Psychology Articles

The unconscious mind speaks with images that have a specific meaning, which many times is totally different from the meaning that the same images have in your daily life. For example, your mother is a person who loves you and protects you in real life. However, in your dreams she represents the primitive nature of the human being, which is satanic, violent, immoral, and cruel like an animal.

Therefore, when you translate your dreams you have to remember that the image of your mother has nothing to do with your real mother. Your mother is an important dream symbol. No matter how good-hearted she may be in your daily life, when she appears in your dreams she represents your evil anti-conscience.

If your mother frequently appears in your dreams, this means that you are mentally ill. Your primitive conscience controls your human conscience. You need psychotherapy. Otherwise, your anti-conscience will manage to completely destroy your conscience.

Write down your dreams in a dream journal and translate their meaning according to the scientific method of dream interpretation. I can translate your dreams for you in the beginning, since you have an urgent problem.

The unconscious mind will help you get rid of your anti-conscience. You’ll learn how to identify the absurd thoughts it sends to your conscience, and never follow these thoughts. Therefore, you will oblige your wild conscience to stop sending you absurd thoughts thanks to your resistance.

When your mind will become clear, you will be able to evolve without being bothered by the craziness imposed by your anti-conscience, which is your primitive, evil, and absurd conscience that didn’t evolve like your human side.

The unconscious mind will show you in your dreams what the anti-conscience is doing, and how you can make it stop controlling your mind and your behavior. You will be able to easily perceive its influence, until you’ll completely eliminate it through consciousness.

This means that this unknown content will become known. Then, your anti-conscience will be transformed into a positive content that will have human characteristics and help you in your life. It will stop being in a primitive form, and cause you many problems.

In case you saw your mother only once in a dream, this means that your anti-conscience is influencing your behavior in a certain way. It is not constantly sending you absurd thoughts yet. It doesn’t’ control your behavior, but it is influencing your attitude in certain situations.

The influence of your primitive conscience is the influence of your animal personality in your mind and behavior. This means that your reactions become violent, or you accept immorality without criticizing your actions. The anti-conscience generates numerous abnormalities in your mind and behavior because it is constantly trying to destroy your human conscience and steal the place of your ego.

For example, if you’ll have a dream about eating a meal with your mother, this dream has a negative meaning. The food in dreams is psychical energy that feeds your psyche, and not your body. If you are eating something with your mother in a dream, this means that you agree with your anti-conscience, and you are feeding your absurdity.

If you’ll have a dream about being at your mother’s house while she is not there, this dream is a lesson. The unconscious mind is showing you how your anti-conscience influences your behavior, even though you are not controlled by your anti-conscience because you are not with your mother in the dream.

The appearance of your mother in a dream must always alarm you. You must be afraid of your anti-conscience and fight its craziness, instead of listening to its absurd thoughts.

Follow dream therapy with seriousness, and the unconscious mind will show you what to do. You have clear guidance and real support from the unconscious mind when you translate the meaning of your dreams with the right method; the scientific method of dream interpretation discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by me, who continued his research, discovering the anti-conscience that he couldn’t see with the knowledge he had.

This is why I could simplify his complicated method. I clearly understood that the unconscious mind sends us secret messages in dreams in order to protect our mental stability from the anti-conscience’s attacks. This is the main reason why we dream. If we didn’t have a wild conscience constantly bothering our evolution and trying to destroy our conscience, we wouldn’t need the unconscious help.

Now that we know the main purpose of the unconscious mind, dream translation became a simple matter. Everyone can learn how to accurately translate the meaning of dreams, independently of their educational level.

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!)

Your backpack or travel bag in dreams represents your past, which you are carrying with you. This means that you are carrying with you your old ideas, your conclusions, your traumatic experiences, you impressions, and everything that belongs to your past.

You may believe that this content is positive. However, it has a negative meaning because your past conclusions were based on your ignorance, and you believe in many false concepts. You surely passed through many traumatic experiences, which created abnormal reactions due to your fears. You also had many false impressions of your reality because you are ignorant and your human conscience is one-sided.

This doesn’t mean that you should forget your past and never analyze it. It means that in order to analyze your past you need the help of a psychoanalyst. Fortunately, the unconscious mind that produces your dreams is the best doctor you could find.

You will get rid of your past traumas through dream translation, and acquire new ideas, which will be based on real knowledge. The unconscious mind will give you new life, based on wisdom.

I will show you in this article two parts of two dreams where the backpack appears. I cannot publish the entire dreams because my translations are private, but I can publish two sentences of two different dreams from two different dreamers without exposing the dreamers in any way in order to give you a practical lesson, since both of them had a dream where the backpack appears.

Here is a part of the first dream, which was dreamt by a mentally ill woman who is 30 – 40 years old:

‘There is a back-pack in front of me whose color is ocher. (I am looking for its zipper.)’

Dream Translation:

This back-pack is the content that belongs to your past. The ocher color indicates support and goodness.

You are looking for its zipper in order to open your past and remember the old content. This means that you are attached to your past, and you believe that your past contains support and goodness.

This is a false impression.

This dream was showing to the dreamer that she was eluded for believing that her past could give her something good and help her in her life. She had many traumatic experiences in the past and she is constantly controlled by her anti-conscience. I cannot explain the details of this case, but I can tell you that the dreamer is far from balance.

Since you know this detail you can understand how really wrong the dreamer is for believing that her past reactions and conclusions can help her in any way. The backpack’s color is misleading. It reflects what the dreamer thinks about her past conclusions and her past ideas, while she is mentally ill and she cannot trust her own thoughts. Her mind was invaded by her anti-conscience.

She is now carefully analyzing her past through dream translation. The unconscious mind is gradually eliminating the pain caused by her traumas, and showing her what had really happened to her.

Therefore, the fact that she had a backpack was negative. This backpack is a burden on her shoulders. She must get rid of this backpack instead of believing that her old ideas and conclusions can help her in her life.

The translation of this part of the dream clearly shows you the negative meaning of the backpack.

Now, I’m going to translate a few sentences of a dream dreamt by a 35- 45-years old woman where the backpack appears in a dream scene. She is not mentally ill. Her basic problem is related to a love relationship.

‘Then the class ended and I couldn’t find my blue backpack, which had my keys and my books. How was I supposed to get back to work?’

Dream Translation:

The backpack is what you carry with you from your past. It represents your past ideas, your memories, and everything that connects you with your past behavior and your past life.

The blue color represents comprehension. Thus, everything that comes from your past makes you have the behavior of a comprehensive person.

Since you lost your backpack, this means that you lost the content you are carrying in your personality and in your mind from the past, which gave you a comprehensive character (blue color). In other words, you are a person who understands everything very easily and has the reactions of average people. You lost this content that was influencing your behavior because now you understand that you cannot be like average people are. You have to be superior.

