Randolph Harris II International Institute

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When You Write with a Wright Pen You Will Always be Right

Although it is usually difficult to find the person responsible for printers’ errors, the psychologic mechanisms underlying them are the same as in other mistakes. Typographical errors also well demonstrate the fact that people are not at all indifferent to such trivialities as mistakes, and, judging by the indignant reactions of the parties concerned, one is forced to the conclusion that mistakes are not treated by the public at large as accidents. An attitude is the disposition to behave in particular ways toward specific objects, and the degree of optimistic or pessimistic affect associated with some psychological object. Attitude can also be a predisposition to evaluate some symbol or objects, and a delimited totality of behavior with respect to something. A typesetter was imprisoned because instead of ending an article with the official formula ‘Heil Hitler,’ he inadvertently permitted a ‘t’ to attach itself to ‘Heil’ so that it read ‘Heilt Hitler,’ meaning ‘Heal Hitler’ instead of ‘Heil Hitler.’ His pleading that it was a mistake was of no avail. It seems that the Nazis who burned Dr. Freud’s works, nevertheless, recognize the truth of Dr. Freud’s teachings. This mistake plainly showed the typesetter’s view of Adolph Hitler’s personality. His mistake was unconsciously expressed his wish that the Lord may heal Hitler of his perceived tyranny. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5

Ordinarily, we should not have noticed one of the expected inevitable slips in writing. In fact, William Randolph Hearst said, “Do not be afraid to make a mistake, your readers might like it.” All writes for the press know what pits they are liable to fall into any day. Why does a mistake that glares and gibbers at you in print hide itself so successfully in the copy or the proof? How do you come to set down Rudolf when you mean Randolph? Some students of demonology believe firmly in the constant presence and maleficence of the writer’s devil. We venture to doubt the editor’s assumption of demonological influences. Examination of a great many typographical errors clearly shows that they are based on the mechanisms of a certain kind of situation. Psychologist believe that contributions of typographical and spoken errors sometimes provides evidence to support the postulated existence of stable, underlying attitudes within the individual which influences both his or her verbal expressions and actions. Adolph Hitler was the only person to hold the position of Fuhrer, which is a German word meaning leader or guide. Attitudes are alive and well and gainfully employed in the sphere of action. Despite the confusion, pessimism, and negative evidence some social psychologist refuse to give on their commitment to the belief that attitudes and behaviors must be related. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5

However, even those who are nearest to the Fuhrer and constantly sing his praises to the Germans, do not really believe what they say, as shown by the wireless from Berlin to the New York Times (12 November 1936), congratulating eighteen hundred boys and girls of the Hitler Youth for taking part in the mightiest Freiheitsbewegung (movement of liberty) in German History. Rudolf Hess, the vice-leader of the Nazi party, used instead the word Freiheitsberaubung (robbery of liberty). The last word appeared in the Lokalanzeiger and caused the publishers no small amount of annoyance. Abstract statements of a highly moral content are not seldom changed erotically through a typographical mistake. Though, the correlations that do occur are large enough to indicate that important causal forces are involved, whatever one’s model of the underlying causal process may be. Evidence must conclude that attitudes and behaviors are related under a variety of conditions and over a range of substantive areas. There is something to this relationship that is sufficient to suggest the operation of causal forces. To establish a pattern or a motive, measures of attitudes that range from a single survey, personal letters, multi-item scales, field observation, task performances, archival records, and self-reports of daily activities must be analyzed. Again, interpretations often vary. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5

When modest relations between variables are found repeatedly, social scientists frequently recite a litany of reasons that might explain the results. The measures of the variables are unreliable. The measures of the variables are unreliable. The measures are inappropriate or invalid. The independent variable is only one of several determinants of the dependent variable. If time elapses between the measurement of the independent and dependent variable, other variables intervene to mask the relationship or alter the variables under investigation. In one way or another, social psychologist have involved all of the above explanations for their findings regarding the relationship between attitude measures and behavioral criteria. A woman wrote to her sister, felicitating her on the occasion taking possession of a new spacious residence. A friend who was present noticed that the writer put the wrong address on the letter, and what was still more remarkable was the fact that she did not address it to the previous residence, but to one long ago given up, but which her sister had occupied when she first married. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5

When the friend called her attention to the incorrect address, the writer remarked, “You are right; but what in the World made me do this?”, to which her friend replied: “Perhaps you begrudge her the nice big apartment into which she has just moved because you yourself are cramped for space, and for that reason you put her back into her first residence, where she was no better off than yourself.” “Of course, I begrudge her new apartment,” she honestly admitted. As an afterthought she added, “It is a pity that one is so mean in such matters.” The growth of the mind is the widening of consciousness and each step forward has been a most painful and laborious achievement. If anyone should be inclined to overrate the state of our present knowledge of mental life, all that would be needed to force one to assume a modest attitude would be to remind one of the function of memory. Ego development inevitably entails the rejection of some parts of the person that are threatening a relatively painless experience of living. The unconscious mind often represents the individual’s discordant desires, instincts, or shortcomings. Because the conscious ego can only know itself, the contents of the Persona and the hidden messages reside in the unconscious. Father in Heaven, may we all learn to love unconditionally and treat each other with respect and workout or own problems instead of taking them out on innocent beings. Bless it be. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5

Yes, Cry Over that Spilled Milk!

