Post 11. Symbol.

This post is just about, some of the adventures I've been on. I've got lots of sides, an artistic side, an adventurous side, most importantly a vulnerable side. I have been posting photos through the years, they are here:

Model 299 Photo Sets

Overall I guess I'd just assumed people knew what the study of modern culture was, when I refer to it. It is about understanding stereotypes, and being capable of critically analyzing the 'texts' in the culture. One of the reasons I love collages so much is that they are sourced in modern culture, the texts come from magazines. When I do my 'journal' it is really easy to represent a sign of the times because the sensations permeate the printed texts. The use of analogy and symbol and metaphor are available concepts no matter which school of psychology or philosophy you follow; being aware of the symbols and their intrinsic meaning for you as an individual, allows for the meta-representation of those symbols. In a way, you are what you watch or view much like you are what you eat, it makes good media-nutritional sense to have a discerning media-palate. These meta-representations allow you to reciprocally embed your core values into the things you internalize, and not so much be at the mercy of the producers of the media or mainstream ideals in total.

My collages all mean something different to each person who sees them, perhaps with a different theme for each or a symbol that I was alluding to while constructing them. The iconology I suppose is the most important aspect, because all of these icons were produced by mainstream media:

Art and Collages

Someone gave me a painting by Marc Chagall, I suppose if I'm discussing the iconology of something that painting is one to mention, it contains all of Chagall's more famous symbols. They are arranged in such a way that they enshrine the woman, from his paintings. This must have been one of his later works, because it is not missing any of the signs he is known for. I won't post an image of it, but there is something to be said for the transfiguration that symbols undergo throughout an artist's lifetime.

Anyhow, enjoy the images.

Post 10. Description of the problem.

I suppose I should assemble everything now so that it is relatively clear what I am saying. Our culture has identified a problem, that problem is violence. People these days talk about reactive measures to reduce violence at the expense of liberty. People would very much like to ban certain types of firearms, or ask producers to stop making certain types of video games and movies. These ideas are ineffective and I have evidence enough to know that. I call these things reactive because instead of proactively moving change into the nature of the culture, it is reducing liberty for the sake of accepting the current culture. This is not such a valuable policy, it is a lot like patching holes in a sinking boat at sea, when one is fixed another one appears.

What I'm proposing is, absolutely, advocating for the integration of modern culture in our education institutions. The reason I want to do this is straightforward, I know that being capable of critically analyzing culture will help de-escalate violence in the culture and renew the sensibility of artistic expression. There is no reason to ban any work, material, action, object and try to control it with federal law. There is a reason to ask people to understand the nature of the media that they are exposed to every day, and through the use of their personal strengths discover a way to critically perceive it, in a way that is more congruent with their own nurtured and salient sense of self and identity.

Instead of patching leaks in our federal institutions, let's inspire a way to critically analyze it, and contribute to it through coursework and through media texts and expression. There's no reason to write one more reactive federal law, if the people who are engaged in the culture, are engaged by the culture in a way that they are aware of and sensitive to. People will choose the types of media texts and productions that enable their sense of identity, the current cultural problem has to do with, a lack of awareness of and sensitivity to this absolution of identity.

Understanding the culture is an attainable goal at the secondary level. One textbook and access to any music, movie, or magazine genre is enough material to complete a cultural analysis, and to express individual opinions about the state of modern culture. A simple essay activity teaches a skill set that is attainable and valued in the context of The United States.

I have been a victim, my story is not unlike the story of anyone who has been bullied or ostracized, in any high school. I've been a drop-out, I've been the one exception to the rule that all students should attend school for the benefit of society. Because I maintain my own perceptions and a strong sense of my own core values, I have overcome that stigmatization and I came back, the experiences and academic work that follow in this journal are just substantiating that. The Jefferson County Open School, and previously Tanglewood Open Living School taught me the skills that I needed, to maintain my values while experiencing the antithetical subcultures in this city in Jefferson County, Colorado and survive. It's time to pay it forward.

--Corey

Post 9. Motivation in a Cultural Context.

This is the capstone of the three posts that it's not likely everyone has the time to read. But this basically, is good news. I did this research and then decided for myself that I was excited about the eventual motivation of the culture as a whole to idealize peace, valor, and agapean love. That's where it seems we all are collectively swinging back to. This is something I did academically, but I've changed the citations because I do not want to disclose the location of my university.

***

            Contemporary ideas about social change often involve things like the concept of shared experience which builds social capital, the notion that an issue can become so absolved simply through awareness of it, and resulting action toward social solutions through the potential created through expenditure of social capital in the process (Loeb, 2010). This is not incorrect, it is however a contemporary viewpoint which happens to corroborate ideas about motivation which were developed for understanding individuals. In the past I have written in order to construct and articulate a motivational field toward an ideal of meaning in the peak experiences, which are described in a way which indicates these kinds of experiences seeking meaning in the west, must come through intentional practices of attentiveness that are intrinsically motivated and psychophysiologically beneficial (Hixon, 2012a).

Taking motivation out of the individual context, requires integrating ideas about individual motivations into a context which describes the behavior of groups and societies, accounting for individual identity and intergroup differentiation. Intergroup differentiation is a function of personal social identity (Tasdemir, 2011). Prototypes are created within the culture, which people begin to identify with as a process of self-categorization, which facilitates group identity through the emphasis of the distinctiveness of salient group traits (Tasdemir, 2011).

In order to take group identity out of the individual context and apply it toward society one should understand the existence of social prototypes in modern culture and mass media, which become constantly available and mainstream, and provide mainstream society with rapid information for generalizing individual traits toward social group membership (Holtzman, 2000). People gain information from the culture, for the rapid classification of individuals (stereotypes), which facilitates intergroup differentiation in the wider scope of society (Holtzman, 2000). Media producers do not necessarily intentionally facilitate these classifications but rather, are providing prototypes in an effort to produce monetary gain, by providing media which most people can recognize and will consume in the process of self-categorization. People do internalize stereotypes from the culture, and expectations from society can become a part of individual identities in this reverse direction as well, so the relationship between media and individuals is reciprocal (Holtzman, 2000).