The keys represent a solution in dreams. Since you lost your keys, this means that you lost a solution you had found. In other words, you forgot a solution you had found in the past, and this is why you lost your keys. Or, you are in a situation that demands a lot more from you and you cannot use the same solution you usually use when you are in a difficult situation. Now you have to face a new situation that demands a different tactic.

Your books represent the knowledge given by human beings, which is a false knowledge, limited by the human ignorance.

Therefore, the fact that you lost your backpack is not negative, as it seems to be. You lost your old ways, which were based on misconceptions. What you carry with you in your backpack in dreams is the collection of erroneous concepts you have from the past. You got rid of this collection now that you are studying the meaning of your dreams and you have to face a different situation. Now you have to deal with the complicated case of the person you love.

You must pay attention to the unconscious lessons in your dreams because the solution you used to use in order to solve your problems in the past (keys) and the knowledge you have from studying what human beings have taught you (books) cannot help you in the situation you are now.

As you can see, the backpack (or travel bag) always has a negative meaning in a dream. It represents your old ways to deal with life’s challenges, which are based on erroneous conclusions, even if you are not mentally ill and you didn’t have serious traumas in the past.

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!).

In the beginning you have to study the meaning of dreams according to the scientific method of dream interpretation discovered by Carl Jung, and simplified by me, who continued his research, clarifying all the obscure points in his work. I transformed the complicated dream language into a comprehensible language that everyone can understand.

After studying the meaning of the symbolic dream language made only by images for a while (the same way you study any foreign language made only by words) you will easily understand the meaning of all dreams. Of course, some dreams are simple, while other dreams are complicated, but you will be able to easily translate the meaning of any dream by following my simplification of Carl Jung’s method of dream interpretation.

For example, here is a very simple dream. If you know the meaning of the dream symbols discovered by Carl Jung and by me, who continued his research explaining the meaning of numerous dream symbols that he couldn’t explain, you will easily understand the unconscious messages:

‘Richard was walking in the dark street, when he saw three snakes crawling on the sidewalk. He manages to go to the other side of the city, where he found a beach. There was a policeman there, looking for a thief. Someone had stolen a house near there.’

We must learn a few details about the dreamer’s life story and the issues he is facing now in order to properly translate this dream. Richard is a 30 – 40 years old unmarried man who has a low self-esteem. He recently met an interesting woman he liked very much, but he is afraid that she didn’t feel the same for him. She was simply very polite and professional with him.

Dream Translation:

‘Richard was walking in the dark street’

The street indicates that the dreamer is in a dangerous life situation.

He ignores many things about himself and about his reality. This is the meaning of darkness in dreams.

‘when he saw three snakes crawling on the sidewalk.’

The number three indicates that the dreamer is not using three of his four psychological functions (thoughts, feelings, sensations, and intuition). He is making his decisions based on only one psychological function.

This means that he is making wrong decisions because his conscience is one-sided.

The snakes in dreams represent bad events that will put an end to the dreamer’s mistakes. In other words, he will have to pass through bitter experiences in order to stop repeating costly mistakes originated by his one-sided conscience.

‘He manages to go to the other side of the city, where he found a beach.’

The city indicates a dangerous environment, which indicates a dangerous life situation, like the street.

This means that the dreamer managed to abandon one danger (the city) to find another danger: the beach. The beach is near the sea, which represents craziness in dreams.

Therefore, in order to avoid certain danger about a reality that he ignored (the dark street), Richard found another danger. The sea in dreams represents the unknown content of the human psyche where craziness is hidden.

‘There was a policeman there, looking for a thief.’

The policeman in dreams represents the dreamer’s self-defense.

The thief is a negative part of his personality that belongs to his anti-conscience (the wild side of his conscience).

Therefore, his self-defense is looking for a part of his personality that belongs to his absurd and evil anti-conscience because the dreamer understands that he lost his psyche (the house in dreams) because certain part of his personality fell in love with the wrong person.

His anti-conscience is misleading him and making him believe that the woman he met is the ideal one for him.

In other words, he tried to avoid certain danger, and this is why he accepted the absurdity of his wild conscience. The danger he tried to avoid was to look for his perfect match. He preferred to accept the absurdity of his anti-conscience. In the end, his self-defense had to look for the part of his personality that let the wrong woman steal his psyche.

‘Someone had stolen a house near there.’
When a house is stolen in dreams this means that the dreamer loses his psyche because he falls in love with someone who is not the right person for him.

Therefore, his anti-conscience made him fall in love with a bad woman who will only make him suffer. This is how the anti-conscience will manage to destroy his human conscience and control his behavior.

This dream was a warning. The woman he met was not the ideal one for him. He will pass through many bitter experiences trying to conquer her heart, while she is not the right partner for him. Even if he will manage to have a love relationship with her, she won’t make him happy.

The fact that he is unmarried and insecure is making him accept the absurdity of his anti-conscience. He is desperately looking for a partner, while he is too afraid of a love relationship.

Richard must keep following dream therapy in order to stop being influenced by his anti-conscience and develop all his psychological functions. This is how he will overcome his fears and become self-confident. When he will transform his personality, he will find his perfect match.

His dreams and his life work in parallel, and are strictly connected. When he will become mature enough, he will meet the ideal woman for him. First of all he must learn how to behave.

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!).

In ordinary daily conversation when someone observes that a friend, family member or colleague “has a complex” about something, we generally mean that they seem to have a “sore spot” about the subject, or that they seem to have a recognizable pattern of reactions when certain situations or subjects arise.

These are good layman’s observations which capture two of the most central qualities of what psychologists call “complexes”

1. They are developed around psychological wounds.

2. They have a repetitive, stereotypical quality.

Carl Jung describes complexes

The first psychologist to describe and discuss this psychological phenomenon was Carl Jung. Jung wrote about what he called “feeling-toned complexes of ideas”. The phrase was later abbreviated to “complexes”.

His original description however, adds an important further detail to our understanding of the complex.

3. Complexes have a particular emotional tone or value.

Complexes can be personal or impersonal.

There are certain situations which are so common and universal in human experience that in all times and all places, human beings seem to have evolved complexes of ideas and behaviors around them.

Archetypal complexes are not personal. They arise around essential human experiences such as leadership, romantic love, death, birth, the image of the hero, the trickster, the wise man or woman, the child and many others.

Our organized emotional and behavioral responses to these concepts suggests that they are inherent or instinctive patterns of reaction in human beings.

