LIFE COACHING NEWSLETTER
January 2006
Psychological Type and Politics:
The Psychology of Liberals and Conservatives
A Wholebrain Perspective
Essay 3
Note: The URLS for Essay 1 and Essay 2 can be found at the end of this newsletter.
"…the human cerebral hemispheres exist in a symbiotic relationship in which both tHe capacities and motivations to act are complimentary. Each side of the brain is able to preform and chooses to preform a certain set of cognitive tasks which the other side finds difficult or distasteful or both."
Levy In this essay it is my intention to begin laying the foundation of the patterned psychological core that is inherent in the Liberal and Conservative worldviews.
The following pairs of opposites not only capture the essential nature of these functions and but have the power to cut directly through the complexity of these concepts.
ABOUT THE THINKING AND FEELING FUNCTIONS
Thinking has an "I - It" Stance.
Thinking is about The Ten Commandments.
The focus is on the Letter of the Law.
Feeling has an "I - Thou" Stance.
Feeling is about The Sermon on the Mount.
The focus is on the Spirit of the law.
Thinking is tough-minded.
Feeling is tender-minded.
Thinking is a line.
Feeling is a circle.
Thinking is a particle.
Feeling is a wave.
Thinking fathered "The Enlightenment."
Feeling inspired "The Renaissance."
Thinking is about objectivity and the outside.
Feeling is about subjectivity and the inside.
Thinking is about science.
Feeling is about art.
Thinking names.
Feeling experiences.
Thinking is about parts.
Feeling is about wholes.
Thinking uses cause and effect.
Feeling uses story, and myth.
Thinking uses analysis.
Feeling uses understanding.
Thinking is about reason.
Feeling is about humanism.
Thinking is about facts.
Feeling is about meaning.
Thinking solves problems.
Feeling creates art and meaning.
Thinking is hierarchal.
Feeling is egalitarian.
Thinking is about argument.
Feeling is about dialogue.
Thinking is about the individual
Feeling is about the individual in society
Thinking is detached and impersonal.
Feeling is empathic.
Thinking knows by explaining.
Feeling knows by understanding.
Thinking is about prose.
Feeling is about poetry.
Thinking is about the notes.
Feeling is about the music.
Now that you have an idea and feel for the rational mental functions, I'd like to take you back to the words of Prof. George Lakoff and move on to another level.
Essentially, Lakoff feels that Liberals are empathic and feel government must be used as a force for the common good while Conservatives are impersonal and think that “individual discipline and initiative,” which results in personal wealth, can be the only true force for good.
Though two of my readers instantly responded – for and against Lakoff’s conclusions, in the event you are still pondering over this cognitive scientist’s conclusions, you’ll find Lakoff’s concepts of the Idealized Conservative and Progressive family systems which follow very helpful since they are so clearly differentiated.
“LAKOFF'S IDEALIZED MODELS OF THE FAMILY
Conservatism
A strict father family
Assumptions:
Children are born bad and must be made good.
The world is a dangerous place, and it always will be because there is evil in the world.
What is needed in this kind of world is a strong, strict father who can:
Protect the family in the dangerous worldSupport the family in the difficult worldTeach his children right from wrong.What is required of the child is obedience, because the strict father is a moral authority who knows right from wrong. It is further assumed that the only way to teach kids obedience – that is, right from wrong – is through punishment, painful punishment, when they are wrong. This includes hitting them, and some authors on conservative child rearing recommend sticks, belts, and wooden paddles on the bare bottom.
The rationale for physical punishment is this: when children do something wrong, if they are physically disciplined they learn not to do it again. That means that they will develop internal discipline to keep themselves from doing wrong, so that in the future they will be obedient and act morally. Without such punishment, the world will go to hell. There will be no morality.
Such internal discipline has a secondary effect. It is what is required for success in the difficult, competitive world. That is, if people are disciplined and pursue their self-interest in this land of opportunity, they will become propserous and self-reliant. Thus, the strict father model links morality and prospertiy. The same discipline you need to be moral is what allows you to prosper. The link is the pursuit of self-interest. Given opportunity and discipline, pursuing your self-interest should enable you to prosper. ... The link is the morality of self-interest, which is a version of Adam smith's view of capitalism. Adam smith said that if everyone pursues their own profit, then the profit of all will be maximized by the invisible hand - that is, by nature, just naturally. ....
This is linked to a general metaphor that views well-being as wealth. For example, if I do you a favor, you say, “I owe you one” or “I’m in your debt.” Doing something good for someone is metaphorically like giving him money. He “owes” you something. And he says, “How can I ever repay you?”
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Progressive Liberalism
The Nurturant (both parents) family
Assumptions:
Children are born good and can be made better.
The world can be made a better place, and our job is to work on that.
The parents’ job is to nurture their children and to raise their children to be nurturers of others.
What does nurturance mean?
It means two things: empathy and responsibility. If you have a child, you have to know what every cry means. You have to know when the child is hungry, when he needs a diaper change, when he is having nightmares. And you have a responsibility – you have to take care of this child. Since you cannot take care of someone else if you are not taking care of yourself, you have to take care of yourself enough to be able to take care of the child.
All this is not easy. Anyone who has ever raised a child knows that this is hard. You have to be strong. You have to work hard at it. You have to be very competent. You have to know a lot.
In addition, all sorts of other values immediately follow from empathy and responsibility.
First, if you empathize with your child, you will provide protection. This comes into politics in many ways. What do you protect your child from? Crime and drugs, certainly. You also protect your child from cars without seat belts, from smoking, from poisonous additives in food. So progressive politics focuses on environmental protection, worker protection, consumer protection, and protection from disease. These are things that progressives want the government to protect their citizens from. But there are also terrorist attacks, which liberals and progressives have not been very good at talking about in terms of protection. Protection is part of the progressive moral system, but it has not been elaborated enough, and on September 11, progressives did not have a whole lot to say. That was unfortunate, because nurturant parents and progressives do care about protection. Protection is important. It is part of our moral system.
