This text is the result of a combination of life experience and formal psychology training. Ideas and conclusions put forward here come as a result of observation and deduction. Many of the hypotheses are testable and it is hoped that this will happen in the future.
Although it has been prepared to accompany the EmotFit emotional fitness programme, it is not a requisite for any but the advanced course, but reading it may prove useful to those who have the time and understanding.
For the interested reader, not specifically taking the programme the book may help provide insight into human functioning and ability.
This document is not intended to be a self help book. It represents the theory behind the Emotional Fitness Programme. Help can only be obtained by doing and not by reading a book. The ideas here may change some of your thinking but will not change your functionality.
Functional development refers to all the characteristics of an individual that are acquired through its response to events in the environment. This response may be behavioural or biological.
Behavioural responses
All responses mediated by the Central Nervous System (CNS). The brain and body both develop together in response to the environment of the growing individual. All learning and acquired behavioural patterns are the result of functional development and account for most of what we are.
Biological responses
Often a response is or cannot be mediated by the CNS and is purely biological. There are many medical conditions which are the result of environmental insults: disease, physical injury, poor diet etc., which directly affect functionality and the range of behavioural responses available to the individual. The incidence of such events is usually out of the control of the individual, dependent on good fortune and there often not much that can be done to avoid them. While the presence of these biological responses must not be ignored, functional development usually refers to the development of characteristics that derive from behavioural responses to the environment. We all experience biological insults, what is telling is how our functional development equips us with the means to deal with them.
Functional development requires equal input from the brain and nervous system and the organs/tissue/ligaments that play a part in carrying out activities. In other words functional development involves the body and the mind equally.
Functional development refers to the relationship between biology and intellect and occurs in a psycho-social setting. It is affected by environmental factors, social and otherwise and the individual's response to them. This compares with biological development which is largely determined by genetics and diet, and intellectual development which is determined by education and training, however there is considerable interaction between all three: during childhood intellectual activity affects brain development, functional development affects biological development etc.
Functional development is a process that happens mostly during the first two to three decades of life, but can continue to occur right through the life span.
It is potentially an all encompassing concept. To provide focus and clarity within this docurment we divide it into three:
Core Functionality refers to the essential abilities required to function successfully as an adult human being within a society: to be able to walk, talk, see, hear, feel, and exhibit a certain amount of emotional fitness.
Economic Functionality refers to the ability to function successfully as an economic entity: to develop a particular skill that delivers material advantage and ensures survival.
Achieving Excellence refers to exceptional circumstances in which individuals develop functionality well in excess of those around them and become leaders in their field.
This book deals mostly with core functionality and touches on achieving excellence. There are a myriad of different forms of economic functionality tailored to different careers and plenty of training programmes available at universities and technical institutes. While this book does not cover any of them, it is assumed that development of core functionality will enhance economic functionality.
Functional development occurs largely as a result of circumstance. This involves luck, random occurence, natural population distribution and other happenchance events that create variety in all natural environments. In humans functional development is largely driven by psycho-social events especially within the family dynamic, but also within peer groups and extra-familial social hierarchies within which the family has a particular place (socio-economic status).
Core functionality tends to develop regardless of socio-economic status, however achieving excellence is usually restricted to those who can gain the intellectual and other skill development required to turn that natural talent into good results. Those higher up the heirarchy normally retain higher functionality for their group, preventing lower heirarchies from development through subtle social manipulation. Modern western societies attempt to provide an environment in which anyone with core functionality can find the opportunity to succeed and achieve excellence.
Those who develop good core functionality as a result of the vagaries of circumstance usually find it easy to achieve economic and social functionality. Their minds and bodies develop into patterns that enable success. Those who develop low core functionality, in contrast, find it hard to achieve and to make a contribution to society. This happens through no fault of their own. Often they end up in psychiatric institutions and prisons. In New Zealand, the Corrections department is the biggest employer of psychologists: the correlation between psychological disorder and criminality is high.
While level of core functionality may be the product of circumstance and something quite outside of the control of the individual, what is done with that functionality is another matter entirely. Whether it is whittled away lazily or developed through hard work and enterprise is in the control of the individual. Similarly there always has been and always will be the means available for people with low functionality to make improvements.