Related Words, Beliefs, Background

            The Attitudinal Fix Mentality

appropriate (or soft) technology -- technology selected, designed and implemented with the special environ- mental, cultural, social and economic aspects of the community it is intended for in mind. It typically has little or no significant environmental impact and is well suited to an area since it makes use of what is relatively abundant--for example, labor in places where people need jobs. Typically it involves devices that are small, relatively simple, inexpensive, decentralized, and that can preserve meaningful experiences or work for people. In contrast high or hard technology typically has much greater environmental impact, tends to replace people with machines, and can involve more technological complexity, equipment capital outlay, etc. Example: Using lots of workers with hand tools to control unwanted brush and growth in a forest -- so that young trees can get more sun and grow better -- would be an appropriate technology solution; using one person flying over a forest in a helicopter spraying a chemical herbicide to kill unwanted growth would be a hard technology way of accomplishing the same thing.

arbitration--a manner of settling a conflict / dispute in which the matter is submitted to an independent third party / mediator whose judgment / decision may or may not be binding on the parties involved.  It is an alternative to litigation / lawsuits.

attitude--a characteristic evaluative orientation and / or response tendency toward something previously experienced or encountered.  The associated evaluation can be positive (like), negative (dislike), or neutral  (no opinion.)  Beyond this evaluation--which may or may not be directly communicated--observing the particular response allows more about the underlying attitude to be inferred. Attitudes form based on inputs from three domains: 1) cognitive (thoughts, beliefs), 2) affective (emotions, feelings), and 3) conative (volition, action tendency or disposition).

attitude change, factors in--generally people's attitudes change for various reasons, including 1) as a result of  learning, 2) in response to reasoned persuasion directed at them, 3) in response to an emotional appeal directed at them, and 4) to relieve tension by reducing or eliminating a perceived inconsistency or cognitive dissonance.  A corollary of this is that attitude change is less likely to occur when such consistency is already present.

bridge values -- either as part of an effort to resolve a conflict or in discussions between those having widely separated positions on some issue of concern, these are shared values that can be used to find common ground to build a settlement on, or bridge the gulf of misunderstanding. Example: suppose family members, watching a beloved parent’s health fail, disagree on the extent to which modern medical technology should be employed to extent the parent’s life. After discussion they find that they agree on not wanting their parent to be in pain. Given this “Our parent ought not to be in pain” bridge value, they can seek additional common ground and agree on a plan of action.

cognitive dissonance--refers to the inner tension or perceived incompatibility that one feels from holding conflicting beliefs or behaving in a way that compromises one's deeply held beliefs or values

common good, the--can be defined in various ways depending on one's perspective. Some define it narrowly as that which is good for every member of the community; others broaden the community here to include all human beings. While libertarians argue it is a meaningless concept, utilitarians equate it with "the greatest good for the greatest  number of individuals."

conflict management--this is a long-term alternative when intractable conflicts can't be resolved.  It involves a variety of ways of handling grief / grievances--such as harm avoidance, counseling,  public relations campaigns, etc. 

conflict resolution -- the act or process of settling or making an effort or attempt to settle a conflict, that is, a situation or disagreement characterized by tension, antagonism, and sides whose motives, purposes, and intentions seem totally at odds and perhaps irreconcilable. The process can involve informal discussion or a formal procedure with rules and mediator(s).

conversion--can refer to a relatively sudden and drastic change in attitude or beliefs, especially religious beliefs

dividing people, tactics used to do this -- those who fear the collective strength of people who have organized and united to form a group, often seek to exploit differences within the group and destroy its populist mission. Differences exploited often include race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class -- but fracturing can occur along many potential fault lines if outsiders are working to encourage it. After the fracturing, people who previously fully embraced populism may have moved away from it (to some extent) and toward individualism, and blame, dissension, finger-pointing, lack of trust, etc. may exist where previously they didn’t.

empathy -- concisely it refers to “fellow feeling” , that is imagining that you are in the other person’s shoes and experiencing his or her feelings, struggles, etc.

