Advanced Life Strategy: The Microdynamics of Creative Identity

Possible Selves, Creative Space, Creative Project

In Dec 2022, I edited a book (draft) titled Advanced Life Strategy: Anticipatory Activity System and Life Achievements. You can find more related tools in Life Strategy Center.

The book didn’t discuss the “self—role” issue. On Feb 16, 2023, I developed the above Persona Dynamics framework and used it to offer a solution to the “self-role” issue. You can find more details in the links below:

• Feb 16, 2023 — TALE: A Possible Theme called “Possible Personas”
• May 20, 2023 — Themes in the Field: Self, Agency, and Activity (Part I)
• June 2, 2023 — Themes in the Field: Self, Agency, and Activity (Part II)
• June 6, 2023 — Themes in the Field: Self, Agency, and Activity (Part III)
• July 17, 2023 — TALE: A Possible Theme called “Life (Self)”

In 2019, I developed a framework called SET which stands for “Social Engagement Theory” for understanding Social Interaction Design. The notion of “Persona Dynamics” is part of the SET framework.

I didn’t work on the idea from 2019 to 2022 because I moved to developing the Ecological Practice approach which is a meta-theory. In 2020, I started working on the Activity U project which led to the Project Engagement approach and the Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework.

In Feb 2023, I rediscovered the notion of “Persona Dynamics” and attached it to the Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework. The outcome is a new version of the Persona Dynamics framework.

This article aims to further develop the notion of “Persona — Activity Fit” with a real example. I also introduce the ECHO Way as a strategic technique for “Persona — Activity Fit”.

Contents

• The Persona — Activity Fit
• Activity as Project Engagement
• A Real Example
• The ECHO Way
• The Power of Creative Space
• The Secret of Personal Innovation

The Persona — Activity Fit

Traditional social psychological theories and sociological theories tend to use real interpersonal actions or social roles for units of analysis. Inspired by interaction design and digital social practices, I adopted the term “Persona” from the field of User Experience to define a middle entity between Person and Social Role.

• Person
• Persona
• Social Role

In this way, we can research pluralistic social interaction in the age of digital platforms. See the diagram below.

In 2020, I also used a term called “Quasi-social Interaction” and developed a related framework called Ecological Interaction Analysis. You can find more details in Frame Analysis in Context.

The Persona Dynamics Framework (v2.0) is based on the following three things:

• The Persona Dynamics Framework (v1.0)
• Possible Selves Theory
• The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework

The primary part of the framework is the concept of Possible Personas and the Persona — Activity Fit.

A person could have multiple Personas. Each persona is associated with a particular activity. Moreover, the Persona — Activity fit can be perceived by others. See the diagram below.

What’s the difference between Possible Personas and Actual Personas?

• Possible Personas: a person thinks about several Personas, but there is no real Persona—Activity fit.
• Actual Personas: there are several Persona — Activity Fits, and they are perceived by others.

In other words, Actual Personas emphasize real actions and others’ perceptions.

What’s the difference between Possible Personas and Possible Selves?

• Possible Personas are both about thinking and actions, while Possible Selves are only about thinking.
• Possible Personas are both about subjective aspects and objective aspects. However, Possible Selves are only about subjective anticipation.

If we put these two concepts together, we can find a path to actualize possible selves.

How does the Persona—Activity work?

The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework offers a five-level hierarchy to understand Life Development:

• Operation
• Action
• Project
• Anticipatory Activity System
• The Network of Anticipatory Activity System

Today I will focus on the “Project” level and share a real story as an example.

Activity as Project Engagement

In Feb 2022, I applied the Project Engagement approach to understanding Life Discovery Activity.

I have developed several frameworks about Life Discovery and Life Development in general from different perspectives. One challenge is making a balance between individual perspective and collective perspective. In fact, this is an essential challenge for social sciences. For example, psychological perspective v.s. the sociological perspective, methodological individualism v.s. methodological collectivism, etc.

Some scholars don’t consider the dichotomy as a problem and they just form two camps. Other scholars developed theoretical solutions to solve the theoretical conflict between these two camps. Inspired by Derek Layder’s Social Domains Theory (1997) and Andy Blunden’s “Project as a Unit of Activity” (2010, 2014), I adopted the concept of “Project” as a Container for understanding Life.

Andy Blunden mentions a project-oriented approach in both psychology and sociology, “A project is a focus for an individual’s motivation, the indispensable vehicle for the exercise of their will and thus the key determinant of their psychology and the process which produces and reproduces the social fabric. Projects, therefore, give direct expression to the identity of the sciences of the mind and the social sciences. Projects belong to both; a project is a concept of both psychology and sociology.” (2014, p.15)

The concept of Life can be understood as Collective Life and Individual Life. We can use the concept of Project to understand both of them. A person’s real life is a set of real actions. The concept of Project is a way of curating these actions. On the other hand, Collective Life can be curated with Projects too.

