Freud and Jung: Mimetic Rivals
By Mark Anspach Did a woman come between Freud and Jung? That was the irresistible pitch for the 2011 David Cronenberg film A Dangerous Method. Following the lead of a provocative book by John Kerr, the movie zooms in on Carl Jung’s fling with a female patient. It’s an absorbing side story, but it doesn’t […]
Economics of Mimetic Desire
The ideas that form the basis for the free market economy—ideas like “freedom” and “justice”—are at the heart of the market’s sacred aura. And few ideas have shaped Western economies like the notion of “enlightened self-interest.” Enlightened self-interest is the idea that people will naturally gravitate toward activities that further the interests of others in […]
Mimetic Decelerator
Things that decrease the speed and intensity of mimetic escalation and contagion: social distancing, human-centered technology design, and most long-standing cultural rules, prohibitions, and taboos. For the most part, democractic capitalism—at least when functioning well—has acted as a decelerant to mimetic violence to the extent that it has channeled mimetic desire into value-producing activities.
Mimetic Accelerator
Things that increase the speed and intensity of mimetic escalation and contagion: social media, addictive technology design, and the imprudent removal of necessary constraints such as long-standing cultural rules, prohibitions, and taboos. Certain forms of laissez-faire libertarianism act as mimetic accelerants.
Misrecognition
In mimetic theory, misrecognization refers to the tendency of people or groups caught up in the throes of mimetic desire to have their perception distorted and to misidentify people or things as the cause of their problems, as in the scapegoat mechanism. Girard uses the hard-to-translate French term méconnaissance. It means something like misrecognition, miscognition, […]
Thick Desire
Less mimetic desires which have had time to form and solidify over many years or during a formative experience that is at the core of a person’s life. Thick desires are more likely to have meaning. The core motivational drives revealed in Fulfillment Stories can help a person identify and cultivate thick desires.
Thin Desire
Thin desires are rooted in ephemeral, superficial things. They’re fleeting, mimetic desires that dominate most of life when it is lived unintentionally and easily infected by news, opinions, temporary emotions, and other less-permanent things.
Motivational Pattern
The pattern of cover motivational drive revealed in Fulfillment Stories. A person’s motivational pattern is the thread that runs throughout all of their Fulfillment Stories which, on the surface, can seem unrelated and unconnected. The motivational pattern is the hidden thread of motivational energy that has been running through a person’s life.
Fulfillment Stories
Stories of times in a person’s life in which they took an intentional action which they believe they did well and which brought them a profound sense of satisfaction or joy. Fulfillment stories help reveal a pattern of core motivational drive.
Core Motivational Drive
A unique and enduring behavioral drive orienting a person to achieve a distinct pattern of results. Understanding core motivations can help people identify their thick (less mimetic) desires and better align their desires with their motivational energy and talent.