Semiotics (3): The Crucial Role of Habits

How the formation of habits enable and shape our experience and daily life.

We began our semiotic journey by recognizing the Four Phases of Consciousness. However, we have just scratched the surface. Especially the development of the phases and the shifts between the phases are still underdeveloped and unclear.

Why do we move between the phases? How is the dynamism driven? What determines in which phase we find ourselves?

We begin to dive deeper into the logic of semiosis.

Habit - the Enormous Flywheel of Society

I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to understand that the phases are not fixed, but dynamic stages. But the question remains, what is this dynamism about? What is going on in these stages?

The main concepts are habit and habit-formation. In each phase we actively engage in the process of habit-formation, and the phase denotes the current stage of that process. In other words, the Four phases are the four stages of habit-formation.

We form habits all the way from Perception phase to the Sharing phase. For instance, if we find ourselves confused about the social norms governing some situation, we are forming a habit in the Understanding phase.

Furthermore, there is an order of determination and dependence between these four phases of habit-formation. In order for us to move to a higher phase, we need to have a habit governing the lower phases. In other words, the lower habits are the foundation onto which the higher habits are built. Thus the four phases are actually nested in the following way:

P=Perception, E=Experience, U=Understanding, S=Sharing

Let’s go through the Four Phases with this idea of habit-formation in mind:

1. Perception phase

   1. In this phase, habits are produced during the perception process, when we try to make sense what we are perceiving. We try to separate and abstract something from the qualitative continuum.

   2. Example: Perceived vague movement of something. Hunter trying to locate prey in the forest. Looking at an abstract painting. Hearing an unrecognized noise.

2. (Experience phase (Perception phase))

   1. In this phase, habits are produced by a continuously distinguishing between the salient object and its neighborhood. We inquire the salient sign so that it would embody more information.

   2. Example: Inquiring an object in your hand. Following the movement of something. Trying to remember where some smell is familiar from.

3. (Understanding phase (Experience phase (Perception phase)))

   1. In this phase, habits are formed through participation in the regularities of the world. We come to understand and embody the habits guiding the salient object. This in turn enables habitual interactions with it and participation with the patterns governing it.

   2. Example: The ability to cross streets safely (by predicting the movement of the cars). Being good at sports. Learning a new skill or cultural conventions.

4. (Sharing phase (Understanding phase (Experience phase (Perception phase))))

   1. In this phase, habit is formed by sharing meaning in a community. Information is mediated through symbols. This enables the formation of scientific theories, ideologies, religions and institutions.

   2. Example: Explaining the meaning of words to children. Reading. Having a lively discussion. The peer-review -process. Newscasts and mass media. Social media.

You can read the opening prologue of the previous post with this new idea in mind. You’ll notice how the higher phase always builds on top of the previous phase.

We cannot experience or inquire a salient object, before we have perceptual habits that enable us to abstract something particular to focus on. We can’t understand the regularities or patterns guiding the object, before the objects that participate in those patterns have embodied information and become clear. And we can’t be sharing symbolic information about the generalities of the world, before we are fluidly participating and understanding the regularities.

Did you read the prologue? If you did, it is fun to notice, how already now we have a deeper understanding of the phases and semiosis.

Again, it is important to emphasize how these habits are flowing and fluctuating. We are not speaking about discrete or linear phases, where the habit is either on or off. The formation of habits is a flowing continuous process, with a lot of back and forth between the phases.

However, logically we can identify two distinct movements in habit-formation. Firstly, we can rise to a higher phase, by developing habits, that interact harmoniously with the environment. Secondly, we can be thrown down to the lower phases of habit-formation when unexpected surprises or shocks disrupt the flow of our actions, requiring us to reform our habits.

We’ll look at examples of both movements. A child learning to ride a bike is an example of the rise towards higher phases, whereas a nightmarish presentation is an example of the gradual break down of habits, which results in the fall towards the lower phases.

Learning to Ride a Bike

Let’s start our exposition of habit-formation with an example of a child learning to ride a bike.

Perception phase

During the first fundamental step, through active perception, the child tries to make sense of the bicycle. She makes first direct contact with it. She looks at its shape, its qualitative constitution, trying to combine various perceptions to form an unified and salient thing to experience. As the perceptive habits arises, the child unconsciously forms a “picture” of the bike in front of her. This is an extremely foundational step and completely unconscious.