emotional intelligence--a term first described by Mayer and Salovey in 1990, and popularized by Daniel Goleman in a 1995 book. Of interest to both psychological researchers, and the general public, its meaning is still evolving. According to Mayer, etal in a 2008 Annual Review of Psychology article, emotional intelligence "concerns the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought."  Goleman's latest conception of emotional intelligence sees four abilities as contributing to it: the ability to 1) be aware of one's own emotions, 2) control those emotions, 3) sense, comprehend, and respond to other's emotions, and 4) help other's emotions develop in the context of a relationship.  Some feel that EQ (emotional intelligence quotient) is as important as IQ in predicting a student's future success.  The last decade has seen many schools mount efforts to help students build emotional intelligence.

ethnocentrism -- adopting the social standards of one’s own culture or ethnic group as the basis for evaluating the social practices, customs, beliefs, etc. of another culture -- and doing so because you believe your society’s values and way of living are superior to those of other cultures.

fear--a strong, primary emotion associated with unpleasant anticipation of danger and pain.

interpersonal communication effectiveness, behavioral model--according to this model the effective communicator 1) has social confidence, 2) creates a sense of togetherness, 3) controls and monitors the interaction so that both speaker and listener(s) are satisfied, 4) expresses a feeling of genuine involvement, and 5) is attentive to, listens, elicits, adapts to and is concerned with the needs and feelings of the audience.

interpersonal communication effectiveness, humanistic model-- according to this model the effective communicator possesses these qualities: 1) openness --besides disclosing his or her thoughts and feelings, this includes taking responsibility for them and reacting honestly to feedback others provide,  2) empathy, 3) supportiveness--includes being tentative rather than certain, and accepting or descriptive rather than judgmental, 4) positiveness--both in one's own attitude but also in providing others with positive reinforcement, and 5) the ability to communicate as an equal and to give others "unconditional positive regard" (as humanistic psychology founder Carl Rogers put it.)

intractable conflicts -- conflicts that are particularly difficult to resolve because they involve complex issues, communication difficulties, and deep-seated, often unacknowledged differences in worldviews. The people on opposing sides often feel threatened by the other side -- indeed they may feel that their sense of identity, cherished beliefs or way of life is being attacked. Besides involving conflicting worldviews, typically such conflicts also involve material goods, resources, or involve some concrete real or potential impacts on people and their environment -- impacts that are threatening.

justice -- implementing what is just, defined in various ways as being reasonable, proper, lawful, right, fair, deserved, merited, etc. For some, justice is intimately connected with fairness, a connection with three dimensions: equal treatment, the degree to which exercising freedom and liberty is to be allowed, and reward for contributing to the common good.

lawsuit--a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual or legal entity seeks a legal remedy.  Such legal action is initiated by the plaintiff who complains (petitions) that he / she / it has been harmed / suffered a loss by failure of the defendant to act in accordance with the law.

leadership--the capacity to lead, influence, and affect the behavior of others.  Charismatic leaders motivate and inspire others to accomplish (sometimes extraordinary) things that they otherwise wouldn't do.  Such leaders communicate their vision and attract followers by infusing them with energy and eagerness for undertaking a particular mission.

learning domains--educational activities and associated objectives are sometimes categorized using three domains: 1) cognitive--relates to comprehending and intellectual processing of information and knowledge in forming concepts, having ideas, and having beliefs; 2) affective--relates to the emotions associated with learning experiences; 3) psychomotor--relates to the physical activity and motor skills component of learning. Very loosely these learning domains can be related to thinking, feeling, and doing.

lobbyist--a person paid to act on behalf of a particular corporation, union, organization, etc. in aggressively promoting their agenda to elected representatives or those in positions of power in governments.  In some democracies, (like the United States), lobbyists help funnel campaign contributions to politicians--which often subvert the will of the people critics charge.  

non-verbal communication--communication that occurs without words where messages (both intended and unintended) are sent using eye contact, facial expressions, voice quality or emotional content, gestures, body language, posture, dress, hairstyle, body adornment, etc. While such communication can (either intentionally or unintentionally) transmit information, more importantly it can transmit feelings and attitudes.