 

People often say that there is no use of crying over spilled milk. However, sometimes there is a point; maybe crying over spilled milk today will help me to avoid spilling more milk tomorrow. My old man? Do not be stupid. My old man? Let me tell you, he was never wrong about nothing. Do not tell me my father was wrong. Let me tell you something, a father who made you is wrong? A father, the breadwinner of the house there? The man who goes out and busts his butt to keep a roof over your heard and clothes on your back you call him wrong? Father, that is the man that comes home, bringing you candy. Father is the first guy to throw a baseball to you. And take you for walks in the park holding you by the hand. My father held me by the hand, hey, my father had a hand on him though, I tell you. He busted that hand once, and he busted the other on me to teach me to do good. My father, he shoved me in a closet for seven hours to teach me to do good, because he loved me. Do not be looking at me. Let me tell you something, you are supposed to love your father because your father loves you. How can any man whose loves you tell you anything that is wrong? My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5

It is important to consider the past carefully in order to learn from it. Sometimes we also need to consider the future carefully. Planning for the future is an important part of life and something that all parents try to teach their children. We find societies that are open to outsiders are extremely careful and strict in the behavior of individual members toward each other. We may find a romantic revolutionary system that wants to create a new World for everybody; in this case, the behavior of the members toward each other becomes of extreme importance and is firmly controlled. Thus, the social self—self-presentation—becomes crucially important and well defined. There is corresponding pressure on social rules to make self-presentation identical with the private self, that is, to open the private self to inspection. Authenticity, public self-analysis, and communal living become accepted life styles. Our sense of time is altered in these moments of deep and intense experience, so we know what now means. We feel at home in that now, in that eternity, because this is where we really are. We cannot be in the future and we cannot be in the past; we can only be in the present. We are only real to the extent to which we are living in the present here and now. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5

 At the other extreme are societies that overemphasize group conditions. These societies stress duty toward society, show suspicion of outsiders, use magic to protect their personal boundaries, and distrust having new ideas come in our having their own knowledge go out. Fatherhood is something of prestige and power. The father possesses the idea and ideas as part of his inheritance. The virtual and spiritual gem that he receives and transmits eminently contains that specific and social characteristics of human being: stable essence, entelechy, final cause and supreme reason. Group memberships has consequences for the person, and these consequences are what make groups in society so important. We can represent this aspect of group membership by the statement that a group has power over its members. There is something distinctive in this power: it goes beyond the power of one individual may have over another; the channel of influence of one person over another cannot account fully for the effect of various group members on each other. There is something in the group as an entity which in itself is a source of power. The moral premise is that the law requires us to promote the highest good, which involves a perfect correspondence between the morality and happiness of every individual. However, the only guarantee of the possibility of this correspondence would be the existence of God, presumably because God alone would possess the power necessary to achieve it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5

 The group itself is the source of power above and beyond the power of the individuals composing it. In this sense, the group has an individuality, a separate meaning for its members. This meaning may be given by a name, “our family,” “our community,” but also by goals that membership in the group can mediate, say, prestige through being in a select circle, making the congenial friends through being members of the community. We speak of this attraction to the group itself as cohesion. The average strength of the motives enforces group cohesion. Loyalty to a group may differ over space and time; family and community cohesion may last over a long time and is often reinstated when it is lost. However, even weak cohesion, dependent on a short, common experience can be reinstated; alumni of one event, such as one blizzard, will arrange meetings after years. By being part of cohesive groups, a person accepts a willingness to cooperate as the price of staying a member. Thus, membership in a group leads to openness of influence by the group. A certain uniformity in behavior or attitudes results: this may be expressed quite formally—members of a group wear certain clothes or certain badge or profess certain beliefs. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5

Circles, especially, are founded on common beliefs. In determination of attitudes, communities are seen to be important. The stronger the cohesion, the stronger the influences toward conformity in general. This rule is not uniform over all potential issues, but only on issues that are important to the existence of the group. A church group may allow differences on supporting baseball teams; a fan club may include people of different religions. In fact, the longer and more intensely a group exists, the more easily can important and unimportant issues be distinguished. A secure, established group can tolerate differences about peripheral issues, that a new, insecure group cannot. Even without formal rules, the group members are dependent on the agreement of those who are members of those intimate groups. In fact, people may join groups to obtain this reinforcement. When this core of belief is established, an effort will be made to have all the members of group accept these standards. Efforts will be made to convince those who disagree, but if these fail, deviates will be excluded from group membership. We love strength. We love the World. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5