Experience phase

Next, as the bike becomes clear and salient, the child begins to inquire it. What is this part? What does this do? Slowly the bike begins to embody meaning (this part connects to there, I should put my feet here, that is the bell).

The child gets on the bicycle and begins the practice. Riding feels burdensome as every experience is new and strange. However, perceptions are fluid and easy as perceptive habits are already up and running.

As the child tries different things with the bicycle, the various sensations and actions are starting to make sense. They become signs, they gain meaning. Oh, this feeling means that I am about to fall. Oh, this amount of force applied to the brakes does this. Oh, I see, this is the movement pattern of the feet.

By continuing the inquiry the sensations and actions become informative signs — the habits of the Experience phase form.

Understanding phase

As the child continues to practice, she starts to develop an understanding of the underlying tendencies, laws and patterns guiding the behavior of the bicycle. She learns to anticipate how the bike would react to different actions, such as leaning, using the brakes, or steering.

Understanding the laws, which involves the ability to anticipate the outcomes of certain actions, enables active participation with these tendencies. This capacity (fluid participation with the habits guiding the situation) is exactly what we refer to as a skill.

For the habits of understanding to be formed, the child must be fluent in responding to sensations and executing actions (Experience phase) and perceive with ease (Perception phase).

Sharing phase

Once the child has developed a solid understanding of riding a bicycle, she is free to contemplate more “important” things, while she rides. The habits take care of the riding part so that the child may, for instance, have a conversation while she rides. Now she may share ideas and knowledge about bike riding with her friends as they are riding their bikes in the neighborhood.

The child is now forming habits of sharing (how to communicate with symbols), which in turn requires that she has understanding of the tendencies affecting bike riding (Understanding phase), that she interprets fluently the various individual sensations and signs when riding (Experience phase), and that she perceives clearly (Perception phase).

Habit-Formation is Our Goal in Life

We want things to run smoothly without unexpected surprises. Think about doing your morning routine. Washing the face, brushing the teeth, eating breakfast. We like it when everything goes as expected. It is burdensome to find our toothbrush missing, or that the refrigerator is empty, as it interrupts the action by creating problems that have to be resolved. This is Peirce’s famous Doubt-Belief -cycle in a nutshell.

The most dear and familiar habits for us are called beliefs, as they are almost always conscious and self-controlled. Belief is the readiness “to act in a certain way under given circumstances”. In other words, belief is a habit of acting in the world.

For example, we belief that our car works, which results in the habit of just going into the car and driving away. If we would doubt the reliability of the car, we would at least inspect it carefully before driving, which would be laborious.

For this reason we like to remain in the state of belief, where we trust that our habits of conduct are producing the results we want. We trust that our beliefs guide us smoothly through the day without our action being interrupted.

If you have applied the Four Phases to your experience, you have most certainly noticed how most of the time things run smoothly, and we are quite unaware of ourselves and the environment.

We are often absent-minded, not paying attention to the personal experience. We are awake but asleep. This is because our habits in various phases are doing their job. This feels wonderful as the state of belief is:

a calm and satisfactory state which we do not wish to avoid, or to change to a belief in anything else. On the contrary, we cling tenaciously, not merely to believing, but to believing just what we do believe. (Peirce, 1877) [bolding added.]

We are inherently biased towards our own beliefs. This is because it is laborious to change our habits. Often, it is only in the face of significant resistance that we find the motivation to change our habits, as the effort required to break old habits becomes less than the experienced discomfort.

This discomfort, or doubt as Peirce calls it, arises when we confront something surprising. This interrupts our habitual action and awakens us from the state of belief. We aren’t too happy about this, as the state of doubt is psychologically very straining. Therefore, we struggle hard to resolve the doubt in order to return to the blissful state of belief.

With the doubt, therefore, the struggle begins, and with the cessation of doubt it ends. (Peirce, 1877)

The unanticipated surprise forces us to search for explanations, which would resolve the doubt by explaining the confronted surprise and the current situation. We are speaking about abductive reasoning.