peer pressure—the force applied by a group on an individual to adopt their habits, beliefs, and attitudes. This is resisted by the individual’s own desire to retain his or her individuality either within or apart from the group.

personal responsibility, accepting -- Before an individual can overcome some personal difficulty or solve a personal problem, he or she needs to acknowledge that the difficulty or problem exists, by saying something like, “This problem is mine and I must solve it”. In this context, taking personal responsibility means that you don’t ignore difficulties or problems, expect others to solve them for you, or shift the blame to others. In a family or social context, taking personal responsibility can mean voluntarily limiting your choices or restraining yourself for the good of the family, tribe, village, community or whatever. Richard Critchfield refers to this as “the freedom to choose self responsibility”.

persuasive communication techniques--with respect to the nature of what is communicated, a Yale University research study found that 1) messages should not appear to be designed to persuade; 2) both sides of arguments should be presented, with the "wrong" argument being refuted; 3) if two people are to speak, one immediately following the other, going first is preferred (based on the primacy effect from psychology);  4) if two people are to speak, with a time delay in between, going last is preferred (based on the recency effect from psychology).

provisional--characterized by an open-minded, tentative attitude that indicates willingness to consider various viewpoints, be persuaded by reasonable arguments, and to tolerate differences.

reason vs. faith—essentially the distinction here is between belief supported by facts and concepts, ultimately linked to observation and experience, which fit together in a coherent way as part of a useful, logical framework, and belief for which there is no such basis, but instead only one’s unshaken feeling of confidence, trust, and willingness to believe.  When one’s knowledge and experience is limited, belief can be extended based on trusting the authority of someone else, rather than doing one’s own investigation into the rational basis for belief.  Sometimes, there is no way to rationally or scientifically decide and anyone holding such belief holds it through faith.  In this way faith can be connected with belonging.  Some see faith as a valid basis for knowledge, others say it provides no such basis.  Some see reason as threatening faith--meaning as one increasingly relies on it, one’s reliance on faith diminishes.

sectarianism--involving the asserting of rigid sectarian dogmatism and inflexibility--which often leads to conflict between sects (e.g. religions, political parties, factions, etc)

stroking--rather than being indifferent to another, this generally refers to positively acknowledging the person by complimenting, recognizing, and other verbal or non-verbal communication chosen to make that person feel good.

TIT for TAT strategy--a strategy for use in non-zero sum "co-operate / defect" games --or applicable situations in real world interactions with people--where you co-operate on your first turn and on subsequent turns do whatever your opponent did on his or her previous turn (e.g. if your opponent co-operates you co-operate, if your opponent defects, you defect.)   The success of this strategy (based on both players coming out ahead) was initially appreciated in the 1980s by academics studying Prisoner's Dilemma games.  It has subsequently been linked to the human cultural evolution of co-operation, hard-wired neural network programs in the brain, and diplomatic successes--most notably the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

tolerant—sympathetic to or at least able to allow another individual’s  indulgence in beliefs, values, practices, and behaviors that differ from or conflict with one’s own.  

tunnel vision -- the failure to see or consider other points of view or beliefs associated with someone one who has a very narrow worldview

value judgment -- comparing either something concrete (person, object, etc) or something abstract (quality, principle, etc) to some idealized standard. A value judgment is what bridges the gap between “what is” and “what ought to be”.

values -- abstract qualities, principles, beliefs, or aspects of behavior that a person or a whole society holds in high regard after making value judgments.

values clarification, steps in the process of valuing -- 1) privately prizing and cherishing; 2) publicly affirming beliefs and choosing one’s behavior (when appropriate); 3) choosing from alternatives; 4) choosing after consideration of consequences; 5) acting on one’s beliefs; 6) acting with a patter, consistency and repetition

zero sum game–a game (which can represent a social or economic interaction or conflict) in which someone wins and someone loses, to be contrasted with a game in which someone can win without someone else losing.