Personal complexes have both a universal and an individual aspect

Sigmund Freud’s famous Oedipus and Electra complexes describe the universal tensions within the parent-child relationship as the child becomes aware the limits and restrictions in regards to their intimate relationship with their opposite sex parent. The intensity and problem producing quality of this universal experience will vary depending on the real life characteristics of the parents and the family situation.

Fears of losing love and support of parents, feeling inferior, feelings of competition with siblings or peers, fears of being rejected or outcast from the group are universally frightening situations that need to be defended against psychologically by all human beings.

Because complexes are organized around a particular emotional tone, they can be positive or negative.

For example:

A positive mother complex expects all older women or “motherly” figures to be loving and helpful, but a negative mother complex treats all the women who trigger it as bad, demanding or dangerous.
A complex about authority can automatically treat authority figures positively as saviors or, negatively as exploiters.

How does a personal psychological complex develop?

A personal complex is a defense system that we develop after an emotional injury. It is a set of ideas, attitudes, expectations, behaviors… and the feelings that accompany them… that we unconsciously hope will avert a similar disaster in the future.

The typical behavioral strategies developed within complexes are common strategies of human relating:

Pleasing, appeasing, avoiding, aggressiveness, competition, withdrawal and many others.The difference between using interpersonal strategies inside and outside of a complex is that once they begin to function within a complex they become automatic and stereotypical. The same response appears in every triggering situation, whether it is appropriate and helpful or not.

Several complexes can be activated at any one time.

You may function perfectly normally with most people around a meeting table at work but if you have a “sister complex” (about being competitive with your historical sister), that complex runs like a computer application under the surface and turns itself on automatically when you have to speak to a particular female colleague.

You may behave competitively with her without realizing it….even while you are being perfectly reasonable with everyone else.
You could at the same time have a father complex operating which affects your responses to your supervisor and an abandonment complex that kicks in when your ideas are rejected.
You could have an inferiority or a superiority complex also running which color your interactions with others in a self-critical or self-aggrandizing way.

It is easy to see how having activated complexes can cause no end of interpersonal strain and misery.

“Everyone knows nowadays that people ‘have complexes’. What is not so well known, though far more important theoretically, is that complexes can have us.” – C. G. Jung (1948, para 200)

Complexes are originally well intended and aimed at protecting us from pain and danger.

But as they become automatic and autonomous they can cause no end of trouble because when a complex is activated we do not really control it.

Jung said, “An activated complex puts us momentarily under a state of duress, of compulsive thinking and acting”. (Jung CW 8 pg 96)

A well-developed complex can collect around itself enough memories, experience and feelings that it can begin to function like a partial or “splinter” personality. If the triggering situation is strong enough it can even sometimes temporarily hi-jack the ego. This state is called “identification with the complex” and in this situation the worldview of the complex temporarily takes priority. When we emerge from one of these states we may say:

“I have no idea what got into me”,”That was so unlike me”or “I don’t know what possessed me!”

These reactions capture the sense that we have responded from a part of ourselves that was not actually under our conscious control. There are even times when we cannot fully remember what we said while we were influenced by a complex, or we may have a sense of having been “watching” ourselves say and do outrageous and uncharacteristic things.

When we see another person captured by a complex we may see a noticeable change of expression, of posture or of tone of voice and say, “He was not himself.”

A complex is a distorting lens.

In order to maintain it’s integrity as a splinter personality and to carry out the protective mission which is it’s reason for existing, the filter of a complex will screen out or dismiss as unimportant any new, confusing or contradictory information and will prefer to concentrate on those situations which support it’s world view.

This is why a person who is in the grip of a complex is so maddeningly impossible to reason with and so rejecting of contradictory information offered by others.

A woman who is in the grip of a complex about men’s infidelity will never feel reassured by her husband’s claims of love and assurances that he will not leave her, no matter how many ways he proves himself.

Identify the characteristic components of your particular complexes.

As you start to examine experiences that you notice or that are pointed out to you as strange, you will probably notice that they always seem to occur in particular circumstances, such as….

When your partner is leaving for a trip
When you have been criticized for something
When you experience or suspect rejection

…or with a particular sort of person.

Trying to please or interest a “fatherly” type of man
Being jealous or competitive with a certain kind of woman.
Feeling “weak” whenever faced with an authority figure

As you become able to predict when you may be triggered, you become empowered to choose to take another kind of action or to disregard the impulses from your complex.

Two other signs that someone is captured by a complex:

The emotions expressed seem overly intense for the situation that triggered them
Language is peppered with absolutes and extremes: “always”, “never”, “Nobody ever”,”everyone always”

Recognizing the experience “after the fact” is helpful because it permits you to engage in “damage control.”

The more skilled you become at identifying your complex-driven behavior, the quicker you will be able to say “I did it again” and take action to repair the situation by apologizing, explaining or trying again in a different frame of mind.

Because complexes both fight to survive and arouse fear and resistance when we try to examine them, it is often helpful to work together with an outside person.

It is necessary to uncover and face these automatic responses because a complex can act like a poorly trained attack dog, snarling and snapping at (or inappropriately cuddling up to) friend and foe alike, causing terrible disruptions in your relationships with friends and colleagues which are based on out-dated fears, feelings and reactions.

A psychologist, counselor or trusted friend can help you identify patterns of response that are hard to recognize from inside and will support you in experimenting with alternative ways of dealing with your fears.

NB: If your therapist works in a cognitive-behavioral model (CBT) he or she may be more familiar with the term “schema” which is another way of talking about the same phenomenon.

As you begin to oppose your complexes with conscious understanding and choose effective real-world strategies to deal with the “dangers” that complexes were developed to handle, they will lose their power because they lose their necessity… and you may have the pleasant experience of having your long-standing complex-driven problems collapse like a house of cards.

Susan Meindl, MA, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Montreal Canada. She has a special interest in Jungian ideas and practices a Jungian approach to psychodynamic psychotherapy

http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/59983

Below is a list of things a narcissist might say to anyone – Friends, Family or even their own Children.

“After all the money I have lent you”

To change the subject of the argument, this is to make you feel guilty and put the ball back in their court. How can you argue with this wonderful person who lends you money. When in this situation, remember what the original argument was about and do not get side tracked from it. Say “No, you’re going off the point now, I’m talking about….”

“After everything I have done for you”

Again, if the narcissist feels like they are losing the argument they will change the subject to a time when you needed them… “After all I have done for you, when you needed a place to stay, when you needed a lift, when you needed that favor” This will be completely off the subject but if you let them you will end up arguing about it and ultimately apologizing for your disrespectful behavior.

“You don’t RESPECT me”

This is a very common one, narcissist’s think they deserve respect regardless to how they behave. If you answer them back, If you don’t do as your told, If you look at them the wrong way, If you are disrespectful! A narcissist will even start an argument and when you try and defend yourself they will always throw in the ‘RESPECT’ card. Just remember, nobody can demand respect, respect has to be earned!

