Mind and Personality as Mental Traits--www.world-class-education.org

II.4 Mind and Personality as Mental Traits

Watch your thoughts; they become beliefs.

Watch your beliefs; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Anonymous

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

Barring physical illness of the brain, a mind once illuminated, rarely becomes dark again.

This writer

Introduction

A. The Faculties of the Mind

1. The Primary Cognitive or Thinking Faculty

2. Other Important Faculties

3. The Triune Model of the Mind or Self

4. The Unconscious

B. Functions and Types of Memories

1. Long-Term Memory

2. Short-Term Memory

C. Emotions and Motivation

1. Emotions and Motivation

2. Emotional Intelligence

D. Personality

1. The Humane Personality

2. The Wanting Personality

3. On Significant Psychological Change and Its Indicators

Introduction

Mind and personality are collective terms of convenience for a variety of mental and emotional traits that are interrelated, often work together, and influence each other. Thus, paradoxically as it may seem, neither mind nor personality exist, whereas all "their" elements do exist. To understand personality, one has to understand the mind because personality is an emergent property of mind and just as mind is an emergent property of mental traits which in turn are an emergent property of the brain.

Personality depends on the mind which is probably the most complex phenomenon in the universe. The term, mind, is commonly used to describe the higher working-as-a-whole functions of the human brain of which the individual is subjectively conscious. It is the human brain's ability to be aware of its own existence. This attributive or functional concept of the mind is therefore a means by which the conscious brain understands its own operations. For instance, self-awareness, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion let it perceive, remember, consider, evaluate, form beliefs, decide and act. The emotions such as love, hate, fear, and joy are of a more primitive origin but they are influenced by, and in turn influence, the functions of the mind. To use one's mind for one's and the group's advantage, one has to know the workings of the mind and the potential benefits of putting it to use. And because the mind is closely related to the functions of the brain--the brain-mind identity--it cannot exist independently of the brain.

Finally, just like a computer has many different programs, so does the mind have many different faculties or abilities, sometimes called modules. For instance, the language module refers to a hypothesized structure in the human brain (anatomical module) or cognitive system (functional module) that some psycholinguists claim contains innate capacities for language. According to some, the hallmark of modularity is information encapsulation; that is, in this case, the module is immune from information from other sources not directly associated with language processing

A. The Faculties of the Mind

The two principles of mental functioning are survival and pleasure.

Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Consciousness is the only means we have to exercise our five senses and our ability to reason. An individual's level of consciousness or awareness determines his or her ability to perceive, analyze, evaluate, understand, decide, and act. These abilities are a matter of degree; hence, everyone shares the potential for becoming disordered and behaving abnormally. Often, abnormal behavior results when people find themselves challenged by problems that are just too great for available coping resources.

This writer

1. The Primary Cognitive or Thinking Faculty

2. Other Important Faculties

3. The Unconscious

1. The Primary Cognitive or Thinking Faculty

This ability is part of consciousness or awareness. It is the only faculty we have received that examines itself and all other faculties. The cognitive faculty has four basic functions:

Input of info through the sense organs via acquaintance or description.
Storage of info in memory--for instance, it stores concepts, which are the basic element of thought, as an interrelated web. Also, see "Functions and Types of Memory" below.
Processing of info consciously and unconsciously: comprehension, judgment, formation of motives, desire, and purposes, as well as critical thinking such as problem solving and decision making. This is in contrast to affective and volitional processes but is influenced by them. There are roughly three kinds of thought when processing info:

Reflexive thought results in an immediate automatic or habitual action. For instance, swerving in traffic to avoid an accident, finding one's balance when tripping, etc.

Inferential thought considers habits learned from experience with little or no evaluation or analysis.

Reflective thought takes into account the whole of one's knowledge and experience to decide on courses of action. For example, science, philosophy, and religion as well as one's life plans, choice of profession, etc. are the result of reflective thought that begins with inferential thought.
Output of info through retrieving or recalling from memory.

These functions together with the other faculties, some of which are mentioned below, yielded the knowledge and rational base of all the chapters of this worldview. Most unfortunately, they also produced The Abysmal Antisocial.

