2022

On the human need for personal kindness and kindness of others, and what it means for the future of humanity Kindness or benevolence is a very important psychological attribute. We are kind to others for various altruistic and sometimes selfish reasons. An individual may be kind to a homeless man and give him a blanket because of sympathetic and empathetic reasons or a man may be kind to a woman due to ulterior motives. Kindness is thus triggered from personal motivations including need for fame or reputation, need for love or companionship or from genuine empathetic and sympathetic considerations. Kindness towards a homeless man is a sympathetic type. whereas kindness kindness towards a friend is an empathetic type. Kindness towards someone in need may come from altruism or need for personal reputation. For example, your act of kindness may arise from your need to be seen as a good Samaritan or a benevolent member of society. Or a man may be kind towards others because he needs fame for his donations and gifts to society. A man may be kind to men or women as there may be a need to gain other people’s affections, love, sexual favors, respect or companionship. So kindness may be motivated by empathy, sympathy, need for reputation, respect or other ulterior motives. Some people are naturally kind and cannot refuse if someone asks them for a favor. Kindness is related more to mental strength than weakness. Developing a theory of kindness in psychology could involve studying the activity of the brain and neural circuits when people suddenly feel this emotion of overwhelming kindness. Thus a physiological basis is important in a psychological theory of kindness. There may also be “kindness gene” and some people may be kinder than others due to hereditary reasons, they may have had a kind parent and thus inherited the trait. Kindness can be learnt through social conditioning and some people are kind because they watched and learnt from their parents or teachers. I personally believe that kindness is an innate psychological trait and some people are more kind because they are born that way. I will not go back to the nature versus nurture debates but learning kindness from others may finally become too superficial if there is no innate natural kindness. So, I would suggest that kindness is innate and kind people are born that way. Psychologists must definitely study the kindness gene and if there is any, what triggers kindness, what kind of emotion or neural activity is related to kindness and how it can be defined in psychological terms. The social conditioning of kindness is a possible theory and as I said, social conditioning may not finally lead to genuine kindness in individuals, as kindness I believe is inherent or innate and not taught or learned. I wrote in my other essay on Altruism that altruism, which is a more purposeful or social kindness could be due to ulterior or unconscious motives of recognition. Do philanthropists always give away wealth because they are genuinely kind or are they looking for fame, reputation, respect and recognition for their philanthropic services? Kindness could be based on sympathy, empathy, need for fame or personal recognition or a sense of duty or responsibility towards society or fellow citizens. So, some kids are kind, give away their clothes to homeless people, because they are naturally kind and sympathetic. Some may see a homeless person and feel empathy as they too may have been homeless at some point. Some men may intentionally develop personal kindness because they need fame and recognition and others feel a sense of strong responsibility towards society and perform kind acts. So there are specifically six reasons suggesting six types of kindness according to the underlying reason or cause. 1. Empathetic 2. Sympathetic 3. Altruistic or social 4. Motive oriented 5. Responsible 6. Superstition-based These six different types can be elaborated with more examples. You feel sympathetic towards your dog and loosen his chain and you feel empathetic towards your friend and help them with advice or resources. People may feel a genuine altruistic need to give or they may have ulterior motives such as fame, recognition or even money and success. The kindness related to social responsibility comes from a genuine need to influence society, and kindness in older people is often accompanied by this overwhelming sense of responsibility towards other human beings so this is a type of social kindness. I would suggest that children are more triggered by genuine sympathy and the adults are motivated by need for recognition or social responsibility when they engage in acts of kindness. Sometimes you will see people leaving large amounts of cash in the Church or donating large amounts of money to others because they feel it will bring them good luck. This is superstition-based or can be termed as “superstitional” kindness. Let us turn to responsibility. Some individuals are “kind” towards a cause because they may feel responsible towards society and may want to do something about the cause. You see an ad to donate clothes and money to refugees in a foreign country. You immediately decide to give a large sum quite impulsively. Is this impulse due to genuine sympathy, empathy, responsibility, altruism, superstition or recognition need? As I wrote in the essay on the Psychology of Altruism, there may be ulterior motives for being altruistic and genuine selfless altruism is rare or non-existent. However, kindness or generosity as a result of social responsibility or responsibility towards other less privileged individuals may be considered as an altruistic type of kindness. So, altruism and social responsibility are associated in fundamental ways. Now let me talk about the human need for kindness and this means both giving kindness and receiving kindness. Humans do have a genuine need for love, affection, happiness and also kindness. Kindness comes from love, affection, sympathy, empathy so may be considered a type of secondary or derived emotion rather than primary emotion such as

