Self-assertion & Psychosocial Realism

Unfolding Duality Principles

Unfolding dualities are found in principal typologies and structural hierarchies. Some are rather easy to determine and contain perennial dichotomies: mental stabilization (PH'4uD), for example, with its body-mind polarity; and political life (PH'6CsHuD) with principles v pragmatism at the base.

Generally speaking, the unfolding duality is characterized by a sustaining ground state that is essential and unavoidable, and an opposing force that harbours potential for development. These are respectively the thesis and antithesis, which can fuse to generate a synthesis at the next higher level. That synthesis is then a new thesis evoking its antithesis and so on with the system being cyclic so that the synthesis at G7 appears as the thesis at G1.

Application to Looking out for Yourself

For looking out for yourself, the generic ground state (the thesis) is taken to be self-assertion because without asserting your self it is not possible to look out for yourself.

However, self-assertion is intrinsically socially destabilizing. Others will not allow destabilization, and you will certainly not tolerate excessive self-assertion by others. So there is an opposing force within each person (the antithesis) that can be generically labeled psychosocial realism.

G1: Benefiting that requires Self-interest

The ground state for self-assertion at G1 is affirmation. On an episodic basis, it is necessary and perfectly acceptable to affirm what you think, what you intend, what you want or need, or who you can do.

But this occurs in a competitive environment and, if taken too far or too persistently, others will react and object. At the extreme, they will combine to negate and undermine your efforts now and possibly in the future. To avoid this blow-back, you need to be realistic and exert discretion in dealings where self-affirmation seems beneficial and even appropriate.

G2: Commitment that requires Risk-taking

The tension between self-affirmation and discretion at G1 is resolved by confidence, a new ground state for G2 which emerges through a natural fusion of these two poles. A confident person unhesitatingly asserts themselves in an appropriate discrete way at all times. Confidence needs to be routine but it can get out of hand leading to over-confidence, arrogance and excessive or inappropriate risk-taking.

So confidence needs to be balanced by a realism that is experienced psychologically as humility. With humility, risks can be confidently taken with a degree of safety and assurance that you judge them to be reasonable and manageable.

G3: Contests that require Exposure

Combining confidence and a humility in G2 allows for positioning which becomes the new G3 ground state. Exposure of yourself reveals your position and involves sporadic self-assertion which, even if it carries its own risks, is unavoidable.

Exposure is naturally episodic and needs to be titrated: not too much or you make yourself a target and not too little or no-one knows where you stand and you become isolated. Positioning can be realistically allowed if a need for balance is operating as a countervailing force.

G4: Interactions that require Exchanges

The tension between positioning and balance at G3 can be resolved by fusion into a recognizable presence, which is the G4 ground of self-assertion.

Gains come from exchanges with others and it is impossible to interact for benefit and make the arrangement or get the gain you are seeking without asserting your presence on a routine basis. However, forcing yourself on others, particularly if you lack what they want will get you ignored or excluded. Psychosocial realism demands that you are aware of your own limitations when you deal with others.

G5: Control that requires Influence

Synthesis of your presence and limitations at G4 emerges at G5 in the form of the psychosocial weight that you possess. People vary greatly. However whether you are perceived as a light-weight or a heavy-weight, it is essential that you assert that weight from time to time.

It is important however not to throw your weight around routinely or you will be avoided, excluded or even ejected from the field. Psychosocial realism demands that you restrain yourself, even if that means not being controlling when you believe that might be to your benefit and perhaps help others too.

G6: Affluence that requires Dynamism

The tension between a weight and restraint at G5 is resolved by synthesis as a state of defiance. This G6 ground state emerges when you must confront situations that threaten your standard of living. Defiance mobilizes your personal energies on a continuous basis, allowing you to deal with the harsh reality that the world is not organized for your benefit.

However, another harsh reality is that the world is far more powerful than you are, which means that you can be easily crushed if you take defiance too far. Realism demands that you master yourself with countervailing urges for self-preservation.

G7: Ambition that requires Expectancy

Defiance and self-preservation are fused in a sensitivity to what is going on about you that is expressed as responsiveness. Ambition requires vigilance and operates on the expectation that you will be sporadically faced with opportunities to engage your natural aspirations.

However, it is necessary to be careful as to when you respond and when you simply note what is occurring but let matters pass. In the psychosocial realm, timing is everything.

The fusion of responsivenss and timing emerges as [self-]affirmation which is the form of self-assertion at G1.

ClosedSee another diagram of the same duality progression.

Originally posted: 10-July-2025.