The Cognition of Conflict: Ontology, Dynamics, and Ideology - Conflict and Multimodal Communication: Social Research and Machine Intelligence - page 7

REFLECTION Conflict:

(Goal X P) and (Goal X (Not (Goal X P)))
or
( Goal X P) and (Goal X (Goal X (Not P)))

For example, I have a goal of exhibiting my own qualities, but I blame myself for
my vanity; that is, I have the goal of not showing off to be admired.

METACOGNITIVE Conflict:

(Goal X (Goal X P)) and (Goal X (Not (Goal X P)))

is a conflict between two meta goals about my goals.

1.2.5 Private/Individual Conflicts with Functions

Our behavior may respond to two kinds of teleology: finalities, which are internal ,
driving goals [see the control theory model in Evans ( 2008 )], versus external
selective “functions,” which are biological or social (Castelfranchi 2001 ). Now,
there might be conflicts between the internal goal of the subject and the “function”
of his action/behavior; also, because we do not necessarily understand and thus
intentionally pursue our biological or social functions.
An example of our conflict with a biological function could be the aim of having
sex while avoiding procreation, which is the real goal (adaptive function, fitness
advantage) of sex.
An example of a conflict between our goals and our social functions could be the
goal that B be condemned while I am his defense attorney (Fig. 1.2 ).
In general, we carry out our social functions and roles (e.g., citizen, consumer,
father, pedestrian, child) quite blindly, and this is not just due to the fact that they are
carried out unconsciously or just based on reinforced learning or on mere habitus
[in Bourdieu's ( 1980 ) sense]. In fact, also our intentional and deliberate individual
actions (evaluated on the basis of their visible and conceivable consequences) may
“pursue” collective (bad) “ends” (Castelfranchi 2001 ).
If we, for example, realized our irrationality and understood how marketing
induced so-called needs and deceived and manipulated us, we could not play very
well our most crucial role in/for society, that of consumers! Our unawareness is very
functional to society in that it supports markets and banks.
Functions install and maintain themselves in a parasitical relation to cognition:
thanks to and through agents' mental representations but not as mental represen-
tations, i.e., without being known or at least intended. Thus, it is possible (and
frequent) that, following our personal motives, we play our roles in contradiction
with the mission and collective utility of our social function.