From: Andrew Phelps <dis_course@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [PsySR-humanrights] Stop-Loss
To: psysr-humanrights@googlegroups.com
Date: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 11:04 AM
Oqs:
Thank you for these comments. Clearly Seligman's "Positive Psychology" advocacy is 'insufficient' to turn the tide towards social justice, and it's used here to help reinforce today's unjust war.
Where IMHO the focus is not being reframed in your comments, is regarding the parallel advocacy of Zimbardo regarding "Psychology of Torture." That perspective is 'insufficient' to turn the tide towards social justice, and it's used to support the top-down suppression of grassroots advocacy; it's the control process overseeing the above reinforcement.
Andrew Phelps
, Ph.D. (mathematics)[Ph.D. is in nonlinear control theory]
On Sat, 1/22/11, Oqs wrote:
Srp and Pqr:
Pqr - I appreciate all of your thoughtful responses. I agree with you 100%. It becomes another way for the government and military to let itself off the hook for destructive policies and the trauma inducing ways in which they are implemented. The "positive" side of the Positive Psychology tack is that it makes the military brass feel "positive" about themselves doing something to "help" the soldiers on the ground. It fosters their resilience in being able to perpetrate more of the same policies without questioning the fundamental assumptions and consequences underlying their policies.
Srp - Thanks for these quotes from Div 19 journal. .. I think the articles sound very interesting. [For instance]
Training persons to develop higher levels of psychological resilience may help employees exposed to such dangerous and emotionally draining work environments to cope more effectively. There are efforts led by Martin Seligman and his colleagues to train all U.S. Army soldiers to development more optimistic appraisals and to use other strategies that foster resilience..