Contrast Worldview Themes #47B and #29B --   these themes involve orientations, beliefs or behavior that are (more or less) diametrically opposed!   

arms control--refers to efforts to restrict development,  production, spread, stockpiling, and usage of weapons.  At the family level it may mean encouraging fathers to keep hunting rifles in locked cabinets; nationally it connects with pushing for gun control laws; internationally to both technological and diplomatic efforts to control weapons of mass destruction. 

brotherhood -- an idealized situation in which people treat each other in a highly considerate way as if they were members of the same family (brothers or sisters)

conscientious objector--one who refuses to bear arms / go to war given the religious or moral principles he or she holds.

defencism--conditional pacifism that accepts wars for defensive purposes but rejects wars of aggression

diplomacy--refers to 1) the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations, or 2) tactful, polite, skillful, non-confrontational  handling of affairs so as not to arouse hostility

evil, the problem of -- this problem has plagued philosophers at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. Epicurus (341-270 BC) appears to be the first to consider it at some length. Simply put, it has two aspects, one religious, one secular, that can themselves be stated as questions, First, why does an all powerful, all knowing God allow evil to exist in the world? Second, how should society fight human’s wicked and evil acts -- won’t fighting them with evil (violence, vengeance, capital punishment, etc) just result in more evil? Those who embrace non-violence, forgiveness, and oppose capital punishment basically feel that good can not come out of evil. Others argue that if evil is left unchecked and unpunished, and not countered with strong action, then more evil will result.

gun control--proponents advocate bans on certain weapons (including military style semi-automatic rifles, handguns), restrictions on gun purchases, and registration of all guns.  While typically not contesting legitimate gun use for hunting, they cite studies that connect firearm availability with increased domestic violence and homicides. 

humility -- or being humble. According to Alan Morinis this involves “limiting oneself to an appropriate amount of space while leaving room for others. Weaving humility into relating to other people means valuing an orientation that proclaims, “I don't have all the answers and I want your contribution.” Embracing humility, according to Gary Zukov, means embracing the “harmlessness of one who treasures and honors and reveres life in all its forms”.

karma -- from the Hindu sacred text the Bhagavad Gita, “Karma is the force of creation, wherefrom all things have their life.” Western classical physics (in the form of Newton’s 3rd Law) includes the principle that for action (or force acting) there is a reaction (a reaction force, equal in strength but oppositely directed). An eastern version of this -- a “Law of Karma” -- might be cast as “Whatever you give to the world you receive back from the world”.

noble savage view of human nature -- the belief that people, if they lived in a natural state away from the corrupting influence of social institutions, are fundamentally peaceful, co-operative, and altruistically concerned with each other’s well being -- not aggressively greedy, acquisitive, competitive and merely out to advance their own self interest. This view was popularized by 18th century French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau.

non-aggression principle--the idea, as expressed by Ayn Rand, that coercive physical force or the threat of such use against person or property should never be used first, and that its only legitimate use is for defensive purposes by individuals or by governments to punish law-breakers.

non-violence-- both a moral philosophy and practical political strategy which rejects the use of violence to bring about social or political change. It provides an alternative to both passivity and violent action, advocating instead other means of popular struggle such as civil disobedience, boycotts, consciousness raising, etc.  Power, according to non-violence theory, depends largely on the co-operation of others. Non-violence recognizes that, ultimately, the power of those in positions of authority depends on the consent and co-operation of those they wield power over. Thus, one strategy employed by non-violent protestors is the deliberate withdrawal of this consent in an effort to invalidate the authority they find oppressive.

pacifism --can 1) generally refer to an attitude or policy of non-resistance / non-violence--which for some includes rejecting even self defense--or 2) specifically being opposed to war as a way to settle disputes.

pacifism, types of --the most basic distinction here is between absolute and conditional pacifism.  The former holds that all killing, all forms of violence, and all war are morally wrong; those of the latter persuasion, while much preferring peace, accept some of these under certain conditions. Examples of conditional pacifism include accepting use of violence to defend one's self or family, embracing capital punishment but opposing all other killing, defencism, and pacificism.  

self control -- generally this refers to exercising restraint over one’s impulses, desires and emotions. Often it can involve deferring a reward or delaying gratification. -- an ability that many cite as a sign of emotional maturity or even intelligence. Some see the process of exhibiting self control as involving a battle between different parts of the mind.