Most people are not aware of the reciprocal influences between culture and individuals, and continue to be influenced by this process without necessarily being aware of it. What is acceptable in mainstream culture is also continuously escalating and changing over time, which is evidenced by comparing older media texts with newer ones. One can compare episodes of productions within the same media format and genre, such as the police drama Dragnet and the police drama Criminal Minds as a measure of mainstream attitudes about crime and violence on television (Webb, 1951; The Mark Gordon Company, 2005). It has been said that modern culture has escalated and de-sensitized our culture in a way that is not unlike military training, and in a way that enables violence within the context of The United States (Grossman, 2009). Exposure to violent content in movies and in video games can be shown to make violent actions more available in the thoughts of individuals exposed to the media, and people may gain more favorable attitudes toward violence through constant exposure (Anderson, 1997; Anderson & Dill, 2000; Rule & Ferguson, 1986). The social problem this paper refers to is the tolerance of violence within The United States culture and the continued escalation of violent attitudes within the culture.

The media is not the only concern regarding violent attitudes and social policies. Violent culture socializes the acquisition of social skills which are violent, these social skills learned from the culture might be the only effective skills available for social identification for certain individuals at certain times, resulting in violent crimes like homicide (Lee, 2011). During wartime, people who serve in the military may be more vulnerable to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if they have been exposed to previous stressful or violent events (Brailey, Vasterling, Proctor, Constans & Freidman, 2007). Cultural attitudes regarding male-dominated power relationships can explain cases of domestic violence, and these types of power relationships are systematically sanctioned by the culture and institutions within the social context (Taylor & Jasinski, 2011). For youth, video games and video game violence can contribute to violent behavior and delinquency, and poorer performance in school (Anderson & Dill, 2000). Cultural tolerance of violence and systematic dominance of media-based prototypes can hinder individual development if the awareness of the influence of culture and media texts is not recognized by individuals and groups. Critical awareness of media and production techniques is one of the skills which can mitigate the influence of prototypical behaviors presented in the media (Eron, 1986). The observation of others who are exposed to the same violent events and whether others appear to approve or disapprove of violence can influence the acceptability of aggressive behavior in individuals exposed to violence (Berkowitz, 1986). Clearly, awareness of violence as a problem is the beginning of positive social change, however putting this in a motivational context requires a theoretical framework.

Gestalt psychology can explain a suitable theoretical framework for the process of social change. Let tolerance of violence become the social problem which needs change, it is a pervasive and underlying force within the content of cultural texts within the context of The United States. People who are acquiring skills from modern culture and presenting them as a part of self-categorization may not necessarily be aware of their behavior. People may not necessarily be aware that the stereotypes presented within society do not always generalize toward their own personal traits and identification. People who are not sensitive to violent actions and consequences, because of exposure to violence (in the media, without apparent consequences) may not be aware of the loss of keen sensitivity. Finally, the tolerance of violence within the culture has human consequences which individuals may not be aware of.

The gestalt cycle of experience describes energy created by an underlying force, a need for absolution of intuitive senses describing a deficiency, resulting in the generation of a solution which dissolves the oblique awareness of the deficiency. Joseph Zinker (1977) described the richness of information present within individual creation of metaphor, and he described it as a means of gaining insight into the underlying pathologies of individuals, which can be molded through the creative presentation of analogies. The cycle of experience begins with the sensation of the underlying difference between ourselves and our environment creating a figure-ground relationship which must be adapted to (Gaffney, 2009). Analogously, experiences which demonstrate the full consequences of the tolerance of violence create a true figure-ground relationship between current de-sensitization to violence and sensitivity to violent behavior and awareness of the consequences of violence.

After some research I have described these kinds of figure-ground relationships as dialectics which naturally move toward equilibrium or entropy (Hixon, 2013). Action research has been described in terms of the work of Kurt Lewin, which also describes the dynamics of dialectical forces that consistently move toward a state of entropy (Bargal, 2006). The development of the gestalt cycle of experience described the formation and dissolution of these dialectics, moving to and from a state of rest or withdrawal. The full cycle of experience can be described in this order, sensation (unfocused awareness), awareness (of figure), energized mobilization (toward entropy), contact (dissolution of figure), and resolution (creating meaning for the new adaptation) (Gaffney, 2009). Kurt Lewin (1935) describes behavior as a function of dialectical fields between individuals and their environment. The gestalt cycle of experience helps describe the discovery of these dialectical fields, which results in motivation toward solution of the dialectic, and the formation of meaning for and resolution of this heuristic process. In my previous work I begin describing one of these dialectics as a figure-ground relationship between the formation of ego and the dissolution of ego as a process of self-transcendence and motivation (Hixon, 2012a). This is based on Abraham Maslow’s (1974) assertion that being-cognition is a process which is relational but opposite to the presence of egocentrism in western culture. I also include Jorge Ferrer’s (2011) assertion that activities representing full attentiveness or mindfulness must be intentionally created within western culture, and his description of an optimal belief system requiring freedom from egocentrism and the acceptance of pluralism. Bringing this into context, through this process I had formed a figure-ground relationship between egocentrism and self-transcendence, which can be described as a field that the gestalt cycle of experience elucidates in terms of the creation of motivating forces toward entropy. The process described as the solution and dissolution of ego is a heuristic process, it describes the formation and development of personality which continuously adapts to the environment, by going to and moving from individual senses of self.