“You never say thank you / They never say thank you”

Chances are you say thank you all the time, more so than most people. The thing is narcissist’s expect recognition for everything they do, and I mean everything. Don’t think for one minute that they are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. You had better say “Thank You” – or else!

“You will regret doing/saying that one day”

Another guilt trip, you probably didn’t say anything bad at all. Just remember though, unless they are talking about murder, bank robbery or drinking a bottle of vodka a day, chances are you WON’T regret doing it one day.

“You will be sorry once I am gone”

This is an awful guilt trip, often used on siblings to get in the final word. If the narcissist is losing the argument or feels like they are backed into a corner (usually from their own doing) they will go to any length to get out of it. Reminding you of the fact that one day they will die and you will remember all the horrible things you did to them. These tactics are often used on young siblings, that is when they have the most impact and are the most upsetting. I mean why would any normal person want to say that to a 13 year old!

“Stop being so serious / You can’t take a joke”

Usually when a narcissist has insulted you and you have taken offense, NO it really wasn’t meant as a joke, it was meant to hurt your feelings, but when you get upset about it you can’t take a joke. It is actually narcissist’s who can’t take a joke. When it happens, bite your tongue, do not give them the satisfaction of letting them know you are bothered. After all, an argument is what they are really after!

“What will people say? / What will people think?”

Most narcissist’s are obsessed with the image they portray of themselves and their family to other people. As a narcissist’s child you had better watch what you say or do that could tarnish that image! This is called ‘False Self’. The real narcissist (how you know them), and the ‘False Self’ (how everyone else knows them). Because everyone thinks this person is kind, loving and caring and takes such good care of their children whenever you try to say otherwise nobody believes you!

“You can’t do that… You can’t wear that… Because I said so… That’s why”

Narcissist’s are very controlling. Whenever questioned as to why you can’t do what they are telling you you can’t do, you will get answers like “Because I said so”, “That’s Why”,”Because I’m the Mother!” Normal people will give reasons why they are not allowing you to do something, but when the reason is to enforce power or be awkward, these are the answers you can get. Try using reverse psychology, if you want to wear the red coat, say you want to wear the white one. If you want them to visit on Saturday say, “you can come round any day except Saturday” chances are on Saturday they will be knocking on your door.

“This is my house”

This is simply showing you who is boss! You might be their child, and live in the house but let’s make it clear, this is not your house. “Do you pay the mortgage, the bills, the phone bill, TV license, Council tax? NO! So this is my house, when you do you can call it your house!” But mum, I’m only 11 years old.

“They’re just jealous”

Narcissist’s are very jealous people, they are jealous of people who are better looking, people with more money, better car, better house. So in turn they think everyone else is like them… Not true, most people couldn’t care less and are happy for other peoples hard work or good fortune. They certainly aren’t jealous of that overpriced £800 ring you just purchased from the jewellery channel.

“Have you seen what he/she is wearing”

Picking fault with other people is a good way to make the narcissist feel better about themselves, snide remarks about peoples clothes, makeup, weight etc… Chances are you’re no oil painting yourself you know!

“I’ve got a headache too, I had a terrible night too, I’ve got a sore throat too”

You can never be ill when a narcissist is around, they will always be far worse. If you have a cold, they have the flu, you have a headache, they have a migraine, you have a sore throat, they have tonsillitis. God only knows what would happen if you chopped your arm off!

“Have you seen how dirty their house is”

Chances are the narcissist’s house will be spotless, not a spec of dirt anywhere, show home standard. They probably even have a cleaning day, yes that’s right a whole day where they will clean their house from top to bottom every week. How can you compete with that, no wonder your house isn’t up to scratch. But come on, would you really want to be that sad!

“I love you, but I don’t like you right now”

This is a narcissist’s way of saying “you have got some making up to do”, you had better be on your best behavior and not be disrespectful, and don’t forget that all important apology. Maybe in a week or so the house will get back to normal, well until the next tantrum anyway!

“I love you more than you could know / I love you so much”

“What?” I hear you say, “Do narcissist’s really say those words”, well yes of cause they do… When they are lying or drunk! A narcissist will often mimic other peoples emotions, love is one of them, as they do not feel love it would most certainly be a lie, so these words are very difficult for them to say. They do come out a lot easier when they have had a few sherbets though.

“It’s not as good / nice / tasty / expensive as mine”

That new ring you have purchased, painting in the sitting room, Sunday dinner you have slaved over all morning… “Yes it was lovely, but I prefer the one I did a few weeks ago” Wow, look at that, a compliment and insult in the same sentence!

“Have you seen my new coat / ring / dress… It cost this much!”

We all know these people “Do you like my new dress for so and so’s wedding, It was £500 you know, I had the personal shopper at the store help me pick it out”. Narcissist’s think as they think, that you will be jealous and envious of them, the truth is no one likes a bragger, to get right up their nose say something like “oh yes that’s lovely, but I don’t think that color suits your skin tone”.

“I have just paid for that for you / bought you your dinner”

Narcissist’s will always throw situations where they paid for something back in your face, and they NEVER forget. A dinner date, birthday lunch, some food shopping because you are short that month. The truth is they don’t do it to be kind as any parent would, they do it because it gives them ammunition for the next argument. My advise is NEVER, EVER lend or accept money as a gift from a narcissist, they will always have a hold on you and will ALWAYS use it against you in future disputes!

“They are just copying off me”

Narcissist’s can be very petty and they really do think that people copy off them. The new dress the lady down the street was wearing is the same as theirs… They must have copied. Or maybe they just went into the same store!

“Just say if you don’t want me to visit, I won’t mind”

This is a good way for the narcissist to reinforce the fact that they are invited to your home. The truth is, they will mind, they will mind a lot. Think very carefully before you say “I am very busy, I would prefer it if you came round tomorrow” This will not go down well and could result in a weeks worth of sulking!

“I’m not inviting them… they aren’t family!”

This for me was always one I could never understand, a close niece, or a ’special’ friend of the narcissist’s for some reason might be alone on Christmas day or any other special occasion could just be cast aside and not invited because it’s ‘Family Only’. Just goes to show the narcissist has no empathy for others, even the people most close to them!

“I don’t deserve this / I don’t need this right now”

Chances are the narcissist has sparked up yet another petty argument, when you retaliate they turn it round by saying “I don’t deserve this” etc.. This is just another tactic to make you feel guilty and apologize yet again for something you haven’t done.

“Don’t speak to me like that”

Generally this is because you have retaliated to something they said to you first, well it works both ways. Don’t speak to me like that and I won’t speak to you like that back!