On why altruism is not completely altruistic and yet ultimately good for humanity… In my discussion on ambition, I left out altruism and in a way that exclusion was intentional. Personal ambition would be directly arising from a personal need whereas altruism by definition is going beyond self and going beyond personal needs. Altruism as coined by French philosopher Auguste Comte in the 19th century literally means ‘to others’. Altruism is thus placing the needs of others before one’s own needs and so characterized by selfless behavior, altruism would in principle not be a cause of ambition. If altruism is placed with personal ambition, that would be a kind of oxymoron. Yet how much of this is true? This requires a psychological scrutiny as well. The needs of others can definitely drive us to do something and that would be more of a cause or mission rather than ambition. A mission is stronger than personal ambition and a person with mission is usually driven by a conviction that he or she is chosen to do something and no one else can undertake the task. Usually a mission is about a higher purpose like helping a particular group of individuals or spreading a message or simply imparting knowledge or eradicating suffering. A mission in life is very similar to a psychological delusion and a person fired with a mission just like a deluded individual feels that he has been chosen or simply unique and has to complete his real purpose in life. However missions are real and cannot be explained completely with existing psychological theories. Mission is definitely the strongest of psychological traits and a person with a mission cannot be changed in any way and that is why all leaders are very strong in their approach towards what they simply have to do. Although evolutionary psychology like evolutionary biology has delved into the deeper secrets of altruistic behavior in humans, the development of mission has not been explained by psychology adequately. So, altruism can be of two types – the general altruistic behavior as manifested through simple philanthropy or helping others in daily life and the specific altruistic behavior as manifested through having a specific cause or purpose or definite mission in life. The first type of altruism is seen in nearly all of us, we all believe in the philosophy of giving, in helping people who are in need and this is reflected in all spheres of life from donating a small amount online or giving a substantial part of your salary to charity or simply helping an old frail woman cross the street when you are in a hurry. The second type of altruism would be the mission or purpose that I’ve been talking about. It is specific and the individual is driven to fulfill the ultimate purpose of his or her life. The first type of altruism is found in all of us, the second type is found in only a few of us. It is possible to draw out a psychology for both these type of altruistic manifestations. Biologically altruism is the sacrifice of the reproductive capacity or genetic transmission of a species to help the growth of another. This would be completely against Darwinian evolution as instead of helping one’s own species biological altruism is about helping the growth and survival of other species. So this sort of behavior places animals at reproductive disadvantage and reduces chances of producing a higher number of offspring. There are numerous examples of altruistic behavior among animals like vervet monkeys give out alarm calls whenever they sense the appearance of predators although this way they risk their own lives, among birds there are numerous helper birds that protect young ones of a different species and in the insect colonies like bees, worker bees remain sterile to help the reproductive process of the queen bee. One way the altruistic motives can be dismissed by suggesting that the vervet monkeys are simply reflexive and show spontaneous behavior of fear by giving out alarm calls or that the birds and bees simply maintain their self interest by showing an external altruistic behavior. This sort of explanation would be controversial at least when we try to extrapolate and suggest that humans are also philanthropic and altruistic in general because internally they want something in return and that they are finally or ultimately attending to their own self interest. Is there anything as absolutely selfless behavior? Do parents attend and take care of their young ones hoping that one day when they are too old their children will also take care of them? Do people give away their money to charity hoping that they will be honored? Of course many individuals these days donate anonymously and many would follow a cause without ever revealing their identities, do they have a reason that would be akin to self interest or is there something like absolutely selfless behavior? An anonymous donor would some day want people to know that he was the real donor. But then selfless behavior for the good of others can be explained and we all have in us a part that is selfless and wants to move beyond the confines of our own existence. Why? Selflessness thus is just that, we want to be greater than what we are, we want to be philanthropic because we want to move beyond the traps of material possessions. The same feeling of selflessness which is found in all of us to a certain degree is also found in missionaries, spiritual leaders or even political leaders to a greater extent because selflessness is a defense against our own insignificance and our own mortality defined by material existence. Of course, I will not move into philosophy here, and sticking to psychology altruism is about a desire to be loved by others and a stage in which there is empathy. In strictly psychoanalytic terms ‘transference’ and ‘counter-transference’ are terms that define the relationship between the patient and

