Mental Moves (book, v1) — Table of Contents

The Attachance Approach to Ecological Creative Cognition

On March 10, I wrote a post titled [Knowledge Engagement] How to develop a concept called “Attachance”? on Linkedin. In order to highlight this significant insight, I made a new possible theme called “Mental Moves”.

I used Knowledge Discovery Canvas to frame a knowledge project to curate more examples about “Moving between Thematic Spaces” and edit a possible book titled Mental Moves: The Attachances of Moving Mental Elements. See the diagram below:

My original goal is to collect more examples about “Moving between Thematic Spaces” and edit a book as an archive. Later, I started working on case studies one by one.

On June 17, 2023, I mentioned a rough TOC (Table of Contents) framework in an email conversation about a thematic discussion about Note-taking and Knowledge Engagement.

Now it’s time to close the Mental Moves knowledge project (phase 1) with a real possible book.

Mental Moves (book, v1) — Introduction

In order to curate case studies and original materials into one book, I decided to use three volumes to design the book.

Volume 1 aims to offer the Attachance Approach to Ecological Creative Cognition by collecting articles about case studies. It is divided into the following six parts:

• Part 1: Mental Elements
• Part 2: Mental Focus
• Part 3: Mental Models
• Part 4: Creative Projectivity
• Part 5: Multiple Moves
• Part 6: Significant Insights

The Number

Some numbers about the possible book Volume 1:

• 6 parts
• 38 articles
• Total 571 min read
• Total 151, 315 words (about 303 single-spaced pages)

Introduction

I briefly introduce the concept of Attachance and the Ecological Practice approach and reflect on the Mental Moves knowledge project.

The project aims to establish the Attachance Approach to Ecological Creative Cognition through case studies. I started with Dean Keith Simonton’s Chance-configuration theory (Scientific Genius,1988), especially the concept of Mental Elements, and expanded my view to consider the ecological meaning and value of detaching acts and attaching acts. The outcome is a systematic framework and a set of tools for further study.

Ecological Creative Cognition highlights a new perspective to creative thinking: moving from head to head-body-environment. In this way, the Mental Moves project also contributes to the Context (Mind) project which refers to the Ecological Practice approach to Mind.

Mental Moves (book, v1) — Introduction

Part 1: Mental Elements

• 1.1 The Chance-configuration Theory and Beyond — 10 min read
• 1.2 The Attachance of Moving Mental Elements — 14 min read
• 1.3 The Transformation of Mental Elements — 11 min read
• 1.4 Creative Swapping of Mental Elements — 19 min read

Part 1 collects articles about moving mental elements. I adopted the term “mental elements” from Dean Keith Simonton’s Chance-configuration theory (Scientific Genius,1988) and connected it with the Ecological Practice approach. The result is a model called Container [Configuration (Mental Elements)]. See the diagram below.

The first case study is about the “Dance” diagram (1.1). The second case study is about the “Activity Analysis Center” project (1.3). The third case study is about “Platform[Project(People)]” (1.4).

In the second case study, I discovered three aspects of a mental element.

Part 1 also discovers a series of types of Attachances for three case studies.

Part 2: Mental Focus

• 2.1 Mental Focus and Moving between Thematic Spaces — 16 min read
• 2.2 A Possible Theme called “Mental Moves” — 11 min read
• 2.3 How did I develop the “Product Engagement” Framework? — 9 min read
• 2.4 The “Strategy” thematic space — 23 min read
• 2.5 How did I develop Curativity Theory? — 28 min read

Part 2 discusses mental moves without mental elements. I have roughly used “my mind” or “my focus” for describing this type of mental move. For the Mental Moves project, I decided to use the term “Mental Focus”.

The concept of Attachance is based on “Attach something to containers” and “Detach something from containers”. While Mental Elements refer to Concrete Something, Mental Focus refers to Abstract Something. In this way, we can use the same theoretical framework to discuss many mental activities, such as:

• Perspective Shifting: Moving between different Mental Models and Knowledge Frameworks.
• Attention Switching: Moving between different actions of a project and between different projects, moving between different parts of a thing and between different things.
• Motivational Change: Stop working on a project or start a new project.

The term “Mental Focus” was inspired by the “Life Coordinate” framework (v2). You can find more details in 2.1 Mental Focus and Moving between Thematic Spaces.

