Modeling Psychology 201

[StephenLawson]

Greetings fellow forumites:
This topic is meant to answer questions concerning the hows & whys scale modeling is such an important reflection of modern civilization with extreme reference to that most difficult of accomplishments of said topic. WWI aviation subjects

At the beginning of the 21st century we all face two important questions: (1) How to fully enjoy and benefit from the exciting possibilities resulting from technology and change. (2) How to deal with certain serious difficulties and problems which result from these changes. As a result Modeling Psychology, the study of human personality, thought process and behavior and its creative oulets hold an increasing bebefit to all.

The significant historical figure, Napolean I is paraphrased as saying; '...there are only two subjects that motivate anything with a brain, interest and fear.'

Essentially it is the creative eb and flow that connects us to the past, present and future. While most contemporary subjects are streamline with internal details the average WWI aircraft is usually very busy in its outward appearance and therefore more stimulating to the person of high intelligence.
The corollary is that a scale depiction of an aircraft of 1914-18 vintage is more appealing to someone with a high degree of creativity than the average IPMS Nationals judge. Who (not surprisingly) very seldom or almost never builds a model.

1. Motivation and Creativity puts us into the first phase of Model building. - 'Dicta Ira' '...have fun!' WWI Modeling Page 1997.
2. The desire to please ourselves is the initial and primary goal.
a. Characterized by parts being pulled from the trees and the resulting jagged sprue ends remaining and apparant even at the completion of building.
b. Also painting a completed model is considered to be a deterant to building. So often the kit is displayed bare factory pigmented plastic.
c. Another characteristic is the slightly off register decals that due to the unpainted scheme are guess-timated for their approximate positioning.

3. The desire to interest and please others is the next step.
a. This step if unchecked can lead one to the onset of the malady know in the Modeling community as Advanced Modeling Syndrome (AMS.)
b. If carefully monitored this can be an exercise in building one's character and dexterity.
c. It is at this stage that the modeler often starts attending local Modeling clubs or contests.
d. Painting becomes apart of the build in general. Since the exposure is a direct attribute ofthe modeling club it is seen as a natural progression.
e. Sanding smooth said sprue attachments and seam lines becomes more a practice in 'cleaning up the overall appearance of the build.'
f. Next comes the concern of overall scale effect in the build. (One can get dangerously close to the onset of serious AMS here.)
g. Often this is where WWI modelers begin their fascination with simulating rigging and (heaven forbid) turnbuckles on aircraft kits.
4. The desire to compete and have the artifact that you have crafted viewed and judged is the next step.
a. Here, repeated bad experiences can affect the builder to the point that they can often hurl the completed build against the furthest basement wall with their best knuckle pitch.
b. Immediate success on the local level is often the garantee that you'll hold an office in the coming club elections.
c. Success on the Continental or National level will often include a local level office and a judges responsibility in future contests.
d. Here the average modeler will forego building and ;
1. Begin a business making Brass etch, resin, white metal or vacuform kits and detail pieces.
2. Begin publishing articles on 'How To' subjects.
3. Start collecting.
4. Become an IPMS Nationals Judge. Losing not only their interest in building but often turning off their objectivity node at the base of their brain as well. This still a point of debate in many Modeling Circles.

Pop Quiz: What is the difference between personal and Social needs?

[Michael]

But we must keep in mind psychopathic and sociopathic behaviour patterns that may emerge.

Masochists, in particular, are drawn to IPMS Nationals. True to the course of this condition, modeller-masochists are driven to invest large amounts of time and money to create models for IPMS Nationals Judges to pick apart and criticize. It is indeed in this criticism that the modeller-masochist finds his pleasure. The more work, the pickier the criticisms and therefore the greater the pleasure at being destroyed by the Judges.

Sadists are almost never modellers themselves. They do like to congregate with modellers, and deliver lines such as:

"Yes, but you realize that it is really 1/74th."

"The fuselage is too deep/shallow."

"But of course your source got the colour scheme all wrong."

"You should have started with the [insert alternative brand] kit."

[stringbags4ever2]

Answer to pop quiz: Personal needs have to do with pleasing oneself, social needs have to do with pleasing sadistic IPMS judges, thus defeating the primary pupose of personal needs. My attitude? Who really gives a rat's patooty as long as the builder is pleased and proud of what he or she has done? (In the back of the builder's mind is always that annoying little voice that says: I can build as good as that." Especially when confronted with a modeler who'se pulled down an award at a contest.... >

[TrooperD]

I feel better now that I given up all hope!

[StephenLawson]

It is gratifying to have such a well rounded class. *The first three responses are demonstrative of the entire gamit of plausible answers. *
Michael- very intellectual. * 8)
PeterLH- insightfully revealing. *
TrooperD- Painfully aware. * :'(

Pop Quiz answer: The desire to feel successful is a personal need. The desire to be recognized as an experienced modeler (contemporary to your peers) is a social need. This is the basis for Recognition and success.

Now on to the Joys of... (you in the back stop it!) Taking Risks.

Modelers seem to enjoy taking risks, sometimes without being consciously aware of this as a motive. *Gambling on a complicated conversion or multimedia build at the risk of either self or club approval *- or - loosing self esteem, having the modeling community gather like vultures picking clean the carcass of your well planned intentions.

While modelers may say they go to a Hobby Shop for exicitment and atmosphere, the major attraction of this type of activity is the risk involved. *To reach the summit of Everest in the Modeling game is to do something other modelers haven't even tried or thought of. *To simplify a complicated build or modification. *

The other side of the coin is to get it by the financial dept of your household without the scathing glare and usual trip to the dog house.

Fortunately many modelers have either cut back on that dept. by legally separating the funds and accepting prolonged divorce. *Thus simpifiying ones activities and enduring the ensuing quiet.