2. Other Important Faculties

The affective or feeling capacity, which is causing or expressing emotion, sensitivity, and other subjective responses. A person has not only the capacity to know but also the capacity to affectively respond to what one knows.
The volitional or intentional ability, which is concerned with deliberate action, often acting on desires and motivations to satisfy our needs. For instance, the results of cognitive and affective processes or deliberations may be acted upon or implemented. These are things a person makes happen rather than what is happening to him. For instance, she was motivated and therefore desired to enroll in college, and did so of her own volition. So, volition can be:

1. the act of using the will; exercise of the will as in deciding what to do,

2. conscious or deliberate decision or choice thus made, and

3. the power or faculty of using the will.
Consciousness is the mental trait of being conscious, that is, being aware of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings. It is a surface feature of the brain, an emergent property that arises out of the combined actions of its parts. As in the case with intelligence, the term emergent indicates that the whole, in this case consciousness, is more than than the sum of its parts. That is, emergent properties can not be demonstrated by their parts. Moreover, they cannot be predicted, let's say in the form of a deduction, even if the parts are completely understood.
Conscience is the faculty of the moral sense or inner voice that tells us what is right or wrong and urges us toward right action. This includes the many ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual. One follows the dictates of one's conscience. However, it does not follow that everything in accordance with conscience is good--for this, like the other faculties, is fallible--it is not an oracle. The evolution of conscience parallels that of morality. For an explanation see The Natural Origins of Morality.
Rationalization is the ability to tranquilize or falsify our conscience when, for instance, the need for survival, greed, sex, the good life, etc., is predominant. It is to devise superficially rational or self-servingly plausible explanations or excuses to do or achieve those things. Rationalization is closely related to the concept of self-deception. The individual is usually not aware that these are not the real motive. See rationalization and self-deception in Where Thinking Goes Wrong.

3. The Triune Model of the Mind or Self

Sigmund Freud offers what is at least a good working hypothesis, that is, he describes the mind as three interacting parts:

The id is regarded as the repository of the instinctual drives and primal impulses such as pleasures, desires, unchecked urges and wish fulfillment. It is dominated by the pleasure principle and irrational wishing, and its impulses are controlled through the development of the ego and superego.
The ego is concerned with the conscious, the rational, the moral and the self-aware aspect of the mind. It experiences the external world, or reality, through the senses, organizes the thought processes rationally, and governs action: it mediates between the impulses of the id, the demands of the environment, and the standards of the superego.
The superego is the censor for the id and enforces the moral codes of the ego. At an unconscious level it blocks unacceptable impulses of the id.

4. The Unconscious

The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

The unconscious has been defined as the sum of all thoughts, memories, impulses, desires, feelings, etc. of which the individual is not conscious but which influence the emotions and behavior. It is what the founder of psychoanalysis or depth psychology Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) called "the unconscious determinants of human behavior." Also, the unconscious includes repressed material on account of its unpleasantness. Consciousness or awareness is always a matter of degree, but we are completely unaware of the unconscious though it influences much of our active mental life.

It follows that the part our consciousness seems to play has been, perhaps immensely, overrated. For it appears that in many situation reason and knowledge are weak and frail, but desire and emotion are paramount at least unconsciously. An early depth psychologist, Nietzsche (1844-1900), expressed this idea in a mere four words: "consciousness is a surface." He advocates that "our moral judgments and evaluations" are rationalizations of unconscious processes and explains:

Behind your thoughts and feelings, my brother, there stands a mighty ruler, an unknown sage – whose name is self. In your body he dwells; he is your body. There is more reason in your body than in your best wisdom. And who knows why your body needs precisely your best wisdom. Your self laughs at your ego and its bold leaps. "What are these leaps and flights of thought to me?" it says to itself. "A detour to my end. I am the leading strings of the ego and the prompter of its concepts"

This claim suggests that we are "on a biological leash" that substantially controls and directs our cognition, the process of mental knowing of the world around us in the broadest sense, towards its own biological ends. This is akin to the claim by David Hume (1711-76) that "reason is the slave of the passions." And it is a reversal of Plato’s assertion made so memorable in his image where the charioteer, representing reason, directs the movements of the carriage, his life, through controlling the untamed horses, representing the passions.

But how do we know that the unconscious exists?

Sigmund Freud observed and reasoned:

1. Sometimes a person either grossly misidentifies what seems to us to be the clear cause of a certain behavior or the individual is not aware of any cause at all. Either way there is a gap.