This heuristic process can be induced for entire cultures through the analogous use of metaphor in mainstream media. Unconsciously, within the context of The United States, the media is already realizing communal ideals and representing them through stories of successful heroes. The film Armageddon represented a band of reluctant heroes, one such hero becomes idealized through self-transcendence and the realization of agapean love for society, in the movie one of the heroes is shown performing an act of valor sacrificing himself to save his daughter and all of humankind (Bay, Bruckheimer & Hurd, 1998). There are more examples of this type of movie and sometimes they are brought into realistic social contexts. Act of Valor is a movie which depicts extraordinary soldiers, saving the people of The United States through dedicated selflessness and an extreme act of valor, such as one solder covering a live grenade to save his entire team (McCoy & Waugh, 2012). Paradoxically, Act of Valor is also a movie which contains the most innovative and realistic portrayals of wartime violence available in modern culture. The reciprocal influence between culture and society is a heuristic process that is moving toward the resolution of agapean love and acts of valor as American cultural ideals. It is a heuristic process that not many in the American context are aware of or are able to encourage or discourage through the critical analysis of the media. Inducing recognition of this phenomenon in the public context might cause the cultural awareness and formation of a motivational field toward sensitivity to violence, and sensitivity to the consequences of violence as a cultural ideal. Raising awareness of the influences of violence might be the catalyst which asks individuals to become aware of and critically evaluate the production of media which is a part of the shared experience of groups within the context of The United States. In many ways young people are already aware of this though not directly as in a more recent production The Man with the Iron Fists, violence becomes an interpretive art form, which contains visual aspects which are phenomenal but unrealistic and imaginary (Roth, Abraham & Newman, 2012). The Man with the Iron Fists also idealizes an end to the violence and an end to the need for weapons in the fictional village created in the film, through fantasies involving personal empowerment through mystical (in the film, Buddhist) means (Roth, Abraham & Newman, 2012). Joseph Zinker (1977) describes the creative use of analogy and the awareness of insight provided by the use of metaphor, as a process applicable to the therapeutic growth of individuals. These examples in modern culture demonstrate the effective use of analogy through storytelling and the creative insight offered by the metaphors in the film can be used to provide a description of the heuristic process which mainstream culture is undergoing. People may not be conscious of this process, and triggering awareness of it may begin a cycle of experience in a scope including a mass cultural level for social groups to be motivated toward the resolution of violence.

In the past I have created media for the purpose of raising awareness of the influence of media (Hixon, 2012b). Media campaigns which introduce social skills which people can apply for understanding and interpreting the media may be beneficial in shaping the direction the culture grows in. As noted in the introduction of this document critical awareness of production techniques and awareness of other’s responses to the same experiences both influence the choice to accept or reject the social skills which media productions demonstrate (Eron, 1986; Berkowitz, 1986). Creating a sensation which produces awareness of and mobilization toward resolving the availability of violence within modern culture, using the gestalt cycle of experience as a template, can facilitate motivation toward a sensitive and aware culture. I am not saying that violence is a solution, although mass tragedy can be considered the kind of event which raises this awareness, I am suggesting that the creative use of attractive and involving media can demonstrate more proactive skills for use in the social context. Media provides a very powerful teaching tool for demonstrating social skills and providing prototypical identities in a relational culture. Perhaps, as our cultural texts are already motivated in this direction toward selfless values, a media production can also create the awareness required for the development of successful social change. Deficient social skills for establishing social identity have been cited as a cause of violence (Lee, 2011). Perhaps a richer culture with more available useful and proactive social skills can innovate and re-sensitize American society.

A realization that violence is not attractive and has serious expense in both human and monetary terms, can motivate change on the level of public policy. The United States has been at war for a very long time and there are consequences of that beginning to show culturally and internally throughout the subcultures within The United States. Video games such as Call of Duty idealize violence and military service (Chichoski, 2012). These violent video games enable killing and are comparable to military training (Grossman, 2009). Although this is useful if most of the American society chooses to identify with military service people and perhaps enlist in the armed forces, critical awareness of this inherent social value within these kinds of cultural presentations, might help mitigate the effectiveness of video games as military training. Perhaps video games can also be evolved to represent more effective social skills, as the technology is also an effective teaching platform, and is moving toward becoming a true social activity through multiplayer video games which connect large groups of people together interactively.

A culture which is more aware of the influences of the cultural artifacts which are produced as a means of monetary gain, can empower groups within the culture, enabling groups to become critical of the representations of social prototypes within modern culture which serve as a component of intergroup differentiation. If I had the means, I would create media dedicated to enable this empowerment.

Ideals like self-transcendence are a part of military subculture, and successful service in combat provides moments of peak experience, which can be adapted toward awareness of selfless social ideals that can be applied toward effective re-integration from military to civilian life (Osran, Smee, Sreenivisan & Weinberger, 2010). This implication within the culture of The United States is paradoxical, that people should be motivated toward violence in order to realize ideals which promote unity and community. I am elaborating a premise that if people become aware that goals like self-transcendence are a large part of what motivates service, perhaps a proactive motivation could be developed toward more collective ideals, before individuals choose to engage in combat.

Attitudes, judgments about people specifically prejudices, can in many ways influence behavior (Ehrlich, 1969). The values which people admit can influence the direction in which people are motivated to achieve, as values can be described as a particular class of motives which can be linked to affect (Geen 1984). Epistemologies for establishing the values which are positive for society are still being developed and this is a limitation of understanding motivation in this way. Consequently this is one of the places where science and religion confluence. Jorge Ferrer (2011), describes a spiritual epistemology for the cocreation of relationships among human beings which enable growth in terms of mutual respect, constructive rather than destructive confrontation, and the spirit of solidarity. Ferrer’s (2011) ideas, represent the initial scientific awareness of the need for communal values which imply respect for pluralistic beliefs, and freedom from egocentrism. If this epistemology could be applied in the creation of productions in terms of modern culture, perhaps modern culture will produce attitudes about diverse world cultures, which can help mitigate the use of intergroup conflict.

