Mindfulness, Mindlessness, and Adaptation

Abstract

<p>The contention of this article is that human communication is by its very nature mindful and that many communication behaviors have been mistakenly labeled as mindless. Paramount to this case is that rather than being a bipolar construct, mindfulness occurs in degrees such that communication can be viewed as having greater or lesser degrees of mindfulness. This contention is supported by arguing that adaptation in interactions occurs because of mindfulness, and that adaptation is pervasive in communication. The review of how adaptation is mindful includes a discussion of adaptive complexity, adaptive consciousness, scripted adaptations, and evaluation of adaptation for its accuracy, applicability and effectiveness</p>