2. Since the person is not aware of a conscious cause, [and there is no behavior without a cause] the cause must be unconscious [an unconscious brain state per brain-mind identity].

And Freud concludes: "[we] have found-- that is, we have been obliged to assume-- that very powerful mental processes or ideas exist . . . which can produce all the effects in mental life that ordinary ideas do (including effects that can in their turn become conscious as ideas), though they themselves do not become conscious."

In sum: Unconscious ideas are incapable of entering the conscious part of the mind, but they nevertheless exert an enormous influence on our decisions and actions.

Concerning dreams, they are defined as sequences of sensations, images, thoughts, etc. that pass through a sleeping person's mind. When we are awake, the impulses and desires of the unconscious id are tempered or even suppressed by the superego and then attempted to be implemented by the more or less rational ego (see "The Triune Model of the Mind" above). However, through dreams we are able to peek into the unconscious id. Because our defenses are down during the dream state, our unconscious has the opportunity to surface and express its hidden desires. Because the desires of the id can sometimes be disturbing and even psychologically harmful, Freud suggests, that a "censor" comes into action and translates the id's disturbing matters into acceptable symbols. This results in confusing and cryptic images that, however, help to preserve sleep and prevent us from waking up horror stricken.

Freud claims that dreams always have a manifest and a hidden content. The manifest content is what the dream seems to be saying, and this is often grotesque and nonsensical. The hidden content is what the dream is really trying to say. Dreams, then, give us a look into our unconscious. Freud believes that we can analyze the dream's manifest content to reveal the underlying significance and its hidden by applying the technique of "free association". Using this technique, one starts with one dream symbol and then follow with what automatically comes first to one's mind. Then, one continues in this manner to see where it leads.

As to the content of dreams, Freud insists:

Obviously one must hold oneself responsible for the evil impulses of one's dreams. In what other way can one deal with them? Unless the content of the dream rightly understood is inspired by alien spirits, it is part of my own being.

B. Function and Types of Memories

Memory, the treasury and guardian of all things.

Cicero (106-43 BCE)

Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Memory is the library of the mind [and a personal computer is its extension].
Francis Fauvel-Gourand

"I have done that," says my memory. "I cannot have done that" -- says my pride, and remains unyielding. At last -- memory yields.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.
Jeremy Irons (b.1948)

We cannot change our memories, but we can change their meaning and the power they have over us.
David Seamands

Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events.
Albert Einstein (1871-1955)

Introduction

1. Long-Term Memory

2. Short-Term Memory

3. Retention

Introduction

Memory, the power to retrieve the past, is among the most complex phenomena in the universe. It is always connected with learning and defined as the mental process of preserving information acquired through the senses for later use. Without it, everything at every moment would be brand new. There could be no learning from experience and persons to which we are very close would at all times be strangers. Also, it allows us to retain a personal identity, though always changing, through time. Moreover, chances for survival would be drastically diminished and we would have no personal identity because this sum of personal experiences is stored in our memory. Memory is crucial to function as a human being.

1. Long-Term Memory

Stores information that is retained for a long period of time, sometimes for most of a person's life. It seemingly has an unlimited capacity for what is more or less permanent knowledge. During that part of sleep known as REM, the many perceptions the mind was exposed to during the day are sorted out by their significance. Only the most significant or impressionable once are then retained in long-term memory. It appears that there are at least two categories of long-term memory, though more may be identified in future.

a. Declarative or Explicit Memory is the conscious recollection of factual information and general knowledge about the world. Acquired across various contexts, it is able to be used across different situations. There are two kinds of declarative memory:

Semantic memory stores knowledge of words, meanings, relations, understandings and other concept-based knowledge unrelated to specific experiences, independent of context, and personal relevance. Generally, it has no connections to times or places. For instance, you can answer a question like "Are cars animals or manmade objects" without remembering any specific event in which you learned that cars are manmade.
Episodic memory stores "autobiographical" information. It records life events or episodes day after day, year after year. If you remember your first day at school, your first teacher, your first car, your last birthday, or when you first met a close friend, the you are retrieving this information from your episodic memory.

b. Procedural, Non-declarative or Implicit Memory is the counterpart to declarative or explicit memory and does not require conscious thought. It includes basic conditioned response, such as gaining your balance when you trip, and response chains like those involved in typing, solving a puzzle, balancing your check book, or swinging an ax when splitting wood. It allows us to do things by rote. This memory isn’t always easy to verbalize, since it flows effortlessly in our actions, but they can be fully expressed as actions. In different words, it enables us to carry out commonly learned tasks without consciously thinking about them. It’s our “how to do” knowledge. Riding a bike, tying a shoe and washing dishes are all tasks that require procedural memory. Even what we think of as “natural” tasks, such as walking, require procedural memory.