Overall the awareness by individuals of the influence of affect and cognition can be beneficial too. Affect is not a part of human experience which is completely separate from rational thought processes and in many ways shapes choices which are available for individuals to make in terms of achievement (Bjornebekk, 2008). People experience mass media and culture provides affective experiences which require full attentiveness, these artifacts can be proactive.

References

Anderson, C. (1997). Effect of violent movies and trait hostility on hostile feelings and

     aggressive thoughts. Aggressive Behavior, 23(3), 161-178

Anderson, C. & Dill, K. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior in

     the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772-790.

Bargal, D. (2006). Personal and intellectual influences leading to Lewin’s paradigm of action

     research: Towards the 60^th anniversary of Lewin’s ‘Action research and minority problems’

     (1946). Action Research, 4(4), 367-388.

Berkowitz, L. (1986). Situational influences on reactions to observed violence. Journal of Social

     Issues, 42(3), 93-106.

Brailey, K., Vasterling, J., Proctor, S., Constans, J., & Freidman, M. (2007). PTSD symptoms,

     life events, and unit cohesion in U.S. soldiers: Baseline findings from the neurocognition

     deployment health study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 20(4), 495-503.

Bjornebekk, G. (2008). Positive affect and negative affect as moderators of cognition and

     motivation: The rediscovery of affect in achievement goal theory. Scandinavian Journal of

     Educational Research, 52(2), 153-170.

Bay, M, Bruckheimer, J. & Hurd, G. A. (Producers), & Bay, M. (Director). Armageddon

     [Motion Picture]. [With B. Willis, B. Thornton & L. Tyler]. United States: Buena Vista

     Pictures.

Chichoski, B. (2012). Call of duty: Black ops 2 [PC Video Game]. Santa Monica, CA:

     Activision.

Ferrer, J. (2011). Participatory spirituality and transpersonal theory: A ten-year retrospective.

     The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 43(1), 1-34.

Ehrlich, H., J. (1969). Attitudes, behavior, and the intervening variables. American Sociologist,

     4(1), 29-34.

Eron, L. (1986). Interventions to mitigate the psychological effects of media violence on

     aggressive behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 42(3), 155-169.

Geen, R. G. (1984). Human motivation: New perspectives on old problems. In A. M. Rogers, &

     C. Scheirer (Eds.) , The G. Stanley Hall lecture series, Vol. 4 (pp. 9–57). Washington, DC:

     American Psychological Association.

Grossman, D. (2009). On killing: The psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society.

     New York, NY: Back Bay.

Hixon, C. (2012a, December 30). Post 6. [Blog message]. Retrieved from:

     http://such411.blogspot.com/2012/12/post-6.html

Hixon, C. (2013, January 3). Post 8: Entropy. [Blog message]. Retrieved from:  

     http://such411.blogspot.com/2013/01/post-8.html

Hixon, C. (2012b, April 8). Violence & the media. [Video Podcast]. Retrieved from

     http://youtu.be/q8ICW7swfXI

Lewin, K. (1935). A dynamic theory of personality: Selected papers of Kurt Lewin. New York,

     NY: McGraw-Hill

Lee, M., (2011). Reconsidering culture and homicide. Homicide Studies, 15(4), 319-340.

Loeb, P. R. (2010). Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in challenging times. New York,

     NY: St. Martin’s Press.

The Mark Gordon Company (Producer). (2005). Criminal Minds [Television series]. [With M.

     Patinkin, T. Gibson & L. Glaudini]. New York, NY: Commercial Broadcasting Television.

Maslow, A. H. (1974). Cognition of being in the peak experiences. In Covin, T. (Ed.) Readings

     in human development: A humanistic approach. New York, NY: MSS Information

     Corporation.

McCoy, M. & Waugh S. (Producers), & McCoy M. & Waugh S. (Directors). (2012). Act of valor

     [Motion Picture]. [With R. Sanches, N Serrano & E. Rivera]. United States: Relativity Media.

Osran, H., Smee, D., Sreenivasan, S. & Weinberger, L. (2010). Living outside the wire: Toward

     a transpersonal resilience approach for oif/oef veterans transitioning to civilian life. The

     journal of transpersonal psychology, 42(2), 209-235.

Roth, E., Abraham, M. & Newman, E. (Producers), & RZA (Director). (2012). The man with the

     iron fists [Motion picture]. [With R. Crowe, C. Le & L. Liu]. Unites States: Universal

     Pictures.

Rule, B. & Ferguson T. (1986). The effects of media violence on attitudes, emotions and

     cognitions. Journal of Social Issues, 42(3), 29-50.

Tasdemir, N. (2011). The relationships between motivations of intergroup differentiation as a

     function of different dimensions of social identity. Review of general psychology, 15(2), 125-

     137.

Taylor, R., & Jasinski J. (2011). Femicide and the feminist perspective. Homicide Studies, 15(4),

     341-362.

Webb, J. (Producer). (1951). Dragnet [Television series]. [With J. Webb, B. Alexander & H.

     Morgan]. New York, NY: National Broadcasting Company.

Zinker, J. (1977). Creative process in gestalt therapy. New York, NY: Random House.

Post 8. Entropy.
This is another post that is a part of a future post, that will be posted in a few minutes. This describes the psychological part of a basic idea that energy is created from dialectics that eventually achieve entropy, and become a part of the background again. I think further that more figures come out of the resulting entropy, much like anything that one gives close attention to, extruding it from the background.