“It’s not what you say, it’s the tone of your voice”

This is a form of projection, it is actually narcissist’s that use voice tone to change the way things were said, they can make something you said sound as horrible as they want by changing the tone of their voice. This can be very frustrating when they are telling on you to your enabling father, making it sound 20 times worse than it really was. Oh here we go again, looks like I’m going to owe her another apology!

“She is not just my friend, she’s my special friend, we’re more like sisters”

Narcissist’s will only have a few friends, or maybe only one, but that friend will be a special friend, one that is like a sister. That way the narcissist can make her friend more important than yours. “Oh so and so might be your friend but bla bla is a special friend” Ultimately making your friend seem less important than hers.

“Oh I can’t remember, it was a long time ago / I’ve had a few sleeps since then”

Narcissist’s are like elephants, they NEVER forget. So to be told “I can’t remember” will be an out and out lie. Chances are you have asked them for their advise and as they will get nothing in return they are not willing to tell you or you have brought up something from the past that touches a nerve, it is easier for them to tell you they have forgotten than to have to explain their actions.

“They aren’t really ill, they are just putting it on”

Narcissist’s will never have sympathy for anyone, they just don’t have them emotions. Anyone who is ill, and has a day off work will be faking. When the shoe is on the other foot though the narcissist wants all the sympathy in the world. If you want to stay in their good books you had better ask them how they are doing, maybe a get well soon card will help!

“It’s not my fault”

Narcissist’s will never admit anything was their fault, even when they are backed into a corner they will say something like “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, but it wasn’t meant to come across like that, it’s not my fault, your just over-sensitive”. The truth is, it probably was their fault, the easiest thing and the thing that will bother them the most is if you do not react, the reaction is what they are after.

“I swear on your life that’s how it happened”

This is generally a way of reinforcing a lie, most normal people would never swear on their children’s lives if something is not true, if at all. Not a narcissist though, swearing on peoples lives is the ultimate way to say “see, what I told you is true, it has to be I swore on your lives” This to me is a very disturbing act!

“I think you have made that up”

Ultimately this is the same as calling you a liar to your face. It is very annoying when someone tells you you are making something up when it is true, if you were a narcissist you would just swear on someone’s life, but as you don’t have that luxury you spend countless hours trying to explain why what you are saying is true. narcissist’s are by nature lairs, really good ones at that, but by projecting this onto you they are making you sound like the unstable one for making up stories!

“You have got such a good imagination / stop exaggerating”

Again something narcissist’s are very good at is making you sound crazy, narcissist’s can twist things into something they are not and make you believe it is all in your mind. This is called ‘gaslighting’ and can be very damaging and destructive abuse.

“I can’t remember doing/saying that”

Narcissist’s are very good at not facing up to something that was their fault, once confronted it can be very frustrating when they deny all knowledge it ever happened. Just remember, they remembered the £20 worth of shopping they bought you last year so chances are they remember saying that!

“I’m never wrong”

Come on, no one is ‘Never Wrong’, that saying just speaks for itself!

“What are you getting upset for”

The narcissist has just insulted you yet again with some snide remark, narcissist’s are emotional vampires and will try to upset you every chance they get. By asking you “What are you getting upset for” they are making the matter trivial, which it probably isn’t.

“Act your age”

This is another form of projection, usually it is the narcissist that is immature but by telling you to act your age it ‘projects’ it onto you. They will have you thinking ‘how did they turn that on to me’, very clever I know!

You are free to use this article on your own website or blog providing you do not alter the text and add a link to this page. www.behindcloseddoors.me

Behind Closed Doors.me A site for adult children who have mothers with narcissistic personality disorder http://www.behindcloseddoors.me

Light represents the truth in dreams. This meaning was discovered by Carl Jung. The light is represented by two different dream symbols: the sunlight, and the light of a lamp.

I continued Jung’s research, discovering the meaning of many dream symbols that he couldn’t translate. Today you can immediately understand the hidden unconscious messages in all dreams. The vision I’m giving you about the meaning of dreams surpasses the limited vision of my teacher. Jung taught me everything about the meaning of dreams and our mental health, but the unconscious mind that produces our dreams gave me more lessons.

At a certain point I had to abandon Jung’s psychotherapeutical method and disagree with his last conclusions. I started following only the unconscious guidance. The unconscious mind has a divine origin and works like a doctor. The unconscious psychotherapy surpasses any psychotherapy that comes from ignorant human minds.

The lessons I’m giving you don’t come from my ignorant mind but were taught by the unconscious mind that works also like a teacher. This means that the unconscious mind showed me the meaning of many dream symbols, giving me lessons about the dream language in my own dreams.

The unconscious mind will give you many lessons about the matters of your interest the same way. You only have to learn the dream language in order to reap all the benefits you can have for being guided by the unconscious wisdom.

The light of the sun is the light of truth because the sun is a powerful source, which enlightens our planet. Whenever you see the sunlight in dreams, this means that you can see the real truth. You are not eluded by illusions. This is a positive dream symbol.

You will see the light of the sun in a dream whenever you’ll pass through a process of psychotherapy through dream translation and better understand your reality.

You will usually see yourself wearing sunglasses in a dream with the sunlight, what this means that you are protected for facing the real truth. The sunlight hurts your eyes. Your eyes need protection. The sunglasses complete the positive meaning of the dream scene where you see the sunlight, in other words, the real truth.

The truth many times is painful. This is why you need protection when you learn the real truth. The truth is ugly, but it brings salvation. Only after facing the truth as it is can you correct your mistakes and stop doing what is negative for you. When you ignore the truth you are eluded by dangerous lies and misleading suppositions.

Now I’m going to show you the meaning of the light of a lamp by using a part of the dream submitted by a 35- 45 years old man for a professional dream translation. I cannot show you the entire dream or tell you more details of the dreamer’s life biography. However, the translation of this part of his dream will give you a practical lesson about the meaning of the light of a lamp:

‘Somebody it looks like my aunt goes to turn off the lights’

Dream Translation:

You must tell me how you characterize your aunt so that I may understand what part of your personality she represents. Your own opinion about her is what matters, not what other people think about her.

The darkness in dreams means that there are many things that you ignore.

The fact that the part of your personality represented by your aunt turned off the lights indicates that this part of your personality is trying to show you that there are many things that you ignore.

The lights of a restaurant are the lights of a lamp. The light of a lamp in dreams represents the false truth based on the ignorance of our under-developed and one-sided human conscience. Therefore, this part of your personality put an end to the false truth you were seeing, because you were seeing only what was enlightened by the lights of the restaurant’s lamps.

You represent your ego in dreams. Your ego is the center of your conscience and controls your behavior, unless you’ll let your anti-conscience (wild conscience) control your behavior for accepting to do what is bad.

