Psychology Articles

We’ve all come across people who just seem incapable of modifying their perspective based on new data being presented. Most of us still mouth the words that additional education (or indoctrination/propaganda as is often the case) is what is needed since surely this person will turn around if his/her consciousness is sufficiently expanded with additional data backing your perspective. However, all too often deep inside we know that some people are “hopeless”. This conclusion concerning failure of propaganda is reached from all over the political, cultural, and religious spectrum at one point or another. It thus becomes fashionable to outright dismiss “inconvertible” individuals and opposing zealots (on political and religious fringes of any given population) as nuts and crazies.

Personality theory in psychology allows us to better categorize individuals in society without resorting to name calling. Myers-Briggs typology in particular offers a better construct (compared to useless terms like conservative and liberal for example) to predict how an individual will act politically and socially. Myers-Briggs research combined with biology and brain scan techniques also offers us hints at understanding the underlining anatomical basis that predisposes a person to be either a disagreeable radical or a gentle follower.

There’s been little relative popular attempts to scientifically explain why the bulk of the population is always a warzone between the extreme fringes. It’s just assumed that it will always be this way just like there will always be criminals and extremely altruistic self-sacrificing givers. This assumption seems reasonable and obvious but gives rise to two other creeping and unsettling assumptions:

1) The human population is relatively fixed along a bell curve type continuum. Perhaps this is better visually represented by a sphere with a number of spikes extending from it. The moderate population is the bulk of the sphere and the zealous “radical” factions (whose opinions differ dramatically from the statistical average) are the spikes extending from the sphere’s surface (as well as into the interior to some degree which would represent silent sympathizers). It is irrelevant to label the spikes as extreme left, right, etc. All that is important is that a relatively fixed minority of the population (lets say 10-20% range) will be:

a) prone to modes of thought that are tangibly different from majority’s

b) prone to action and lifestyle based on these thoughts

Authors like Friedrich Hayek for instance, observed that in 1920s Germany roughly a million workers swung their support between communists and Nazis based on who was winning. It was noted that the two seemingly opposing ideological parties clashed with one another the most because they were very often competing for recruits in the same psychological pool of young people. Considering how many overexcited Americans called both Bush and Obama the new “Hitler” in recent years, we can easily imagine how an aggressive drooling at the mouth anti-war protestor from a big city could have been an equally excitable protester at a teabag rally if only he was born in a small town and into a different culture.

2) Since the ratio of intensely active people (prone to being perceived by population at large as “wingnuts”or criminals or radicals or genuinely informed and committed activists, etc) to more relaxed apathetic majority seems to be roughly fixed across all societies and globally as a whole, the explanatory basis for such a dynamic can only be biological. Just like there exist (and can further be bred) aggressive dogs and peaceful friendly dogs, there exist aggressive people, natural Buddhist-esque peaceful people, etc. A person who is an aggressive pit bull equivalent (and who wants to impose his views of the world onto others the most) would differ in his relatively extreme ideology depending on what part of the world he was socialized in. Psychiatry has shown us that people are born with different ratios of neurotransmitter production and quantitative as well as qualitative differences in the types of chemicals that affect their mood and cognition. We now understand that people differ a lot more in terms of brain architecture than they differ in terms of things like body type, skin color, fast twitch/slow twitch muscle ratio, etc.

The reason why these assumptions are unsettling is not because there is a degree of fatalism involved (“he will be a radical of one stripe or another no matter what” or “he will be socially lazy, shallow, apathetic, and uninvolved no matter what). Obviously with modern socialization methods and pharmaceutical modification (with psychological genetic and cybernetic modification to follow in near future), an individual can be shaped more than ever before by society and by himself. The assumptions are unsettling because if the broad direction of our views, opinions, and political/cultural/religious affiliations are largely physiologically determined at birth, then societal progress becomes enormously more difficult. Societal progress can be defined here as one zealot faction (that is seen by majority as the most “correct” in its socioeconomic policy perspectives and formulations of what humans should do next) dragging everybody else along behind it as has always occurred throughout history.

Obviously people will disagree on what constitutes progress (some actually thought arrival of Reagan was progress) but if majority of people are physiologically predisposed towards the status quo, progress of any sort becomes a lot harder in a democratic society. In the past, one intense dedicated fringe of the aristocratic elites dragged the other nobility along behind it (since majority of nobility would also have a soft apathetic bulk) and thus dragged the rest of the population behind it as well. We also had scenarios of power vacuum developing and one intense fringe political faction overpowering the others (as in the case of Bolshevik and French revolutions) and filling the leadership position to then drag the rest of the serfs behind it.

In today’s democratic structure however, protection of the status quo is a lot more preserved since the moderate bulk of the population has a political voice and thus a way to provide the ruling elites with legitimacy. The moderate bulk of the elites now also has ever more sophisticated consent and perception manufacturing methods to influence the newfound voice of the majority. For a small number of dedicated activists, pushing society along towards desired version of progress against the forces of social inertia is now harder than ever. The powerful activists now need to sway both the fellow elites and the people simultaneously.

Let’s finally get to the Myers-Briggs part of the article to see what we are now dealing with.

The most widely used way to get a glimpse of people’s underlining neural physiology has been the Myers-Briggs psychological questionnaire (one of the better versions found online for free can be found here). Over the past few decades, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator has been utilized to collect enormous amounts of statistical data on personality types found within the human population. The statistical type breakdown (I am using a combination of 3 different sources on the %. Don’t mind the catchy positive nicknames each type and group cluster has been given. What matters here is the number within a population.) so far has been as follows,

Protectors (SJ)

ESTJ – Overseer, supervisor = 11.8%
ESFJ – Supporter, provider = 11.7%
ISTJ – Examiner, inspector = 9.8%
ISFJ – Defender, protector = 9.9%
All SJs = 43.2%

Creators (SP)

ESTP – Persuader, promoter = 8.4%
ESFP – Entertainer, performer = 10.3%
ISTP – Craftsman, mechanic = 6.4%
ISFP – Artist, composer = 7.9%
All SPs = 33%

Intellectuals (NT)

ENTJ – Chief, fieldmarshal = 3.2%
ENTP – Originator, inventor = 3.7%
INTJ – Strategist, mastermind = 1.5%
INTP – Engineer, architect = 2.2%
All NTs = 10.6%

Visionaries (NF)

ENFJ – Mentor, teacher = 3.4%
ENFP – Advocate, idealist = 4.2%
INFJ – Confidant, empath = 1.2%
INFP – Dreamer, healer = 2.4%
All NFs = 11.2%

Each of the personality types (the well defined strong ones at least who haven’t self reported to be a mutt of 2 or more different personalities) can be seen as a specific brain type. As mentioned above, the physiological neural difference between 2 people of vastly dissimilar brain types is a lot more significant than how a person looks on the outside. That is because the brain type determines a mental and emotional predisposition of a person for the rest of his life. People classified as “bipolar” or “anti-social/sociopathic” for instance, have neural structures that will make them lean towards some things more than others during their entire lives.

We can see from the statistical breakdown that SJ (left-brained people with parietal lobe strength) predominate in the overall population. The second biggest group are the SP (right-brained with parietal lobe strength). Together they are almost 80% of the population. The SJs tend to be conservative, authoritarian in outlook, conventional, focused on concrete “what is”, and protective of the general society. They don’t rock the boat too much and defer to tradition. The SPs tend to be fun loving, crafty, entertaining, and have uncanny ability to focus on “what is” (with their parietal lobe) in order to fix and modify it.