***

According to David Bargal (2006), Kurt Lewin’s dynamic approach to understanding a motivational field can be described in terms of behavior,

behavior is conceived as emanating from a constant equilibrium, which is achieved as a consequence of the forces that impinge upon people and on situations. Thus, individual or group behavior is analyzed in the context of the forces which enhance efforts to achieve goals, while there are inhibiting conditions which prevent it. Thus, reality is characterized as an ongoing process of achieving equilibrium in a social unit, while the process is being disrupted by the ever-changing field of forces (pp. 375-376).

I am going to apply analogy in two very distinct ways; first there is the analogy which can be made common between Kurt Lewin’s dynamic understanding of motivational fields, and any dialectic which is reciprocally related within modern culture. An example of this would be the notion that nature and culture are separate, and that a motivational field forms between an individual’s intuitive skill set, temperament or psychophysiological development and a person’s adaptation toward a social identity and role consisting of socialized expectations. Another example would be the motivation which exists in terms of optimal distinctiveness theory, a field which exists between a person’s need for a salient sense of identity, and a person’s need to belong within a larger social context (Linville, 1998). The third example is much more relevant to social change it is a perceived field created by the dialectic between egocentric or individual achievement and identity, and selfless or self-transcendent behavior toward collective aspirations and social roles. Each of these three examples demonstrates a facet of a dynamic model; they are dialectics which can describe for researchers a motivational field which sets up the kind of dynamic relationship for a context Kurt Lewin might have used to describe behavior in terms of seeking equilibrium.

The second way to apply analogy in terms of a context for social change and motivation is through the creative process outlined by Joseph Zinker (1977). Analogies are often opportunities to understand the use of metaphor in an individual’s thinking, metaphor is a creative process which can offer insight into the thoughts and behaviors of an individual (Zinker, 1977). Through the use of analogy an individual’s metaphors can be interpreted in order to help define a person’s needs, and applied as a part of an intervention designed to address an individual’s needs and facilitate cognitive change (Zinker, 1977). Joseph Zinker (1977) refers to the use of analogy as a process of “making the familiar strange and the strange familiar.” (p. 54). What I would like to point out is that the application of analogy, does not require a therapist-client relationship, and that metaphors are constructed into modern culture today; metaphor in modern culture provides insight into the needs of a society, and group behaviors. Social identity can be characterized as depending on prototypes for ideal traits among group members, individuals may begin to self-categorize according to these prototypes and that can strongly characterize their behavior, by challenging individual certainties about themselves or other people (Tasdemir, 2011). These kinds of mainstream prototypes (termed stereotypes) are created within modern culture and provide individuals with very rapid classification data in terms of social groups and traits which indicate social group membership (Holtzman, 2000). Therefore, evidence of social change in my opinion is present within all media and cultural artifacts which a society produces. The insight which we can gain from media presentations, movies, music, written media, and visual art; demonstrates the needs of a society, and the natural context which cultivates the dialectics motivating society toward the definition and fulfillment of these collective needs. Needs can be characterized as both necessary to fulfill some deficiency, or proactively established to correct a social injustice. My definition of social change is group realization of and action toward meeting these needs, the achievement of contact between an identified social need and its solution, and the resolution of the process for a group and society that is demonstrated by its culture and its perception of values.

            I needed to make the first definition of analogy previously in order to describe the motivational basis for social change.  In terms of seeking equilibrium, in cross-cultural studies we can construct idealizations such as the ideal individualist culture or the ideal collectivist culture; expectations about what an ideal eastern culture is or what an ideal western culture is. I would say that in terms larger than an individual sense, entire societies can be classified as either egocentric or selfless, as characterized by the expectations of individual roles within those cultures. Further, egocentrism and selflessness sets up a dialectic or field, which naturally tends to establish a state of entropy. In The United States culture, society has become extremely individual and characterized by conflicting intergroup interests; the cultural prototypes in The United States media depict very strong individual heroes such as successful athletes or individuals with a particularly salient sense of individual moral character or strength. Often warriors are depicted within the culture of The United States, engaging in violence but also acts of valor or the heroic realization of agapean love (for all of society). From the state of modern culture in The United States I would then have to say that some of the stronger motivations within society are through identification with these heroes and their metaphors, and are moving in a direction toward a more accountable sense of presence within collective society. That is because if a society is extremely individual, then it follows that in order to establish equilibrium, dynamic action will be motivated toward a more pluralistic and collectively aware society. As it follows people are beginning to idealize collective traits such as in the work of Jorge Ferrer (2011) in terms of belief systems and spirituality. I am not presently exposed to enough eastern or collective culture, to give an example of a collective society moving toward more individualist values, but in my experience that is the American perception of what the Chinese economy is doing.

            The best way to facilitate social change is through application of social capital gained through shared experiences (Loeb, 2010). I do not overly criticize the media as it is one way in which many individuals can share the same experience, so long as they have the ability to be critical of it, and selective in terms of self-categorization. Also I think to ensure that social change happens, people need to be aware of the media in a way that enables them to choose the kinds of prototypes or stereotypes they are exposed to in a more cognizant way. I think the way we have always been able to measure social change is through culture, and that is the best way to observe the perceived ideal values and motivations of a society. As a point of discussion though, The United States maintains a kind of cultural hegemony (Holtzman, 2000). What would your beliefs about the motivations of American culture be, if American media was all that you had exposure to, excluding experience within the society?

References.

Bargal, D.. (2006). Personal and intellectual influences leading to Lewin’s paradigm of action

     research: Towards the 60^th anniversary of Lewin’s ‘Action research and minority problems’

     (1946). Action Research, 4(4), 367-388.

Ferrer, J. (2011). Participatory spirituality and transpersonal theory: A ten-year retrospective.

     The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 43(1), 1-34.

Holtzman, L. (2000). Media messages: What film, television, and popular music teach us about

     race, class, gender and sexual orientation. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Linville, P. W. (1998). The heterogeneity of homogeneity. In J. Darley, J. Cooper (Eds.) ,

     Attribution and social interaction: The legacy of Edward E. Jones (pp. 423-487). American

     Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10286-008

Loeb, P. R., (2010). Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in challenging times. New York, NY:

     St. Martin’s Press.