Often the percieved risks don't measure up to real life. *Reference: 4a. of our introduction.

Pop Quiz: What are the three types of Competition that modelers have to deal with?

[Michael]

1. Time - Any wife will tell you that your "free" time should be spent according to the following scale of priority:
a. Household tasks
b. Time spent with the family
c. Time spent with her

Models aren't on the list (although she is proud of your skill and will tell you so, she won't free up any time for you to exercise your skill).

2. Financial - money is to be spent on upkeep of the house, saving for the kids' education, or next year's vacation. Again, models are not on the list.

3. Your children's interest in models - the Missy Syndrome. You will be expected to put aside your own work to help Junior with his/her model - which may very well have come out of your stock

[topgun56]

Michael,

Right on. That's why I sent her back to Korea, Toys indeed. They are works of art.

She wouldn't even let me work on the car, as long as it could take her to bingo.

[NeilE]

Good Evening All;

Ah the joys of Psychological enquiry!

I am reminded of the good Doktor Von Humbrol's famous lecture series "Towards A Deep Psychology of Modelling" that he gave in 1968 at Berkeley U. Unfortunately the burks at Berkeley didn't dig the Good Doctor and he was run out of town. He then spent 12 months in retreat with Dymphna on the Costa Del Sol....

On this topic of Modelling Psychology I have one word to say to you all....

FREUD!

It should be stated now that the Herr Doktor Von Humbrol was one of the great man's greatest students.

How does Freud touch on the world of plastic modellling you ask. Read on Dear Students and I will explain....

Firstly, Freud theorized that the human psyche had three component parts...Id, Ego, and Superego.

Firstly the ID. The Id creates a number of forces operant in modelling behaviour. It represents our primal urge to build the model no matter what. Think about the young child's model described by Dr Stephen earlier. It is isn't painted, it's decals are stuck on anywhere, glue is everywhere. The undeveloped child's mind, unable to externalise its thoughts sees immediate gratification in completing the model as soon as possible. The search for gratification is the cornerstone of Freud's "Pleasure principle" and is contrasted with "Thanatos" ( the death wish - more on this anon).

Even as adults the ID lives in all of us and must be satisfied regularly. In the healthy modeller, this is done in the regular completion of models to a skill level the modeller is happy with. In the unhealthy modeller, the ID forces her/him further and further on, to detail, to detail still further, leading to unfinished models that are never finished. The Id embodies possession also and the unfinished model is always possessed tightly by the id.

Another point - Stephen politely refers to AMS as "Advanced Modellers Syndrome", whilst we at The Institute pull no punches - we refer to it as "Anal Modellers Syndrome". The former is standard American usage, the latter European. I guess we don't have to deal with the moral majority....

Now the Ego. Briefly, the ego is the core of the balanced human's pysche. It balances the competing desires of the Id and Superego, to the benefit of the subject.

In modelling terms, this means knowing when to stop detailing/weathering/buying or when to do so. It is the voice of risk taking and experimentation in modelling. Building a healthy ego is a great counter to AMS we find.

Thirdly the Supergo, this is in modelling terms is the voice of judges, magazine builders/reviewers and other experts. That, if internalised tells the modeller what is "good", what is "right" and "wrong" about a model. It is a social normative impulse in the modeller.

So AMS? AMS, according to Herr Doktor Von Humbrol's Berkeley Lectures and his later publication "The Costa Del Sol Treatise", is a significant imbalance of the ID and Superego at the same time. It reflects an unhealthy desire to always build, to keep on detailing, competing with others, yet possessing the unfinished model forever. It yells its mine. mine! mine!. The Superego in AMS however, drives the modeller normatively to live up to the unreal expectations of the modelling world for perfection and absolute accuracy and into the waiting arms of the screaming Id.

Michael was very close with his sadism/masochism dicotomy, but we believe at The Institute that this is carried further in AMS. The masochistic modeller drives himself to detail more and more in order to satisfy the sadistic urges of others but also to satisfy his own latent sadism - a drive towards Thanatos. The AMS modeller is satisfying his own auto sadistic streak and his own auto masochistic urge. How often do we hear the comment "It would have been perfect if only I had added the squiggly thingie to the cockpit" The modeller is punishing himself here but then he is driven to do so by his own urges and sets up a paradoxical modelling situation that enables himself to simaltaneously self punish and suffer.

We at The Glencoe Institute, following the lead of the Great Herr Doktor Von Humbrol, have only scratched the surface of this topic.

There is much work to do, we much work fast before AMS spreads further....

There is much more to say on this topic...I haven't mentioned Jungian Modelling Theory, Skinner's Operant Modelling, or Pavlovian impulses....or the work of Brother Heller or of Revellus of Padua....

so little time, so little time.....

Neil
Director,
Glencoe Institute,
BSSc, BSW, MA Psych Airfix University

[Michael]

There are many aspects of modelling that are clearly the acting out of repressed sexual desires. *Can anything be more blatant than the action of putting a paintbrush into a tin of paint?

This is obviously why modelling start in pre-adolescence, and continues into adulthood, and then tapers off when the individual marries.

[stringbags4ever2]

Ohhhh, Michael and Neil:

You both should have phDs in psych!! And comedy! I'm rolling on the floor here at the Spalding QA lab, laughing my rear off, tears streaming down my face, but Neil, you are so PSYCHIC!! My wife and I were just discussing what the superego was last night (pertaining to HER discussion boards on soap operas), and I thought it was that "internal voice" but I wan't sure..... but to apply it to modeling.....BRILLIANT!! I love it!! Great analysis!! Repressed sexual desires, hmmm? I guess that was why I was stroking the boxes of my unbuilt Dr1s last night.....