If you look at the cute nicknames given to different brain types, you can see that the human herd pretty much needs all of them if it is to evolve and survive. Some types are needed more than others in the great scheme of things. The SJ and SP groups for example are conveniently numerous. SJ population provides a great amount of soldiers, policemen, social workers, self sacrificing charity givers, accountants, and status quo protectors. In other words they keep the herd safe even if it means stagnating the herd through using their positions in the executive to slow down rapid change. SP group provides us with artisans who improve quality of life for the herd through provision of entertainers, artists, dancers, singers, and resourceful improvising mechanics. SPs can be said to exist to entertain SJs and keep them on their toes by having more fun than them.

It’s easy to see how SJs lean republican and SPs lean democrat overall. The jokes that democrats have better sex lives than republicans begin to acquire an element of truth (considering the different approach left and right sides of the brain take in deciding on how to deal with the here and now). However, the two large groups are united by their concern with all things as they are in the now. That makes the two groups friendly and status quo leaning by default. An ESTJ born in Brooklyn may identify as a traditionalist democrat whereas an ESTJ born in West Virginia may identify as a traditionalist republican, but both are more likely to seek similar professions and get along if they hang out together. Brain type identification provides a lot more material to predict a person’s behavior and views on the world than simple political identification.

The overall theme emerges that people with neural computers that predispose them to either protect the status quo or be apathetic about it (since they are busy pursuing hedonistic adventures) are the supermajority that are not as interested in “what can be” (as the less numerous NP and NJ groups tend to be). A point must be made here that not one group is more important than another and that even their numerical breakdowns seem amazingly appropriate. It would be turbulent for the herd to have for example, more ENTJs/INTJs than ISTJs/ESTJs since the problem with authority that NJs have (due to their desire to be the authority themselves) would create unsustainable infighting and not allow enough people who follow orders. Each brain type has a very key social niche and function and over thousands of years there evolved an intricate genetic balance and ratio. There are of course also multitudes of physiological “mutts” who are a hybrid of all and can’t be “pigeonholed” (the most common complaint brought against psychological typology in general).

Interestingly enough, the Hindus have spent thousands of years evolving classification of human beings into 4 broad psychological varnas or classes. Each was considered as important as the other (all parts of the same body) with their own particular temperaments and duties.

Some brain types are literally made to create new theoretical constructs on how society should be organized and which steps it should take next (INTPs, ENTPs,). When balanced by the emotional consideration and input of INFPs and ENFPs (since strong T theorists are prone to being too rigidly rational and thus not take into consideration the emotional impact of their constructs) new paths for society can be developed that would be acceptable to SJs and SPs combined. However, as explained above, these people will always be outvoted and marginalized by politicians who mobilize the other more numerous groups. “Think of the children!” is a call to arms for ESFJs and ISFJs for instance whereas being tough on crime, national strength, and defeating foreign enemies is the bread and butter of ESTJs and ISTJs.

This dynamic reinforces the need for proportional representation in our system of governance. Proportional representation is practiced in most European Union countries to great effect. This way each brain type cluster can get a political party of their own. The marginalized 20% of the population can get representation and even serve as coalition kingmakers. New voices can be heard in the discourse. Today the 20% of population has to either join the big parties they don’t like and “radicalize” them (seen by the tail wagging the dog phenomenon of militants dominating today’s Republican party and driving moderates out of it) or abstain from the process thus depriving society of valuable input. In proportional representation, each batch of brain types seen as “radicals” can find a party to call home and really support. They would also have more political representation to vent out their frustration and to institutionalize their presence and views. Citizens can then pick and choose which vision of progress to support and which to leave behind.

The scientific method of dream interpretation has its origin in the method discovered by the psychiatrist Carl Jung. I was able continue his research into the unknown region of the human psyche and discover the wild side of the human conscience that provokes all mental illnesses to the human side.

Jung didn’t know that there was a powerful wild side in the human conscience. He believed that this part of the human brain belonged to the unconscious mind that produces our dreams. There was a contradiction existent in his conclusion, since the unconscious mind works like a natural doctor for the human conscience. How could the doctor himself also provoke all mental illnesses to the human conscience?

He could not see the wild anti-conscience, because he was afraid to continue his research and find the craziness he knew that was already inherited in the human brain.

The unconscious mind is only wise and saintly, while the anti-conscience is a wild animal, totally immoral and violent. It is our primitive conscience, which didn’t evolve like our human side.

Since I could clearly see that all absurdity comes from the anti-conscience, and that the unconscious mind is only wise and saintly, I trusted absolutely the unconscious mind and I fought against the anti-conscience.

I clearly deciphered the meaning of all my dreams, overcoming this way a serious neurosis that could have easily turned into schizophrenia, and then I helped many other people overcome their mental illnesses by translating their dreams for them, and giving them advice.

Today you can easily learn how to immediately interpret your dreams with the clear vision that I give you, instead of having the doubts and the ignorance of Carl Jung.

According to my simplification, you simply translate images into words and sentences, being able to immediately understand the meaning of all your dreams, instead of taking notes, comparing the dream images of a series of dreams, and waiting for your next dreams in order to understand the first ones, like Jung’s students do, and I used to do myself too in the beginning, before clearly seeing the anti-conscience, and before discovering the meaning of many more dream symbols, thanks to the translation of the symbolism contained in a literary work that I started to write at the age of 16, after suffering a tragic car accident when I was 15 years old, and losing the friend who was next to me in the car.

There were so many archetypes in the book I wrote after this tragic accident that I could say that it was not really created by me, but by the unconscious mind that was sending me my magical inspiration, and dictating to me the words I should write.

(Archetypes are dream symbols found also in artistic and religious manifestations of all civilizations of our world, in all historical times)

I give you a very clear road map, showing you exactly where the treasure is, besides showing you all the dangers of the way, and how you can safely attain your purpose, so that you may certainly find wisdom, peace, mental health and happiness by immediately interpreting the meaning of your own dreams.

Christina Sponias continued Carl Jung’s research into the human psyche, discovering the cure for all mental illnesses, and simplifying the scientific method of dream interpretation that teaches you how to exactly translate the meaning of your dreams, so that you can find health, wisdom and happiness.
Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com

Click Here to download a Free Sample of the eBook Dream Interpretation as a Science (86 pages!).

This month we’re going to see how an awareness of body language can enhance your love life. But don’t worry, I’m not going to get too slushy. We’re going to take a look at the silent ‘words’ that really do the talking when boy chases girl. I am of course referring to courtship gestures; these tell us so much more than the words exchanged when we sit-up and pay attention. Once again, we must string our observations together to form a reliable insight. Our Bodyspy this month is Emma, and she’s going to use her nonverbal skills to influence the guys too. Now don’t go getting the wrong idea, she’s attractive (and choosy) so guy’s heads are going to turn!

We catch up with Emma in her room while getting ready for a night out at Colonel Steamy’s, a local nightclub in her home town. As she puts on her eye liner, she reflects on the shy person she used to be. Sometimes she still is. This was before she’d overheard two guys talking about ‘trapping’ in the Old Trumpet and Thump It. (Her friend Sue always did seem to pick the bum pubs…) They were discussing how women stroked or flicked back their hair, and that their knees/feet often pointed to the men they liked the look of. Hmmm… ‘Body language,’ Emma had thought. This set her thinking; she had some research to do. This was a tough task: she couldn’t find a book that would give it to her straight. So she read many in quick succession. (What a shame those libraries never stocked Bodyspy.) Anyway, her book worming boosted her confidence – she knew what was ticking away in those men’s minds now…

The nightclub had sprung to life pretty damn quick – Emma and Sue were standing by the dance floor. Strobe lights pulsated from above onto a crowed of bodies; their limbs moving in time to the music like robots in a Ford factory. A merging row of men propped up the bar near by, keeping the maids company as they pumped beer into one glass after another. It was from this drink sloshing line up that Emma had noticed a man eye her up and down. Now he looked to be approaching her.

