How it works
Typically, what happens is that there is an external event and we run that event through our internal processing.
We make an Internal Representation (I/R) of that event.
That I/R of the event combines with a physiology and creates a state.
'State' refers to the internal emotional state of the individual – a happy state, a sad state,
a motivated state, and so on.
This model explains how we process the information that comes into us from the outside.
The belief is that 'The map is not the territory', as human beings, we can never know reality. We can only know our perceptions of reality.
And so the internal representations that we make about an outside event are not necessarily the event itself.
Our I/R includes our internal pictures, sounds and dialogue, and our feelings, for example,
whether we feel motivated, challenged, pleased, excited, and so on.
A given state is the result of the combination of an internal representation and a physiology.
So what happens is that an event comes in through our sensory input channels which are:
- Visual (images)
- Auditory (sounds)
- Kinesthetic (touch and internal feelings)
- Gustatory (tastes)
- Olfactory (smells)