In 2021, I wrote a book (draft) titled Project-oriented Activity and introduced the Developmental Project Model. See the diagram below.

The above picture is the standard diagram of the Developmental Project Model. It uses eight elements to describe a developmental project:

• Purpose: Why do you want to initiate or join the project?
• Position: What’s the social structure of the project?
• Program: Does the project have formal organizational processes?
• Social: How do you connect with others due to joining the project?
• Content: How do you acquire new information and knowledge due to joining the project?
• Action: What actually do you do due to joining the project?
• Theme: Do you find some new and interesting themes for your career development?
• Identity: How do you perceive your identity before and after joining the project?

Your identity is about how others view “what you do” and “who you are”. It’s also part of your self-knowledge. From the perspective of the Project Engagement approach, Identity is an element of a Developmental Project Model and it’s related to other elements.

Every time, you join a Project or leave a Project, your identity always changes. This is what I call the Microdynamics of Identity.

Life is a chain of projects, it is also a projection of social life.

By adopting the Developmental Project model, we have a way to reflect on the development of personal life and social life in one unit of analysis. We can connect psychology, sociology, and others.

A Real Example

On Sept 9, 2023, I applied some techniques I learned from Theoretical Sociologists to run a theoretical integration project about the concept of Mindset. You can find more details in Knowledge Engagement: The Concept of Mindset and Theoretical Integration.

The outcome is fantastic!

I made a Configurational Theory of Mindset and a new meta-framework called the Mental Tuning Framework. See the diagram below.

Am I a Theoretical Psychologist?

I just did an exercise of playing with some techniques of theoretical integration.

I learned these techniques from theoretical sociologists and applied them to a project about curating psychological theories.

Why did I do it?

On April 23, 2023, I made the attached diagram and used it to frame a creative space for “Creative Life Theory”.

In the past years, I worked on projects about the following four things:

1. The Psychology of Creativity
2. Ecological Psychology
3. Activity Theory
4. Theoretical Sociology

I consider the “Creative Life” thematic space as a creative space for connecting Sociology and Psychology.

I’d like to claim the uniqueness of “Creative Life” approach is its view on “Life” which refers to both individual life and social life.

In other words, there is no boundary between sociology and psychology in the creative space of “Creative Life”.

The ECHO Way

On Feb 20, 2022, I wrote an article titled Life Discovery: The “Present — Future” Fit and The ECHO Way.

The Project I diagram is inspired by the Developmental Project Model. I changed the shape and layout in order to make a Diagram Blending which can be used for curating two or more frameworks together.

The Container Z is inspired by the following meta-diagram. The ECHO Way is about fit between two sides. Where is the fit? It happens at the “Echozone” which is the third container of the following model.

Life Discovery is a “cross-the-gap” activity that aims to explore a new place in a certain direction. There is a spatial distance between the existing place where we are and the expected place where we want to be.

We can consider Life Discovery as Boundary Innovation because it is about a dialogue between the Present (the existing place) and the Future (the expected place).

Now, let’s apply the ECHO Way (v2.0) to the “Present — Future” fit for the Life Discovery Activity. We can roughly use three phases for this process:

• Life U: Think with the Theme U diagram.
• Project I: Act with the Developmental Project model.
• Echo Z: Reach the end of the journey: an expected place.

This three-phase structure emphasizes “Think — Act — Reach” actions. The second type of action is designed with the Project I diagram. For example, the diagram below is called HERO U which is a framework for a single theory knowledge curation project.

The HERO U framework has two parts:

• Theme U: it displays six types of “objectives of knowing” about one theory in a U theme.
• Project I: it designs a knowledge curation project around one theory.

If your projects are not about knowledge curation, you don’t have to use the HERO U framework and its canvas. However, you can design your own project model and related tools for your activities.

The Power of Creative Space

For the Mindset project, I used the “Creative Life” Container Z as the creative space. See the diagram below.

A simple technique is what theoretical sociologist Thomas J. Fararo and his student John Skvoretz called “a hierarchical meaning control system”.

According to Fararo and Skvoretz, “Calling this a meaning control hierarchy is intended to emphasize that higher levels constitute commitments that ‘inform’ — enable and constrain — the lower level activities or discoveries.”