He’d given her an intimate gaze that blew the gaff wide open. His body had been positioned to form a pointer to her as he leaned against the bar. A territorial pose with legs slightly open forcing his crutch to bulge. His hands formed central indicators as he casually tucked both thumbs into his trouser pockets. His mesmerised mind wrenched itself back to reality having realised Emma had seen him; his head spun back to his mate. ‘Not very subtle!’ mused Emma.

“Hi ya’,” he uttered – in Emma’s direction – as he stopped walking. The three of them stood in an open triangle formation. “Hello!” Emma retorted. “Do you come ‘ere often then?” he was saying as Emma tried not to scowl (or laugh). Emma’s mind whizzed round like a cyclone. She decided to be polite whilst thinking of a way out; she made conversation back. His conversation soon progressed to the ‘importance’ of his job and the fact that he drove a silver Porsche. ‘An ego tripper’ mused Emma… ‘these guys can be sods to get rid of’. His body language matched her observation; legs slightly apart as before, his hands were now inside his trouser pockets with thumbs protruding from the tops.

Emma’s mind raced to find a way to shift him. She decided to use a mixture of body language and talk.

“Small world.”

“Sorry?” he answered.

“You owing a Porsche, Sue’s boyfriend has one too!”

Emma turned her body so it pointed directly at Sue. Sue gulped back, then realised Emma’s ploy. She shifted her position to match. “Yeah, but I prefer your boyfriend’s Ferrari!” Sue answered. The three now continued to talk; Emma and Sue turned only their heads to talk to him – he was being excluded from the group. He began to feel rejected as his mind struggled for conversation. Finally, he sloped off with tail between legs. “You’re learning the ‘nonverbals’ quick.” complimented Emma to Sue.

It was latter now; the nightclub was packed tight. The music blasted out from a speaker nearby. The evening had spanned through a mishmash of Rap, Dance and a few chart hits thrown in for good measure. Suddenly Emma saw a man approaching from the direction of the entrance. He was good looking and well dressed; she estimated him to be in his mid twenties. He was about to walk past them when Emma shone a smile in his direction. She kept looking straight ahead without shifting her focus. He returned the smile and casually came to a halt inside the girl’s personal spheres.

“Hello,” he said to both girls. Emma and Sue returned the greeting; both looked surprised that he had stopped right in front of them. He smiled and said, “I’ve never been here before and I’m on my own.”

“You came here by yourself?” asked Emma.

“Yes, I’m here for a week on company business. I didn’t feel like staying in my room alone tonight, so here I am!”

“Oh, what do you then?”

“I’m a sales rep for Mr. Big’s Rubbers Plc,” he said with a smile. The girls giggled.

“Really I am – I’m here for a four day seminar on our new Hot ‘n’ Spicy condoms.” Both Emma and Sue struggled to keep a straight face.

“What’s your name?” Emma asked, not knowing whether to believe him or not.

Richard Dangle……,”

As he continued Emma decided to put him under the microscope and analyse his body language – that never tells porkies.

Richard was standing straight with one hand embracing a pint of lager, the other was placed in his pocket; no thumbs protruded. His left foot was twisted slightly, pointing towards Emma; the other was straight. This is no good, Emma thought, I need to get his hands free to stimulate his body language. To the left there was an empty seat against the wall, Emma gestured towards it, “Lets sit down,” she said. Sue excused herself and wondered off in the direction of the bar, Emma and Richard sat down. His arms now rested open on the table; he wasn’t defensive. A quick glance towards the floor added impact to his open posture when Emma saw his legs remained uncrossed.

“So tell me more about your work?” said Emma, watching for his posture to become closed and defensive. It didn’t. Instead, Richard began to explain how he’d recently visited the local manufacturing centre and watched the new range being put through the quality tests. He used open palm gestures as he explained how thorough the quality tests were. Hmmm… looks like he’s being straight with me Emma mused. The depth of his conversation further supported her observation.

“I had no idea condom manufacturing was so interesting,” Emma said while leaning forward to show her cleavage. She was becoming more interested in Richard than the gist of the conversation. She’d decided to use her body language to stimulate him further. Emma flashed the smooth skin of her wrists in Richard’s direction as she spoke. Occasionally she ran one hand through her long brown hair; anything more will give the game away thought Emma.

Richard was warming to Emma’s flirting and began to preen from time to time. No doubt about it, she’d succeeded in grabbing his attention alright. His pupils were large – larger than before – and angled into an intimate gaze, which she returned. Just then Sue came walking towards them with a man trailing on the end of her arm. She lent over close to Emma and said, “You remember Justin from high school don’t you?”

Emma looked closely. “Yeah, I remember, how ya’ doing Justin?”

“Fine thanks!”

“This is Richard – we’ve just met tonight.”

Justin extended his hand to shake – Emma noted the palm was face down towards the ground. Richard stood to shake hands. He took his hand and stepped forward with the left foot. Then brought his right foot across into Justin’s intimate sphere and twisted his hand straight before shaking it. Neat, thought Emma. Justin wasn’t so impressed – more disconcerted Emma thought – as he withdrew his hand after a few pumps and stepped back to maintain his personal space. The four continued to talk for a short while. A moments silence followed…

“I’m going to the bar to get a refill,” Justin said.

“Are you coming Sue?”

“OK – see you two’ latter…”

“That was a neat trick you pulled on Justin,” Emma exclaimed.

“How do you mean?” Richard said trying to play it down.

“How you managed to tackle his dominant handshake without being obvious, that’s not easy you know.

“Dominant handshake?”

“Yes, don’t play dumb with me Richard!”

“OK, I’ve been studying body language, but I like to keep quiet about it ’cause it makes some people uneasy.”

“I know,” said Emma, “I keep shtum too.”

“So I take it the leaning forward an’ flashing of your wrists was an attempt to bait me then?”

“Yeah.” Emma said with a giggle. “It worked too – didn’t it?”

“Yeah it did.” said Richard with a smile. They both laughed.

“About those new rubbers – do you think we should…??”

Derek Pell is author of Bodyspy, a body language training manual presented with over 170 illustrations which will help in your understanding of this series (and understanding of those you interact with in your own life). To obtain your copy, please go to http://bodyspyteachings.com and complete the online process. This will take only a few moments of your time and costs just $19.70USD (Approx £12.50GBP). Guarantee: in the unlikely event that you do not find Bodyspy outstanding value for money, you may contact us at the address given on the site and receive a full refund within 60 days of purchase.

The year is 2009 and it has been over a century since popular consciousness has widely accepted the fact that humans are just another type of animal. Curiously, even as humans are increasingly accepting of political and cultural pluralism, there is still insufficient focus on how pluralism in general arises from differences in breeds of humans. Populous mammals like dogs and cats have a number of breeds that cluster by physiological external differences like size and internal neural differences like aggressiveness, friendliness, and task specialization. Humans of course are no different (even if their neural computers are able to run remarkably advanced virtual simulation and symbol manipulation programs).

