Understanding holistic vs linear (from a list on Dramaticapedia)

theory
#1

While trying to figure out holistic problem solving, I came across this article again.

Now that I understand Dramatica a good bit more than last time i saw it, I found it a bit more helpful in distinguishing between holistic and linear problem solving. Particularly the list illustrating the differences. So I wanted to try to use the list to come up with what each might look like in a story. I’ve put that list below. Feel free to share thoughts. Is it helpful? Am I still a bit misguided? Any feedback at all.

(I rearranged the order from the way it appears in the article to place Linear first)

Linear Problem-Solving Style: looks at purposes - The giant monster is angry and trying to destroy the city. To stop it from destroying the city, the monster must be run off or destroyed.
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: looks at motivations - The giant monster is really like a child that wants to play. If we play with it, it’ll stop destroying the city.

Linear Problem-Solving Style: tries to gather evidence - looks for email correspondence with a known terrorist that suggests where the next attack might be
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: tries to see connections - looks at all the locations that have already been attacked to discover a pattern (all the attacks have been in cafe’s, or all the attacks have happened within a five mile radius of X)

(this one’s tricky, not sure I nailed it)
Linear Problem-Solving Style: sets up requirements - If you have a clear shot, you are required to take it
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: sets up conditions - only take the shot if the target poses an imminent threat

Linear Problem-Solving Style: breaks a job into steps - if I start dressing this way, and start speaking that way, and get interested in these things, then she will like me
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: determines the leverage points that can restore balance - If he sees me hanging out with other boys, he’ll think they like me which will make him see me as more attractive

Linear Problem-Solving Style: seeks satisfaction - “She’s the one-the lucky girl i’m going to marry…the most beautiful girl in town…don’t I deserve the best?”
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: seeks fulfillment “There must be more than this provincial life!”

Linear Problem-Solving Style: concentrates on “How” and “What” - How did the dead body end up in a locked room, and what was the cause of death?
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: concentrates on “Why” and “When” - (this one is also tricky) Why kill someone and leave them in a locked room without making it look like a suicide and what time could this have happened without someone seeing?

Linear Problem-Solving Style: argues the issues - when you see a bear you should run…
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: puts the issues in context - …unless the bear is close and you can’t get to a safe spot before he outruns you. Then you need to back slowly away and make a lot of noise while keeping your eyes on him.

(I’m at a loss on this one)
Linear Problem-Solving Style: tries to pull it all together
Holistic Problem-Solving Style: tries to hold it all together

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#2

This is a really cool idea. I also have a lot of trouble understanding Holistic problem solving. I think for Linear-dominant thinkers like me and you, it’s difficult to explain or give examples of Holistic thinking because we have a tendency to try and justify the Holistic thinker’s actions in Linear terms. Like, someone breaks into song to get out of a jam, we say the guy must have thought to himself, “gee if I break into song they’ll like the song and let me go.” But that’s not what it was at all. There was no if -> then, it was more “the atmosphere in this room is terrible, a song feels like a good way to lighten things up”.

Anyway, one suggestion, I would try to remove the words “if” and “then” from your examples for Holistic thinking.

Here are a few suggestions on your examples:

I’ll hang out with other boys, and this will help things balance out towards us ending up together.
Or another one: I’ll buy myself new pretty underwear and even though no one can see it, something about wearing it will make me more attractive and draw him to me.

Why kill someone like this, what were they feeling when they did it? And when it happened, what was the weather like?

Pay attention to how the animal seems to be feeling, and what the balance of the whole situation is – the wind, the trees, the weather. Is your sense of the bear more like he’s a big puppy dog, curious and wants to play? Or does he feel more like a mean-spirited, nasty beast?

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#3

With regards to your last point, here’s what comes to mind for me: the Linear thinker rows. The Holistic thinker bails (water, I mean).

There’s a scene in my favorite TV show where a tree has fallen into their bedroom, and wind and rain are pouring through the open hole. The Linear thinker immediately starts getting to work trying to remove the tree, while the Holistic thinker starts cleaning up all the mess the tree falling in has caused. While that seems foolish, this isn’t as cut-and-dry as it seems; after all, the only reason the tree fell into the bedroom in the first place was because the Holistic thinker had seen the potential for the tree to fall, but the Linear thinker had ignored it for more pressing matters. [EDIT: Do I keep being coy about what my favorite TV show is? …Nah, I can handle it. Here’s the clip in question. It’s at the end of the episode, but they cover the bases I was talking about.]