Tasdemir, N. (2011). The relationships between motivations of intergroup differentiation as a

     function of different dimensions of social identity. Review of general psychology, 15(2),

     125-137.

Post 7. A Mind Map.

I got this from Roz, a friend of mine on Facebook. I had read The Mind Map Book, by Tony Buzan But I still thought that, even though this breaks some of Buzan's rules, it's very beautiful. I saw this and had to keep it. Glad I'm not the only one! Thanks!

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Post 6. Okay, motivation.

This is actually two-part research, but I need to post this to refer to later in another analysis of modern culture. The direction modern culture is headed in is exciting, but to understand that one needs to visit the theoretical framework which makes it such.


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Changing over time: Identity, Transcendence, New Identity.

     It is with some sense of irony that I am discussing the process through which personalities might change over time using theories that, once constructed, were evaluated and reconstructed over time. The process of change is not unlike the process which the authors I am writing from went through during their search for the universal understanding of motivation. In the first step, we have the introduction and maintenance of a healthy sense of ego and identity which strives for achievement and a salient role within society, through which the peak experiences are introduced and then describe a sense of meaning in itself, that then as though through some alchemy or catalyzing fire of spiritual individuation the constructions which led to this ego identity are transcended. This is not a static process and there are certainly different dispositions which individuals might have, and specific sets of skills which they may have available that contribute to emotional maturation, are the genesis of entirely unique individuals although their values may become similar. So it is not also without irony that I introduce this idea, that the overall source of generativity had been identified in transpersonal psychology which is generalizable toward all people, so that we might understand their unique story throughout the spiritual process. Abraham Maslow (1974), described very thoroughly what he thought of as the peak experiences he described them as a mindfulness activity which transcended normal perceptions of time and space and in which perfect attention toward some event idea or object was attained. In a sense he reaffirms the idea that any one thing given complete attention becomes indescribable and magnificent in itself, and that these relationships transcend typical figure-ground relationships and are instead experiences without categorization or ontological judgment, they are outside of the self-other dichotomy. In participatory spirituality the initial phases of this dichotomy are thought of as a maturation phase a dialectic which according to Ferrer (2011), “displays what it may be the deepest dynamics of the self-disclosing of the mystery” (p. 6). To Ferrer, his motivation was the inevitable discovery of the unfolding of events played out by the cosmos at his time and place, and his notion of ‘the mystery’ is describing itself through experiences and systems which can be explained not unlike Maslow’s peak experiences. Ferrer (2011), also describes an epistemology for establishing what he would say are healthy belief systems or religious systems which all can be said to be striving in the individual sense toward the attainment of mindfulness and the perfect awareness which Maslow describes as an integral part of every peak experience. So it is with very little reservation that I say once a person has a fully healthy and developed sense of self-identity that each person seeks the meaning found in the peak experiences which inevitably lead toward mindfulness practice and a healthy sense of being, that is a sense of being not dependent on the gratification of deficiency needs but instead based on in-the-moment awareness and on being-cognition. Later in life I suppose I can describe various differences in pathological personalities which might be deficiencies in this maturation process, but the question at hand is about how people are motivated to change. 

Ego-Identity

            My conception of the development of ego-identity comes from research on what are considered the more socially established motivational systems like expectancy-value theory and social identity theory in the context of achievement motivation. There is a dialectic present that Weiner (2010), describes in terms of whether an individual has perceived control over events, people with high achievement needs might view the world as controllable while people with lower achievement needs might view the world as more static. This same dialectic is analogously described in another article about the affective predispositions toward achievement or toward failure avoidance that individuals may gain through their developmental processes or temperament (Bjornebekk, 2008). Whenever I am asked to differentiate whether something is caused by a developmental temperament or through learned responses to the environment I simply say “yes”. Both of these researchers are describing different types of people who are motivated to achieve in different ways. Later in this writing it will be established that there are dialectics like these surrounding even the notion of people as they are motivated either by satisfying some need generated through deficiency or through some need facilitated through the realization of agapean love. In either case whenever presented with a nature versus nurture dialectical argument some component of both influences is required to solve the issue in question.

            At the heart of achievement motivation is the concept of self-evaluation and self-categorization which comes as a part of the valance of tasks and accomplishments (Geen, 1984). Self-categorization also plays a role in intergroup differentiation as people might tend to present salient parts of themselves which they have identified are congruent with a group prototype, a behavior which can simultaneously meet needs for belonging and for distinctiveness (van Knippenberg, 2000). Individuals may begin to define themselves in terms of their various group memberships and identify with the salient traits of each group and bring them into their own sense of identity (van Knippenberg, 2000). People also tend to particularly emphasize the distinctiveness of social groups they are in as a part of reinforcing this identity (Tasdemir, 2011). The cognitive and affective psychological consequences of accomplishing tasks reflects directly on an individual’s self-esteem and expectancy of future success, while the controllability of the outcome reflects on a person’s sense of shame or guilt about failure, and these affects in turn influence a person’s striving (Weiner, 2010). A person may be motivated through different strategies toward achievement but success or failure in achievement is internalized as a person develops a self-actualizing identity and sense of ego. Self-actualization in this context is the initial striving to meet one’s potential, where what an individual can be he will strive to be (Maslow, 1943). It should be noted at this point also that behavior theory is not synonymous with motivation theory, as we have seen people are individuating themselves in a way that is distinctive and salient among their social groups and establishing a relational sense of self using the skills and reference points available in the culture and surrounding groups. This process of achievement motivation which has been researched so deeply is what I would call the first phase of healthy development. This is the establishment and categorization of a distinctive and rewarding sense of self. This process of self-selection and categorization could be said to be self-actualization when a person has only the scope of deficiency-needs to motivate her, and although some people fulfill this need for adequacy and self-identification some may not move beyond this point in the theoretical framework I am describing. Maslow’s initial sense of self-actualization may be fitting for some people in their time and place, and with the strategies they have formed for meeting their basic needs and for maintaining the individualist ego. It is at this point I must place in contrast Maslow’s idea of being-cognition which cannot be said to be striving toward an individual sense of ego. Instead what Maslow describes as the result of peak experiences a kind of godly-love or agapean love for a person or object or experience, where the love for these things is not based on fulfilling a deficiency it is instead detached, altruistic, admiring, unselfish; it is to be experienced for what it is and not to gratify individual needs (Maslow, 1974). This kind of self-transcending admiration is more like a collective ideal and it is not entirely inconsequential that Maslow and Ferrer both compared this ideal to more complete descriptions of mindful being in the eastern belief systems (Maslow, 1974; Ferrer, 2011). What these two kinds of cognition have in common between the deficiency-need cognition and the being-cognition is that they both have an underlying generativity which comes from a sense of meaning either from an egocentric object-ground (self-other) relation or a more collective and complete transcendent experience. The establishment of identity within society and as a legacy may begin to show the pathway toward more mature goals that become understood through the peak experiences.

