Thank you for writing this, it really got me thinking. I’m one of those people who don’t really have a firm cast of shoulder advisors. In fact, when I saw this appear in fiction (and in particular in HPMOR), I kind of assumed it was just a convenient narrative device and not something real people actually do. I suppose I should read HPMOR again and try to figure out what other blatantly obvious advice I’ve missed.
This does seem like a extremely useful skill to have, so I’d like to practice it if possible. I just tried to imagine one of these shoulder advisors and I do get an image, but it is very blurry and seems to be “shifting” between different states. I wonder if this is something other people have also experienced, and whether there are any tricks to get a more stable image? Perhaps a fictional person would be easier to simulate since they tend to be not as complex as real human beings. Either way I will continue to try in the coming week and report back here if I get any results.
I think that getting a stable visual appearance isn’t very important; I’m sure it can make things more realistic if you do get it, but the most essential thing is getting a hold of the person’s felt sense, as well as a feeling of how they would react to different things. If you get a sense of “ah in this situation, they would say X”, then it doesn’t matter if you’re unable to clearly visualize them.
I can bring up the idea of a shoulder adviser easily. I can also situate it in the room. It has emotions. But it is not visual. I don’t ‘see’ the emotions or the advisor. At best it is a sketch. That’s normal for me, my visual imagination is ‘sketchy’ (see Generalizing From One Example).
Thank you for writing this, it really got me thinking. I’m one of those people who don’t really have a firm cast of shoulder advisors. In fact, when I saw this appear in fiction (and in particular in HPMOR), I kind of assumed it was just a convenient narrative device and not something real people actually do. I suppose I should read HPMOR again and try to figure out what other blatantly obvious advice I’ve missed.
This does seem like a extremely useful skill to have, so I’d like to practice it if possible. I just tried to imagine one of these shoulder advisors and I do get an image, but it is very blurry and seems to be “shifting” between different states. I wonder if this is something other people have also experienced, and whether there are any tricks to get a more stable image? Perhaps a fictional person would be easier to simulate since they tend to be not as complex as real human beings. Either way I will continue to try in the coming week and report back here if I get any results.
I think that getting a stable visual appearance isn’t very important; I’m sure it can make things more realistic if you do get it, but the most essential thing is getting a hold of the person’s felt sense, as well as a feeling of how they would react to different things. If you get a sense of “ah in this situation, they would say X”, then it doesn’t matter if you’re unable to clearly visualize them.
I can bring up the idea of a shoulder adviser easily. I can also situate it in the room. It has emotions. But it is not visual. I don’t ‘see’ the emotions or the advisor. At best it is a sketch. That’s normal for me, my visual imagination is ‘sketchy’ (see Generalizing From One Example).