This part of your personality that turned off the restaurant’s light was showing you that you must not lose your faith because you think based on what your idiotic human conscience knows. You see only the false truth of the ignorant human conscience.

Now you know how to translate the meaning of light in dreams. Whenever you’ll identify the dream symbols represented by the sunlight, the sunglasses, or the light of lamps, you will be able to understand the unconscious message in this part of the dream. You should learn the dream language, so that you may be able to understand all the hidden messages contained in a dream.

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!).

Recurring dreams prove that dreams have a meaning. They are not a collection of images projected without organization. The repetition of the same dream images and topics clearly indicate that there is an intention for the projection of these images. If they were a product of chance they wouldn’t be always the same, or reflect similar scenes.

Carl Jung discovered that all dreams are produced by the unconscious mind, which has a mysterious origin and functioning. The unconscious mind works like a natural doctor. Its messages reflect the mistakes made by the dreamer under the influence of his/her anti-conscience.

The anti-conscience is the wild side of the human conscience, which I could discover after continuing Carl Jung’s research into the unknown region of the human psyche through dream translation. The anti-conscience’s evil and absurd nature is totally different from the nature of our human conscience, which respects goodness and loves happiness. However, our tiny human conscience cannot fight the powerful anti-conscience without the unconscious guidance.

In order to acquire sound mental health your tiny human conscience must follow the unconscious guidance in dreams. This is how you’ll manage to avoid the anti-conscience’s traps and eliminate your primitive conscience through consciousness. This is a process carried on through dream therapy.

The unconscious mind will show you in your dreams which psychological functions are not working in your human conscience and how you can transform their wild nature into human nature. This means that you will start seeing various details in your reality that today you disregard. This vision will help you consciously understand their existence and their actuation. This is how you will eliminate your primitive conscience and develop your human conscience.

You will have recurring dreams a long time before facing a tragic experience, so that you may have the chance to prevent what will be bad for you. By sending you repetitive dreams about the same things, the unconscious mind tries to make you pay attention to a certain obligation that you keep postponing. This obligation is always related to your personal evolution.

Even if you believe that you are a normal person, there are too many dangers constantly threatening your mental stability:

* You have inherited an absurd and evil wild conscience, which occupies the biggest part of your brain. The anti-conscience is evil, cruel, violent, and immoral. Its terrible nature is the tragic result of the accidental and disorganized formation of the first live conscience.

* Your tiny human conscience is one-sided and under-developed. You are using only one of the four psychological functions you have at your disposal (thoughts, feelings, sensations, intuition). The psychological functions that are not well-developed in your human conscience belong to your anti-conscience.

These psychological functions must be developed through consciousness. This means that you must understand and correct the mistakes of these components of your personality because they belong to your wild side. In other words, they are violent, immature, and idiotic.

* You live in a world ruled by terror, violence, immorality, and greed. There is no justice on Earth. Nobody knows what is sane or insane. This chaotic situation influences your behavior, besides influencing your thoughts.

* The mindset of your civilization is absurd because it is based on the concepts generated by violence and immorality. Most people are constantly influenced or controlled by their anti-conscience. This is why violence is applauded everyday in your world.

Children play games with violent heroes who kill monsters, teens wear T-shirts with the design of a skull, and almost all movies on TV are about assaults, the police, murders, and various dangerous adventures. On the other hand, prostitution, homosexuality, and child sexual abuse are common facts in our world.

You need the unconscious guidance in your dreams so that you may overcome the dangers of the world and fight the absurdity of your wild conscience. You’ll never be able to face so many problems alone, or escape your anti-conscience’s traps.

If you have recurring dreams this means that you are avoiding a serious obligation because your anti-conscience and the superficiality of the world are influencing your behavior.

If you won’t do what you should already have done, at a certain point you won’t have the chance to prevent what will be bad for you and your life. Recurring dreams are serious warnings that must make you take action without wasting time.

The unconscious mind sends you recurring dreams a long time before you’ll face serious problems because it is not a simple matter to avoid the anti-conscience’s traps. The same way, it is not a simple matter to protect your sanity in a crazy world. You need time in order to understand what is bad and in order to correct what is wrong.

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!).

The translation of the meaning of dreams according to the scientific method of dream interpretation will help you understand the influence of the wild side of your conscience (anti-conscience) into the human side of your conscience. You will learn what determines your behavior and how to acquire sound mental health.

For example, dreams about other people give you information about your own behavior. Each person who appears in your dream is a part of your personality that has the same characteristics of the people who appear in the dream. Therefore, if you’ll have a dream about a person who has the tendency to distort the truth and present the facts according to their personal opinion, this means that a certain part of your personality imitates this person’s attitude.

Now, if the part of your personality who distorts the truth is a policeman in a dream, this means that this part of your personality is responsible for your self-defensive mechanism.

Putting everything together: Your self-defense is controlled by a component of your personality that has the tendency to lie and distort the truth.

When you’ll relate this information to your life biography (since you are the dreamer) you will understand that you have this self-defensive reaction because you had a traumatic childhood. You always defend yourself with a component of your personality that presents the truth according to your desires and not as it really is.

This attitude reflects abnormal behavior. Your abnormal behavior denounces the existence of a behavioral disorder. In other words, your anti-conscience managed to generate a mental illness within your human conscience because you had a trauma when you were a child.

You always have a self-defensive reaction given by a component of your personality that is not conscious, but belongs to your wild conscience. You adopt this behavior in order to protect yourself from the attacks of the world, and from your own thoughts. However, this reaction is based on absurd criteria.

Your self-defensive reaction is based on the distortion of the truth. It is the result of a traumatic experience. It is not a conscious and positive reaction before what is bad.

The unconscious mind analyzes your behavior in order to show you why you are making mistakes, and how you can stop doing what has a negative effect on your personality and life.

A mental illness is caused by the invasion of the absurdity of your anti-conscience into the human side of your conscience. It begins with a trauma and the acceptance of the absurd ideas of your wild side, which pretends to give you solutions to your problems.

All behavioral disorders reflect the control of your anti-conscience, which takes the place of your ego. It invades your conscience with its absurd ideas. Then, it gradually destroys your capacity to think logically. It also distorts your behavior. The unconscious mind gives you many explanations and lessons in the dream images in order to eliminate the negative influence of your anti-conscience.

Without understanding what causes absurd reactions and what kind of mistakes you make for being influenced by the absurdity of your anti-conscience, you cannot stop being a victim of your wild nature. Only after understanding what is negative and must be eliminated, will you acquire permanent mental stability and perfect behavioral health.

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!).

Your dreams reflect what is happening in your brain and psyche. They also reflect what is happening in the world. They give you information about those who are important for you.