The implications stand to improve the psychological quality of life and raise consciousness for billions of people. Although short sighted knee jerk idiots may think implications will automatically cause a return to forced eugenics (as practiced by countries like Sweden, USA, and Germany in the first half of the 20th century) or measurement of skulls to filter potential criminals, such proclamations point more to the pessimistic nature of those who make them. Scientific inquiry and further development of concepts known to be true have historically brought more net positives (raised the living standard of the human herd by allowing them to live longer and do less labor through technology) than net negatives such as destructive wars (brought on more by non-democratic political arrangements than technology used to wage them). Advancing study of implications from humanity being comprised of numerous unequally distributed breeds is worth the risks. Treatment of different breeds and self esteem of individuals within each breed stand to improve if there is strong emphasis that each breed is logically as important as the other in its social usefulness (although social usefulness should never be the only or even main criteria in social sciences or policy).

Right now we have a world where the German Shepards, the Pitbulls, the Poodles, the Border Collies, and the Golden Retrievers are all rightfully treated the same but they suffer from the problem of more numerous breeds (as well as the most vicious/cunning ones) determining what breed is the universal ideal for a human. Each person judges all others based on what the one judging is good at physiologically. A very empathic person judges others based on empathy. A conservative one judges the rest on how good of a conservative they are. Same applies to all the others be they a partying hedonist, an introverted scientist, an artist, an athlete, or a social butterfly with highly developed taste buds (“how can others eat that crap!?”).

This is a very natural problem to have for humanity. Since every person subconsciously wants to expand personal power in all directions, for thousands of years, the strongest or more numerous breeds have tended to not just make their personalities and ideas into universal law for others but to actually buy into their own lies that everybody else should strive to be like the rulers. Even societies with caste systems were not immune as seen by India’s inegalitarian caste valuation (warriors over farmers) and transformation from a caste system with social mobility to the entrenched stagnant system we now mentally associate it with.

A previous article touched on how Myers-Briggs personality test is a good quick way to get a glimpse of what neural breed a person is, how numerical predominance of some breeds helps preserve status quo, and how the differences in neural architecture split and unite people a lot more than externally visible characteristics like skin and hair color. If we use a typology system like Myers-Briggs, it soon becomes obvious that although breeds can form natural dominant coalitions (SJs) and (SPs), there will still be a lot of socially tangible differences within each coalition. That is enough to pose a serious problem not just for rare breeds like INTJs but common ones as well.

That problem is depressed self esteem from comparison of one self to those breeds that thrive in whatever socioeconomic system exists at the time (and whose mode of being are widely emulated for this reason) and from feeling alone and excluded since no breed exceeds 15% numerically. Whether it is an athlete, an artist, or a scientist, they are always outnumbered which leads to wishing that everybody else or themselves was different. Even within dominant pro status quo coalitions of SJs and SPs, a difference, between an ISTJ and an ESFJ for example, can be so great as to make them not get along well at all. This problem is heightened for NF and NT coalitions. Depression and various neurotic behavior thus results on a large scale. When a person says that nobody understands them, the case often is that vast majority (90%+ people) really don’t fundamentally understand them. How can a German Shepherd understand a Chiwawa and vice versa? Only mutts provide the imperfect understanding bridge.

The often failed emulation of the most able to “make it” (or seen as more able) may be a more serious threat to the health of people’s ego, their self respect, and their pride. Just as an emotionally cold and aggressive person may feel distressed when living in a hippy commune, a naturally empathic and kind Golden Retriever will feel distressed and alone in a society that values warrior Pitbulls. Similarly, when the types who make it in United States financial sector (children of the rich, psychopaths, and some of the more cunning SPs and NTs), a vast social pressure is created to pound in square pegs in round holes and be more like what is deemed “successful”. It is no different than if soldiers were in charge and we all had to admire wars and go to bootcamps to be seen as having the right stuff.

As for psychopaths, their natural ability to blend in (so they can live off the herd better) makes them strong candidates to make it in any system. A super inegalitarian monetarist imperial system like our own is an extra juicy jungle to thrive in. Proportionally to psychopaths’ population (1% for the true clinical ones and up to 6% for the subclinical ones), they are overrepresented on Wall Street and in prison (8% and 20% respectively for clinical ones).

Subclinical psychopaths can just be some breeds backgrounds seem like good general prerequistives whose T function and lack of empathy is so high as to make them exploit the herd (rather than improving it as has been the trait most admired in leadership by history) without a second thought. In fact it may be unfair to even have the concept of a “psychopath” as it represents just another breed of human that is adept at preying on fellow humans with elaborate disguises. Psychological pathology after all, represents mental “sickness” and mental “sickness” is just majority’s flawed way to single out and focus on fringe breeds and individuals whose backgrounds make it extra difficult for them to make it. Not one breed is logically and generally more normal/abnormal or maladaptive/adaptive than the other since “normal” and “adaptive” is the bell curve average for a particular society.

Understanding these physiological differences can allow people to have more pride in who they are and develop towards a truly pluralistic and more compassionate society. Human breed science doesn’t have to be a nightmare world. People like Foucault, Rousseau, and Kaczynski have made strong and effective arguments on how the more technologically advanced society becomes the less free we are. We need to understand these concerns and consequences of progress in social sciences but we can’t turn the clock back since luddite solutions are not just impractical but inhumane.

Understanding that there are different breeds of Homo Sapiens (with often different needs and modes of thought) can allow society to:

1) Treat, help, and nurture each type better so as to make healthier hyperspecialized types. We can have healthier and better artists, cops, scientists, etc.

2) Treat, help, and nurture mutts better so as to have better ambassadors and communicators between the strongly specialized breeds

3) Develop better science as to which breeds work best with each other so as to prevent, mediate, and solve social conflicts

4) Help identify and isolate predatory humans better so as to lessen their abuses, reduce the number of their victims, and integrate them into society more productively

5) Strengthen proportional representation democracy and bring more harmony to the herd while preventing unhealthy caste structures from reemerging

6) Increase efficiency, productivity, and general happiness of society by allowing individuals to make full use of their strengths and be more proud of their neural architecture

Lets fully embrace what science has been telling us so we can graze on this planet with less confusion. A confused herd will make a poor recipient for when the singularity arrives. Lets end with a pro-mutt quote to balance the article and emphasize perils of too much specialization.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” -Robert A. Heinlein

Bullying Prevention, Climate and Culture

The purpose of this article is to show how bullying and other antisocial behaviors at school are preventable by looking at school culture and climate.

There are quite a variety of classroom and school-wide “stop bullying” programs and materials. These programs are useful for raising awareness and providing new skills for students, yet many ignore deeper, necessary improvements to actually prevent antisocial behaviors at school.

The goal of this article is to go a little deeper and look at some fine tuning of school climate and culture as a means to lasting change.

What is School Culture?

School culture is a model or a mindset by which actions are taken in the district, building or classroom. This model of action is based on the past experiences within the district. Thus, new employees or new students become indoctrinated into the culture, learning “how we do things around here.” This is the nature of any culture and explains why it is so pervasive, yet hard to see. It just seems like the right way to do things.

Any school’s culture can be observed in at least three contexts 1) the design and maintenance of physical spaces, 2) the values expressed (either intentionally or unintentionally) by the adults at school and 3) the beliefs that are taken for granted about human nature.

It is difficult to say any part of the school’s culture is good or bad but some elements can contribute to or reinforce antisocial behavior. For example, cramped physical spaces with too many students are ideally designed for bullying behavior. The target can’t escape and the bullier can go unnoticed.