The “Life Coordinate” framework (v2) aims to highlight two tendencies of life development: Horizontal Tendency and Vertical Tendency. I used Lifeflow to name the Horizontal Tendency and its basic unit of analysis is the “Attach — Container — Detach” schema. I used Lifechain to name the Vertical Tendency was named as Lifechain which is based on the “Subject — Potential(Actual) — Object” schema.

2.2, 2.3, and 2,4 use the Knowledge Discovery Canvas as an example of sub-thematic spaces. The Canvas represents a large thematic space around a particular theme, since the canvas is designed with 16 blocks, each block can be seen as a sub-thematic space. In this way, we can see the path of Mental Moves without Mental Elements on a map.

2.5 shares my journey of developing Curativity Theory. There is a pattern behind three major mental moves: I deliberately used the “X as Y” technique three times to guide my creative process.

Part 3: Mental Models

• 3.1 Attachance, Thematic Space, and Framework — 7 min read
• 3.2 Mental Models and the Attachance of Multiple Moves — 18 min read
• 3.3 The Development of AAS (August 21, 2021 — August 26, 2022) — 17 min read
• 3.4 Platform Genidentity: The Movements of Unfolding Uniqueness — 18 min read (and a LinkedIn post)
• 3.5 Appropriating Activity Theory — 10 min read

Following Part 2, I focus on Moving between different Mental Models and Knowledge Frameworks in Part 3.

Originally, I consider “Concept” and “Diagram” as two significant aspects of knowledge frameworks. The Mental Moves project inspired me to add “Thematic Space” to the list. See the diagram below.

Some authors use “Mental Models” and “Knowledge Frameworks” interchangeably. I didn’t use “Mental Models” in my articles. However, I used “Abstract Models” and “Concrete Models” for the HERO U framework and I used them to describe two types of knowledge frameworks.

For the “Mental Moves” knowledge project, I decided to make a distinction between “Knowledge Frameworks” and “Mental Models”:

• Knowledge Frameworks: public objective knowledge
• Mental Models: private subjective knowledge

If we accept this distinction, we see a mediation between Knowledge Frameworks and a Project. See the diagram below.

In Creative Action: The Chance-configuration Theory and Beyond, I introduced Dean Keith Simonton’s chance-configuration theory. Simonton didn’t use “Mental Models” for his theory. Simonton’s theory is about scientific creativity, so Configurations are final outcome of scientists’ creation.

For the Mental Moves project, I claim that Some Configurations can be called Mental Models if they are used to guide actions. It is clear that my approach is more about the “mind—action” relationship.

3.3, 3.4, and 3.5 are three cases of mapping mental moves with mental models. 3.3 (The Development of AAS) uses the Theme U model. 3.4 (Platform Genidentity) uses the Platform Genidentity Matrix framework. 3.5 (Appropriating Activity Theory) uses the Ecological Transformation framework.

Part 4: Creative Projectivity

• 4.1 Projecting, Projectivity, and Cultural Projection — 26 min read
• 4.2 The Hierarchy of Knowledge Centers — 19 min read
• 4.3 Attachance and Creative Dialogue — 14 min read
• 4.4 The “Activity — Opportunity” Thematic Dialogue — 19 min read
• 4.5 The Echoes of A Thematic Dialogue — 13 min read
• 4.6 The Attachance of Rediscovery and Diagram Development — 23 min read
• 4.7 Mental Moves between Knowledge Centers — 12 min read

Following Part 2, I focus on “Moving between different actions of a project and between different projects” and “Stop working on a project or start a new project” in Part 4.

The Concept of “Projectivity” is inspired by Ecological Psychologist James J. Gibson’s Affordance Theory and Andy Blunden’s Project-oriented Activity Theory. It refers to potential action opportunities of forming a project or participating in a project for people to actualize their development with others. You can find more details in Activity U (X): Projecting, Projectivity, and Cultural Projection.

Originally, I didn’t use the concept of Projectivity for the Mental Moves project. Eventually, I realized that the concept of Projectivity is a concrete application of the concept of Attachance: the “Join — Project — Leave” Attachance.

Part 4 collected articles about the project-related Attachances. Though these case studies go beyond the original definition of Projectivity, we can use Creative Projectivity to name Part 4.

