Decentering and attention
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Decentering and attention. / Lange, Victor.
In: Philosophical Psychology, 2023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Decentering and attention
AU - Lange, Victor
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Clinical psychologists describe decentering as the mental operation in which a subject ‘moves out’ of immersion in a mental state. Such decentering is philosophically puzzling. It involves that a subject attends to her mental state to distance herself from it. That is, she attends to the state to make it less determining of her processing. This paper provides a philosophical explanation of the nature of decentering. It analyses decentering as a complex mental operation composed of two sub-operations: introspection and detachment. Drawing on this analysis, the paper argues that decentering involves certain dynamics of attention and attention control that pose an important challenge to a selection for action theory of attention. This challenge concerns adequately describing the workings of detachment in decentering. The paper discusses how a selection for action theory might reply, yet it argues that all the available replies involve unattractive aspects. The paper closes with broader perspectives, suggesting that decentering might also pose a puzzle for other theories of attention.
AB - Clinical psychologists describe decentering as the mental operation in which a subject ‘moves out’ of immersion in a mental state. Such decentering is philosophically puzzling. It involves that a subject attends to her mental state to distance herself from it. That is, she attends to the state to make it less determining of her processing. This paper provides a philosophical explanation of the nature of decentering. It analyses decentering as a complex mental operation composed of two sub-operations: introspection and detachment. Drawing on this analysis, the paper argues that decentering involves certain dynamics of attention and attention control that pose an important challenge to a selection for action theory of attention. This challenge concerns adequately describing the workings of detachment in decentering. The paper discusses how a selection for action theory might reply, yet it argues that all the available replies involve unattractive aspects. The paper closes with broader perspectives, suggesting that decentering might also pose a puzzle for other theories of attention.
U2 - 10.1080/09515089.2023.2263034
DO - 10.1080/09515089.2023.2263034
M3 - Journal article
JO - Philosophical Psychology
JF - Philosophical Psychology
SN - 0951-5089
ER -
ID: 366767680