THE
RIGHT GROUP SIZE for “soviet-delphi-brainwashing” to work: “The
size of group should be the smallest group in which it is possible to
have represented at functional level all the socialization and
achievement skills required for the particular learning activity at
hand.” “To large a group duplicates skills . . . to small a group
leaves gaps of competency.” “At the present stage of our
understanding, we may guess that for such a task as creative thinking
for the purpose of planning an experiment (in which a wide range of
social skills is required to keep the problem in front of the group
and to build on all the suggestions offered and to have a sufficient
range of ideas to begin with) a group from four to eight may be found
necessary.” “The specific goal is not an achievement goal per se
but is rather a socialization goal which must be reached before the
achievement goal can be adequately facilitated.” The relationship
between group and individual action should be such that the individual
perceives his out-of-group action as the resumption of a task set in
the group and interrupted by the ending of the preceding group
meeting.”
Using a theory of "human motivation," a facilitator is able to change the purpose and method of education while changing a person's paradigm. Curriculum change is just a subtle way of saying paradigm shift. Motivation, according to this theory, is based on "needs satisfaction." The use of environmental forces can be used to "augment", encourage, or "reduce," discourage, specific behavior. Through the use of group recognition or depreciation (group dynamics) each individual learns quickly what behavior is accepted and which is not.
Though the fusing of "dynamic psychology" with "applied anthropology and sociology" (socio-psychology) in problem solving situations a laboratory type condition, organizational change can be developed and utilized to fulfill Marx's and Freud's dream of creating a humanistic, non-patriarchal, dialectic, materialistic, based society.
According to Douglas McGregor, changes in three aspects of personality, in knowledge, "philosophy", and skill, (value outlook) "must be accomplished if teachers or principals or parents or students are to change their conduct." Kurt Lewin saw the re-education process as "a correct sequence of steps, correct timing, and a correct combination of individual and group treatments." Without cultural changes in personnel, "reasonable" practices and theories in the school system will be resisted and rejected as "absurd and impractical." Therefore before cultural change can take place some form of "mapping and estimating the strength of 'all' forces supporting and 'all' forces resisting a given change in the school program" must be identified.
A change in the relationship between "leadership" and the led (authority/national vs.. democratic/globalist system) depends upon the environment developed for the purpose of needs satisfaction. By making the object need satisfaction, in other words mankind and his desires, rather than obedience toward authority, participants shift their way of thinking from absolutes and sovereignty to relativism/humanism/socialism.
According to Douglas McGregor "1. All human behavior is directed toward the satisfaction of needs, 2. the individual will change his established ways of behaving for one of two reasons: to gain increased need satisfaction or to avoid decreased need satisfaction, and 3. 'augmentation' in the possibilities of needs satisfaction" by a patriarchal figure "an easy and natural method" must be replaced by and environment where participants are given an opportunity to satisfy need "though their own efforts ... neither simple nor easy" to "induce behavior change."
Kurt Lewin saw three ways re-education (brainwashing) effected an individual: "It changes his cognitive structure, the way he sees the physical and social worlds, including all his facts, concepts, beliefs,. and expectations." "It modifies his valences and values, ... his attractions and aversions to groups and group standards, his feelings in regard to status differences, and his reactions to sources of approval or disapproval." In other words, before brainwashing, a person thinks as an individual, respects authority and approval depends upon knowing the difference between right and wrong and doing what is right. After brainwashing a person thinks "group think," disrespects authority, and resents right, wrong thinking in favor of ambiguous, situational standards. Thirdly brainwashing (re-education) "affects motoric action, involving the degree of the individual's control over his physical and social movements" according to Lewin. Thus the focus upon the Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor domains in education, business, and government today. What a person thinks, how he thinks, and how he behaves around change.
Lewin saw that "Social action no less than physical action is steered by perception," what seems to be. He believed that "incorrect stereotypes (prejudices) are functionally equivalent to wrong concepts (theories)." In other words, that black and white, right and wrong, antithesis thinking people think incorrectly. "A change in action-ideology, a real acceptance of a changed set of facts and values, a change in the perceived social world----all three are but different expressions of the same process," This is the effect of brainwashing where one's actions are in agreement with his desires and inclinations, where one values what he accepts as reality, where the social world is not over and against him but he is at one with it.
As Lewin put it "If the individual complies merely from fear of punishment rather than through the dictates of his free will and conscience, the new set of values he is expected to accept does not assume in him the position of super-ego, and his re-education therefore remains unrealized." The success of brainwashing depends upon a person willing participation in the new set of values. The flesh, the imagination and social approval must all be realized, rationalized, harmonized, and actualized for the process to be successful.
Lewin asks "how can free acceptance of a new system of values (Marxism) be brought about?" "The individual accepts the new system of values and beliefs by accepting belongingness to a group [when] a strong we-feeling is created, [by all experiencing] the same difficulties, and speaks the same language." When "the new system of values and beliefs dominates the individual's perception [and] is linked with the acceptance of a specific group, a particular role, a definite source of authority as a new points of reference," the individual is manipulated into a new world mindset. Individual "resistance" can be overcome by the "acceptance of new facts or values and acceptance of certain groups or roles."