Psychology has evolved from the Greek word “psyche,” which means “soul” or “mind,” and “logos,” which means speech. It is an academic and applied field concerning the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. Psychology also refers to the practical application of such knowledge to diverse spheres of human activity, including problems of people’s daily lives and the treatment of psychological illness. Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture illustrative generalizations about the mental function and explicit behavior of individuals. However, contrary to this, other disciplines depend more heavily on field studies and historical methods for extracting expressive generalizations. In reality, however, there is much “cross-fertilization” that takes place among different fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is mainly concerned with the interface between mental processes and behavior of a person. It also refers to the common procedures of a system and not merely the biological or neural procedures themselves. However, subfields of psychology, such as neuropsychology, combine the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have intuitively produced. Psychology in literal terms means the study of the human mind. It illustrates and attempts to explain awareness, behavior, and social interaction. This study can be structured purely in terms of phenomenological descriptions of internal experiences or as a result of behavior, which includes social conduct. Empirical psychology is mainly dedicated to describing human experience and behavior as it actually occurs. The study of the correlation between consciousness and the brain or nervous system has been undertaken only recently. However, it is still not clear in what ways they interact. Psychology is a particularly extensive field, which includes various approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior. An understanding of brain function is gradually being included in psychological theory and practice, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, neuropsychological, and cognitive neuroscience. Mechanical and electronic computing has played an important role in developing the information-processing hypothesis of the mind. Source by Peter Emerson

Psychology has made tremendous progress since its humble beginnings in the late 19th century. Some schools such as behaviorism and psychoanalysis have undergone a lot of changes but are still popular and have a large number of followers. Contemporary or present day psychology is a combination of the best ideas drawn from the contributions of all its founders. Some new ideas or perspectives have been added too. Psychology perspectives refer to how psychology approaches or looks at different topics within its field. Modern psychology looks at the various issues relating to human behavior from five perspectives. These five major perspectives discussed by Teachers Training Program are: 1. The Biological Perspectives. 2. The Behavioral Perspectives. 3. The Cognitive Perspectives. 4. The Psychoanalytic Perspectives. 5. The Subjectivist Perspectives. The Biological Perspectives Psychologists have for long been interested in studying the relationship between our biological (body) systems and behavior. They have been especially keen to know the role of the brain with regard to human behavior. The brain which contains over 10 billion nerve cells with infinite connections between them, is, perhaps, the most complex structure in the universe. The biological approach is concerned with understanding the role played by our brain in various psychological processes such as emotion, reasoning, learning, motivation and so on. It seeks to describe the neurological process that underline behavior and mental processes. For example, the biological perspective would attempt to understand and look at depression in terms of what chemical are produced in the brain and whether they are any abnormal changes in the levels of neurotransmitters. It would also study face recognition with regard to role played by the particular region of the brain such as the left or right hemisphere. Thus, biological approach attempts to know which are the specific areas of the brain that influence or affect our behavior and how the nerves system, the hormones secreted by the different glands and other changes in our body affect the way we think, feel and behave. The Behavioral Perspective The behavioral approach focuses on explaining nearly all behavioral in terms of stimuli and responses and as resulting from conditioning and reinforcement. For example, a psychologist with a behavioral perspective would attempt to explain obesity as an outcome of people’s tendency to overeat (a specific response), in the presence of a specific stimuli (such as watching television). According to the behavioral approach, human behaviors that are rewarded or rein forced are likely to be repeated again in the future. An example