accrete - to add, join together, coalesce or fuse, as in the former accretion disk of our solar system. In this example, all the gaseous and rocky matter that didn't become our sun continued to rotate and eventually orbit the newborn star. As the system cooled off, the rocky material bumped and clumped together, while the gas giants formed in the further reaches of the solar system. Planets and asteroids emerged from the remaining rocky material. Such a process demonstrates accretion.
ad hominem - toward or against the person; name calling. Morris (1979), a dictionary, defines it as, "To the man; appealing to personal interests, prejudices, or emotions rather than to reason...." (p. 16)
Examples might be pointing out your adversary's race or gender in a derogatory manner; someone calling a woman "flat" or ugly because she complains about his protracted unemployment; or a guy being called stupid in response to a suggestion he makes.
asshole scale - a humorous reference to the serious field of psychometrics. It is, presumably, a yet-to-be-invented psychometric device useful for diagnosing and measuring the "asshole" [#2] trait in peoples' personalities. It particularly takes into account both the observed intensity and breadth of presence of such "asshole" personality manifestations. (Frequency and intensity show themselves together again.)
aura - the energy field surrounding a living organism. It is most commonly experienced as radiant heat, although some people claim to be able to see it. Click here for a side dish.
cognitive dissonance - from Festinger, 1957. One experiences cognitive dissonance when he or she holds two (or more) ideas or beliefs, which in some way oppose each other. (Simply add another dissonant tone for each additional at-odds thought present.) To give an illustrative example: What's a mother to do if her daughter starts stealing money from her purse? She loves her daughter...but what if she also hates thieves?
In order to "re-harmonize" her mind, she'll have to modify her opinions of thieves - or of her daughter. If she's successful with changing her opinions of thieves, she can minimize the negative impact she feels from her daughter's behavior. Otherwise, could she possibly lessen the love she feels for the young lady? That would be unfortunate, since it could then destabilize other memcons!
[Subject Note: Perhaps the best solution here would be to modify her daughter's behavior somehow. Yet, it has been wisely noted that you really can't change anyone's behavior but your own. In order for her to "turn around", she would have to sincerely want to change and be willing and able to do the kind of mature introspection which is often part of the process.]
Finally, the term "dissonance" is usually associated with auditory perception. However, it does work well like this to suggest the mental phenomenology of this type of psychic discomfort.
conceptual continuity - relates to one's mental malleability and the gullible - open-minded - skeptical - narrow-minded - closed-minded - disbelieving continuüm with which one goes about perceiving his or her memcons into existence. That describes perceptual continuity, the result of which is then called the conceptual continuity. Perhaps the open-minded approaches to perception yield low conceptual continuity, while narrow-minded approaches yield a higher conceptual continuity.
Furthermore, Frank Zappa Freaks might see this term as referring to the reoccurring characters, themes or musical passages present throughout his varied works, giving them a strong sense of consistency - it all flows from the same person, after all. For example, 1972's character of Billy the Mountain is notably featured in his 1978 composition, Greggery Peccary; Zappa (1972a) and Zappa (1978b), respectively. Another example is his mentioning 1971's Mud Shark later in his 1974 song the Be-Bop Tango; Zappa (1971a) and Zappa (1974b), respectively. (This paragraph still needs LOTS of work!)
continuüm (-tinuüms, -tinua; both are valid forms for plural designation) - this term refers to "continuous dimensions". A continuous dimension, a continuüm, is an event in spacetime which exhibits uninterrupted change in a variable from one extreme to another.
A common example of a continuüm is the manifestation of light energy. At one extreme is absolute darkness - the complete absence of light energy; at the other extreme is total brightness - the overpowering presence of light energy. Between these two extremes lies the continuüm of brightness; brightness is a continuous dimension. [Author Note: This entry still feels a little weak to me. It needs more filling out, as it is a major concept in syntheory!]
criminal - this term refers to a specifically defined group of behaviors (or omissions of behavior), that have been culturally declared unwanted or unacceptable, with regards to a group's standards of conduct.
Behaviors defined as impolite may bring forth mild social sanctions, intended to reshape the person's behavior to conform closer to the group's cultural norms. A prime example is the nine-year-old boy who burps loudly at the dinner table. He may then receive a sharp verbal reprimand from a parent.
Behaviors defined as criminal typically bring forth more serious sanctions against the individual.
dynamic psyche - this refers to what many people believe separates our species from the (other) animals. It is the wellspring of (human) consciousness. A psyche is dynamic for at least as long as the individual is alive. [Author Note: See source code for two comments.]
Its composition includes one's fantasy-imagination capabilities and products, along with the cumulative effects - including quantum effects - that (each type of) memory may have on a person. In addition to that, the psyche performs or helps perform processes such as perception, thinking, imagining and recalling (association management). In a way then, it is even self-perpetuating - it creates its own components. As it is not unheard of to speculate what a long-dead person might have had to say about current events, the essence of the mind can be considered to continue well after the body has decayed away.
