Psychological Strategies, Morality Stages, and Cultural Identity

Posted on Oct 21, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Insights from Broadcasts 121–125

Carl Jung on Gender Potential (Broadcast 121)

What is critical for empowering gender potential?

  • For Men: Men must succeed in the traditional role (always trying to win), which often leads them to get out of touch with themselves. Having a female friend allows men to be vulnerable.
  • For Women: The traditional role is to be warm and nurturing. Women are often givers, which is why they may resist accepting love or things from others. They are traditionally more interested in relationships than professional accomplishment (though this is changing). Expectations include not being aggressive or independent. Women and men perceive things differently; men often try to fix things.

U.S. Creativity and Performance (Broadcast 123)

Why does the U.S. foster more creativity?

The presenter believes the U.S. fosters more creativity, top performance, and inventions because hard work is rewarded here (e.g., Employee of the Month, promotion to shift leader or manager). In contrast, other countries may not reward hard work, potentially leading to exploitation.

Benefits of Goodwill and Service (Broadcast 123)

Three benefits of practicing goodwill:

  1. Practice Moderation: Do not allow your activities to control you. Excessive behavior can harm family, friends, or lead to job loss.
  2. Give with the Heart: Knowing the difference between giving and giving with the heart helps us learn how to do good.
  3. Treat People Well: Treat people well even if you do not know them or they do not like you. This action produces more kindness.

Group Roles in the Death Penalty Discussion (Broadcast 125)

Participant Roles and Dynamics:

  • Laura: Acted as the “crazy one” and was completely ignored, feeling excluded from the discussion.
  • Whitney: Was also ignored. The text suggests he might have had a good point, but it was missed.
  • Heather: Acted as the “smart one” (the “pro” side), dominating the conversation and preventing others (the “con” side) from speaking.

Key Psychological Concepts and Strategies

The Seven Self-Disciplines (Chapter 7)

  1. Perspective: The ability to view things and events in our lives through wider, more objective lenses rather than narrow, subjective lenses.
  2. Patience: The ability to become resistant toward unhealthy emotional temptations.
  3. Attachment: The ability to have healthy relationships with all elements of life and resist attachment to them.
  4. Performance: The ability to perform things efficiently and resist the urge to settle for less or laziness.
  5. Moderation: The ability to resist the urge to overindulge in life’s joys and vices.
  6. Perseverance: The ability to resist the urge to quit when pursuing goals.
  7. Goodwill: The ability to resist the urge to become more selfish as we build a life for ourselves.

Passive Aggressive Strategies (Strategy 8.6)

The Subtle Revenger
Instead of honestly sharing resentments, the Revenger does things he knows will “get his partner’s goat”—leaving dirty dishes in the sink, clipping fingernails in bed, belching out loud, turning up the television too loud, and so on.
The Distracter
Rather than expressing feelings about the object of dissatisfaction, the Distracter attacks other parts of the partner’s life. Thus, they never have to share what is really on their mind and can avoid dealing with painful parts of their relationships.
The Trapper
Plays an especially dirty trick by setting up a desired behavior for her partner, and then, when it is met, attacking the very thing she requested. For example, she might say, “Let’s be honest with each other,” and then when the partner shares his feelings, he finds himself attacked for having feelings that the Trapper does not want to accept.
The Blamer
The Blamer is more interested in finding fault than in solving conflict. Needless to say, she usually does not blame herself. Blaming behavior almost never solves a conflict and is an almost surefire way to make the receiver defensive.

The Four Behavioral Styles (Chapter 8)

  • Relaters: Warm and nurturing individuals; they are the most relationship-oriented of the four styles.
  • Thinkers: Analytical, persistent, systematic people who enjoy problem solving.
  • Directors: Driven by two governing needs: to control and achieve.
  • Socializers: Enthusiastic “party animals” who like to be where the action is.

Stages of Morality Development (Strategy 6.1)

  1. Stage 1 (Ages 4–12): Avoiding Punishment

    Individuals act to avoid punishment. They obey the rules only when punishment is sensed from an authority figure. An adult who continues this behavior risks severe consequences (e.g., prison or death).

  2. Stage 2 (Ages 4–12): Seeking Reward

    Individuals act to get a reward. They obey the rules only for a reward in return. Their tactic is to demonstrate good faith and play by the rules initially, then turn around and stretch/break more laws.

  3. Stage 3 (Ages 12–Adult): Gaining Approval

    Individuals act to get approval. They obey the rules in order to win approval from others. Many companies and athletic teams operate at this level because the team comes first.

  4. Stage 4 (Ages 12–Adult): Maintaining Order

    Individuals act to bring order to their world. They obey the rules because an authority established the laws, which are more important than one’s selfish desires. More attention is paid to the four African Americans than to the four African American saints.

  5. Stage 5 (Teen–Adult): Social Justice

    Individuals act to bring social justice to the world. They obey the rules and laws because a community has conscientiously chosen them, not just an authority figure. They think about the needs of others as well as their own.

  6. Stage 6 (Teen–Adult): Universal Justice

    Individuals act to bring justice to the world, despite what the law says. Thus, they will break a law for a good cause (e.g., going to war, abortion rights, human rights). Examples: Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

  7. Stage 7: Unique Transcendence

    These people are unique. They are in the world but not of it. Examples: Jesus and Mohammed.

White Mountain Apache Tribal Issues

Chairman’s Perspective on Community Health

Attribution of Ill Health and Call to Action

The Chairman attributes ill health (including diseases, alcoholism, and obesity) partly to the dominant society. The Chairman’s philosophy for action includes:

  • Do not sit back and wait for help that may never be forthcoming.
  • Stop thinking and acting like a victim.
  • Confront the problems; put effort into battling the symptoms and causes of ill health.

A Cultural Advisory Committee of elders has been established to advise the Tribal Cultural Director on identifying Apache artifacts and human remains held in museums, ensuring they return home.

Tribal Council Membership Requirement

What is required to become a Tribal Council member?

The Tribe, via a 1993 Constitutional Amendment election, now requires fluency in Apache as a qualification for all candidates for Tribal Council.

Causes of Apache Teen Suicide

What did investigations uncover?

Intense investigations were initiated to discover the causes of teen suicide and stem the tide. The most important cause found was loss of identity.

The youth were torn between the Apache world and the outside world and felt they belonged to neither. This cultural rootlessness is directly traceable to decades of effort to eradicate the Apache culture and language. By embracing cultural identity, the tribe has stemmed the tide, and suicide is no longer epidemic among the youth.