In the Chris Argyris reading ‘Theories of Action’ some very interesting psychoanalytic arguments caught my attention. Argyris presents two mutually inclusive theories of human behaviour that he calls ‘mental maps’, under the influence of which people would tend to act certain ways. These hardwired maps are supposedly what dictate contextual human behaviour rather than the actual underpinnings that that particular action may uphold. In other words, people are willing to simply act a certain way because they have been told that it is the ‘right’ thing to do, or because it is politically correct, rather than because they considered the ethical entitlements of that particular behaviour. This is what Argyris describes as ‘Theory-in-use’ as opposed to ‘Espoused Theory’, by which we tell people (or ourselves for that matter) what we would do in certain situations.
Below is a link to a video that I am using for my Broadcast Media assignment which pretty accurately describes these theories on camera.