us that much of our behavior is caused by non-conscious and affective events that have little or nothing to do with language. Would it not be prudent, I asked, that your procedure be a little informed by the facts of how the human mind works from affective neuroscience? To which I got this paean to the pragmatism of prediction.
   "I understand behavior when I can predict and control behavior with precision, scope, and depth. That is behavior analysis as I understand it. You understand behavior when you've modeled the mechanical system. But why stop at those three? Why not say "to understand behavior you have to understand biochemistry?" Sure that underlies the brain systems you point to. But why stop there? Why not say "to understand behavior you have to understand subatomic particles?" Doesn't that underlie the physical and chemical systems that underlie the biological systems you are speaking of? How can your understanding be firm if you do not know what underlies it? That is the import of your statement: "To understand behavior you have to understand all three." OK — so be consistent. Follow out the logic of what you believe.
   The key is this last sentence, whether one should follow the logic of what one believes, or (as I would have it) the logic of what one sees. If you have a broader vision of the very large to the very small, one's logic would doubtless become a lot better, though the procedures it would support would likely, like understanding the processes of disease and the procedures it engenders (vaccinations, antibiotics), be a whole lot different. The true logic that Hayes was hinting about was a bit different, namely that different levels of perspective are really complex, and that they cause us to lose focus on the subject at hand. This is the time worn argument against reductionism, which is a philosophy of science that assumes that reducing the whole to its parts causes you lose perspective on what's truly important (namely the prediction), and (shudder) will cause you to look up the world as a mere collection of atoms. This is a common logical scarecrow used to frighten those who care about explanations, and is nonsense.
   Every child in an elementary science class learns about things from the large to the small, but learns not the intractable minutiae of calculation, but rather metaphors that encapsulate the large and the small in a phrase. Called 'level adequate' concepts by the early neuroscientist Erich von Holst, it gives us a metaphorical perspective of the world that integrates many levels of observation. You don't have to be a brain scientist to understand the mind, nor a rocket scientist to understand physics. Because neuroscience is a relatively young field, it has not yet formed the level adequate descriptions of how the brain works that can sweep away the postures of those who would figuratively shut us indoors without air. In time, I will be looking forward to finally breathing free.
   more level adequate thinking and its attendant ironies from Dr. Mezmer’s World of Bad Psychology, at doctormezmer.com

4. 24:18 am I the only one hearing "here's my meth maker"?

5. Modern civilized man cannot endure cruelty, pain and suffering and is more merciful than men of the past, but this is not because he is morally and spiritually higher than they. He fears pain and suffering more than they did; he is more effeminate, less firm, patient and courageous than they; in other words he is spiritually less strong. ~ Nicolas Berdyaev
   https://www.gornahoor.net/?p=6353

6. His books are life changing

7. I am so happy I found this videos. Just listening to him and knowing how pain (even if you don't know it) can rule your life makes me feel so much better about myself. It's difficult for me to look at myself with kindness and compassion but I'm working on it.

8. I'm afraid the hen experiment is a damning indictment of humanity. The fact that we treat animals the way we do proves his point about gross selfishness, but how many people watching this talk are going to make that connection in any meaningful way?

9. thank you for your lifelong work, it served me nicely ..

10. Steven Hayes book "Get out of your mind and into your life" along with my Christian faith
    (all truth is God's truth) and my councillor treating me with EMDR and exercises similar to ACT, is over the past few weeks and months changing my life, bringing healing, freedom, understanding and peace that I have been searching for since I was a child younger than 10. I have "struggled" with phobic fear, anxiety and depression since I was 13 and have lived most of my life in Experiential Avoidance mostly learned by example from my mother who suffers the same things but does not know and will not admit she is. This caused immeasurable damage to my life but now I can let go and rebuild. Thank you so much!

11. So grateful for Dr. Hayes! ❤️

12. An excellent presentation, but that hen experiment (~28 minutes) left me in a cold sweat. Brutal. And fascinating.

13. I completed training in ACT and am offering free sessions via Skype in order to improve my facilitation skill and to help people. PM me if you're interested!

14. Great stuff

15. Brilliant. Just brilliant. Thank you Steven.

16. thank you Steven , god bless you

17. I am wondering what S.Hayes thinks about M.Briggs personality types (16), it is like an alibi for me.

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