Teachers who turn their back on antisocial behavior or simply stay in their rooms while trouble is outside the door express – probably unintentionally – a value about how students should be treated in this school.

What is School Climate?

Although there is not a consensus on the meaning of school climate many definitions focus on the “feel” of school and the human/social atmosphere. There are four components commonly discussed in regard to climate: 1) physical environment, 2) social environment, 3) affective environment and 4) academic environment.

Like culture, climate can influence or may actually be the root cause of antisocial behavior, like bullying. Each of the four components below can either hinder or help. Problems that can foster bullying are…

• A physical environment that is overcrowded, certain places hidden from view and congregating areas poorly supervised.

• A social environment where interaction is limited, students self-segregate, harassment and other forms of dominance are ignored.

• An affective environment where students are subject to favoritism, most feedback is negative or punitive, and families are excluded from the school community.

• An academic environment where expectations are low, learning styles are not taken into consideration and a sense of community is not part of the learning process.

These components of climate are interconnected. Social interactions are either enhanced or inhibited by environment. The affective environment helps the academic environment because students and families feel more a part of the school.

Prevention

The concepts of culture and climate are critical to the prevention of antisocial behavior at school. Student-centered activities like posters, slogans and assemblies are useful but won’t override the power of school culture and climate. These are forces that will swamp most programs, even those that work on social skills or language.

If bullying is a problem at your school and if you mean to put a stop to it, some changes to school climate or culture must occur. And the tricky part is that it’s the adults, not the just kids that need to make some changes.

Changes to Prevent Bullying

Many of the solutions needed to change school climate are known to us. Nevertheless, they seem too big, too expensive or simply hard to believe these types of changes will make much difference (after all our belief system is a major ingredient in school culture).

If we look at a culture and climate as key mechanisms in prevention then there are some clear opportunities for improvement:

• Leadership from administrators and site based management teams. Culture and climate changes are the work of the collective body of adults in school. Change is most likely to occur when there is a coordinated effort aimed at particular improvements.

• Regain control of student-run areas of school. Schools buses, playgrounds, lunch lines, lunch tables and hallways are just a few spots where kids set the rules. Who goes first, who sits at this table, who gets to play and so on. This is the breeding ground for hierarchy and control. Improvement requires more training and supervision by adults, less standing around and waiting by students and a better appreciation of kid’s time and personal space.

• Support student feedback and reporting. Subtle elements in the school culture discourage reporting. Concepts like tattling teach youth that grown-ups don’t want to be bothered. Repeated surveys of students show that most kids believe adults won’t help with bullying. And over 65% of bullying happens when adults can’t see it. Reporting is critical.

• Work to build a community. A community of people is united pulling toward common goals. Too often schools are cliques and subgroups – both adults and kids – vying to move up a hierarchical ladder. People need to see and experience the commonality of the school community. We see this coming together at times around tragedy or sports teams but it needs a more uniform presence.

A Complex Society

School districts and buildings are really complex societies where bullying is one in a set of potential antisocial behaviors. Bullying is about hierarchy and when kids (or adults) assemble hierarchies form. Sometimes these hierarchies are benign or occasionally positive. Unfortunately, too often, the hierarchies within groups of students are negative and damaging to some.

To effect change in these societies we need to operate at a deeper level, at the level of culture and climate. Understanding how bullying operates with concepts like victim, bullying and bystander or helping students be more assertive in the face of this aggression is important but not sufficient. These strategies place the burden of change on the children, when really it is only the adults that have the power to make significant improvements.

Since the Columbine tragedy in 1999 there has been more attention paid to bullying. This attention has heightened awareness but sadly has not reduced the incidence of bullying in schools nor relieved the pain for many US school children.

What can be done?

What can be frustrating about school climate or school culture for any one teacher or parent is they seem too big to influence. Nevertheless, change can happen with your best efforts. Here are some suggestions:
• Do some research, asking students, where bullying usually occurs. The results are always compelling and clearly show that “place” is the key ingredient. Make these places safer.

• Organize other concerned adults to speak with either the principal, site based management team or the school board. Help them understand the role of the climate and culture.

• Make a practice of listening but not necessarily reacting, to all student complaints or concerns. School staff unintentionally creates buffers around themselves because they are often too busy to attend to students’ issues. Instead of pushing them away, develop a repertoire of simple responses to minor issues so that the major issues reach your ears.

• Avoid creating dominance hierarchies. This includes public embarrassment, clearly identifying people’s skill or intelligence (or lack of) relative to others or simply using belittling language.

References

Astor, R.A., Meyer, H., & Behre, W.J. (Unowned places and times: Maps and interviews about violence in high schools. American Educational Research Journal (1999) 36: 3-42.
Espelage, D. L. & Swearer, S. M. Bullying in American Schools. New Jersey: Lawrence, Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2004.Gibbs, Jeanne. Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together. Windsor, CA: CenterSource Systems, LLC, 2001.
Gonder, P.O., & Hymes, D. (1994). Improving school climate and culture (AASA Critical Issues Report No. 27). Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.
Reinke, W. M. & Herman, K.C. Creating School Environments that Deter Antisocial Behaviors in Youth. Psychology in the Schools, (2002) 39: 549-559.

About the Author: Contact Brian at http://www.k12associates.com

In collaboration with Melissa A. Keyes, Ph.D. and Dorothy Espelage, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois, he developed a set of popular school climate surveys currently used by more than 75,000 students, in 50 school districts nationwide. Brian is a graduate instructor through Viterbo University of La Crosse Wisconsin. He has been a presenter at the Wisconsin School Counselors Conference, Association of Wisconsin School Administrators Conference, the Standards of the Heart Conference, and various other state and regional conferences. He has co-authored a variety of articles published in a variety of academic journals, primarily in collaboration with Dr. Espelage at the University

I’m in the midst of reading a fascinating book by Philip Alcabes. The very title, “Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu” gives me fodder for at least one article without even reading the book.

There is so much fuel for thought in this book, that you will have the opportunity to read several articles as my mental juices are stimulated.

As a Mind-Body Psychotherapist I work with the concept and the emotion of fear. From the lowest level of anxiety to full blown panic, this emotion can cause the heart to race and one to shudder in anticipation of the possible event that one’s life feels out of control.

Decisions made when in a state of fright are not, by their very nature, rational. It’s an emotion, not logic.

The amygdala in the limbic brain becomes activated when we are overwrought. The cortex, the rational part of the brain takes a back seat. The admonition to be reasonable has no effect other than to induce anger in someone in a state of severe agitation.

Let’s look at the word “epidemic.”

Do a “gut check” right now. Just reading the word, does your abdomen twist a little, perhaps even hurt? Do you want to act on emotion or are you calm enough to look beyond the hype to the facts and evaluate the pros and cons of your actions.

Think of your beliefs regarding this word bandied about by FOX, CNN and other national and local news sources. Looking in the thesaurus, one of the phrases is “widespread disease.” That’s what the “ordinary” person thinks of. The mind then runs to such things as the plague, AIDS, SARS, bio-warfare, H1N1 and so on.

People are in such panic they are ready to take any vaccine the pharmaceutical industry dishes out, even though it has not been tested, to avoid getting sick.

What does “epidemic” mean to epidemiologists. Alcabes, who is an associate professor of Urban Public Health at Hunter College of the City University of New York, as well as a visiting professor at Yale’s School of Nursing, describes it as a “disease” appearing more often than usual.