by Pre Primary Teachers Training, when a child hits another child (aggressive behavior) and is able to get the toy of the other child (behavior is rewarded), then the child is more likely to act aggressively in the future. The Cognitive Perspective The cognitive approach focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, reasoning, deciding, and problem solving. The cognitive approach recognizes that in order to fully understand human behavior it is very important to study the role played by mental processes. If we totally ignore the mental processes like the behaviorists did then we would be adopting a very narrow approach and would get an incomplete picture of the dynamics of human behavior. Cognitive psychologists believe that it is possible to study mental processes objectively. According to them the human mind is similar to a computer and acts on information just as the computer does. The Psychoanalytic Perspective The psychoanalytic approach is based on the ideas of Sigmund Freud. This perspective emphasizes that unconscious processes influence our behavior. These unconscious processes comprise of beliefs, fears, and desires that a person is unaware of but which nevertheless influence his behavior. According to the psychoanalytic approach, we are born with certain aggressive and sexual impulses that are forbidden from expressing them by our parents and the society. As a result they merely move out from awareness in to the unconsciousness. However, these impulses do not disappear but expresses themselves through socially accepted behaviors or in the form of mental illness and emotional problems. For example, a person may express his aggressive instincts by taking part in violent sports such as boxing and wrestling. The Subjectivist Perspective The subjectivist perspective emphasizes on the importance of perception. According to this approach human behavior does not depend on the objective world but it is a function of the perceived world. The objective world is what truly exits in the real world. The perceived world is what the individual experiences and the meaning he gives to those experiences. How a person perceives the world or a situation depends on his culture, personal history, and present motives. According to the subjectivist approach, perceptions are very important in understanding behavior because an individual’s behavior at any time is based in part on perceptions of the situation. Our responses to the various stimuli in the environment are based on our perceptions. We define reality based on our perceptions. For example, studies have found that people tend to overestimate the physical size of higher value coins than for coins of lower value. An interesting psychological phenomenon that this approach highlights is native realism-the tendency of people to see their subjective construction of the world, as a true and accurate picture of the objective world. According to Early Childhood Education Training the influence of the subjectivist approach has been strong in social and personality psychology. For instance, how people interpret other people’s behavior depends on their perception. The different perspectives discussed above represents the different modern approaches to the study of psychology. They are not mutually exclusive but merely focus attention on different aspects of the same subject. In other words, the different approaches are merely different ways of studying the same phenomenon. Many psychologists take an electric approach. They take the best of each approach and use it to study complex psychological issues. Out of the five perspectives discussed, with the exception of the biological perspective all other approaches (behavioral, cognitive, psychoanalytic and subjectivist) are purely psychological in nature. The biological approach, however

On why it is necessary to identify the positive and negative factors that make a person ambitious… So, the topic now is ambition. Psychology is varied in its approach to different human traits and like every other attribute that defines humans, ambition could be explained with different psychological theories. On the one hand, ambition could be closely related to motivation, especially achievement motivation and could be defined with Maslow’s theory of human motivation. Abraham Maslow presented his theory of ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ in 1943 in which he distinguished between basic physiological or bodily needs such as sleep and hunger, safety needs such as home and job, social needs such as love or friendship, esteem needs such as achievement and recognition and self-actualization needs or the highest needs of truth/enlightenment and wisdom. Ambition could be included under ‘esteem needs’ in Maslow’s theory so ambition according to this theory would be a need for increased self esteem and achievement. Ambition could also have psychoanalytic explanations as well and the libido or life drives are considered as the basis of ambition in men and women. High sex or life drives would translate to high level of ambition. Self psychology or a branch of psychoanalysis developed by Heinz Kohut in 1977 provided explanations to ambition as the core of personality development. It is important to understand what ambition really is, why people have ambitions in the first place and what type of personalities are most likely to be ambitious. Ambition could mean many things – an ardent desire to attain success in life, a desire to achieve personal or professional advancement, a desire to achieve fame, power, money, rank, position, or a desire to achieve any particular end or complete an