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Keith E Rice's Integrated SocioPsychology Blog & Pages

Aligning, integrating and applying the behavioural sciences

Psychology’

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“You can’t know what you don’t know” – Chris Cowan, 1998 Updated: 9 March 2023 Welcome to my Blog & Pages where you can learn about me, the work I’ve been doing and an approach I call Integrated SocioPsychology. From time to time I also post in the Blog my sociopsychologically-informed views on life – from major events in the world to personal ruminations on my own thinking and attitudes. Go to Key Updates to find out what the latest changes and additions to the site are. Based primarily on the Gravesian approach, Hans J Eysenck’s Dimensions of Temperament, Robert Dilts’ Neurological Levels construct and the science of Memetics, Integrated SocioPsychology presents a structure to align and integrate the behavioural sciences. Consequently the concept postulates the complementarity of much in the academic disciplines of Psychology and Sociology and what are often considered ‘alternative’ fields such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming. This web site carries a real flavour and much information as to how Integrated SocioPsychology has been developed (by myself and others). However, greater detail and elaboration can be found in my book, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You: an Integrated SocioPsychology Guide to Personal Fulfilment & Better Relationships’. You can learn more about me, the work I have… Read More

SD for NLPers

by Natasha Todorovic June 2003 This basic introduction to Spiral Dynamics (SD) for Practitioners of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) was written by Natasha Todorovic for ‘Voice Of NLP’ and is re-published here with the permission of both Natasha and that short-lived e-zine’s editor, Steve Bannister. Natasha, an NLP Master Practitioner & Trainer, is the personal and business partner of Spiral Dynamics co-developer Chris Cowan. She can be contacted via e-mail or the NVC Consulting web site. The flirtation is over. The first date has come and gone. We are now in the throes of building a relationship knowing it’s going somewhere with boundaries not yet defined. The quality of the partnership developing between NLP and SD will be determined by the enthusiasm of the parties involved – that’s you! What is SD? Spiral Dynamics is a powerful model of human nature which is capturing the imagination of NLP practitioners, organisational development consultants, coaches and trainers all over the world. It is the title of a foundational book, a number of websites, and a certification programme. For some, it represents an excellent toolbox, with instructions on how, when and where to use NLP tools and techniques. For others, it is a spiritual movement and… Read More

Learner Perspectives: Older Workshops

A Look at Some Older Workshops… “Really enjoyed it. Found Spiral Dynamics quite complex – but revised it and think I’m getting there!” – Rachel Abbey,   Shipley College participant, 2017 “Very good, informal and relaxed but full of information” – Adam McDowall,  Shipley College participant, 2017 “KR created a fascinating learning environment in which learners were curious & enthusiastic to learn .With each new cited reference they posed questions to deepen and explore their own knowledge…. His enthusiasm was contagious and infected the learners. Prior to the class starting one learner reflected that Keith was brilliant before sharing with me how fascinated he was with the previous week’s learning…. Keith’s approach to valuing his learner’s experience is outstanding . He warned the students (& the observer) the previous week about the content of this week’s session. This sensitive approach to a potentially awkwards subject ensured that the environment was safe and the quality of learning was maximised…. You were enthusiastic in your sharing of your extensive knowledge with your learners who as a result described you as ‘brilliant’ and your lessons, ‘excellent’. You diplomatically and sensitively dealt with a difficult subject which resulted in students actively engaging with the learning and me having to stop myself from getting involved!” – Heather Savage, excerpts from Shipley College lesson observation report, 2017 “The course had a huge, positive effect on… Read More

Conformity & Obedience

Relaunched: 21 September 2020 Conformity and obedience are 2 principal and related topics of study in the psychological area of Social Influence. The difference between the 2 concepts can be summed up as:- obedience is a response to authority but conformity is a response to group norms those subject to authority obey those in authority but conformity usually is to peer groups obedience results from the exercise of power by those with the ability to enforce their commands but conformity is associated with need for acceptance and knowing what to do the behaviour of those obeying may be very different to the behaviour of those in authority but conformity behaviour is similar to that of peers the demands for obedience are usually explicit whereas going with the group ‘flow’ is often implicit Conformity Morton Deutsch & Harold Gerard (1955) described 2 types of conformity:- Informational Influence is when someone  conforms to a group norm because they believe this is the right thing to do in the circumstances. Deutsch & Gerrard (p629) say it is “an influence to accept information obtained from another as evidence about reality.” According to Herbert Kelman (1958), the desire to be correct produces the process of internalisation. He… Read More

Suicide?