Procedural memory most likely uses a different part of the brain than episodic memory, for with some brain injuries you can lose one kind of memory without losing the other. That’s why a person who has experienced amnesia and forgets much about his or her personal life often retains procedural memory: how to use a fork or drive a car, for example.

2. Short-Term Memory

Stores information for a very short time, less than one minute, before it is forgotten or transferred to long-term memory. It has a very limited capacity and information fades rapidly. Intense concentration is often required to retain and recall it. Most people can remember 5-10 objects shortly after they disappear from view. It’s what allows you to remember the first half of a sentence you hear or read long enough to make sense of the end of the sentence. Another example is that almost all can remember the seven digits of a telephone number shortly after looking it up and while dialing. For the sentence or phone number to be remembered after a while, they would have to be stored in long-term memory.

3. Retention

Retention in learning is the ability to retain facts, figures, and concepts in memory. And the effectiveness of retaining depends largely on how we get acquainted with the new. We roughly retain 10% of what we hear, 40% of what we hear and see, and 80% of what we hear, see, and do, e.g., write. Hence, it makes good sense to write down important definitions and concepts in order to effectively internalize them.

C. Emotions and Motivation

The mind is its own place, and it itself can make a heaven of hell, and a hell of heaven.

Milton (1608-1674)

With just a little education and practice on how to manage your emotions, you can move into a new experience of life so rewarding that you will be motivated to keep on managing your emotional nature in order to sustain it. The payoff is delicious in terms of improved quality of life.

Doc Childre

Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.

Stephen R. Covey (b.1932)

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

Jim Ryun (b.1947)

For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction... A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three -- the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings.
Peter McWilliams

The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.

Anthony Robbins

As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery… we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.
Dalai Lama (b.1935)

If I feel depressed I will sing. If I feel sad I will laugh. If I feel ill I will double my labor. If I feel fear I will plunge ahead. If I feel inferior I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice. If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent I will think of past success. If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals. Today I will be the master of my emotions.”
Og Mandino (1923-1996)

1. Emotions and Motivation

2. Emotional Intelligence

1. Emotions and Motivation

Emotions are the product of the close linkage between mind and body; that is, they are mental and physiological states that initially arise spontaneously rather than through conscious effort. They can be thought of two interacting phases: an intensified feeling about a situation and a pattern of changes within the the body for meeting the situation which might be the fight, flight, or fright response. There are a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior that are associated with emotions and they are all part of a person's attempt to adapt to the new situation or environment. The study of emotions is closely related to the study of goal directed behavior or motivation, which is concerned with the arousal, direction, and persistence of behavior. You cannot get a grasp of one without considering the other.

Some researchers found that emotional experiences are excited by or largely due to the experience of bodily changes rather than the other way round. Others claim that thought and in particular appraisal of the environment is an underlying causal explanation for emotional processes. Others observe that human emotions are far from "primitive" because they are "largely learned, highly conceptualized, and to some degree, at least, culture-specific" (Robert C. Solomon).

In sum: Emotions result from the interaction of biological, learned and cognitive processes. But in all cases, they are subjective experiences because they are experienced from an individual point of view. Emotions are often associated with mood, temperament, and disposition or inclination. And the study of motivation is concerned with understanding how dispositions lead to action through the interaction of biological, learned and cognitive processes In connection with personality, some emotions are labeled as virtues or vices.

No definitive classifications of emotions exists, though numerous arrangements have been proposed. Some categorizations include:

Cognitive (mental knowing) emotions from the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
Non-cognitive (instinctual) emotions, from the amygdala, a small, round mass of gray matter in the front part of the temporal lobe of the brain.
Basic versus complex emotions, where base emotions lead to more complex ones.
Categorization based on duration: Some emotions occur over a period of seconds, e.g. surprise, while others can last years, e.g. love.