activity or attain the fruits of an activity. Ambition is thus ‘desire’ similar to any other kind of desire. Where are the roots of such desire? Freud explained that desires are in our unconscious and we are motivated by our life drives and our sexual drives. So, if you have a high life or sexual drive, does this mean you will also have high ambitions? Psychoanalysis will answer in the positive, so ambition being about desire is also about a desire to live and an ambitious person also necessarily has a strong life force or a survival instinct. We might call this a sort of psychological Darwinism or a struggle to survive in a competitive world lies at the root of ambition. So inherently ambition is positive and is geared towards a person’s overall development. Yet this is not the end of the story, we have to understand the underlying factors. Ambition is a complex process and trait in humans and can be triggered by negative and positive factors: Positive factors – increased confidence – social and financial needs – creative urges – competitiveness – emotional and intellectual needs – sexual and life drive – survival instinct – personal motivation Negative factors – fear of failure in professional or social life – fear of rejection in personal life – feelings of inferiority – feelings of superiority – mental illness such as bipolar disorder – jealousy – narcissism or self love – lack of confidence Thus a psychology of ambition is about realizing the two distinct types of forces or factors that make a person ambitious and should be focused on how these forces could be used effectively. These are however general reasons for which people become ambitious and we all seem to be motivated by quite a few of these reasons. In fact many people can identify with most of the reasons given here so there are several factors that seem to drive us towards achieving certain goals. We are ambitious because we want social status, and we are afraid of rejection or failure in our personal and professional life. Thus a man may become ambitious so that he can flaunt his position, rank or success to attract potential mates, a woman may become ambitious because she has deep feelings of inferiority and wants to favourably match up to other people showing extreme competitiveness or there is a deep desire to improve the condition of the world. However, I have deliberately not included mission, purpose or desire to improve the world as positive factors, because mission or a need to change the world is about going beyond personal ambition. Jealousy is a negative force can be turned around positively as competitiveness and an individual jealous of a friend’s achievement can strive to excel in his own way. Again feelings of inferiority or narcissism would be negative forces but can be used positively to tap the deeper ambitions that we all have. However ambition taken to delusional levels as we see in dictators shows how positive forces like motivation and increased confidence can be used negatively to actually cause harm to self and others. A person with feelings of superiority is also necessarily a person with simultaneous feelings of inferiority as someone who thinks he is superior is always unconsciously afraid that his superiority might be challenged and has an inherent vulnerability that can cause feelings of inferiority at the same time. Mental illness as in the case of bipolar disorder is also negative and a bipolar person can manifest heightened energy and display of emotions during manic episodes in which the individual undertakes several projects and show great ambition. Many creative individuals have been considered as bipolar although pathological levels of such disorder in which the individual stops functioning properly would require medical /psychiatric attention. I would suggest that negative forces such as these could be turned around and made positive for an individual to realize his or her ambition just as a positive factor can become negative (as in the case of dictators described above) and bring about failure/downfall or even a complete lack of realization of one’s goals. Successful individuals are the ones who can manipulate these forces of ambition in a way that is most positive so they are

I sometimes hear from people who have tried the “traditional way” of making a man want to commit. They try to make him feel guilty. They tell him how important marriage is to them. They give him ultimatums. Most of us know that these tactics just do not work. And yet, we feel compelled to try them anyway. When our suspicions are confirmed and we’ve risked making things worse, it occurs to us that it might make sense to go against the grain so that he isn’t expecting the next tactic. One good example of this is attempting to use reverse psychology. The idea is to make him think you don’t want or aren’t thinking about the commitment so that he will more easily give it to you. Someone might say: “I truly believe that I am meant to be married to the man I am currently seeing. I firmly believe that we are meant to have a family together and to grow old together. The problem is that he just does not see this yet. He feels that there is no real hurry. His parents dated for over a decade and they are pretty honest about the fact that they are only married for the kids. The guy I am dating actually broke up with his last girlfriend because she pressured him to get married. He just got tired of it. So I know that I can not use this tactic. But I am thinking that I might use reverse psychology. Does this ever work? And if so, how do you use it most effectively?” In terms of getting the commitment that