Dreams are real treasures, but this is something that you will realize only when you’ll follow the right method of dream interpretation. All the false methods of the world simply mislead you with false impressions because they are based on opinions.

Don’t waste your time with these methods. You have to translate the meaning of dreams according to the scientific method of dream interpretation discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by me in order to understand the real value of the dream messages.

If you have no time or patience to study the dream language, I can translate your dreams for you and provide you with psychotherapy. Many people prefer this option, but I also have many good students who have learned the dream language and are very grateful for having this knowledge.

Your dreams basically talk about you and your life. The unconscious mind that produces your dreams gives you information about everything because anything could cause a mental illness.

You are basically an under-developed primate. You have inherited a huge wild conscience (anti-conscience), which is totally absurd because it is primitive and violent. Your human conscience is one-sided and must be developed. Your intelligence is too limited. You also live in a world where everyone is a selfish hypocrite and justice is only a myth. Therefore, you are in a very dangerous position.

This is why the unconscious mind gives you information and lessons in dreams. You must develop your intelligence through dream translation and get rid of your wild tendencies. These tendencies are negative; they ruin your personality and life. You also must protect yourself from the negative tendencies of those around you.

The unconscious mind opens your eyes, showing you everything that you cannot see.

This knowledge is unpleasant and sad in the beginning because you understand that everything is bad on Earth, and everyone is a selfish coward who could betray you for any reason. You also realize the depth of your ignorance and absurdity. You cannot but feel disgusted. However, this vision helps you avoid making mistakes. This vision also helps you avoid falling into hidden traps.

Of course, it’s not easy to admit the truth you dislike. Many people refuse believing in an unpleasant truth.

For example, recently one of my patients asked me how I can be so sure that I’m the only person in this world who knows how to accurately translate the meaning of dreams. He started making me many questions. He was quite aggressive because he didn’t want to accept the bitter truth reflected in his dreams.

The unconscious mind was showing him that he was making a very big mistake. However, he didn’t want to accept this fact because he wanted to believe in his illusions.

I knew he would react this way because he was too far from his reality, but I have the moral obligation to accurately translate the unconscious words. Dream interpretation according to the scientific method of dream interpretation is a very serious practice that respects the meaning given by the unconscious mind to the dream images.

The unconscious mind knows everything. It has a saintly nature and it works like a natural doctor. Thus, you can trust the unconscious messages in dreams without fear.

Of course, it’s sad to discover that you are wrong and you should not insist on your plans, but it’s better to suffer in order to prevent a catastrophe, than to be the victim of a tragedy.

You have to look at the ugly and bitter truth without refusing to open your eyes. Only after understanding the truth, can you stop doing what is bad for you and your life. If you cannot see what originates your problems, you are an eternal victim of the absurdity you have inherited into the biggest part of your brain, and an eternal victim of the absurdity of the world.

Don’t be narrow-minded. After seeing what is bad, you’ll understand that you have to do something in order to change your life. You’ll stop accepting your suffering without eliminating what causes pain. Therefore, you will always be happy with yourself and your life.

Your dreams give you many explanations, answers, and solutions.

The relationship between your dreams and your life has many dimensions. This relationship is visible in real facts. When you translate the meaning of dreams and you follow the unconscious guidance, many interesting things happen to you. Dream translation is not a theoretical practice.

As soon as you start transforming your personality through dream translation, you meet important people, you go to important places, and you see important facts happening in your life. Dream interpretation according to the scientific method is a movement that reaches all fields, besides working like psychotherapy.

After eliminating everything that is negative, you start having many positive experiences. You meet intelligent people, you go to magical places, you find unbelievable opportunities, and so on. Your life stops being a problematic drama; it becomes a wonderful experience.

Therefore, the time and effort you’ll put on transforming your personality, and the sadness you’ll feel for seeing the bitter truth of your reality will help you achieve new goals. You’ll stop being an eternal victim of the wild side of your conscience and an eternal victim of the wickedness of the world. You’ll always feel safe, and evolve.

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!).

What is really out there? Why do we think that we think? This article explores some of the classic works on the topic.

Ross and Nisbett argue that our perceptions of ourselves and our casual attributions for our actions are not in fact complete or correct: we are not born tabla rasa, we do not consistently build basic beliefs, and we cannot predict or control the way we will act. Phychologists and sociologists provide support for this through numerous studies that show a basically consistent, unpredicted, and unsystematic patterns of behavior. Some authors begin by breaking down the idea that our opinions or reactions are as independent and systematic as we may believe. Sherif’s “autokinetic” study and the Ash Paradigm study illustrate that we often act differently when in groups (with group norms, pressure, bias, and social factors). We conform to group pressure (Ash), or, even more extremely, shift our perceptions in order to align ourselves with a group (Sherrif). The Bennington studies, which show how our beliefs about the world are deeply and irreversibly influenced by our social surroundings, illustrate that this effect is not trivial or isolated but instead can have far-reaching and self-defining consequences.

Sherif’s later studies on group dynamics similarly show us that our world perceptions (us vs. them, me vs. you, good vs. bad) can be arbitrary. Chapter three expands on this point with a social slant: Our world is constructed in a social setting and so the opinions of others and the judgments of others play a dynamic part in this construction. I.e., our world is not necessarily “warped” by others opinions but others opinions actually play a role in determining what our world looks like. The “attribution theory of emotion” and the Nisbett and Wilson (1977) cognitive process blindness theory take this one step further claiming that we do not really see the world as we think we do at all.

Ross and Nisbett impose their own interpretation on these findings. They repeatedly argue that we interpret and construct the world in a dynamic way, based on the perceptions and influences of our social surroundings, situational factors, and personality characteristics. They then claim that we are overly unaware that we are only seeing one way to interpret the world. “This lack of awareness of our own construal processes blinds us to the possibility that someone else, differently situated, might construe the same objects in a different way… People sometimes construe the same object differently because they view it from different angles rather than because they are fundamentally different people…. The divergence [exhibited in the Asch experiments] may reflect differences not in the “judgment of the object” but in the construal of just what “the object of judgment” is.” (p82). We make the false assumption that we see it as it is rather than as we interpret it. It is not clear here whether the differences in individual interpretations of the worlds are due only to different external factors (social, environmental, etc) or also to different processing factors (i.e. the mental and physical machines with which we process this information).