When flu season hits, the outbreak hits the news. When another teen dies in an automobile accident, unless he or she is prominent, the family grieves privately. The number of teens who loose their lives on the road while in a car is four or five times that from illness. Yet the tragedy of the lost future in our youth is not continually in public awareness.

The flu outbreak is unusual. The death from another car crash is tragic but not unusual.

How we handle the out of the ordinary depends upon our own beliefs as well as the attempt of public agencies to influence feelings and actions.

The question for you to examine is, “Are you able to gather information before following the hysteria driven sound bites, or do you allow yourself to be swept away in the artificially created tsunami of fear?”

Cathy Chapman, Ph.D., LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker assisting people achieve their dreams of health, wealth and abundance through Mind-Body Psychology. She works from a spiritual and energetic model employing BodyTalk and Psych-K to balance the body and change beliefs. Cathy offers free of charge a powerful spiritual healing tool anyone can use. Get your Soul Healing Prayer now at http://www.distancegrouphealing.com.

If you have heard about neurofeedback therapy and what it can do to help solve problems related to brain function, such as ADHD, or ‘attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’, epilepsy, anxiety, or any other issue you are dealing with, you may have heard the suggestion that you do a brain mapping session before you start neurofeedback treatment. There are a few reasons you might want to consider a brain mapping, or Quantitative EEG session.

Quantitative EEG uses the same type of equipment that is used for neurofeedback sessions. The QEEG device will simply read your brain’s signals to gather information about how your brain is working. Most of the time, a QEEG session will involve your doing a few different things that cause your brain to function in different ways. You might read aloud or complete math problems in your head, or you may simply have a conversation. Your brain waves will send out signals that the technician can read on the display.

What do these signals tell the technician? Well, they reveal certain patterns, from which the technician can tell how your brain is working. For instance, the can brain produce something called sleep spindles, which are a particular EEG pattern that is produced when you are asleep. If your brain is putting out these sleep spindles when you are awake, that can indicate a problem.

Another thing that technicians can read in your QEEG is whether you have a problem with epilepsy. In fact, if you are considering neurofeedback as a solution to your epilepsy or other types of seizure problems, you may want to have a QEEG done before you begin the process. The brain map from these sessions can help target your therapy and make it more effective.

Brain mapping can tell experienced technicians many details that will help with your therapy. In fact, it can reveal important information about your health, like whether you are sleep deprived. Your brain patterns can reveal much about how your brain works, and having a QEEG brain map done before you begin neurofeedback treatment can be very helpful to your therapist.

However, you should be aware that a QEEG is not always essential to the success of your neurofeedback treatment. A qualified therapist may be able to evaluate your brain function in ways that are less expensive than a QEEG, which can cost anywhere from $650 to $2,000 per session.

Ask the therapist or clinician you are considering whether they feel that your issue warrants a QEEG. If the cost is not a concern for you, or if you have a serious condition that calls for a preliminary assessment, such as a seizure disorder or traumatic brain injury, you might want to proceed with the brain mapping procedure.

For more information about Neurofeedback, go to http://www.NeurofeedbackBook.com Dr. Clare Albright is a psychologist (CA License PSY11660) and a Neurofeedback practitioner and can be reached at (949)454-0996

Specific mental cases demand the use of powerful medications but I am also convinced some of these problems could be dealt without the use of dangerous drugs. It is a known fact that a constant flow of poisonous thoughts (guilt/fear/anger etc.) can only lead to deep depressions and if left unchecked with time opens the door to a multitude of serious mental problems. As much as we are all vulnerable at any given time to experience an accident an “educated” person may be reluctant to accept that, we are all also subject to suffer “spiritual attacks” “psychic Accidents” and/or induced vicious curses. These occurrences are usually sent subconsciously by resentful enemies feeding an army of unseen but very real low entities from the astral planes.

Anyone could be undergoing such influence and attract this “woo do” phenomenon especially if you created the messy situation making it impossible for you to sleep or relax mentally. While we are all vulnerable to any dramatic experiences at any given time the evil destructive “psychic” process is still the same. Induced willingly or by accident one can only feed evil with a steady flow of fearful thoughts. This vicious energy will almost immediately begin to poison your auric personality and weaken the body mind and spirit at speed record. We are all susceptible to such “psychic” accident especially if you suffered a very dramatic shocking experience or if you have been religiously poisoned at an early age. Induced slowly over the years or suddenly through chock the poisonous thoughts process is in place and the flux must be eliminated as soon as possible to avoid weakening the immune system and open door to cancer cells growth.

All humans are very different both physically and spiritually. Our physical conception while identical genetically speaking is totally different on the spiritual plane. The proof is seen with the tremendous religious choices offered to humans and their choices of faith. Some cultures honor rats and cows while others will do all they can to destroy or eat the animals. Again the human UCI is eternally unique in its own right and denunciate the like, dislike, religious (or not) intonation, health, fate, strengths and an incalculable spiritual variation that make us so different to each others. Again do not expect science to buy into this very advanced material just yet but with time when both the physical and spiritual information/education balance is established discussions and researches on the subject will prove Dr. Turi to be right and only a few years ahead of his time.

I treat these disorders my own way of course and got fabulous results using both Hypnotherapy and Astropsychology.

Common Disorders and Astropsychology

Psychosis/Schizophrenia:

This mental disorder usually depicts a reclusive, socially awkward, indisposed character with poor or inappropriate feelings and an inability to perform or function well in our society. The inward world of hallucinations is too much for the subject who is victimized by these make-believe, destructive and grandiose thought processes. This type of hallucinatory person, over a period of time, will need assistance and become dependent on other family members that will demand constant supervision. Neptune (confusion), the planet of deception, plays an important part in all mental disorders, and when badly aspected by Pluto (destruction) or Mercury (mental processes), the worst is to be expected.

Hard aspects by disturbing planets like Uranus, Pluto, Neptune, or Mars to the Dragon’s Tail (past lives) are also a strong possibility to induce mental disorders. In some cases, the amount of past-lives residue is still much too strong to be controlled by the soul due to a speedy karmic reincarnation on earth. An obvious example is seen with the life and fate of Paul Jennings Hill (anti-abortion activist/murderer), falling victim to the residue of his past life as a woman (Dragon’s Tail in Cancer – protective of the womb/mother), bringing children into this world. There are countless of other aspects to take in consideration using Astropsychology disciplines.

Hysteria:

This mental disorder is characterized by a strong desire for excitement, drama, attention, and constant reassurance. The hysterical personality will do all that he can to attract attention and exaggerate the situation. This type of endeavor is seen within the melodramatic performance of an actor in a televised soap opera or on the big screen. A hard aspect to a Dragon’s Tail, the moon (emotions) or/and Mercury (communication) in Leo (love) combined with other nefarious planets such as Neptune (acting) Pluto (drama) when exaggerated can very well produce hysteria. The desire for attention, drama and respect from others is quite strong and produce also exhibitionists, ready to shock others to gain the desperate attention there are craving for. There are countless of other aspects to take in consideration using Astropsychology disciplines.

Dissociative States:

Dissociate states occur when a person is under great stress from external influences, other people’s cruelty or deeply felt previous internal conflicts with a disturbing immediate situation. The moon (emotion) in Pisces (sensitivity) on the Dragon’s Tail (karma) in this sign becomes a major contribution to the dilemma. This affliction brings dissociation with others, especially to the family. The upbringing is usually very dramatic and the subject learns early in childhood to cope with traumatic sexual or emotional abuse. If the Dragon’s Tail (negative) affects the 4th house (home/family) in the sign of Scorpio (sex) or if there is any hard aspects to the Moon (home) and Pluto (death) drama suicide will occur.

