Short version: Yes, more please!

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I won’t be one of the world changers, but there are parts of my arms-reach world to which I’ll apply these useful characteristics. Thanks for writing this; I learned a lot.

OK, Emma, I’ll shut up now.

Graham Storrs’s last blog post..How Not to Write a Novel

Some people are just braver than others when it comes to standing up for what they believe in (the biggies like human rights).

Sometimes compliance is due to compromise (as in a romantic or platonic relationship or a group of friends).

I don’t know much about psychology in the formal sense but found this a most interesting read. Thanks

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@ Zoe and Caroline – glad you found it interesting enough to apply it to personal experiences. I think there are such thing as ripple effects, that might change our corners of the world, and that’s great.

@ graham – that means a lot to be applauded by an ex-psychologist. I think all we can ever do is change our own worlds – so much of what we experience is down to perception anyway; some days everything seems great, some days insurmountable, even though practically nothing external has changed.

As for your views on whether humanity will ever improve, well I haven’t made my mind up on that front. Some days I think it has and will continue to do so, other days I don’t. Pattern? I do agree in that we are just base creatures with a thin veneer of civilisation. But that veneer is sometimes really great.

@Dom – steady there tiger, not everyone knows how fluffy you are in the real world ;o)

J and Graham – I’m staying out of this debate!

Marc – Why thank you. I did love teaching, so much. Why did I stop? Well, that is a very long and complicated story, and far too involved for a comment and not interesting enough for a post. Suffice to say it was a combination of bad decisions, bad luck and freakish events.

I am seriously considering starting a psychology blog, I enjoyed writing this post so much, and it was only an aside – here is where I write about writing. But there is so much to write about – especially all the sexy and exciting bits

We could learn a lot from man’s best friend

Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Help Me Improve – Reader Audit

I must say it’s not the kind of post I was expecting but I read it thoroughly none-the-less. I can see now you were a great teacher. The passion for your subject comes across in your words though I’m not sure I’d ever describe psychology as sexy or exciting

So why did you stop teaching? Why don’t you start another blog on psychology?

Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Help Me Improve – Reader Audit

You make being isolated and cynical sound like a bad thing. I happen to believe that change is mostly perpetrated by naive idiots who have no idea what they’re doing and whose actions tend to lead nowhere. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, as they say. Humanity is too stupid to know what changes would be good for it. I offer the whole of human history as evidence. Unless there is a huge increase in our intelligence, we will continue to be lost and clueless. Hence we stagger around like drunks, going this way and that – a revolution here, a social movement there. One day it’s facism, the next it’s hegemony. One day we’re handing out condoms to Africans, the next day we’re telling them to abstain or starve. One day we’re handing out copies of the Socialist Worker on street corners, the next day we’re saving for a mortgage downpayment.

It would be lovely to change the world for the better. It would be lovely if there was a God, or fairies, or kindly aliens. And who are we to say what is better and what is worse? We are so ignorant and stupid, yet so arrogant.

Psychology is like rhetoric – an extremely dangerous tool in the wrong hands. Some philosophers thought rhetoric should only be practiced by those with good intent. I feel the same about psychology. It’s a shame you can’t control who has access to these tools. It’s a shame no-one can agree on what is right and what is wrong. And it’s a shame that the most ruthless will use the tools they have most ruthlessly.

I read recently that the best way to secure adherents for a religion is to suffer a lot for it, preferably to die for it (see step 3 above.) Yes, it leads to change, and most people would tell you it is a good thing. For myself, I prefer my bubble.

Graham Storrs’s last blog post..How Not to Write a Novel