Joint attention 101 – mind blown
Joint attention 101 – mind blown
neurodiversity and other sub-atomic particles
Recently I learned about joint attention
It’s a term from psychology and studies of the acquisition of language, but the general idea goes back to the Greeks and their ideas on learning language. Basically a parent looks or points at something and the child notices, because they notice everything their parent does, and the adults says “cat” or “tractor”. (Why the child stares at the cat or tractor and not the end of your finger like a cat does, will have to be the subject of another post about theory of mind and point-of-view/s.)
Joint attention has come to my own attention by way of studies on neurodivergence and how some of us just don’t do joint attention but seem to acquire language anyways.
“Autism’s Language Path: Beyond Traditional Joint Attention.” Neuroscience News (blog), September 20, 2023. https://neurosciencenews.com/autisms-language-attention-23952/.
And since I read it I have been applying, “joint attention”, like a good learner should, it in many places until it breaks.
I do it wrongly, I know, officially, it seems to be limited to “shared focus of two individuals”. What what if it wasn’t? (Is there another term for three-s-a-crowd aligned shared attention??)
If it is more than two Point-of-views aligning their attention, then a lot of rituals and routines and rites would be explained by worlding needs to generate a wider joint attention. Perhaps the world is born in the joint attention of two, mother and child, and everything else is just a life support mechanism.
And if this appears tenuous, then life support would need to be repeated, perhaps on a weekly basis, at mass or similar, like in increase rituals generally. Like being polite to one another, and agreeable.
Just-so
Personally I have always found being in an audience awkward. I have a couple of just-so stories as to why. The first relates to having to go to mass every Sunday as a child and in my routine attendance I find I am not being mentally present, but also, I am not able to escape.
As an adult I have tried to develop a different just-so story where I just want to be the one on stage or directing, which does hint at agency I guess, but I never wanted to be the priest, let alone pope. In addition, I have never shown any interest in being on stage, or about as much as being in the audience. (I have gone to movie theatres, but this is different somehow, in its lack of need for “joint attention” that live theatre or music requires.)
Anyway I now see this thing JOINT ATTENTION flashing at me and seems like a really good way to explore all sorts of things, even if it is completely wrong. I have a new just-so story… —I don’t like being in an audience because I don’t get, or don’t enjoy, or don’t prefer, group alignment of joint attention faculties.
Question, those who do not engage with joint attention, is this because of:
a deficit,
a preference,
or both.
Are people who enjoy or prefer joint attention more extraverted? In thinking? In being in the world? In selfing aloud in the world. In selfing/worlding in joint attention with the world, as if the world is another self.
To self/world… —to dis-joint attention. A type of prayer?
The beauty here is that joint is an (almost) contronym; to join and to separate, as when one joints meat (for a shared meal perhaps).
Working life
A lot of our working lives employs us in group joint attention. For a lot of joint attention goes on in meetings. A lot of talk-work is almost only joint attention, especially when closing the deal.
Joint attention is what consultative teamwork hopes to do more effectively, and so share the supervisory roles ( that narcissists would like to monopolise).
Is this why novelists are often classed as being alone in their work, (when really it requires a production house to get a book to market) for there is a lack of opportunity for joint attention (perhaps playwrights would disagree). That audience thing again though.
Language acquisition
The reason for this thought experiment is that some peeps develop language skills without a need to do joint attention. Or do have it but don’t enjoy it, much.
So sure, perhaps extroverts need joint attention to develop language skills, how else are they able to begin thinking aloud so that they can talk the walk aloud every single minute of the day? I mean are extroverts thinking if they are not talking aloud? I am not clear on this. Whereas, I am very clear when I see a quiet person thinking that they are thinking.
Can we develop a theory of mind by not intruding on another’s theory of mind? I think so, at least for me. Extroverts may find this hard to believe. They have no experience of it, and further, would have to imagine a theory of an alien’s mind. Introverts are blessed here because we hear extroverts thinking aloud all day long.
What if the joint attention theory as it is involved in language development merely reflects the numbers. More people are extroverted, so we have a language acquisition theory/ies that reflects demography.
Narcissists
No wonder a lot of narcissists don’t get a lot outta me. I am not saying I am immune to them, they just can’t read me like they can most people. They could, but they are less likely to get the chance. I’ll have to watch out for the ones that do.
A lot of “joint attention” goes on in meetings. Narcissists will drag that mental focus of a group onto themselves, is that attention what they primarily parasitise? Particularly useful in meetings that decide how resources are allocated. Even low-affect psychopaths do this, not all narcissists are drama queens.