Baker Archives - Keith E Rice's Integrated SocioPsychology Blog & Pages

Influences, Acknowledgements & Gratitude

Update: 25 October 2019 Along the way, certain people have been particularly influential in terms of career progression and/or personal development; so it’s appropriate to acknowledge as many as I can remember. So here goes… Close friends and relatives My parents Ted & Betty Rice, of course. My uncle George Chandler who, playing guitar in a nightclub jazz trio and building a yacht to sail around the world, epitomised ‘cool’ to an impressionable 10-year-old. Rita Smith, always the aunty I was closest to and her daughters Norma (now Norma Klunder) and Maureen (now Maureen Williams) who embodied the mysteries of ‘teenage girl’ to their younger, only child male cousin. Ex-wives Linda Rice and Jane Rice inevitably have left their marks on me – as have ex-fiancees Jennie Beasty and Val Horsfall. Liz Olson was an American and a fellow Jefferson Starship fan who flew across the Atlantic to challenge some of my precepts! My 2 oldest friends, Chris Scurrah and David Burnby have been hugely influential in very different ways – Chris for inspiring me and supporting me to become a musician and Dave for supporting me in applying the Gravesian approach to real life. My stepdaughter Viki Harris has sometimes forced me to think about things differently… Read More

14/12/2018

Learner Perspectives: Recent Workshops

A Look at Some Recent Workshops… A selection of photos from workshops, with comments from letters, emails, evaluation forms, etc. Newest at the top; oldest at the bottom. Extended photo galleries from many workshop programmes can be found in the pertinent year page in Career. “Stimulating, fun, challenging – excellent combination….. Thanks, Keith, you’re a great teacher!” – Sophie Gore, Rossett participant, 2023 “Many thanks for a very informative and thought-provoking course. I’m looking forward to the next course’s information.” – Kevan Bradley, Rossett participant, 2023 “I found the information/content invaluable. Loved it! I like Keith’s delivery and approach to learning.” – Kay Bobek, Rossett participant, 2023 “Very interesting. Loved it all. Learned loads.” – Rebecca Grant, Rossett participant, 2022 “Just very interesting content which the group discussion helps to apply. Very engaging, delivered with energy from start to finish.” – Ed Ryder, Rossett participant, 2022 “Found it very engaging. Enjoyed the tasks and questionnaires. Gained an understanding into myself and others so I would be more empathetic.” – Leah O’Neill, Rossett participant, 2022 “Signing up for your course was one of the best things I’ve done and at a time when I was bogged down and focussed on being a mum to young children. I really appreciated… Read More

14/07/2016

What is Mental Illness? #2

PART 2 Underpinning the attempts to categorise and classify mental illness are 4 broad approaches… 1.Deviation from statistical norms (statistical infrequency) This is based on the notion that abnormal thought and behaviour are pretty rare in the general population. The scores of most human characteristics and behaviours, when measured, tend to fall fairly evenly about the mean, giving the bell curve of normal distribution. Eg: there are a lot of people who are ‘averagely’ tall or aggressive whereas very few people are very small or highly aggressive. Thus, there are as many people/scores above the mean as below it in a normal distribution. The further you travel from the mean, the fewer people/scores there are in the population. In a normal distribution – see graphic above – the majority of individuals are clustered around the mean. In a normal distribution the scores of 95.5% of the population will fall within 2 standard deviations from the mean. Scores beyond 2 standard deviations are considered statistically infrequent and, therefore, abnormal. Thus, thoughts and behaviours which occur in 4.5% or less of the population can be considered abnormal. As a way of defining what is meant by mental illness, this approach works well for… Read More

09/06/2016
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Modernisation Theory vs Stratified Democracy

Updated: 10 January 2017 It’s rather astounding that, nearly 60 years after Walt Rostow (1960) published ‘The Stages of Economic Growth: a Non-Communist Manifesto’, how much Rostow’s ideas – Modernisation Theory – still shape Western foreign policy – and the United States’ attitudes in particular. In those nearly 60 years that have seen, first, the end of the European empires and, then, the demise of Communism as a political and economic alternative to Capitalism, Rostow’s ideas have almost universally failed to deliver the wealth and prosperity to the developing nations that they promised. Large parts of the world in which Rostow’s ideas have been applied – ‘Black Africa’, in particular – are mired in poverty and debt…and all too often internecine warfare – with the attempts to implement Modernisation Theory a major causal factor. Not only that but, astonishingly, Rostow’s ideas underpin the Americans’ lack of understanding and application of inappropriate intervention strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan and their wholly-misguided approach to the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions, with all the bloody consequences that have entailed during the early years of the 21st Century. Rostow’s ideas have been heavily criticised from Marxist perspectives, most notably Andre Gunder Frank’s Dependency Theory (1971) and Immanuel Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory… Read More

17/12/2015

Is Sexual Infidelity Inevitable?