However, when characterized, emotions are typically found to be:

pleasant/unpleasant to the mind or senses.
active/passive
intense/not intense

There is also a distinction is between the emotion and the results of the emotion, principally behaviors and emotional expressions. People often behave in certain ways as a direct result of their emotional state, such as crying, fighting or fleeing.

Synonyms for the term emotion are: feeling(s), sentiment, passion, sensation, affect, perturbation, agitation, tremor, excitement, disturbance, tumult, turmoil, excitability.*

Emotions include: love, passion, infatuation, rapture, ecstasy, fire, warmth, affection, glow, fury, vehemence, fervor, ardor, zeal, thrill, elation, flutter, palpitation, joy, satisfaction, happiness, delight, glee, bliss, elation, inspiration, sympathy, empathy, tenderness, concern, grief, remorse, sorrow, sadness, melancholy, despondency, woe, anguish, misery, despair, depression, trepidation, worry, discomposure, disquiet, uneasiness, dread, fear, apprehension, hate, resentment, malice, contempt, animosity, conflict, jealousy, greed, covetousness, cupidity, anger, rage, ire, shame, pride, prurience, concupiscence, sensuality, lust, desire, lechery, pathos, bathos.*
*Source: Webster's New World Dictionary & Thesaurus

2. Emotional Intelligence

Healthy emotional responding plays a critical role in guiding reasoning processes and in connecting deliberation to action.

David C. Noelle

Emotional intelligence influences wider mental knowing and perception and often results in behavioral changes. It lets asses oneself, others, and groups. The researchers Salovey and Mayer define emotional intelligence as:

The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth.

They created an emotional intelligence test, MSCEIT, and divided abilities into four areas:

Perceiving emotions--the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts- including the ability to identify one’s own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible.
Using emotions--the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.
Understanding emotions--the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.
Managing emotions--the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

D. Personality

Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.”
William Arthur Ward (1921-94)

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

An individual's self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.
Dr. Joyce Brothers (b.1928)

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. You become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BCE)

Out of passions grow opinions; mental sloth lets these rigidify into convictions.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: ''This is the real me!''.”
William James (1842-1910)

1. Personality Defined

2. The Humane Personality

3. The Wanting Personality

4. On Significant Psychological Change and Its Indicators

1. Personality Defined

Personality may be defined as an account of habitual patterns and qualities of behavior of any individual as expressed by physical and mental activities and attitudes. A person can be aware of the traits that make up personality or character and improve on them. The self, then, may be broadly defined as the essential qualities that make a person distinct from all others, and with distinct being a matter of degree.

Personality, like mind, is what it does and not some spiritual or spooky entity beyond or above the mental-biological self. An individual's personality is his or her deeds, that is, a history of the deeds gives us the essence of what a person is all about. Goethe (1749-1832) in his preface to the Doctrine of Colors (1810), stated this point succinctly:

We really try in vain to express the essence of a thing. We become aware of effects, and a complete history of these effects would seem to comprehend the essence of the thing. We exert ourselves in vain to describe the character of a human being; but assemble his action, his deeds, and a picture of his character will confront us.

Moreover, Darwin's evolutionary biology demonstrates that organisms do not have fixed essences that forever determine their destinies.

The best way to understand personality or the mind is through its development. Goethe declares that in order to understand personality:

We must see the self in terms of its long-term development

and becoming during the course of a person’s life.

In other words, and this is crucial, the self is not waiting to be found, but instead it is something created.

Individuals with a healthy personality exhibit:

1. An objective perception of reality
2. Acceptance of their own natures
3. A high self-esteem*
4. A commitment and dedication to some task or work
5. Naturalness, simplicity in behavior, and spontaneity
6. Independence, a need for self-government, and privacy
7. Peak experiences through learning and accomplishments
8. Empathy with, and affection, for all sentient beings
9. Resistance to unthinking conformity
10. Participation in democracy by being informed voters
11. A curiosity for the less known and a desire to be creative
12. A consistent effort toward good-life conduct
that benefits the individual and the group.

*Self-esteem is the gap between the ideal self and self image. It follows that self esteem can be raised by either raising the self image or lowering the ideal self, or doing both.

