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Monday, September 24, 2012

Quantum Psychology, Chapter 14

[In this chapter, the exercizes seem appropriate for an online group, so I reproduce them here. -- The Mgt.]

1. The Cold War, now seemingly coming to a close, last 45 years. Discuss the role of self-fulfilling prophecies in American and Russian foreign policy during that 45 years. Discuss especially the Arms Race.

2. Children, psychologists say, tend to believe things literally. Discuss the following parental utterances and how they might function as self-fulfilling prophecies; discuss also if any of you heard these in childhood and have accepted them as Life Scripts ever since:

A. You never do anything right.
B. You're so lazy you're going to end up on welfare.
C. You have a terrible temper. You are going to hurt somebody seriously someday.
D. You've never been a healthy child.
E. Don't ever let me catch you doing that again.
F. You're going to get fat as a pig, the way you eat.
G. You're just not as smart as your brother.
H. Don't touch that part of your body again or you might go crazy.

3. Discuss the following Game Rules as self-fulfilling prophecies:

A. "The poor you will always have with you." (J. Christ).
B. "Jews make the best doctors."
C. "We will  put a man on the moon within a decade." (J. Kennedy)
D. "We don't have the money to build more housing."
E. "We will build the Star Wars technology and place it in orbit, no matter how much it costs."
F. "The masses are feminine. They want a strong man to lead them." (A. Hitler)
G. "All men are created equal ... and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ... among these rights is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." (T. Jefferson).
H. "Someday we can abolish hunger" (various 19th century Futurists).
I. "We can abolish hunger by 1995." (R. Buckminster Fuller).

9 comments:

Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson) said...

As I have been running late in participating, I will the discussion going early this time.

It seems to be that the U.S.' brazen U-2 flights over the Soviet Union, deep into Soviet territory, is a great example of No. 1. We didn't trust the Soviets, so we behaved in a manner that ensured they could not trust us.

Eric Wagner said...

1. I agree, Tom. Each side in the Cold War feared the worst from the other side and spent more and more money on defense. The US feared the domino effect and backed corrupt regimes to prevent communists exploitation. The Soviets feared the West and took more and more draconian measures.

2. F) My weight challenges keep me humble. I struggle with first circuit issues. I probably have a genetic disposition to obesity, plus I probably took unheathy imprints. I have some healthy conditioning and some unhealthy conditioning, and I have some learning about nutrition, psychology, etc., to help me make positive changes, but I still struggle. I suspect things I heard as a child may have contributed to this struggle.

3. A) I remember I had written something about this during the time Bob wrote Quantum Psychology, and he wrote me that he had contemplated this saying of Christ's at the same time I did. The meme of Bucky Fuller, Werner Erhardt, etc., that we can end hunger doesn't seem to have become popular before the 20th century.

phodecidus said...

Misinformation seems like an adequate example of self-fulfilling prophecy during the Cold War. Take the strange loop of propaganda peddled by the CIA, ending up in the public sector and in the end, affecting US policy.

One might consider that the idea of Islam as an innately bigoted and hate filled religion may function as a self fulfilling prophecy too.

Eric Wagner said...

3. B) If Jewish families tend to encourage their kids to have success in school and encourage them to attend medical school, many Jews will likely make good doctors.

C) Kennedy's statement provided a rhetorical justification for the successful Apollo program.

D) If we feel this way, we likely will not make housing a priority.

E) This kind of thinking will likely not think kindly of cutting the Star Wars budget.

F) This kind of statement encouraged Hitler to take charge and the mass of Germans to hand him the reins of state.

G) This kind of language encouraged many people (not just in the USA) to think outside the class based models which have shaped so much of history.

H) This kind of thinking leads many critters to doubt the language of Jesus in statement A, and perhaps it will to the abolition of hunger.

I) Perhaps in a universe next door this came true. Hopefully it will come true in our universe soon.

Thom Foolery said...

3.A. - Taken out of its broader context, Jesus' comment has allowed many Christians to work against social changes that could eliminate poverty.

B. If your culture emphasizes study and the intellectual life, as does much of Judaism, then odds are high that your culture will crank out good students, intellectuals, and professionals.

C. This statement made lunar landings feasible rather than impossible, and it, plus big budgets, put human beings on the moon by 1969.

D. We don't want to build more housing, and so we will neither raise more money or reallocate the money we do have to do so.

E. We want to build a missile defense system, and so we will raise more money and/or reallocate existing funds to do so.

F. If you treat the people like weaklings and insist they need a strong leader, then they will see themselves as weakling and clamor for a strong leader.

G. If you assume all men are created equal, you get all men (including slaves) and women to insist that they be treated equally. You also get Ho Chi Minh fighting for the independence of Vietnam from France.

H. Abolition of hunger becomes a possibility, but the ambiguity of the statement allows for ongoing deferral of the reality.

I. This statement not only makes abolition of hunger a possibility, but the precise date provides a timeline. No access to Kennedy's budgets, though.

Thom Foolery said...

I. USA: "If we don't have more weapons than the Soviets, then they will have more weapons and Communist Imperialism will be allowed to conquer the world."

USSR: "If we don't have more weapons than the Americans, then they will have more weapons and Capitalist Imperialism will be allowed to conquer the world."

Repeat ad nausem or at least until each "side" goes bankrupt through military over-expenditures.

Thom Foolery said...

2. These three have been big Life Scripts for me:

A. You never do anything right.
C. You have a terrible temper. You are going to hurt somebody seriously someday.
D. You've never been a healthy child.

I still wrestle regularly with insecurity over my decisions and choices, have anger management "issues", and have several chronic illnesses, including hypochondria. (LOL!) It is easy to see the scripts for what they are, intellectually at least, but far more challenging to interrupt them as they play out.

Also, as my youthful metabolism has come to a screeching halt, I deal a lot with this one (often followed, with a straight face, by worry that I don't eat enough when I turn down a second helping of something):

F. You're going to get fat as a pig, the way you eat.

phodecidus said...

2. Children might tend to believe things literally but teenagers tend to act out rebelliously so A may lead a teenager to do everything 'right', B may make a teen hyperactive, etc.

Unknown said...

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