you want, reverse psychology is attempted in a couple of different ways. The first example is that you pretty much allow him to pursue you. The idea is that you act as if he wants you more than you want him. By the end of the process, the hope is that he is almost desperate for you to show him some sort of committed affection because you’ve been standoffish. I find that this one only works if a guy is crazy for you – and even then it is only going to work for a short time. Most people get tired of feeling rejected and of playing these games. Plus, it seems that in this scenario, it is really too late for that anyway. This couple had already been dating for a while and this man likely already knew that she was at least a little invested. The second way that people will try to use reverse psychology to get is a commitment is that they will pretend that a commitment isn’t really important to them. They will act as if they just want to date casually or as if it is the relationship that matters and not what ultimately becomes of that relationship. These are the women who will often tell a man that she just wants to be with him and have fun and not worry about what form the relationship takes. Sometimes, this does work in getting a man into a relationship that he would have been reluctant to enter into before. But, you can only take this so far. Because once you start this, then you have to continue to act as if the commitment is not that important to you – even if this is the furthest thing from the truth. What happens if he is perfectly happy carrying on in this casual way for a very long period of time? The hope is always that after a while, he will come to want the commitment on this own, without your needing to pressure him. It is always best to let a man want to commit without pressure. But, not all men will do this. Some are perfectly happy to continue on with your “no commitment” relationship. That is the risk with reverse psychology. There is nothing wrong with trying this. But you have to know that there the possibility that he won’t change his mind and will want to continue on with a more casual relationship. At that point, you’ll either have to continue on in this way, or you’ll have to admit that you have changed your mind, and admit that a commitment has now become important to you. Source by Mari Deene

There are obvious questions and typical myths surrounding the older woman/younger man dating phenomenon. Here is a partial list: Q: Isn’t this just about sex? And don’t Cougars just want a young man for fun and games? No! Many people think of Stiffler’s mom in American Pie or Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate and assume that Cougars are aging, desperate women willing to jump on any younger man with a pulse. There is so much more to this dating dynamic than people realize. It is not just about sex, and yes I know many May/December couples who are very happily married. Cougar women are actually much more selective about their younger man and this means that the younger men have to have more to bring to the party than just a raging libido. The younger men are driving this trend. There are more younger men looking for older women than there are older women looking for younger men. So, it’s ladies’ choice. Q: Is Cougar dating here to stay? Yes. It has always existed and is very popular in Europe. In the United States, 30% of older women date younger men. The BBC say that 25% of older women are married to younger men. From a physiological perspective, it makes sense that an older woman would prefer a younger male. From a psychological imprinting perspective, I have interviewed thousands of men who have specific defining moments in their lives when they knew they were attracted to older women and preferred them over women their own age. Q: Why don’t these younger men go after women their own age? The younger men tell me that women their age are boring, manipulative, game playing, self centered, and shallow. They are attracted to the depth, maturity and spirit of the older woman. Q: What happens when the men reach age 35 and their Cougar is 50 or 60 or older? Don’t the younger men leave? 20 years of psychological research specific to psychosexual imprinting focuses on how younger men are imprinted to the older woman. An imprint is a very powerful psychological phenomenon that is a lifetime bond. Their baby sitter, school teacher, mom’s best friend, actresses and other older women caused an imprint formation that instantly bonded them to an attraction toward older women. Even as these men get older themselves, they continue to seek out women older than themselves. For that reason, men in their 40’s and older consider themselves Cubs and refuse to date women their age or younger. This explains why a man in his late 30’s can marry a woman 20 years his senior and once single again, desire to seek out, date and marry another older woman. Not all Cubs are men in their 20’s, and as I always say to my members: ‘There is a lid for every pot.’ Q: So, there is more to this Cougar dating trend than what the general public knows? The media and pop culture ‘experts’ have jumped on a bandwagon they really know very little about this dynamic. They want to narrowly define this demographic of people and capitalize and sensationalize it for profit, notoriety and to sell their “self published” books. The people I have interviewed who have many years of living this lifestyle object to this bias by non credentialed people who offer a superficial overview of their otherwise very intricate lives. I do my best to set the record straight. Source by Dr. Fayr Barkley, Ph.D.

