attitude: a way of perceiving or judging.
black box: a device with an input and an output. The name ‘black box’ implies that the input and output, not the workings by which it transforms the one into the other, are the important thing for present purposes, and that the workings are unknown, perhaps unknowable.
bundle-idea: a group of ideas which form a whole, but do not yet have a name and hence an identity as a single idea. See named-idea. [Edward de Bono]
conditioned: a decision is conditioned by a number of factors with different ‘weights’ and directions, like the commonplace analogy of a set of balance scales. There is always a choice, but one option may be so overwhelmingly conditioned that it is as if there were no choice. See also external conditions, internal conditions.
decision: a shaping of the will, typically resulting in behaviours and attitudes.
device: a means by which results are brought about, for instance, the transformation of one thing into another.
Does-it-fit Machine (DIF Machine): A black box which takes complex motivations and integrates them into decisions.
external conditions: factors outside the mind of the person making decisions.
face: the part of something which is presented. This can be the output of a black box, a mode or a Second Value.
First Values: the values which underlie a decision. They may, but need not, re-emerge as Second Values.
internal conditions: factors inside the mind of the person making decisions. These include values, attitudes and the total set of decisions up to the present moment.
jargon: a set of named-ideas which act as prefabricated thought-forms and reinforce certain values and attitudes.
judging: responding to information, one of the two main faculties in Myers-Briggs theory (see also perceiving).
logic: a set of rules for manipulating concepts.
mindedness: the state of being mentally disposed in a certain direction. A mindedness is a combination of attitudes, values and decisions.
mode: a way in which a motivation is presented.
motivations: considerations (internal and external conditions) which influence decisions, forming the input for a Does-it-fit Machine. They have different modes and vary in strength.
named-idea: a bundle-idea which has been given a name in order to allow it to be treated as a single thing with its own features and existence. [Edward de Bono]
perceiving: taking in information, one of the two main faculties in Myers-Briggs theory (see also judging).
present: to offer a description or interpretation of a decision or situation, whether to oneself or to another. This description or interpretation is a face.
Rationalisation Machine (R Machine): a black box which takes the decision arrived at by the Does-it-fit Machine and presents it as the outcome of certain motivations as processed through Second Values.
Run-it-again Threshold: the amount of change in internal and external conditions which is sufficient to force the Does-it-fit Machine to be used on the situation again.
Second Values: the values which are presented as underlying a decision. They may, but need not, overlap with First Values.
situation: a combination of internal and external conditions requiring decisions.
thought-forms: ideas, whether named-ideas or, less commonly, bundle-ideas, which are used as building blocks for attitudes, values and faces.
values: patterns of attitudes which are consulted as guidelines for behaviours. Like motivations, they have both mode and strength, and neither of these is fixed. See First Values, Second Values.