Mental Elements and Mental Focus also move between different levels of the hierarchy of activity. I used the following three-level hierarchy of knowledge centers for the Mental Moves project.

The three levels of knowledge centers roughly correspond to three levels of activity:

• Knowledge Center > Activity (Building Knowledge Enterprise Activity)
• Knowledge Projects > Actions (Develop Knowledge Frameworks)
• Knowledge Elements > Operations (Work on Pieces of Knowledge )

The Project Engagement approach uses “Project” as the unit of analysis of Activity. If we see a knowledge center as a Project, then knowledge projects can be seen as sub-projects.

4.3 to 4.7 are case studies of mental moves between different knowledge projects, knowledge centers, and different levels.

Part 5: Multiple Moves

• 5.1 Mental Models and the Attachance of Multiple Moves — 18 min read
• 5.2 A Five-space Model for Strategic Curation Activity — 7 min read
• 5.3 Taking Opportunities and Long-term Response — 19 min read
• 5.4 The WIDENESS Canvas for Multi-theory Curation — 20 min read
• 5.5 Mapping Thematic Landscape (Curativity, 2019–2022) — 27 min read

Part 5 moves to a complicated situation of mental moves: Multiple Moves. I developed a new map for Mapping Multiple Moves. See the diagram below.

The map is inspired by the “THEORY — PRACTICE” Connection between the Knowledge Discovery Canvas. You can find three major areas in the above diagram:

• Theory/Concepts
• Mental Elements
• Projects/Actions

I roughly use a formula to define a knowledge framework: a diagram + a set of concepts = a framework. The above diagram is a real example of this formula. You can find more details in 5.1 Mental Models and the Attachance of Multiple Moves.

5.2 and 5.3 introduces a diagram called the Strategic Curation Model and a case study of using it for mapping mental moves.

5.4 introduces the WIDENESS Canvas for Multi-theory Curation. The canvas can be used for mapping mental moves too.

5.5 introduces the Thematic Landscape Map which can be used to map mental moves within a large thematic landscape. The article uses Curativity as an example.

Part 6: Significant Insights

• 6.1 Situational Note-taking: Capture Significant Insights Outside the Room — 22 min read
• 6.2 The “Dot and Circle” meta-diagram — 4 min read
• 6.3 A Universal Reference for Knowledge Engagement — 13 min read
• 6.4 A Typology of Knowledge Diagrams (v2, 2022) — 18 min read
• 6.5 TALE: A Possible Theme called “Life (Self)” — 14 min read
• 6.6 Diagram Blending: “Activity Circle” + “Concept Dynamics” — 11 min read
• 6.7 “Points of Observation” and “Significant Insights” — 8 min read
• 6.8 The Art of Semantic Awareness — 8 min read
• 6.9 The Curated Mind Toolkit (v1.0) — 7 min read

The important aspect of Ecological Creative Cognition is Significant Insights behind mental moves. Part 6 collects several articles about the theme of Significant Insights.

6.1 and 6.2 are about the “Dot and Circle” meta-diagram and note-taking.

6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 are about the development of a diagram of a typology of diagrams.

6.6 is an example of diagram blending which is a specific case of attachance.

6.7, 6.8, and 6.9 are about a series of techniques of ecological creative cognition.

Afterword

• A Possible Theme called “Context (Mind)” — 15 min read
• A Possible Theme called “Value Circle” — 7 min read

For the Mental Moves knowledge project, I used “Thematic Space” as the primary concept and used it to refer to projects, models, and other things.

If we move to the Context(Mind) project, then we can use Context to refer to projects, models, and other things. In this way, the Mental Moves project contributes to the theme of Context (Mind).

In my 2020 book (draft) After Affordance, I introduced the Ecological Structure Schema (ESS) framework which lists eight types of structures of context for Attachance.

Since the Ecological Structure Schema (ESS) framework is an abstract model, we can’t directly apply it to the Mental Moves project. However, we can use it as a meta-framework to classify the following moves:

• Moves between Mental Models
• Moves between Projects
• Multiple Moves

We can also use Ecological Structure Schema to reflect on mental moves and design mental moves.

Now we have a set of tools for conducting case studies for the Mental Moves project and the Context(Mind) project.