Which kind of personality shall prevail in a person?

Below we distinguish between the humane personality and the wanting personality. The question comes to mind, which of these personalities shall dominate an individual. Well, there is an anecdote about a Cherokee Native American who explained to his grandchildren that "in each of us their lives a good wolf and a bad wolf, and the two compete to control us." So the children asked "but which one of the wolves shall win?" and his answer was "it depends on which one you feed." This anecdote confirms one of the most important findings of personality formation; namely, whatever enters the consciousness of an individual will form his or her personality for better or worse.

1. The Humane Personality

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
Buddha (563-483 BCE)

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.

Cicero (106-43 BCE)

Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Introduction

a. The Reasoning of a Humane, Social Mind

b. The "Golden" Rule of Reciprocity and Universality

c. Aristotle's Golden Mean

d. Ancient Roman Virtues

e. Virtues Accepted in Most Cultures

Introduction

The humane personality is moral and rational. It is moral when it has the best and noblest qualities human beings are capable of. These traits urge an individual to do what is right because it is the right thing to do, and to advance for their own sake what is true, good, and beautiful while opposing what is false, bad and ugly. A personality or mind is rational when it argues soundly: It draws valid inferences from true or plausible information. Other desirable virtues are listed below.

The humane personality, then, is one where virtues prevail and where life conduct is broadly judged as good, for it is most unlikely that there are persons who are completely virtuous and free from all vices. This type of personality is also known as unselfish, social, or non-egocentric. It habitually practices "moral excellence," which is the definition of virtue. Virtues are esteemed because they promote the ultimate values of freedom and well-being for the individual, the group, and other sentient beings. For this, the general welfare advancing characteristics, virtues are good by definition. The opposite of virtue is vice, the practice of habits that diminish or are detrimental to freedom and well-being.

a. The Reasoning of a Humane Personality

I claim a right to freedom and well-being as a moral right. This right is best described as a bundle of rights in the United Nations Global Human Rights Norms.
I want others to respect my right to freedom and well-being as an educated citizen who endorses a functional democracy governed by a just social contract. I consider these things as ultimate values.
I grant all others the same right, for only then may I reasonably expect that they respect my rights.
I conclude that I should be moral by respecting other peoples' rights--even if it goes against my immediate self-interest, for it is sometimes in the interest of everyone alike that everyone should set aside his or her interest.
I declare that the basic need of the many to achieve the above mentioned ultimate values, trumps the right of the few to accumulate beyond need. It follows that luxuries and wealth for wealth's sake are abhorrently immoral in the face of poverty.
I demand the right to develop a well integrated personality through inquiring freely into affairs both human and divine, and to working out my own destiny. I value this right over the attainment of certain socially approved goals that are impediments or to the contrary.
I claim the right to become autonomous or self-governing by giving laws of conduct to myself.

Finally, and naturally, I grant these rights to all others.

b. The "Golden" Rule of Reciprocity and Universality

The golden rule and its many variations have their roots in a wide range of world cultures and are part of all the world religions. It is called the "golden" rule because there is value in having this kind of respect and caring attitude for one another, the in-group and the out-group. Moreover, it is a standard used to resolve conflicts and evaluate moral pronouncements. This rule is at the core of all genuinely moral codes though it may not explicitly be stated. The golden rule may be said to describe or emphasize positive duties:

Do to others what you would have them do to you.

Another popular expression is known as the silver rule because it emphasizes negative duties, that is, acts of omission:

Do not do to others as you would not have them do to you.

However, to capture both positive and negative duties, the golden rule should best be expressed as:

Treat others only in ways that you're willing

to be treated in the same exact situation.

