Private Logic
An individual’s private logic is premised upon the person’s unique evaluation of self, others, and the world, and what is required of him or her. It is our own subjective personal schema about the world around us, or, in other words, it is how you see the world.
In the very early years of our lives, others – our parents, our siblings, and the other significant adults around us – provided our environment. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the environment that shaped us…rather the meanings we made from the experiences that we had in our unique environment. Each time we made a guess about what things meant, we moved a little closer to forming our belief system. Since children are great observers, but awful interpreters, parents need to help them shape their lifestyle beliefs by exploring choices; to encourage a the shaping of a positive private logic.
Though the formulation of private logic occurs in childhood, the adult can gain a great deal of information from learning and reflecting on it. Our decisions and reactions are a direct result of our private logic (see diagram below) and when people find themselves in conflict or at an impasse in their career or relationship, they may be working against their private logic or trying to adapt to an environment that is not conducive to how they see the world. Asking a few short questions helps to discover your own private logic and may shed some light on why we think, feel, and act the way we do:
The sort of questions you might ask yourself to discover your private logic are:
(1) What kind of a person am I?
(2) What kind of a world is this?
(3) What must a person such as I am do in a world such as this is, in order to make a place for myself?