The Peak Experiences

            Peak experiences are not voluntary, they are considered non-volitional experiences that will cannot command, that simply happen to us at our time and place (Maslow, 1974). In a way iterating this kind of experience for Maslow began to catalyze and consume his initial sense of self-actualizing people, he could no longer describe self-actualizing experiences in terms of self and other dialectics or basic needs, and he ended up recanting some of his previous assertions of what a mature motivational need looked like (Maslow, 1974). The process Maslow went through is not unlike the process I am describing of this writing, but to describe the peak experiences that begin this transformation I would leave it to him. Maslow (1974) states, “The peak experience is felt as a self-validating, self-justifying moment which carries its own intrinsic value with it.” (p. 89). Maslow (1974) goes on to describe these kinds of cognitions as, “so valuable that they make life worth while by their occasional occurrence.” (p.89).  Some of the examples illustrated were: Moments of parental experience, such as the way a mother admires her child, as she cares for and perceives all aspects of an infant; the natural experience, which excludes human utility for nature but that is instead an appreciation of nature by and for itself (this is not unlike the ancient eastern philosophy the Tao stipulated by Laozi); the aesthetic appreciation of beauty, without the inclusion of human projections upon it, e.g. a section of cancer viewed through a microscope which has indescribable aesthetic organization if we can forget that it is cancer; the creative moment in which something is brought from contemplation into existence; the therapeutic or intellectual insight, which is without the usual perceptions of time and space but is instead a complete moment in itself; the sexual orgasmic experience of fusion between heightened biological and spiritual experience; and lastly some kinds of athletic fulfillment at the moment of success (Maslow 1974). From the point of view of normal experience, peak experiences are quite different. When contrasting being-cognition and peak experience with normal experience, Maslow (1974) asserts, “Peak experiences are from this point of view more absolute and less relative.” (p. 92). Maslow was very careful about the use of absolutes but what he is describing in a sense is the lack of figure-ground relationship in the peak experiences, this peculiar perceptual experience is what I would build on when describing peak experience as the result of mindfulness activity. Peak experiences are non-volitional experiences which are entirely attended to and immersive in nature, and then he describes it as a passive process which is characterized by an affective sense of wonder, awe, and humility (Maslow, 1974). After reading Maslow’s description of the occurrence of peak experiences I would say that mindfulness meditation and some spiritual practices like it are very similar to what he is describing. At this point I would focus on the description of peak experiences as being outside the normal perception of the passage of time, and that the peak experiences involve absolute attention and awareness of the experience (Maslow, 1974).

Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation is an activity which cultivates these kinds of peak experiences. It is a process through which people strive for a sense of non-judgmental acceptance of each moment, and the detached observation of sensations, emotions and thoughts (Holzel, et. al, 2008). People who meditate often had undergone some neurophysiological changes, they had strengthened the grey matter around the left inferior temporal gyrus and the right hippocampus (Holzel, et. al, 2008). Mindfulness meditation results in a change in brain circuitry and in magnetic resonance imaging studies had been found that mindfulness activates the hippocampus regions of the brain and strengthen them (Engstrom, Pihlsgard, Lundberg & Soderfelt, 2010). There are neurological changes which may increase over time, new brain circuitry which may enable peak-experience or at the very least, coping with adversity. Mindfulness-based stress-reduction therapy has been found to be effective as a means of improving the mental health of individuals, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy helps prevent relapse for people who suffer from depressive episodes (Fjorback, Arendt, Ornbol, Fink & Walasch, 2011). Not only is being-cognition something that is sought after and achieved through mindfulness practice, but the practice itself can actually be psychologically beneficial. Peak experiences are always felt as benevolent in nature and they are good experiences (Maslow, 1974). Experiencing and cultivating a lot of being-cognition in the peak experiences enhances perception and attentiveness, and also tends to lead to more peak-experiences (Maslow, 1974). I am not very skeptical that mindfulness practice, and the seeking of peak experiences is a good thing, if I can say it helps people psychophysiologically as well. People were also more able to differentiate among emotions and better experience affective states, and mindfulness practice had led to better emotional regulation in people who were familiar with the skills (Hill & Updegaff, 2012). It makes sense that people seek this kind of attentiveness and mindfulness, as apparently it is very soothing and beneficial to individuals who are coping.

Ferrer (2011), stipulates that where these kinds of mental pursuits are acknowledged, western culture actually hinders the maturation of nonmental attributes and processes making it normally necessary to engage in intentional activities like mindfulness meditation in order to bring these physical and spiritual attributes up to the same developmental level which the mind achieves through mainstream education.