Often they are forced to learn to disconnect from their feelings to avoid emotional or physical pain. By adulthood, their emotions are locked behind protective walls and can be accessed as needed. A strong Pluto (power) aspect to Mercury (the mind), and the Moon (emotions) gives the subject a powerful will to dissociate himself from whatever is going on around him so that emotional or physical pain can be avoided. The strength of Pluto, aspects to Mercury and the Moon give this person a form of subconscious (protection) self-hypnotic trance.

In extreme cases these individuals do experience periods of “missing time,” confusion and disorientation. Sad enough, “The Little Queen” Jon Benett, was murdered at home. The police suspect the parents for good reasons. She was a Leo (fame/stage) and at an early age displayed her gift as an entertainer. The 4th house (home/family members) happens to be in the dramatic sign of Scorpio (death/sex) and clearly indicates where death and drama did enter the life of the subject.

Sociopathic Personality:

This disorder commonly called Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD is usually found with people born with a strong negative affliction to Mercury (the mind) and hard aspects to the Dragon’s Tail in Gemini. They do learn at an early age to lie to avoid trouble, and they are also somehow superficial and have problems with established rules and authority. The past-life residue in Gemini (double personality) is not yet eliminated or understood by the subject and is used in the form of manipulation and deceit. Reluctant to obtain education due to a poor memory, or a lack of attention, many of them end up as a “Jack of all trades,” unable to focus and crystallize the thought processes.

Afflicted by negative Mercury (Lord of the Thieves), they appear to be charming and smooth in their dealings, but they can be manipulative and insensitive. In order to stay alive, in previous past lives, the soul mastered the art of stealing and lying to survive. Many of them were involved in metaphysical work and had to perform their second occupation at night. Their endeavors involved witchcraft, healing with herbs, plants, using the Cabala and astrology. To avoid serious repercussion from the church authority of their time, they developed a gift of disguise, were lying and adapting fast to any situation meant saving their precious life.

Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.):

This has nothing to do with MPD and should be considered a gift from God. Curious by nature and intellectually challenging, an ADD person is, by nature (and purposely) ill equipped to accept all forms of codification of thoughts. Thus, avoiding traditional education, an A.D.D. (Einstein/Clinton/myself) will sidestep the barrier of educational dogma and breach the barrier of what was previously thought of as impossible. Nevertheless, discipline and basic education should be encouraged to promote the inborn genius quality of the A.D.D. subject so that he can be prosperous later in life.

Paranoid Personality:

A strong negative aspect to the moon (feelings) Mercury (the mind) and the Dragon’s Tail (past lives) in Pisces (deception) is predisposing the soul for a network for distorted ideas, fears, and uncontrolled imagination. Self-analysis is very difficult, if not impossible, with this individual who has serious trouble accepting his own intensely emotional and destructive imagination. An attraction to chemicals, drugs, and alcohol is also very common and act as a shield against the harsh reality of the physical world. Lacking objectivity, this individual rejects the reality of his own feelings and directs them toward other people, believing that they are the ones with the offensive intent.

Although very attracted to the intangible, this soul is a terminal one and should not participate in hypnotic regression sessions or psychic séances. Due to his deceiving Neptunial interstellar conception, this soul is a prime target for possession or invasion by low astral entities. The tremendous amount of dramatic subconscious memories from the past-life residue makes it very difficult to distinguish fiction from reality. Mother Teresa is a perfect example suffering daily paranoiac attacks where she had to receive regular “cleansings” from a Vatican “exorcist” following her every steps until she died.

To protect society from all of the dangerous neurotics, all psychiatry, psychology and neuroscientists can do is, with the use of powerful drugs, control the expression of the fear rather than erase it completely from the memory bank. However the use of chemicals can only further the degradation of the fragile psyche of the individual and should be avoided at all cost. Those souls inherited a very fragile UCI and are prone to very negative reaction to all chemicals that could induce more stress, confusion and paralysis to the subject.

Scientists must do a very different type of research in order to evaluate the real subtle Cosmic Code interactive forces producing the mental sickness of an individual. Accurately diagnosing a mentally sick patient is winning more than half of the battle. Only then, with the help of these drugs, a preventive therapeutic mental regeneration will take place, allowing the patient to avoid further mental deterioration. Nothing physical of any value, (unless diseased) is to be found in the complexity of the brain’s (computer) physical, supratomic structure. The answer is not within, but outside of the human brain, well above our scientists’ heads, in the Universal Mind or in the stars.

Understanding and using the work of the ancients can only stop a waste of time in absurd dangerous, costly speculations depleting our financial resources. This capital should be used to revive and further the much older, deeper and more reliable forfeited knowledge that resides within the Cosmic Code. Doing so will re-establish the direct relationship with man’s psyche direct relationship with the universal mind. But who is to invest in my work at this stage when our political, religious and scientific leaders are not listening to reason?

We can only hope

Blessings to all

Dr. Turi

Psychology has been around as a formal science for over 100 years. But it hasn’t escaped its original focus. Born in the laboratories of medicine, it has always been defined as the science of psychopathology, meaning what’s wrong with us. Perceived in this way, psychology has never been a major contributor to a general definition of human nature; we think about ourselves psychologically only when something’s gone amiss.

Until about 100 years ago it was most common to think of ourselves as creatures of God; a God Who gave us a small but very powerful piece of Himself – His Spirit. We still call this piece our “soul”, meaning the spiritual core of us. Though we don’t easily think of ourselves as possessing – being in charge – of the spiritual entity from which it derives. We usually think of it as something that belongs to some universal Presence or process – which we must obey to become totally and safely in tune. Tyranny survived for centuries basing itself upon this fearful belief.

Enter psychology, the secularizing science. What it’s doing subtly, which is not yet fully recognized by us, is one, to claim the soul as belonging to humans; and two, to discard the notion of “psychopathology”. This process emancipates psychological science from the laboratories of medicine and its emphasis upon illness. Though it still presumes to be the parent of psychology, medicine itself lacks a unified theory of how the body functions as an ecosystem. Best illustration: drugs, which produce almost as many problems as they solve. Medicine has potential pieces of this theory, but obviously not the whole. Thus this parent is fundamentally unqualified to define this new psychological aspect of our nature. It hasn’t even got its own understanding in order.

In recent times the pathological aspect of psychology is being eliminated in an effort to render everything user-friendly, by discarding – disowning – the negative aspects of human nature. The usual method is to say everything is normal. Though we don’t entirely believe it because we still suffer. This strategy of erasing the bad parts of the equation by will power is too oversimplified, producing the usual solution to this contradictory dilemma: to make spirituality a function of the brain, as if that organ is the seat of the human soul. Our preference has become – fix, or medicate the brain and the problem is solved. Only a mob could have produced such highly oversimplified thinking.

We have always tried to explain ourselves most fundamentally as a physical entity, in which all of our parts can be traced to some aspect of the body. What we avoid imagining most of all is that we might be what religion still insists upon for many – an otherworldly creature with a core nature that isn’t corporeal or tangible, but is instead what might legitimately be regarded as a transcendental spirit. Though the human spirit that will evolve in the new century will belong not to God, but entirely to us. Transcendental will not mean surviving death and rising into heaven. It will mean instead existing only in this life, but in the process rising above physical limitations to achieve a new secular dimension of human nature – our transcendental spirit – that is traditionally understood as a part of religion belonging to God.