Different theorists have different models of their “hierarchical meaning control system” with different terms. For example, Fararo and Skvoretz suggested four levels:

• General presuppositions
• Representation principles
• Theoretical Models
• Invariants

I use different terms for four levels in the above discussion:

• Philosophical Orienting Views
• Theoretical Traditions
• Formal Theories
• Theoretical Approaches

Basically, we can use “Meta-theory” and “Theory” to describe the “hierarchical meaning control system”.

A theoretical psychologist could use the same technique to do the same job. In order to test this idea, I made a demo of theoretical integration by curating Carol S. Dweck’s version of Mindset theory and Peter Gollwitzer’s version of Mindset theory together.

The Secret of Personal Innovation

In a 2021 article titled Personal Innovation as Career-fit, I used the Activity U project as an example to discuss the Developmental Project Model and the Echozone.

I started the Activity U project in August 2020. The diagram below uses the Developmental Project Model to reflect on my experience of the project.

Now let’s use the Career-fit framework to discuss my personal innovation behind the Activity U project. I started the Activity U project on August 19, 2020. Initially, I just made a diagram called “Activity U” which is a test of the “HERO U” framework. I wrote a post to explain the diagram “Activity U”. The original title of the post is Activity U: The Landscape of Activity Theory. Later, I added “(Part I)” to the end of the title. It expanded from one post to a series of articles.

Now let’s focus on the Echozone of the Activity U project. The diagram below only shows the Echozone with some notes for discussing the process of fit between career themes and developmental projects.

The above diagram presents fits of two pairs of opposite themes. The “Theory v.s. Practice” fit is described with three movements:

• Practice-based Reflection: building rough models with intuition.
• Theory-based Reflection: improving models with theoretical resources.
• Theory-Practice Dialogue: turn models into frameworks and test it with cast studies.

The article Platform Innovation as Concept-fit offers a real example of these three steps. The Concept-fit framework was developed within three months.

The “Concept v.s. Diagram” fit is described with one formula:

• Concept + Diagram = Knowledge Framework

This formula is defined by the HERO U framework. I used the formula to guide my creative works on developing theoretical frameworks.

This formula is defined by the HERO U framework. I used the formula to guide my creative works on developing theoretical frameworks.

You can find more details from the following links:

• Activity U (IV): The Engeström’s Triangle and the Power of Diagram
• Project-oriented Activity Theory (Book)
• Platform for Development (2.0)

The above diagram of Echozone also presents three inspirations that are triggered by the Activity U project.

• Social > Knowledge Community
• Action > Creative Work Communication Activity
• Content > Cognitive Container

The red ball “Social” means connecting to someone by joining or initiating development projects. In order to run the Activity U project, I directly contacted several Activity Theorists via social media and email. I received positive feedback from them. Since Activity Theory is an established theoretical tradition, there is a knowledge community around the theory. By connecting to one or several members of the community, I could build a connection between the Activity U project and the community.

The red ball “Action” means my real actions and possible actions. During the past months, my primary actions were reading and writing. I originally published long articles on Medium. Later, I curated them into three books. However, I found Activity Theory also offers me a new perspective on understanding “Action” and related topics. I started looking for and defining a new form of Activity for my work and research. Also, I adopted the concept of “Mediation” from Activity Theory and used it to rethink the Knowledge Activity, especially the activity of using concepts, diagrams, and knowledge frameworks in practical workplaces. Eventually, I coined a new term called “Creative Work Communication Activity” for my further research.

The red ball “Content” means information offered by Developmental Projects. For the Activity U project, I found relevant information from Activity Theorists’ social media such as blogs and Twitter. I also found more books and papers by reading books about the theory. I also searched for videos about Activity Theory on YouTube and diagrams about the theory on Google Images. These experiences offer me an opportunity to test my idea of “Cognitive Container” which is part of my theoretical framework: Curativity Theory. For knowledge curation, the Cognitive Containers are Genre, Framework, Model, Concept, Papers, Conference, Workshop, Media, etc.

These three ideas are emergent career themes. I used it to guide exploratory learning activities. For example, I started learning Genre Theory and curated the idea of Genre with other ideas. On April 8, 2021, I designed the diagram below to rethink my idea of “Themes of Practice”. By curating Genre, Activity, and Knowledge together, I developed a new idea called Learning Container and I used it to support the idea of Platform-based Learning and used Canva as an example of the idea. Later, I used “Concept” to replace “Knowledge” and designed a new diagram for “Themes of Practice”.

In April 2021, I started a new project called Once Upon A Whiteboard which focuses on virtual whiteboard and related practice. By adopting Activity Theory and Ecological Psychology, I defined whiteboard-based practice as Creative Work Communication Activity (CWCA). You can find more details in The “5A” Slow Cognition Model.