The irritation of doubt causes a struggle to attain a state of belief. I shall term this struggle Inquiry, though it must be admitted that this is sometimes not a very apt designation. (Peirce, 1877)

The unexpected surprise throws us to lower phases. The severeness of the shock determines to which phase we are thrown. A small distraction can be resolved with minimal effort and inconvenience.

Imagine that you are walking to the cash register to pay for your groceries, but you arrive there simultaneously with another shopper. Who should go first? You both become a bit uncertain. But after couple of non-verbal gestures the unexpected situation is resolved as you let the other shopper go first.

On the other hand, a massive shock would mean a state of complete confusion. Now imagine, that you are putting your groceries on the conveyor belt. Suddenly you notice how the items on the conveyor belt are changing shape and color before your eyes. The apples are turning into oranges, the bread into cheese, and the milk into chocolate.

This would be an absolute shock requiring the reformation of even the most fundamental perceptive habits. You would be utterly perplexed, absolutely unable to comprehend what was happening.

Just to shed some light on these phases. Usually the Perception phase is very short in our experience. The moments where we have trouble abstracting something from the qualitative continuum, are resolved quickly and unconsciously.

What is usually needed in an unclear situation is a drop down to the Experience phase to inquire in more detail some salient object. After a while we discover the tendency that is guiding the object and voila, doubt resolved.

Let us now go through an example where we fall down to lower phases as the unexpected surprises continue to become more severe.

Nightmare Presentation

You are giving a presentation and you are feeling quite nervous. Your heart starts to race, and your palms feel clammy. You take a deep breath to steady yourself. It's time.

Sharing phase

You begin your presentation. You speak and show graphs and text. Knowledge and meaning are shared in the community through symbols. Everything flows as the habits of the lower phases are supporting the Sharing phase.

Everything seems fine until you notice how the argumentation you were presenting has some serious flaws. You feel a shock in your body, as you understand how your whole presentation falls apart. You freeze completely.

The sharing of information ceases. The habits of Sharing phase break down.

Understanding phase

You have been quiet for a while. So long in fact that the audience is becoming confused. This isn’t normal social interaction. This isn’t habitual conduct in these types of situations. What is happening?

People are looking at each other trying to figure out what is going on? Everyone are actively seeking to establish some kind of habit of acting.

Likewise you are not sure what to do. Should I continue? Should I sit down? Should I stop? The habits guiding the social situation are not clear at this moment. They’ve broken down.

Experience phase

Then the screen goes off. You make your way to the computer which is the only thing salient at the moment. You begin to log in, but the keyboard doesn’t work. What is this?

You inquire the keyboard. Is this connected? Is this broken? What? Then you feel sick and nauseated. Beads of cold sweat begin to form on your forehead. You are no longer concerned about the audience, about the norms of this social situation. You are fully immersed in your personal experience, where the only salient things are the keyboard and the felt nausea. You are feeling your presence.

Perception phase

Then, out of the blue, an extremely loud and weird continuous noise blasts from the loudspeakers. A great shock of surprise slams through the audience. Everyone is utterly confused of what is happening, as they try make sense of what is in front of them.

This unrecognized wall of sound casts everyone all the way back to the Perception phase as they have to radically reorient themselves in this surprising situation. People are now pretty much guided by their deep unconscious instincts.

Habits of the Universal Mind

Lastly, it is good to remind ourselves that semiosis permeates everything. Although I have discussed habit-formation only in the context of our human experience, the idea of habit-formation affects every possible level of reality. Peirce writes:

Now the generalizing tendency is the great law of mind, the law of association, the law of habit taking. We also find in all active protoplasm a tendency to take habits. Hence I was led to the hypothesis that the laws of the universe have been formed under a universal tendency of all things toward generalization and habit-taking. (Peirce 1898)

According to Peirce the whole universe has a tendency to form habits. For instance the laws of the universe are habits of the universal mind. Naturally also all living organisms have the tendency to form habits, humans included.

The Four Phases clarifies this process of habit-taking, as the phases denote the current stage of habit-formation. I encourage you to further test the Four Phases as a tool for insight. You will notice your habits and their movement in your experience, which is always enlightening.

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Sincerely,
Markus