Ross and Nisbett do not explicitly state what I see as a major consequence, and synthesis, of both their chapters and much of the literature. But perhaps this is because I do not have and have not read their later chapters. With this caveat, Ross and Nisbett (1) begin by attempting to prove that our world is to an extent an arbitrary construction. They continue (2) by showing that it is important to us that out world be in line with others in our group or reference set (social pressure) and they end (3) with the interesting claim that we misunderstand the world in a fundamental way (with mistakes in traits, etc). To me there is a clear logical step that stands between their points (1) and (2). That (1.5) that we are, on some deep unconscious level, insecure and unsure of the ontological nature of the world and thus need to constantly adjust our view of it depending on the situation and context (see they do not take William James’ point on p. 68 seriously enough) or align ourselves with others in order to attempt to interpret it in the best/most useful way.

It helps if we assume for a moment that there is no “correct” way to interpret the world – and Ross and Nisbett I think would agree with this. Perhaps even the idea of a “correct” way to interpret the world is a non-sensical statement. All constructions are heuristics simplifications intrinsically since the world does not have, unlike our constructions of the world, imbedded causality only systematic temporal correlations. An interpretation is meant, therefore, to be useful in our world, which a deeply social and dynamic one. Why is it therefore surprising that we adjust, conform to, and closely monitor others opinions? If our interpretations are wrong, and we know they always are, there is no good reason to stick to them if they are not working. Our perception of length is clearly not functioning correctly if it derives an answer different from everyone else (since deriving an answer that is useful is our goal, not deriving an answer that is true and it is useful to have an agreed upon idea of length).

So the surprising thing is that we ever believe that we are objectively right about things or that we believe our views are “the way things are,” not that we adjust our world-views in the face of social, environmental, or situational pressure (and various evolutionary psychology arguments have attempted to explain this argument on the grounds of efficiency). Bishop Berkeley, Occationalism, and David Hume have all trodden this ground. I do not mean to make the facile claim that we should always give in to social pressure, that we should always tailor our views to match those around us, only that to explain a deviation from this behavior one need to apply to other reasons than one being “correct” or, even, more arguably, perhaps, “truth.” That our views are deeply inadequate and inefficient, as chapter four argues, is a much harsher claim leveled by Ross and Nisbett in this context.

The literature often builds up a model of perception/ internal_world-creation and the later then added a component questioning the element of causality. For example, Straw, Bell, Clausen piece questions the emergent literature on situational attributions to job attitudes in favor of a more dispositional approach. Studies, they claim lay too much emphasis on the social, the interpretational elements of a job, over-stating the role that the work environment that will determine an individual’s happiness in it. Instead, one can correlate the individual’s happiness and job satisfaction in many respects well before he/she enters the work place. Thus, it is the characteristics, attitudes, and nature and the individual who is the prime determinant of whether or not he/she is happy in the job. This research is interestingly interrelated to the previous Ross Nisbett piece, since Ross and Nisbett’s argument that the person interprets the environment lends itself to the conclusion that no matter what environment an individual is put into, he/she will largely affect the way he/she perceives that environment and thus his/her feelings about it.

In contrast to Straw, et al., Davis-Blake and Pfeffer (1989) argue that the dispositionalist argument is deeply flawed. They claim that the individual’s characteristics are dynamic in nature and therefore they change in time and are furthermore deeply affected by their environment. Therefore, one can expect that an employee, especially in the long term, will be very deeply affected by the nature and prevailing attitudes of his/her workplace. They point to the extreme cases of military training facilities, which are able to dramatically affect the psychology of an individual. Sneider (1987) returns fire with a volley that asserts that the “culture” of a firm is simply the people in it. That these people are self-selecting and will tend to attract compatible people, and that the world is a dynamic place of individuals, not forces. The last piece of the puzzle, the piece by Arvey and Bouchard (1994) builds a strong foundation under the dispositionalist camp but also shows the complexity of the problem. It addresses the nature vs. nurture debate by reviewing the literature to show that while it seems that genetics do make some difference (this lends credit to dispositionalists who would like to claim that people have characteristics, genetic or otherwise, that persist over time) environment is also a large factor (situationalists can grab onto this evidence).

This debate, first between situationalists and dispositionalists about the source of ones attitude about the workplace, and then about the source of our personality (nature vs. nurture) have serious consequences which many of the authors discuss. If we are in fact shaped by our environments, then companies might want to invest significant resources into “culture” and creating a productive workplace. But if our attitudes and productivity are a function of our personalities, then companies might want to select those people with attractive qualities for their company. This has troubling moral consequences as some authors point out.

I would like to emphasize how these points are building up a literature that focuses on central questions about why we view the world the way we do, what effects the world has on us, and what the source of our feelings, attitudes and lives are. The battle lines of the difference sides of this debate are, from this perspective, artificially clear.

If, for example, we ask the question of FREE WILL, for example, the sides dramatically shift. The dispositionalist camp splits into two, some taking a deterministic evolutionary view and others taking view that our personalities are developed early by our environment. The situationalists might point out that we CHOOSE our workplaces and thus choose the sorts of influences that will shape our character. So while we are not in total control of what we will feel about our job, our creativity, etc, we can choose what sorts of forces will affect these metrics. Aristotle, who’s view on almost anything is worth looking up, coined the phrase Akrasia, and this phrase can be applied to this bebate with perhaps some fruitful insights. It is Greek for “weakness of will”. He claimed that we are morally responsible for the consequences of a choice in the long term, even if we are not morally free at the time of our choices. The best modern example of this is if one chooses to get drunk one is responsible for one’s actions while drunk even if one does not have the ability to control one’s actions while drunk. So one is responsible for choosing the path that led to an action even if one is not directly responsible for that action. Of course, Aristotle chose the more controversial example of choosing to live a life of moral weakness and moral compromise which weakened the will to the point that one was not a good/moral person. He claimed that one was responsible for immorality not because we choose to become weak enough to do these acts. I think that these different camps might gain some insight into their nature/nurture dispositionalist/situationalist objective/subjective debates if Aristotle’s wisdom were headed more carefully.

Readings:

Ross, L. & Nisbett, R.E. (1991). The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill. Chapters 2, 3, & 4.

Asch, S.E. (1958). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In E.E. Maccoby; T.M. Newcomb & E.L. Hartley (eds.), Reading in Social Psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Company (pp. 174-183).

Staw, B.; Bell, N. & Clausen, J. (1986). The dispositional approach to job attitudes: A lifetime longitudinal test. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31: 56-77.

Davis-Blake, Alison & Pfeffer, Jeffrey. (1989). Just a mirage: The search for dispositional effects in organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 14: 385-400.

Schneider, Benjamin. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40: 437-453.

Arvey, R.D. & Bouchard, T.J. (1994). Genetic twins and organizational behavior. In B.M. Staw & L.L. Cummings (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, 16: 47-82.

Phin Upham has a PhD in Applied Economics from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania). Phin is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He can be reached at phin@phinupham.com

You can find more info here: Phin Upham