To wrap up the section on peak experiences I also have to indicate that these processes which are doubtlessly beneficial and helpful to individuals are also acquired through unintentional and selfless pursuits. The peak experiences tend to enlighten us, help us cope and solve problems, but they also show us a way to achieve a sense of completeness and agapean love for experience. Maslow finally writes “My findings indicate that in the normal perceptions of self-actualizing people and in the more occasional peak experiences of average people, perception can be relatively ego-transcending self-forgetful, egoless.” (p. 88). It is also necessary to point out for further research that this theory connects western psychology with egocentrism; traditional self-actualization can be thought of in the cross-cultural context as a western and individualist pursuit. Western psychology at the time of the discovery of self-transcendence regarded cognition as a process which was constantly a response to the environment and was an instrumental mechanism for maintaining identity (Maslow, 1974). Western psychology was said to view the world only from the standpoint of egocentric awareness in which individuals were the centering point (Maslow, 1974). I think these descriptions of mindfulness and peak experiences come from very old ideas except that they are not very old western ideas.

Peak experiences end up inevitably transcending the ego through an alchemical change of ideas surrounding one’s self and one’s role in a greater environment. A selfless love for another person, or experience, place, or object paradoxically catalyzes the sense of ego-identity forward and through this maturation people begin to be motivated by the freedom that such an unselfish detachment enables. In contrast Maslow made up a term which he called rubricizing, which was the necessary categorization and judgment of people and experience that self-actualizing people must have; and then he described peak experiences not unlike mindfulness experiences in the way that these experiences are non-judgmental, passive, they do not project human needs outward, they are without human utility or need for recognition (Maslow, 1974).

Conclusion

            Abraham Maslow had to go through a transformation of his work and his ideas to arrive at the notion that there is not necessarily always an egocentric need which motivates people; the need might be instead for experiences which illustrate that we’re meaningful and aware of ourselves and our surroundings in a mindful way. As this kind of cognition is cultivated, peak experiences happen to us more often than they would if we had not been having them before, and each one of them creates a deeper affection for complete understanding and awareness of being, as a complete picture. The need for rubricising is no longer prevalent in our minds and we begin to move toward non-judgment and acceptance of experience without our other more neurotic tendencies and human responses to the environment such as fear of uncertainty. Instead what really makes work worthwhile is the experience of being in that time and place and being so fully aware of it that it takes hold and guides us away from egocentrism and individualist senses of ego. The transformation of self-actualization from ego-identity to self-transcendence and awareness is a process which needs dialectics to operate it needs the ego as fuel for the changes that occur out of the contrasts between our basic needs and the desire to contact moments of egoless being-cognition. Neither ego or egolessness could develop without the other. If we do, move into more spiritual pursuits as a means of becoming more accepting of the experience around us, there are a few epistemological tests which can help establish the validity of spiritual experience (Ferrer, 2011). These are: The egocentrism test, a test which assesses the degree to which a belief system will free people from narcissism and self-centeredness; the dissociation test, a guideline which evaluates the ability for a belief system to foster detachment and integrated development in all dimensions of a person; and the ego-socio-political test which assesses the amount that ecological balance can be found by the practitioners of a belief system in terms of basic human rights (Ferrer, 2011).

            Applying these ideas realistically and in order to foster change in the world I have found that transpersonal psychology enables the recovery of OEF/OIF veterans. The premise is that because these people have been living a life of service they have established a sense of transpersonal agapean love for the people they are protecting, and that through these experiences have become being-people who can go into society and cultivate this awareness. (Osran, Smee, Sreenivasan & Weinberger, 2010). People through life experience in service have been experiencing the peak experiences and have already given up an egocentric desire to be completely independent or individual, we can apply the mindfulness techniques to help veterans cope with traumatic stress anxiety.  We can also point out that, their emotional and spiritual growth from self-actualizing to self-transcending is useful experience and can help many others in society within the context of The United States (Osran, Smee, Sreenivasan & Weinberger, 2010). Not all veterans come to appreciate the society which they had worked to protect, but through a non-judgmental stance the society can be objectified and observed critically. A way to detach and observe a society might be the best way to find something within it to begin bonding with again. The experience of combat can sometimes be a peak experience if there is a sense of higher-ordered meaning to the events; the questions arising about why an individual survives these conflicts might contribute to a more attentive awareness and therefore peak-experience (Osran, Smee, Sreenivasan & Weinberger, 2010).

            Hopefully, the advent of non-judgmental and fully attended experiences can become inevitable for people who might have otherwise lived entirely through acts which fulfill some deficiency, through the experience of others who have become less egocentric and a sensitivity to other societies who have abandoned attachments to completely salient individual identity in favor of communal success, mindfulness is an activity which can no longer be prevented by the absolution of egocentric identity.

            There is a song, in modern popular culture by a band named Linkin Park which was just released which might describe the alchemical process of going to ego, creating identity, and then transcending ego and identity, it’s called “Burn it Down”. In a sense it is asking us to do away with independent senses of self which we have created on our own, to provide the motivation toward a more communal social ideal (Linkin Park, 2012). Maybe through some combination of eastern and western ideas, it will become more easy for people to attain a sense of what Ferrer (2011) calls spiritual individuation. In that discourse Ferrer (2011) relates that although the end values may be similar, the complete spiritual epistemologies which people create are unique to them and not universal; so in a way perhaps there is another spiritual identity to seek through the eventual individuation of systems which bring us the egoless mindfulness awareness that we strive for, each in unique ways. The construction of and dissolution of ego, and the dialectic between the ego and egoless, might be the best way that meaning in experience can be brought into perception. Of course neither side of such dialectic can be perfect, but perhaps the potential created between going to and returning from ego as this paper describes is, the source of change in human behavior.

  

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