The psyche is considered dynamic as it interprets and integrates (ie, Penfield, 1952a) information, consequently exercising influence on thought, feeling and behavior. [Author Note: I don't think you're supposed to use the term in its own definition! Oh well. I do assume some education on the part of my reader. And yes, I realize it's an old reference, but it's an interesting one nonetheless.... amusement park, remember?]
entropy - a down spiraling; an increase in disorder or randomness. [Author Note: There are other definitions for this word associated with thermodynamics and computer science. Please look elsewhere for those.]
event - an occurrence or manifestation in spacetime. Hawking (1988, p. 184) defines it as, "A point in space time, specified by its time and place....".
Interestingly, a person and a tree are both occurrences and manifestations. A manifestation in that it exists in space; an occurrence in that it takes a long time to "play out". "Look here! This Redwood has been happening since Confucius walked around!"
experiential memory - Similar to a camera snapshot, it is a neuronal organizational record of remnants from a person's phenomenological experience. It consists of the person's perception-retention of events experienced. Being hosted in neuronal material, however, experiential memory is also unlike a snapshot. It is somewhat dynamic, open to modification through subsequent learning and experience. (See also working through/nacharbeiten.)
Consider that over time, we develop a mental understanding of what a parent, friend, relative, wife, husband, etc, is - and hence ought to be, when encountered. Therefore, if a particular event involves such roles, then the person's expectations are typically colored by his or her understanding of the actual people who fulfill those roles in his or her own life. (Transference and counter-transference are born!)
flashover - a sweeping event in the organization of experiential memories and consciousness. Since environmental and social interactions are vital to our individual survival, we do them a lot. Therefore, we must have a brain mechanism or circuit which ensures that we will not follow an established idea or perception when our health or safety become endangered. Similar to "changing one's mind", flashover occurs quickly and perhaps completely. It may occur when an experience ends up activating a network of memcons, which are antagonistic with a person's current perception of reality, as when a trusted person is revealed to be in fact, untrustworthy.
frequency-intensity effect - you can get the same result through either of these. Let me explain. You can flood a valley with the frequency of raindrops over a long period of time, or you can flood it quickly with the intensity of the breakage of a dam or levee. You can get someone to trust you with the frequency of words or with the intensity of overt behavior. In a way, then, they can be considered one and the same. If you see a frequency somewhere, look around for an intensity, and if you see an intensity, look around for a frequency. They'll be there.
Consider the intensity of the star we call our sun. Where's the frequency? It's in the massive number of hydrogen atoms needed to gather together to make it collapse into a star. Now consider the frequency of the human population members. Where's the intensity? It's in worldwide famine, wars, love and alliances, overcrowding, help and cooperation, etc. Even the birth of "severely disabled" individuals is notable; the bigger the population, the more differently-abled individuals are born; hence, their presence intensifies. Steven Hawking comes to mind, as does a personal friend of mine, too.
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Frequency equals intensity, just as mass equals energy; it just has to add up to cross a threshold. For example, frequent clumps of dirt and rock gathered together by the trillions, create a body which eventually possesses the intensity of gravity. Frequency becomes intensity, just as a lifetime filled with small, affectionate gestures will add up to a strong, lasting love between people.
Here's an interesting frequency-intensity observation: what do you do when you intensely burn your hand on something? You react quickly and frequently commense trying to lessen the pain you feel from the contact. In the absense of cold water or ice, you may blow on the burned area again and again and again, in hopes of lessening the pain. And in communicating the intensity of pain felt to the brain (the experiencing I), the nervous system associated with the burned area fires a lot in a small space of time!
To close, another fun example of the interplay between frequency and intensity would be your remembering playing "monster" with someone, when you were a small child. You're lying on your back as the monster is towering over you menacingly. You raise your feet and go to kick the monster, but it's not backing down. So what do you do? You raise the frequency of your defensive attack with harder and faster kicks. Frequency varies with intensity.
furor therapeuticus - an attitude marked by overly ambitious - almost frenzied - therapeutic work.
gestalt - this is the German word for "shape", or "form". It may have different connotations for those who use the term, but in the present work, something's gestalt is its absolute presence or existence. Drawing on the idea that the whole is greater than the mere sum of its parts, a gestalt is the sum of the parts along with any emergent properties which may then occur, through the assemblege of the parts.
A good example of a gestalt is mind emerging from the brain. Nature, informed by the genetic history of the organism (in the form of genes and chromosomes), assembles the various parts of the brain, the interconnecting neuronal tracts, adds biochemistry, etc, etc, and conscious mind occurs out of the arrangement. Another example might be the emergence, or manifestation, of the human personality from the person's physical presence. In my opinion, the personality has both mental (ie, cognition) and physical properties (ie, muscular and glandular activity), although mentality has an ultimately physical source, too. [Subject Note: I consider a person's entire mental existence a gestalt generated by the physical brain. Even though your mind can travel instantaneously to distant galaxies, it does have a stable, physical location - between your ears! That is, while you're alive, at least. After you die, though, all bets are off. Then the essence of the mind can exist everywhere simultaneously.]