On the role of collective unconscious in etiquette psychology and the social, cultural, historical and psychological dimensions of etiquette Etiquette is closely related to culture as cultures provide the code of conduct and thus lay the foundation for the basic pattern of social interaction. Etiquette relates to what is socially appropriate and is very socially grounded whereas manners could be more generalized. The psychology of etiquette has to analyze social customs according to psychological principles and how etiquette or codes of behavior have developed from the collective consciousness. Psychologically etiquette is dependent on 1. Culture and Customs of nations 2. Collective Consciousness of the people Culture and customs define the social appropriateness of etiquette and the collective unconscious provides the foundation on which etiquette could be developed or explained. The collective consciousness is a repository of emotions or experiences of the past and especially experiences of the ancestors or people who have lived within a society and these experiences are carried over in some form to the present generation. Usually the collective consciousness is felt through a sense of shared time, shared past, shared emotions, shared history, and a sense of shared responsibility. In psychoanalysis, collective unconscious has been referred to a part of the psyche of humanity and other life forms that seem to organize collective experiences. Carl Jung suggested that along with our personal individual consciousness, there is a collective unconscious in the psyche that is universal and impersonal in nature. In order to understand etiquette, we have to understand how the collective unconscious helps shape our taboos, traditions and perception of what is right and wrong. In fact etiquette directly relates to perception and judgment and though not morally derived could be based on deep rooted moral beliefs of a culture. These moral residues have been transmitted through generations and ingrained in the collective psyche of nations. Customs develop from these collective thoughts and perceptions and these customs tend to create the etiquette. Etiquette relates to behaving appropriately or following certain norms or patterns of behaviour and it is psychological in its manifestation as etiquette is based on customs or traditions and perceptions dependent on the collective psyche and unconscious. Jungian psychology in fact could explain a lot of customs and patterns within cultural schemas or manifestations of cultural taboo and perceptions. Thus it could also form the basis of a cultural and etiquette psychology. Etiquette Psychology could involve understanding of: 1. The Collective unconscious as it relates to the development of traditions and beliefs within a culture 2. The individual or personal unconscious as it relates to perception of beliefs and using these as the basis of behaviour 3. Individual behaviour as it relates to following certain perceived beliefs 4. Collective behaviour as an aggregate of individual perceptions and forming collective cultural norms and etiquette The flow chart is given as: collective unconscious – personal unconscious – individual behaviour – collective behaviour – culture and customs – etiquette Etiquette is thus a product of culture and customs built through collective behaviour and derived from the foundation of collective unconscious. All these elements seem to be interrelated in etiquette psychology. Any etiquette psychology will have to trace how collective unconscious relates to personal unconscious and leads to collective and individual behaviour. This could be further studied to show how culture and customs are related to etiquette and rules. The four main aspects of Etiquette are social, cultural, historical and psychological. In developing a theory of etiquette which will have to be closely related to cultural and social aspects, the historical and psychological dimensions will have to be considered as well. Social – The social dimensions in the development of etiquette are about studying the social systems and how these affect the development and perception of traditions. For example tribal societies thrive on collective action and in some cases tribes work in groups for their basic sustenance and for fulfilment of their basic needs. In individualistic societies, etiquette and customs may develop in accordance with social systems as in civilized societies consuming food without offering others is well within etiquette although in societies that thrive on group activity, this may not be considered appropriate. Thus etiquette in general develops in accordance with social systems and is based on attitudes people hold and their belief systems. These aspects of etiquette are generalized and could be found in many similar societies and are the basis of distinguishing uncivilized-civilized societies, tribal-non tribal societies, eastern-western societies and so on. Social aspects of etiquette are thus always the basis of broader generalizations. Cultural – The cultural dimensions of etiquette is the next stage of development of etiquette and unlike the social aspects of etiquette are less generalized and more specific according to cultural focus. For example eating all the food offered is considered acceptable and encouraged in Japanese and American cultures but considered gluttony in Arab cultures. Tipping is almost expected in some Asian, Middle Eastern and African nations although in Japan it is considered rude if you leave a tip. These are specific forms of etiquette and cultural dimensions or aspects of etiquette distinguish cultures and societies on narrower levels. These distinctions based on cultural aspects of etiquette are specific or narrow as the distinction between Japanese and Arab etiquette or Chinese and Indian etiquette, French and Greek etiquette and so on. These culture specific aspects of etiquette could be studied by understanding customs and cultures and would form deeper level analysis highlighting cultural dimensions and focus on issues such as dress code to eating habits. In fact culture specific etiquette are more about habit formation and less dependent on belief systems which are more generalized as belief systems could be common across cultures. Historical – The historical aspects of culture are directly interwoven in the development of etiquette and this is where collective psyche and collective behaviour are important. Cultural and social history could be relevant in forming etiquette and determine attitudes and behaviour. Social history could be relevant for