Another one I’m reminded of is the fable of the saw from “Seven Highly Effective Habits.” A young man walks by a lumberjack, who’s sawing ineffectually at a tree. The lumberjack explains that he needs to get the task done before sundown, so he has a lot of sawing to do. The young man comments, “Shouldn’t you stop and sharpen your saw first?” The lumberjack replies, “I’ve got to get this done; I don’t have time to sharpen my saw!” “But if you sharpened your saw, you’d get the task done more quickly.”

So sometimes one is right, and sometimes it’s the other. Sometimes, you need to push through a problem and not get stressed on minor details, while at other times, catching those details can mean the difference between getting a problem done and just wasting time.

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#4

love the feedback.

@mlucas, what I liked about that list was that it gave me something I could deal with. “Looking at motivations” feels much more accessible than “Holistic”. For the holistic examples, I wasn’t really even trying to be or think Holistically. I was just trying to come up with something that fit, and I feel like it worked (or at least came close) in many cases. I think this list will be a great help to me when writing holistic characters in the future.

And I love the suggestions. I think they really take my examples and push them to the next level.

And I think you nailed it with how linear thinkers see holistic problem solving in a linear series of steps. One thing I’ve done recently to change the way I think about Holistic problem solving is to stop thinking that Holistic problem solving doesn’t follow a logical series of steps, as I had thought before. This may or may not be right for me to do, but I would think any Holistic problem solver would say that they’re solutions are logical. But that doesn’t mean linear. The way I look at it now is closer to saying that Linear problem solvers think in a straight logical line-sort of a direct path-while Holistic problem solvers might think in a logical, but indirect path-maybe a what I’d picture as a curve, a circle, an S-line, instead of a 1-2-3-4 progression it could be a 2-4-1-3 progression. Again, that may not be right, but it certainly helps my Linear-dominant mind to grasp it, I think.

@actingpower, awesome examples of Linear and Holistic working together. It’s a great example of how an MC and IC can be working toward the same goal, and yet be on different paths and how they can see into each others blind spots.

And i was about to ask if you’d care to share what the show was when I saw your edit pop up. Hey, I’m in my mid-thirties and, while I wouldn’t say that’s my favorite show, I’ve certainly sat through way more episodes with way more interest than I ever thought I would have before having two girls. No shame in it, sir!

#5

Kids’ shows can be really effective for these kinds of illustrations, since they tend to state their purposes pretty clearly. Hence, I suppose, why it’s always the first thing that comes to mind when I think about these questions. :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

I’ll use that excuse for why one of the examples I used was from Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite Disney movies. And also for why I started to use lyrics from The Little Mermaids “Part of Your World”. Hey, a good story is a good story.

#7

So the other day I made what I thought was a very obvious and clear statement to a Holistic Problem-Solver. However, what she heard was actually pretty close to the exact opposite of what I had said and it started a bit of a disagreement. In trying to clear the statement up, we debated a bit over the meanings of the exact words I had used. It did nothing to help the situation.

A little after it was all over, she asked me if I was having any problems in a completely separate and unrelated area of my life. I told her no and wondered how she could even have made the connection to that. That’s when it hit me that we hadn’t been arguing over definitions, but which path my statement had taken. I knew that everything I had meant to say had been expressed clearly in the statement I had made. It was a direct path from point A to point B. But she took it differently because rather than accepting it as a linear statement she had been looking at all the space around the statement, reading between the lines, looking at things I hadn’t said and was connecting them to what I had actually said. That was why arguing definitions didn’t work. I was taking a linear path, while she was looking at everything but the linear path.

And when she had asked if I was having problems in another area, I hadn’t understood where that question came from because I was looking for a direct linear path from one subject to another knowing there absolutely wasn’t one. But she was seeing an inequity in one area and wondering if it had been caused by a deficiency in another area.

Once I saw what was going on, it all seemed so clear. Maybe one day i’ll be able to figure those things out in real time and save a lot of trouble and anguish! Just another reason to be glad i found Dramatica!

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