"'Group decision,'" has been used for the most part with small groups and ... rests fundamentally upon the psychological concept of decision rather than upon a concept of gradual accommodation. The essence of the technique lies in the achieving of" group decision action.
According to Kurt Lewin culture is an "equilibrium in movement" and by simply changing the "constellation of forces" and taking "steps to bring about the permanence of the new situation through self-regulation on the new level," all the individuals in the group will shift loyalty from the old system to the new system (from traditional, didactic thinking to transformational, dialectic thinking; capitalism/ nationalism to communism/globalism.)
Removal of counterforces (negative forces) is essential if "stationary quasi-equilibrium" (an established traditional culture) is to be destabilized to the point where change can be initiated and permanent change established. Kurt Lewin saw "changing as a Three-step Procedure: Unfreezing, Moving, and [re] Freezing of a Level." "'Catharsis' seems to be necessary... to bring about deliberately an emotional stir-up" to "remove" prejudice and self-righteousness (religious beliefs and established cultural, local, and national principles.)
“The conception of the ideal family situation for the child: uncritical obedience to the father and elders, pressures directed unilaterally from above to below, inhibition of spontaneity and emphasis on conformity to externally imposed values.” “The prototypic 'liberal' is . . . an individual who actively seeks progressive social change, who can be militantly critical (though not necessarily totally rejective) of the present status quo,” “One of the primary functions of these [matter‑of‑fact] questions was to encourage the subject to talk freely. This was attempted by indicating, for example, that critical remarks about parents were perfectly in place, thus reducing defenses as well as feelings of guilt and anxiety.” Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality
“Religion, especially the Protestant Christian tradition, has permeated our culture with the concept that man is basically sinful, and only by something approaching a miracle can his sinful nature be negated.” “I have little sympathy with the rather prevalent concept that man is basically irrational, and that his impulses, if not controlled, will lead to destruction of others and self.” “We know how to disintegrate a man’s personality structure, dissolving his self-confidence, destroying the concept he has of himself, and making him dependent on another. … brainwashing.” Carl Rogers On becoming a person
“Black is black and white is white. Neither torture, maltreatment nor intimidation can change a fact. To argue the point… serves no useful purpose.” P.O.W. Major David F. MacGhee responding to brainwashing attempts (replacing a didactic paradigm with a dialectical paradigm in praxis) by the North Korean , January 19th, 1953
Role Playing Techniques
"Religion and science can be kept apart... in
'role playing.'"
"Parents have no right upon their offspring except a psychological
right."
J. L. Moreno
"...we have
described roleplaying as diagnostic method but it can also be
used as 'role therapy' to improve the relations between the members
of a group." "... the origins of my work go
back to a primitive religion and my objectives were the setting up
and promoting of a new cultural order." "Parents have no
right upon their offspring except a psychological right. Literally
the children belong to universality."
"I could well
imagine a world of a reversed order, opposite to ours, in which
ethical suicide of people after 30 or 35 as a religious technique or
countering overpopulation is just as natural as birth control has
become in our culture. In that society the love of life would
be carried to its extreme. 'Make space for the unborn, make space
for the newborn, for everyone born, Every time a new baby is born
make space for him by taking the life of an old man or an old
woman."
J. L. Moreno Who Shall Survive?
The Father of Role Playing.
As I tried the sociometric system first on the universe and on the concept of God, its first manifesto was a revolutionary religion, a change of the idea of the universe and the idea of God. The god of Jesus was further extended, the son 'withered away' until nothing was left except the universal creativity of the Godhead and only one commandment: To each according to what he is (an all-inclusive acceptance of the individual 'as he is. ibid
The following analysis assumes that the task of the discussion group is to select, define and solve common problems. The roles are identified in relation to functions of facilitation and coordination of group problem-solving activities. Each member may of course enact more than one role in any given unit of participation and a wide range of roles in successive participations. Any or all of these roles may be played at times by the group 'leader' as well as by various members." Kenneth Benne Human Relations in Curriculum Change
| Initiator-contributor | Suggests or proposes |
| Information seeker | Asks for clarification of information and facts |
| Opinion seeker | Asks for clarification values |
| Information giver | Offers “authoritative” facts |
| Opinion Giver | States belief or opinion |
| Elaborator | Spells out suggestions |
| Coordinator | Shows or clarifies relationships |
| Orienter | Defines position |
| Evaluator-critic | Subjects the group’s accomplishments to some standard |
| Procedural technician | Expedites group movement |
| RECORDER | Writes down the “group memory” |
Encourager Praises, agrees with and accepts Harmonizer Mediates differences Compromisers Offers compromise as an example Gate-keeper and expediter Keeps communication open-facilitator Standard setter or ego ideal Expresses standards for the group Follower Spells out suggestions OBSERVER Keeps records of group process-body language
"Change in organization
[change in a persons paradigm] can be derived
from the overlapping between play behavior [human relations and social
Lewin; A Dynamic Theory of
Personality, 1935)