Writer's block, an owner's guide: Reversal theory

What’s it been? A month? Anyway, the break is over. I’ve dealt with the projects I needed to deal with; some of them done, others reprioritized. This morning saw me starting to design my writer’s block workshop in Encino (which will happen in 5/05).

And what shall we talk about today? I know, let me share this extended version of my description of reversal theory, a useful window on the confusing picture which is writer’s block.

Here goes.

Reversal theory and writer’s block

I see it as a useful window on the confusing picture which is writer’s block, and a model which may help writers keep track of their own mental states. It’s the easiest explanation I’ve found for the benefit I personally get from deciding to blog rather than to write the same words in a way that would feel like work. So that’s why it keeps popping up here in Today I Write.

Two states
According to Apter, then, motivation isn’t a matter of seeking low or high arousal, or a balanced moderate arousal, at all times. Instead he says we are always in one of two “metamotivational” states, the telic state (where you are goal-oriented and relatively forward-thinking) and the paratelic state (where you prefer activities with an intrinsic and immediate reward).

The Greek names are appropriate but you could think of these states as “task-oriented” and “playful and in the present moment.” The difference between them is the difference between, say, a slow painful walk to work on Monday and the same person’s enthusiasm to run twenty-six miles at the weekend.

In the telic state, you experience arousal as anxiety and you try to avoid it; in this state you’d prefer relaxation, and so you’d work to get the task done and to move on. In the paratelic state, arousal feels like excitement, you look for it and you want it to continue, and when it stops you feel boredom.

And at all times we are in one or other of these states.

Six more states
A second pair of states is the conforming and the negativistic. Here again you expect to be in both states at different times, oriented towards either rule-keeping or rule-breaking. But (obviously) not both at once.

Two more pairings, which have more to do with the interpersonal situation, are the states of mastery (possibly of a task or a tool) and of sympathy for others, and the “autic” and “alloic” states (in which your own interests take precedence over, or are subordinated to, those of others).

Switching back and forth between opposite states is the “reversal” which gives the theory its name.

So what?
Reversal isn’t something you can consciously control. But it is influenced by circumstances in predictable ways. If you knew what those ways were you could change your circumstances and change your state. Want to know the ways?

Just briefly, for now, there are three. A contingency like a sudden alarming event can (obviously) change your state of mind. Frustration, when you find your approach to a situation isn’t working, can induce reversal. And satiation can cause reversal after you’ve been in a single state for a long period.

The key to counseling athletes, using this framework, is to identify inappropriate reversals that impede performance, and suggest ways to prevent or correct them. The question I’m thinking about is whether the same kind of counseling would be useful to writers.

Anyone want more of this? Anyone wondering what I think writers should actually do?

Published on October 2, 2004 at 1:36 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/reversal-theory.html

Today I Write