Most influential in moral philosophy was a like rule by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804):

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

And the political scientist Noam Chomsky (b.1928) concludes:

. . . . if we adopt the principle of universality: if an action is right (or wrong) for others, it is right (or wrong) for us. Those who do not rise to the minimal moral level of applying to themselves the standards they apply to others -- more stringent ones, in fact -- plainly cannot be taken seriously when they speak of appropriateness of response; or of right and wrong, good and evil. . . . Any moral code that is even worth looking at has that at its core somehow.

c. Aristotle's Golden Mean

In his work Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) describes every virtue as a balance point between a deficiency and an excess of a trait. The point of greatest virtue lies not in the exact middle, but at a "golden mean" closer to one of the extremes than the other. For instance:

courage is the balance between cowardice (deficit of courage) and foolhardiness (excess of courage), lying closer to foolhardiness;
proper pride is the balance between undue humility (deficit of pride) and empty vanity (excess of pride), lying closer to vanity;
generosity is the balance between miserliness (deficit of generosity) and prodigality (excess of generosity), lying closer to prodigality.

d. Ancient Roman Virtues

Auctoritas — "Spiritual Authority" — The sense of one's social standing, built up through experience, Pietas, and Industria.
Comitas — "Humour" — Ease of manner, courtesy, openness, and friendliness.
Constantinum — "Perseverance" — Military stamina, mental and physical endurance.
Clementia — "Mercy" — Mildness and gentleness.
Dignitas — "Dignity" — A sense of self-worth, personal pride.
Disciplinae — "Discipline" — Military oath under Roman protective law & citizenship.
Firmitas — "Tenacity" — Strength of mind, the ability to stick to one's purpose.
Frugalitas — "Frugalness" — Economy and simplicity of style, without being miserly.
Gravitas — "Gravity" — A sense of the importance of the matter at hand, responsibility and earnestness.
Honestas — "Respectability" — The image that one presents as a respectable member of society.
Humanitas — "Humanity" — Refinement, civilization, learning, and being cultured.
Industria — "Industriousness" — Hard work.
Iustitia — "Justice" — Sense of moral worth to an action.
Pietas — "Dutifulness" — More than religious piety; a respect for the natural order socially, politically, and religiously. Includes the ideas of patriotism and devotion to others.
Prudentia — "Prudence" — Foresight, wisdom, and personal discretion.
Salubritas — "Wholesomeness" — Health and cleanliness.
Severitas — "Sternness" — Gravity, self-control.
Veritas — "Truthfulness" — Honesty in dealing with others.

e. Virtues Accepted in Most Cultures

This list of virtues and their definitions as found in dictionaries make more sense within the framework of an individual's system of orientation and devotion, that is, a worldview and life philosophy. Also, the use, nonuse, or degree of application always depends on a given situation. For example, a virtue such as honesty may become a vicious act when it causes a greater harm; for instance, in the case of telling a deranged person the truth when asked where an intended victim is.

Individual virtues can be grouped into one of four categories:

1. Ethics: virtue--vice; good--bad; moral--immoral--amoral; right--wrong; honest--
dishonest; permissible--impermissible; high-minded--low-minded.
2. Aesthetics: beautiful--ugly; tasteful--tasteless; balanced--unbalanced, etc.
3. Doctrinal: political, ideological, religious, social beliefs and values.
4. Instinctual or inborn/innate traits such as reproduction, parenting, and survival.

2. The Wanting Personality

It is a great thing to know our vices.

Cicero (106-43 BCE)

Vice may be learnt, even without a teacher.

Seneca (4? BCE-65 CE)

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)

Hate no one; hate their vices, not themselves.
J. G. C. Brainard

One should judge a man mainly from his depravities.

Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real.
Klaus Kinski (1926-91)

Introduction

a.The Reasoning of the Selfish Mind

b. Vices Judged Adversely in Most Cultures

Introduction

The wanting personality is one where vice has a substantial foothold, and where life conduct is generally judged or perceived as bad on account of its consequences for the individual and society. Wanting means simply inadequate and can range from minor to severe. Just as it is improbable that their are the wholly humane, so it is improbable that there are the wholly vicious, meaning, full of vice and without any virtues. The wanting personality is also known as selfish, antisocial, or egocentric. It habitually engages in behavior ranging from harmful to depraved or even wicked and evil. Vices, when practiced, diminish or are detrimental to the freedom and well-being of the individual, the group, and other sentient beings. Therefore, they are considered immoral, depraved, and degrading in their respective society. Vice is the opposite of virtue., And more generally, behavior or attitudes that go against the established virtues of a culture may also be classified as vices.