Second, if you empathize with your child, you want your child to be fulfilled in life, to be a happy person. And if you are an unhappy, unfulfilled person yourself, you are not going to want other people to be happier than you are. The Dali lama teaches us that. Therefore it is your moral responsibility to be a happy, fulfilled person. Your moral responsibility. Further it is your moral responsibility to teach your child to be a happy, fulfilled person who wants others to be happy and fulfilled. That is part of what nurturing family life is about. It is a common precondition for caring about others.”
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Over 13 years ago, I took a course called The History and Idea of Harvard and while researching for a paper I read a book called "Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia." It was at that time that I came across the religious patterns of our forefathers for the first time. This quote was on the first page of the book:
"When studied with any degree of thoroughness, the economic problem will be found to run into the political problem, the political problem in turn into the philosophical problem, and the philosophical problem itself to be almost indissolubly bound up at last with the religious problem."
As I got into the book, I was dumbfounded when I came upon the religious patterns of early Americans. A chart from the book follows:
PURITAN AND QUAKER ETHICS
AND
THEIR CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES
by E. Digby Baltzell
“Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia”
Two Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Class Authority and Leadership
RELIGIOUS PATTERNS
THE PURITAN ETHIC
OLD TESTAMENT
TEN COMMANDMENTSLaw (head and reason)
Sacred authority: BibleDanger: legalism and rationalismGOD TRANSCENDENT
Historical Jesus
Servants of God (works)
Glorify God in the world
Duty and honor
(anxiety-compulsion)
PREDENTINATION AND ELECTION
Educated clergy
Learning and erudition
Literature; sermon, history, and theology
Danger: Arrogance of elect
PARTICULAR CALLING
Professional pride
Worldly asceticism (lay monk transforms the world)
Institutional philanthropy
SOURCE OF EVIL: SINFUL MAN
Optimistic about institutions,
pessimistic about man
War: crusade against evil enemy
***
THE QUAKER ETHIC
NEW TESTAMENT
Sermon on the Mount Gospel (love and feeling) Sacred authority: Inner Light Danger: antinomian mysticismA person who maintains that Christians are freed from the
moral law by virtue of grace as set forth in the gospel.
GOD IMMANENT
Eternal Christ
Friends of God (grace)
Union with God (mysticism)
Conscience and honesty
(peace of mind)
GOD IN EVERY PERSON
Charismatic laymen
Literacy and education
Literature: personal journal
Danger: Plutocracy (“Weighty Friends”)
GENERAL CALLING
Anti-professional
World asceticism (lay monk withdraws from the world)
Spontaneous charity
SOURCE OF EVIL: THE WORLD
Optimistic about man,
pessimistic about institutions
War: perfectionist pacifism
As you can see, Conservatives retain a family system that has its roots with the Puritans while Liberals retain a family system that has its roots with the Quakers.
The idea that some things never change is apropos here since Puritans were killing Quakers on the Boston Common way back when, and the Bush Administration was recently caught spying on the Quakers because they oppose the Iraqi War. The Quakers are pacifists.
Last summer, the Quakers had an exhibition on the Boston Common and laid out thousands of empty shoes meant to represent dead American soldiers. At first sight, I found it overwhelming. It took my breath away.
This essay began with this quote: “…the human cerebral hemispheres exist in a symbiotic relationship in which both the capacities and motivations to act are complimentary. Each side of the brain is able to preform and chooses to preform a certain set of cognitive tasks which the other side finds difficult or distasteful or both."
One doesn't have to be a genius to understand that the Thinking and Feeling Functions are complimentary aspects of the human mind, and meant to be used in the appropriate context so as to receive the unique and precious gifts that each offer. The problem results when Thinking types devalue Feeling and Feeling types devalue Thinking.
Lately, there is much discussion about the life of Abraham Lincoln. I can't help but feel that Abraham Lincoln (who was inspired to return to public office only after he found out that the Southern states were planning to expand slavery to new territories) most nobly embodies the finest impulses in the human mind and spirit because he was the individual who, in a time of national peril, used both his mind and heart, when most were losing theirs.
In conclusion, it is my opinion that the psychological (decision-making) core of the Conservative Worldview is organized around the Thinking Function and the psychological (decision-making) core of the Liberal/Progressive Worldview is organized around the Feeling Function.
This statement is not meant to be interpreted and reduced to the idea that all individual Conservatives are Thinking Types and all Liberals are Feeling Types.
On the other hand, it is meant to convey the idea that the Conservative Worldview was constructed upon a preponderance of Thinking principles with a negative view of human nature, and the Liberal/Progressive Worldview was constructed upon a preponderance of Feeling values with a positive view of human nature.
Essay 4 will focus on “Sensing and Intuition”, the information-gathering functions, which are also at the core the Conservative and Liberal/Progressive Worldview.
Angela Maffeo ©January 2006 The schedule for the Day of Self-Discovery Programs at Radcliffe for 2006 is:
Sunday, February 5, 2006
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Sunday, April 2, 2006
Note: Hold down the control button and then click on the URLS
For more information, visit
www.discoveryourpsychologicaltype.org.
For Essay 1 – October 2005 Newsletter:
www.discoveryourpsychologicaltype.org/OCTOBER2005NEWSLETTER.html
Essay 2 - December 2005 Newsletter: www.discoveryourpsychologicaltype.org/DECEMBER2005NEWSLETTER.html
Email: amaffeo@post.harvard.edu