Updated: 20 November 2018 Personal sexual fidelity is certainly something many people truly espouse as a noble intention at certain points in their relationships – such as when first falling in love, or getting married, the woman getting pregnant or possibly resolving their partner’s bouts of insecurity. Some people seem genuinely to espouse fidelity to each other for years and sometimes even lifetimes. But these days actually sticking to one partner seems to be a real problem for an awful lot of people. In the Western world people – particularly in the professional/middle classes – tend to ‘settle down’ later (in their thirties, often with a number of ‘notches on the bedpost’). Fewer couples marry. (Marriage in itself cannot be a guarantee of permanence or fidelity; but, in theory, it is an action of intent.) People with money who do marry often make prenuptial agreements, effectively planning for the end of their relationship. Although there has been a noticeable decrease in UK divorce rates of 4.9% since 2016, the number of marriages ending in divorce in 2017 was still high at 42%. The number one reason cited for divorce remains adultery – although a number of marriages do manage to survive… Read More

08/11/2015

Bibliography I

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z Iacobacci, Gareth (2020): ‘Covid-19: Racism may be linked to Ethnic Minorities’ Raised Death Risk, says PHE’ in British Medical Journal #2421 IFEX (2012): ‘Google reports “Alarming” Rise in Government Censorship Requests’ https://www.ifex.org/international/2012/06/20/google_transparency_report/ (Accessed: 26/07/17) Inayatullah, Sohail (2000): ‘Causal Layered Analysis: Post Structuralism as Method’ (www.tukkk.fi/tutu/vanhatMeSe2000/mesepapers/Inayatullah.pdf) Inglehart, Ronald & Wayne Baker (2000): ‘Modernisation, Cultural Change and the Persistence of Traditional Values’ in American Sociological Review 65/1 Ingram, Gordon (2014): ‘From Hitting to Tattling to Gossip : an Evolutionary Rationale for the Development of Indirect Aggression’ in Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 12/2 Inhelder, Bärbel & Jean Piaget (1959) ‘The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence’ (Basic Books, New York NY) Innes, Judith & David Booher (2010): ‘Planning with Complexity: An Introduction to Collaborative Rationality for Public Policy’ (Routledge, New York NY) Inkeles, Alex (1969): ‘Making Modern Men: on the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in 6 Developing Countries’ in American Journal of Sociology #75 Insel, Thomas, James Winslow, Zuoxin Wang & Larry Young (1998): ‘Oxytocin, Vasopressin and the Neuroendocrine Basis of Pair Bond Formation’ in Hans Zingg, Charles… Read More

15/10/2015

Bibliography B

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T U V W X-Y-Z Bachen, Elizabeth, Sheldon Cohen & Anna Marsland (1997): ‘Psychoimmunology’ in Andrew Baum, Stanton Newman, John Weinman, Robert West & Chris McManus(eds): ‘Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine’ (Cambridge University Press) Badawy, Abdulla (2006): ‘Alcohol and Violence and the Possible Role of Serotonin’ in Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 13/1 Baechler, Jean (1979): ‘Suicides’ (Blackwell, Oxford) Bagdikian, Ben (2004): ‘The New Media Monopoly’ (7th Edition, Beacon Press, Boston MA) Bailey, Heidi, Greg Moran, David Pederson & Sandi Bento (2007): ‘Understanding the Transmission of Attachment using Variable- and Relationship-Centred Approaches’ in Development and Psychopathology 19/2 Bailey, Rodger (1991): ‘The Language and Behaviour Profile’ (self-study manual and audio-tape set, Language and Behaviour Institute, Poughkeepsie NY) Bain, Jerald, Ronald Langevin, Ronald Dickey & Mark Ben-Aron (1987): ‘Sex Hormones in Murderers and Assaulters’ in Behavioural Science & the Law #5 Baize, Harold & Jonathan Schroeder (1995): ‘Personality and Mate Selection in Personal Ads: Evolutionary Preferences in a Public Mate Selection Process’ in Journal of Social Behaviour & Personality 10/3 Bakan, Joel (2004): ‘The Corporation: the Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power’ (Constable, London) Baker, Robin &… Read More

15/10/2015

Afghanistan: Job not done!

There have been a lot of stories crowding the headlines the first quarter of this year. Currently, of course, the news media is dominated by the Russian annexation of Crimea and the disturbing disappearance of flight MH370 – which is generating a number of conspiracy theories, some of them potentially credible. Earlier in the year the news was full of devastating weather conditions – ice storms in North America, floods in the UK and bush fires in Australia, just for starters! Then we had a new prime minister in Italy, yet more civil war in central Africa, the highs and lows of the Winter Olympics gracing our TV screens, the truly-dreadful slaughter in Syria grinding on relentlessly while its peace talks foundered incongruously, the Scots independence debate beginning to get decidedly rough, bankers continuing to get found out – with the US regulator now suing 16 major banks for alleged Libor rate rigging…and even – wait for it! – a ban on women wearing lacy underwear in Kazakhstan. (A true Borat moment, if ever there was one!) So, in and amongst, it’s not entirely surprising that Afghanistan seems to have slipped below the radar for many. The murder of at least 15 people… Read More

19/03/2014
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