Vice is also a legal term for criminal offenses involving prostitution, lewdness, lasciviousness, and obscenity. Illegal forms of gambling are also often included as a vice in law enforcement departments that deal with gambling as a crime. As one can see from the listing below, in more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit.

a. The Reasoning of the Wanting Personality

The wanting, antisocial mind is the antithesis or contraposition of the humane, social mind noted above. Its reasoning is explored in Antisocial Minds and Their Means.

b. Vices Judged Adversely in Most Cultures

. . . the successful repression of id impulses is called "sublimation," which is a prerequisite of civilization.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

This list of vices and their definitions as found in dictionaries make more sense within the framework of an individual's system of orientation and devotion, that is, a worldview and life philosophy. Also, the use, nonuse, or degree of application always depends on a given situation. For example, a vice such as dishonesty may become a virtuous act when it prevents a greater harm as in the case of lying to a potential murderer about the whereabouts of his intended victim.

Individual vices can be grouped into one of three categories:

1. Ethics: virtue--vice; good--bad; moral--immoral--amoral; right--wrong; honest--
dishonest; permissible--impermissible; high-minded--low-minded.
2. Doctrinal: political, ideological, religious, social beliefs and values.
3. Instinctual or inborn/innate traits such as reproduction, parenting, and survival.

3. On Significant Psychological Change and Its Indicators

By Gibbs A. William, www.gibbsonline.com

I find the whole notion of dismissing Freud's extraordinary contribution in helping truth-seeking individuals attempt to objectify their subjective chaos, the quintessence of closed mindedness.

a. On Significant Psychological Change

b. Indicators of Significant Psychological Change

a. On Significant Psychological Change

The formula for changing is easy to describe; doing so is very difficult. One changes by changing. To change means that you have to risk changing from something familiar to something unfamiliar. Then . . . [one's energy] has to be directed by the will to push the passive self in the direction of the desired change.

Psychoanalysis, often referred to as the talking cure is aptly named, because much of the process is directed to having the patient say that which is felt or acted out. Thus, the operational definition of the talking cure equals making the unconscious conscious.
Significant psychological change is possible but resistance dogs the way.
The primary resistance to change is repetition compulsion – the need to repeat the familiar. Implied is a fear of the novel and the unknown.
Significant psychological change necessarily involves struggling with struggle.
Change is often experienced like Gulliver cutting the ties that bind him to the ground in Lilliput.
Change is often experienced like freeing oneself from a self-imposed prison cell.
Behavior is purposeful. Much of the purpose is unconsciously determined. Conscious fears mask partial unconscious wishes.
Change is often experienced as if one were on a complex psychological scavenger hunt where each clue is felt to be an increment of change.
Change rarely happens as a 'major break-through'; rather, it proceeds in small increments.
Change can be transforming, like the process which enables a caterpillar to eventually transform into a butterfly.
Change is often experienced like a flower unfolding.
Change allows a person to move from negative reverberation oscillation (chaos) to positive reverberation oscillation (resonance).
Change is moving from compulsively or impulsively reacting to acting from within.
Change enables a person to move from narrow choices of 'either/or' to an expanded 'and' (a choice of alternatives).
Change is often experienced as moving from assimilation (new wine in old bottles) to accommodation (new wine in new bottles).
Anything worth accomplishing is as difficult as it is rare.

b. Indicators of Significant Psychological Change

Significant psychological change is hard won but it is attainable. The following are representative indicators signifying psychological change has or is on the way to being attained.

Continuums of Change
Starting Points	to	Desired Goals
Guarded	to	Spontaneous
Foggy	to	Clear
Weighted Down	to	Light Hearted
Frivolous	to	Serious
Narrow	to	Broad
Insecure	to	Confident
Scattered	to	Focused
Indirect	to	Direct
Superficial	to	Substantial
Tied up in knots	to	Free
Reactive	to	Purposeful
Automatic	to	Conscious
Inauthentic	to	Authentic
Incohesive	to	Cohesive
Aimless	to	Committed
Unbalanced	to	Balanced
Extreme	to	Middle level
Intelligent	to	Understanding
Rigid	to	Firmly flexible
Jerky	to	Flowing
Chaotic	to	Ordered
Dissonant	to	Harmonious
Static	to	Kinetic
Negative inertia	to	Positive inertia
Burdened	to	Challenged
Fearful	to	Courageous
Wishy-washy	to	Resolute
Split	to	Whole
Impulsive	to	Reflective
Glib	to	Thoughtful
Indirect	to	Direct