2.2 Building blocks of frames: the symbol

The activities so far in this course have helped you to begin to develop some useful theoretical concepts that are grounded in the data of your experience. Here, key theoretical concepts include:

• the frame is a device for shaping sense-making
• the distinction between first-order and second-order sense-making
• the importance of the ‘definition of a situation’ (i.e. the description under which an action or event is understood)
• the theory of two types of change: additive change based on adding details framed within an existing pattern of sense-making, and transformative change of that frame
• the role of contexts or fields and perspectives in framing definitions of any situation.

One final useful concept is symbolism. A symbol is anything that implies a meaning. There are many different symbolic systems, like traffic signs (where a red traffic light symbol means ‘stop’) or the technical language of mathematics (where the symbol ‘+’ means ‘addition’). Put simply, the mind is functioning symbolically when one aspect of our experience (which functions as ‘the symbol’) is referred to another aspect of our experience (which functions as ‘the meaning’ of the symbol). What counts as the symbol and what as the meaning can vary and is not fixed in advance.

You saw in Activities 3 and 4 how practically all the details in the images and videos functioned symbolically to ‘cue’ the overall sense you made of them. For example, the short hair and combat trousers of the rescuer in the ‘Points of View’ advert functioned as symbols to cue certain, perhaps stereotypical, meanings which, by the end, proved deceptive. The briefcase of the man who was saved also served to convey meaning.

The fact that your sense-making can easily be lured into forming impressions that might prove false certainly does not mean that symbolism is inherently flawed. It means that sense-making, thanks to the symbolism upon which most of it depends, is a complex, fluid and fallible process. You must learn to take care of it because you cannot do without it; it is the very basis both of your personal and of your shared sense of reality. Actually, until it does prove misleading, you typically fail even to notice this pervasive symbolism. Most of the time, it works in the background to enhance your sensitivity to an otherwise unpredictable future within a distant environment.