Updated: 20 July 2013 Early in 2013 The Guardian’s James Meikle, based upon data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reported that 6,045 suicides were recorded in the UK among people aged 15 and over during 2011. This figure represented a significant rise that, unfortunately, was part of an upward trend. (In 2001, Kevin Brewer noted that suicides in the UK were about 4,000 per year.) The suicide rate was 11.8 deaths per 100,000 people, the highest since 2004. In England, the suicide rate was 10.4 deaths per 100,000; highest in the north-east, at 12.9, and lowest in London, at 8.9. In Wales, the suicide rate was 13.9, up from 10.7 in 2009. Meikle acknowledged that suicide rates were slightly lower in Northern Ireland  – ie: 289 suicides in 2011, down from 313 in 2010 – and Scotland, though clearly still concerning. The ONS figures reveal an effect of age and gender:- The male suicide rate in 2011 was the highest since 2002, and among 45-59-year-old men the highest since 1986. For men, the suicide rate was 18.2 per 100,000 population. The rate was highest among males aged 30-44, at 23.5 per 100,000. Among 45-59-year-old men the figure was 22.2… Read More

Jerry Coursen on Clare W Graves

June 2004 Jerry Coursen PhD has been on my perceptual radar since shortly after I was first exposed to Spiral Dynamics in Spring 1998. An irregular but highly-thought-provoking contributor to the SD e-lists, his postings struck me as being of a far deeper structure than many others. Over the years we’ve occasionally exchanged thoughts both off- and on-list; and, in Spring 2001, I was privileged to see Jerry make a presentation at Don Beck’s First Annual Confab in Dallas, Texas. His postulation that C-P/RED assumes leadership in the B-O/PURPLE tribe to begin the transition to a C-P/RED power-based system was something I’d not heard before yet fitted with my own experiences in PURPLE/RED organisations. From there on in, I was more than convinced of the calibre of the man’s thinking! The following interview was conducted with Jerry by e-mail during May and June 2004 after he agreed to let me publish A Spiral Perspective on Human Development…? , a piece he wrote about the way he understands the biopsychosocial model of Clare W Graves. The views he expresses in the interview about the need to ‘debug’ and revise Graves in the light of today’s science may be contentious to some; to… Read More

What makes People vote Republican?

by Jonathan Haidt September 2008 annotated by Bruce L Gibb, September 2008 [Reference update: April 2009] Jonathan Haidt is associate professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and author of ‘The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom’ (2005) . He wrote this piece for www.edge.org. Bruce L Gibb is an organisational psychologist in private practice in Ann Arbor and an adjunct professor in the School of Natural Resources & the Environment at the University of Michigan. He is also a frequent contributor to the Spiral Dynamics e-lists. While a commentary on the current American presidential election is clearly highly topical and would normally be more appropriate for the Blog, what gives this piece a more permanent currency is Bruce’s Spiral Dynamics-based annotation. Haidt’s article read together with Gibb’s footnotes provides an excellent and more generalised explanation for the points I raised in the September 2008 Blog: Should the Democrats have chosen Hilary? Jonathan has kindly given explicit written permission for his work to be used in this way. What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies?… Read More

Attachment Theory

Updated: 10 October 2017 Mary Ainsworth & Sylvia Bell (1970) define an attachment as:  “An affectional tie that one person or animal forms between himself and another specific one – a tie that binds them together in space and over time. The behavioural hallmark of attachment is seeking to gain and maintain a certain degree of proximity to the object of attachment.” Rudolph Schaffer (1996) adds that separation from the attachment figure can lead to distress. Daphne Maurer & Charles Maurer (1988)  state that attachments “…are welded in the heat of interactions.”  Modern affective Attachment Theory, in its application to infants, has its origins in the work of John Bowlby. Bowlby was a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist working at the London Child Guidance Clinic in the 1930s. He had become interested in the effect of children’s disrupted relationships with their parents when, as a medical student, he volunteered to work in a residential children’s home and encountered a range of abnormal behaviours. His famous study of 44 ‘juvenile thieves’ (1944) identified Maternal Deprivation as being associated with delinquency and all sorts of problematic emotional and behavioural issues, including in the extreme what Bowlby termed ‘Affectionless Psychopathy’, the symptoms of which are now incorporated into Reactive Attachment Disorder. Bowlby’s… Read More

Miscellaneous FAQs

Click the question to go to its answer… 1. It’s said you have severe reservations about NLP. Please explain. 2. Were you expelled from the British Association of Counsellors & Psychotherapists? 1. It’s said you have severe reservations about NLP. Please explain. Updated: 17/05/15 Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) contains some very powerful therapeutic techniques indeed. And I use a number of these as first choice in tackling a therapy client’s problems. However, I do have severe reservations about NLP being presented, taught and used as if it is a complete and cohesive set of theories, models and techniques. Firstly, it is theoretically weak. There is no unified or even connectionist set of theoretical underpinnings. In terms of theory, it is a ragbag of disjointed models which are not properly integrated. Put the vMEMES of the Gravesian approach at the core of NLP and most of it starts to make sense. Even then it ignores many facets of the human psyche covered in other schools of Psychology. This, unfortunately, does not stop many NLPers – including ‘guru’ figures who should know better – from claiming that NLP can be used to tackle any and every form of psychological problem. It can’t! For one… Read More