Just imagine, zillions of small electrochemical reactions occurring together and in tandem, adding up to create a conscious person; getting things accomplished through organized human behavior. The resulting whole person's attitudes of energy application (to the physical, social and spiritual arenas) are then embodied in the personality. [Author Note: "Zillions" is a child's word. It represents a number larger than any you're already familiar with. You gotta keep a child-like sense of wonder when you write about stuff like this! ...and, no. I'm not yet satisfied with this glossary item; still too awkward.]
gravity - when used in the context of syntheory, this can refer to either the weight of something, or the amount of emotional and/or psychic energy bound up in a memcon. An event's spin adds a qualitative aspect to the memcon's property of gravity. If someone is very interested in something, he or she will "gravitate" toward that thought, object or activity. For specifics, consider the continuüm-threshold effect - a glossary item I still need to write.
Yet, as Rees (1997, p. 199) points out: "Gravity can be suppressed, however massive these constructions are, by making them distended enough." When brought to bear on humans, this statement refers to procrastination and "spacing out" [Slang].
heuristic - aiding in the process of learning, especially learning on one's own. Categories and maps are examples of heuristic devices.
humanology (Links//Essay) - the current author defines humanology as the scientific, whenever possible, study of humanity. It draws upon all of the existing theories of psychology as well as all of the known arts and spiritualities (including world religions, etc), while attempting to produce the perfect prediction of human behavior.
Once the theory of quantum gravity becomes established, however, humanology and other precursor theories will hopefully become consumed by physics. In this light, I propose that until the official arrival of quantum gravity, "syntheory" be considered a bridge between humanology and physics, adding (?) human psychology's long-awaited connection to the physical sciences.
The term humanology itself dates back to at least the 1920s, when it was associated with phrenology.
Finally, this glossary entry has been edited by addition since being quoted in a recent book's preface, page x. It no longer reads exactly as quoted. I believe the book is L.A. Cole & P.R. Kramer's, Human Physiology, Biochemistry and Basic Medicine, London/Cambridge/Sydney(?): Academic Press. Published on 13 October, 2015 or 3 November, 2015; I've seen both indicated as publication dates. Perhaps it was released one place first, and then in the USA three weeks later.
identification - when used with the preposition "with", it means to inculcate, or take on one or more aspects of other people, a culture or processes as part of one's own subjective identity. law: to identify oneself is to make clear one's identity. This may involve providing full name, date of birth, address, etc.
impact - both the immediate and lingering results of an event. Just as a planet has a reaction to a meteorite arriving, so too do people, in response to events in general. For instance, a planet reacts with ejecta following a shock wave, leaving behind a crater (Desonie, 1996); a person with an emotional or even a physical response. The compression and ejection of planetary material corresponds to peoples' reactions, as when a person gets emotional or even combative in response to the pressure of being pulled over for a motor vehicle citation. The experience ultimately shapes the personality (the landscape), even if ever so slightly or subtly (the crater).
Working through might then correspond to the rearranging of the ejected material surrounding the impact crater, into an artistic design of a radiant sun or flower! Something violent transforms into something beautiful.
individuation - the process of coming to perceive oneself as a separate and unique human being. At a basic level, this can be necessary for survival. One probably obtains an evolutionary edge by perceiving oneself as separate from one's environment, even though we are indeed part of that environment. This perception focuses attention, allowing one to operate more effectively in that environment. It is debatable though, whether a sense of individuality is necessary for the judgment of mental health! The merits of collectivism and individualism become apparent when one compares and contrasts "eastern" and "western" cultures.
information - this is a heavy word since it refers to so much. Information can be grand, as when it's a basic building block of bright and vital concepts, perceptions and ideas. On the other hand, information can also seem very trivial, like knowing the average number of grains of sand found in a cubic centimeter of beach material. (Roughly 2,500!)
Bio-technical information exists in the genetic codes responsible for life morphologies. Information refers to that last datum required for a computer program to initiate. It can also be a numerical input for a bureaucratic equation which will then determine how much something-or-other someone will pay or receive, etc. Or vast amounts of amorally related information can be used together to create a Frankenstein monster like the H-bomb.
interpretation - one of the mental health practitioner's basic tools in psychodynamic work. It is a tentative statement attempting to relate a person's current thought processes, emotions and/or overt behavior, to his or her reactions to previous experience. When well-timed, interpretations tend to foster insight, which in turn tends to lessen the helplessness people often experience as stemming from their symptomatology. Interestingly though, interpretation is by definition fertile ground in which projection can take root, so the successful practitioner is highly motivated to develop his or her empathic abilities; consider reading stuff like Margulies (1989) and Berger (1987). [Author Note: I still need to do some more work on this item. I'm not happy with it just yet.]
intimates - This term refers to the other people with whom you have close, regular contact - like on a daily basis. They are the ones most likely to hear intimate details about you, from you.
jealous - Morris (1979), a dictionary, defines it as, "...Fearful or wary of being supplanted; apprehensive of loss of position or affection...." (p. 702).