Indeed we are the only creature on this planet who transcends its physical life beyond a primitive self-awareness, by being consciously aware of itself and so much more on many different levels; thus able to produce all of our electronic marvels. It’s that spiritual life of the mind, heart, imagination, intuition, etc., referring here to our real soul – the human psyche – with all of its marvelous parts that enable us to understand, and to make use of, so much of what is happening around us.

But there is a huge hurdle for us to circumvent before we achieve this goal. It is our passion for social experience founded upon our firm belief that two or more people together is better than one. When precisely the opposite is true. The genius of the human species is our individuality. All new original things come from one person at a time. Groups of any size only imitate that wisdom – but only after reducing it to its lowest common denominator. Groups dilute everything they touch. It’s both their virtue – giving us respite – and their principle vice – by reducing our genius to the dumb wisdom of a mob.

Unlike traditional religion, which partakes of the spiritual as a social event, being individually inventive leaves us fearfully alone with this intangible spiritual power. This is probably why we have always perceived human understanding and its spiritual power to come from the group. When the truth is that the power of the human psyche comes entirely from being individual, though in our fear we like to pretend that it originates in groups of all kinds, cultural, workplace, etc… so we don’t have to experience being alone with it.

When there is nothing that happens in our collective experience that isn’t simply an imitation of what we already know as individuals. That group-celebration can be encouraging, supportive and fun. Though in our terror at being so separate and alone as spiritual individuals, we desperately treat the social group as something much more powerful – a parental entity capable of guiding us to better places – the “moral majority”. When this entity is really a headless monster. We pretend to give it a head by providing it leadership; but that’s mostly pretense no matter how clever that person may be. The problem is that groups don’t think; they act. And leaders don’t change that; yet we treat them as if they, by their thinking efforts, can make groups think and produce change.

Anything new is hatched only in individual minds. Altogether, we treat groups, including, and most particularly corporations, with far too much reverence; and individual people with far too much mistrust and abuse. When groups of all kinds may sometimes respect individuals, at least to some extent, but the next day they will devour them as they have done, for instance in economic depressions (Article: see an aristocracy of the “Rich Create Depressions”), and in war – both of which have happened for centuries.

Groups produce group-talk, in essence all the various forms of social science that define us as a collective entity walking in the same footsteps, having the same motives and needs that can be implemented in the same political rhetoric or acts. In the meantime what’s really going on between the group and the individual is a relationship of mistrust. Groups regard individual differences, and the dissonances they produce as growing pains, as potentially criminal, if for no other reason than simply by being centered-in-self – “selfish” is the usual accusing term.

Psychology is changing the way people are talked about. It is replacing the discussion of people and their problems in the aggregate, as a mob moving through time… with describing people as having internal conflicts that motivate their behaviors. So far these internal conflicts have been perceived pathologically, which strongly implies that contradictions within human character border upon some form of deviance or criminality, politely discussed as “illness”. Instead of being perceived in a larger view as legitimate aspects of the evolution of the human psyche… as our individual souls work out their growing pains – which include such symptoms as hallucination and dissociation (see the article “Is Hallucination Normal” and others). These internal contradictions have more individually personal parts, than they have parts in common with others – for centuries our usual way of talking about each other.

The huge advantage of addressing human problems in the individual form is beyond comprehension. The most obvious boon of this altered way of coping with human suffering is the elimination of violence. It’s true even today that the extent to which people address their emotional experience internally, instead of inflicting it together, socially upon some issue or cause, measures the extent to which violence has already been partly defeated.

Eventually we will realize that studying the self as an ecosystem, which contains both beneficial as well as contradictory parts, is the most important kind of education we will ever undertake or accomplish. This self-learning will no longer have the sting that “illness” attaches to it; thus it will no longer be called “psychotherapy”. Instead it will become the core of all education, funding every other kind of exploration with the wisdom of self-knowledge.

So what will psychology become in the 21st century? It will attempt to define a new concept of human nature that is entirely secular; in which the answers to the problems of the world are to be found inside individual people; defined as contradictions of our individual natures, instead of conflicts with the world at large, whether that be our neighbor, or the country next door. Thereby making war irrelevant to the process of problem solving in human affairs. Lets stop trying to explain our problems with group-talk, and start treating whatever problems we struggle with as belonging intimately to each one of us. We can help each other, but only if we can accept and acknowledge responsibility for our own suffering. This new psychology perceives human dysfunction as an internal event, not an external one. That ancient group-perspective is what has always made us so violence-prone.

My additional works can be seen at this website: http://donfenn.com

Here’s a short primer on Cognitive and Behavioral Learning Theories

Behavioral learning theories suggest that learning results from pleasant or unpleasant experiences in life while cognitive theories of learning suggest that learning is based upon mental processes. However, in an admonishment against being too closely guided by any one set of pedagogical principles, Johnson (2003) suggests that a fixation with process oriented educational theories among those in the politics of education has not served the education community well by aligning practitioners into separate camps.

A behavioral view in psychology has held that exploratory analysis of cognition must begin with an examination of human behavior (William & Beyers, 2001). Behavioral theory has benefited from the work of early researchers such as Pavlov, Thorndike, and later on the work of B.F. Skinner. Work relating to the development of behavioral theories in educational psychology has allowed theorists to explore ways in which human action could be controlled through manipulation of stimuli and patterns of reinforcement.

Cognitive theory as it relates to epistemological processes within the individual is based upon the idea that learning comes about as a result of processes related to experience, perception, memory, as well as overtly verbal thinking. Since the 1970s, information processing theory has been a dominant focus of study for cognitive theorists. Although the list of theories associated with cognitive theory is an expansive one to say the least, for the purposes of this paper, it is appropriate to mention several contemporary theories on cognition including: information processing theory, schema theory, and situated cognition theory.

Informational processing is based on a theory of learning that describes the processing of, storage, and retrieval of knowledge in the mind. Factors such as sensory register, attention, working memory, and long term memory play a significant part in this theory of cognition. Schema theory offers that human beings interpret the world around them based on categorical rules or scripts; information is processed according to how it fits into these rules or schemes. As an epistemology, schema theory focuses on meaningful learning and the construction of and modification of conceptual networks. Situated cognition theory postulates a social nature of learning situated within a community of practice in which knowledge is socially constructed.

An important component of this type learning, apprenticeship, is informed by social learning theory. Situational cognition as a theory posits that the individual is not a passive vessel, but rather, is an active self-reflective entity; as such, cognitive processes develop as a result of interaction between the self and others.

Another loosely related concept that relates to social cognition is the construct of reciprocal determinism. This is a behavioral theory under which it is theorized that the environment causes behavior and at the same time, behavior causes the environment Under this theory, personal factors in the form of (a) cognition, affect, and biological events, (b) behavior, and (c) environmental influences, create interactions that result in a triadic reciprocality (Pajares, 2002).

References

Johnson, B. (2003). Those nagging headaches: perennial issues and tensions in the politics of education field. Education Administration Quarterly, 39 (1), pp. 41-67.

Pajares, F. (2002). Overview of social cognitive theory and of self-efficacy.

Williams, R. & Beyers, M. (2001). Personalism, social constructionalism, and the foundation of the ethical. Theory and Psychology, 11 (1), pp. 119-134.

Liston W. Bailey is an educator and training specialist living in Virginia.