Mazirow on meaning
To make ‘meaning’ means to make sense of an experience, we make an interpretation of it. When we subsequently use this interpretation to guide decision-making or action, then making ‘meaning’ becomes ‘learning’. (Mezirow no date, p.1)
Mezirow demonstrates that the act of learning, of assimilating new concepts or modes of practice, is attained through experience and interpretation. Making a common definition for learning is problematic as modes of learning can be defined by practical application, theoretical concerns or by cultural norms and expectations:
Learning may be defined as ‘the process of making a new or revised interpretation of the meaning of an experience, which guides subsequent understanding, appreciation and action’. (Mezirow no date, p.1)
He argues that perceptions are guided by the world view of the learner, the frame of reference, which holds a great sway on the nature and quality of the learning process. Moreover, Mezirow contends that it is through assumptions that experience is construed. That the quality of learning depends on certain customary modes of practice and habitual thought patterns is a highly pertinent concern. That the process of learning should be hindered by such mental constrictions is inevitable.
Such habitual thinking is a vital component for how the mind measures, codifies, and packages the world and its contents. Without this mechanism, the world would simply be reduced to meaningless and apparently sporadic clusters of data. This is what Mezirow calls the if-then and cause-effect; that we eat in the expectation that our hunger will be sated; ‘that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west.’ (Mezirow no date, p.1) Such habitual assumptions also have the effect of banishing irrational assumptions concerning the outcome of actions: ‘When we open the front door, we expect to see our front lawn, not a tidal wave or a charging rhino.’ (Mezirow no date, p.1)
Mezirow employs the term meaning perspective, which is an extremely valuable model, as this is the method by which the neural system integrates new experiences through reference to the empirical pathway; the tried and tested; the acquainted and customary. These customary modes of reacting to experience form the backbone of the world view, and so are highly individual, bespoke and are the paradigms through which a personality is forged. Those individually defined character traits, neuroses, obsessional behaviours, individual kindnesses and tastes are all shaped and governed by the meaning perspective. Without this essential mechanism, then not only learning and empirical knowledge would malfunction, but the very nature of humanity would be curtailed and blighted.
These habitual thought processes hold sway over more abstract mental functioning such as defining good and bad behaviour, moral principles and assessment and even religious standpoint, doctrinal characteristics or political stance. Aesthetic values, social assumptions and conditioning are products of meaning perspective, or as Mezirow terms cultural assimilation.
Others are stereotypes we have unintentionally learned regarding what it means to be a man, a woman, a parent, a manager, a patriot, a member of a particular racial group, or an older person. (Mezirow no date, p.1)
Creating a fundamental paradigm shift is to radically alter the world view, but more importantly, is necessitates the fundamental revision of the inner view, the personality. If reflection is to be employed as a mechanism for such radical neural revision, then its function within the learning process is as vital as air and sunlight.
Extract from In search of the untethered mind: thinking, thought and reflective practice in education (in progress)
Mesirow, J., no date. How Critical Reflection Triggers Transformative Learning [online]. Avaiable at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30281715/critical-reflection.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1506171103&Signature=kBqe5pskD8tygybeKD6hbclcECI%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DHow_critical_reflection_triggers_transfo.pdf [Accessed 23rd September 2017]