When reviewing health plans and evaluating cost, keep in mind health insurance wasn’t designed to cover every penny related to health care. Everything under the sun on an open credit card is nice, but not when you are paying the bill. But you are. The purpose of insurance is to cover sudden very expensive losses. It’s about making you whole again and not have the financial responsibility of a ton of money to do it. Somehow we all decided over the last 60 years that the traditional plan should pay for everything. Health insurance is the only insurance product, for the most part, that pays for first dollar coverage like doctor visits and prescription drugs. The healthcare system gamed the system on the bigger bank account paying the bill, not the small guy. The tables have turned… Employees are more responsible for their healthcare in paying more for premium dollars out of their check and higher costs. Employers should engage their employees in being more proactive in their healthcare. Here are a few ideas: Don’t run to the ER or the doctor visit for every little thing. What happened to home remedies or waiting to see the doctor instead of running to the ER? This will save you thousands in a year if you have kids. Try saving money on medication by finding alternatives. Sometimes skipping the drug may not have an impact on your health, but keeps you coming back to the doctor. The other thing you can do is shop around. Just because they are convenient doesn’t mean it is the most cost-effective. Just because your doctor recommends a test, it doesn’t mean you have to jump to it and have it done. The doctor went through many years of school, but they are also trying to run tests to protect them and get paid. Ask more questions to see if you feel it’s the right thing. Just like you would if your mechanic suggested items. It’s your money. If you are scheduling a procedure, take a look around. Many new facilities are popping up to help reduce cost from outpatient testing to outpatient surgical facilities. The hospital isn’t the cheapest. Far from it. This ends up driving the price up for you and the insurance company. You do not need to go to a state of the art teaching hospital, for most thing. There are a time and place for the advanced care that some of the predominant teaching hospitals bring to the table. However, for most things people go through its overkill and overcharged. In the end, it will end up costing you more money, either in out-of-pocket expenses or premium. There is no free lunch. Source by Butch Zemar

The occupation of a home health care nurse, as with any caregiver or nursing job, takes hard work, a serving personality, and an interest in the medical field. In home nurses require extremely meticulous individuals because they often do not have a nearby nurse or doctor to secondarily monitor work and given therapies. However, the end result of working in the home health care business is extremely rewarding! Helping Individuals The ability to help others inside of the comfort of their own homes provides a unique experience for home care nurses, therapists, and caregivers. It is much easier to build relationships with individuals when a nurse is giving medical care within that very patient’s home. It allows patients to open up in greater detail about their lives and share stories about the many items, photos, and memories that took place inside of their house. The one on one care a patient receives in a home care environment often allows greater individual attention. There are not the same distractions of a hospital room or additional patients. A home care nurse is able to give 100% of their attention to a single patient and their personalized treatment and care. Home nursing care is also rewarding because the nurse is giving a patient the chance to no longer feel like a burden to their families. Instead of an individual relying on friends and family for groceries, drives to the doctor, or meal preparation, the home care nurse can take care of these items. Even when family and friends are more than willing to offer their care, it gives the patient a sense of freedom when they feel like they are no longer relying on the goodwill of other people. Helping Families The same way that an individual feels guilty about requiring constant care and maintenance from surrounding friends and family, the same sense of guilt can occur within family caretakers as well. A home health care nurse allows families to have free time away from the guilt and stress of constant care. Many friends or family may even feel guilty about wanting extra free time and therefore do not ask. However, it does not always have to be this way. By hiring an in home nurse, the patient is not only receiving attentive, quality care, but families can rest at peace knowing their loved one is being properly and attentively cared for. It decreases the stress load of daily drives to therapy or the doctor by hiring an in home nurse. Almost all medical treatments can be completed at home, instead of driving to therapy or a doctor’s office. For family members, it can be quite a stressful ordeal learning about various medical machinery and medical care, always wondering if care and maintenance is being administered properly. However, home nursing care individuals have the knowledge, experience, and medical background to confidently maintain medical devices. The family no longer has to feel completely responsible for every single aspect of medical care. Thus, it decreases the stress load and allows friends and family to focus on the more important things, like looking at old photographs together, playing cards, or other forms of bonding. In essence, home health care nursing is just as much for the families of a patient as it is for the patients themselves. Home care nursing provides quality care, while building lasting relationships! Source by Jenna Beth Peters