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About Me
- Judy J. Johnson
- I am a clinical psychologist who teaches at Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta. Prometheus Books, New York, recently published my book "What's So Wrong With Being Absolutely Right: The Dangerous Nature of Dogmatic Belief" (2009). My ongoing research expands on my MSc thesis and PhD dissertation, both of which investigated the nature of dogmatism. In 1999, I completed a Fellowship at the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, which specializes in Cognitive Therapy. During the summers of 1990 and 1991, I taught psychology courses to Palestinian students in Gaza, Israel. I have also taught native women on the Sarcee Reserve, prison inmates and Correctional Officers at provincial and federal penitentiaries. I'm a recipient of Mount Royal University's Distinguished Teaching Award, and have presented seminars on "Fear, Dogmatism, and Global Conflict” to academic communities and the general public. I am presenting a paper titled "Beyond a Shadow of Doubt: The psychological nature and manifestations of dogmatism" at Cambridge University, UK, August 2-5, 2010.
Looking at the just-concluded EU elections, isn't it interesting how the far right has made gains? I contend, in the face of economic stress, people want certainty, simplicity, and security.
ReplyDeleteI agree Monica B. Research referenced in my book indicates that people of who have a high need for closure tend to vote Conservative. John Jost, psychology professor at NYU has done extensive research in the area of political orientation, closed-mindedness, and need for closure. He and his colleagues found a strong linear effect that shows, on average, as people move from left to right in their political orientation, the greater the intolerance of ambiguity and closed-mindedness. This means that dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity tend to correlate with Conservative orientations. We would expect that, in combination with research on anxiety and cognitive narrowing, stress increases support for political conservatism. Question: How many liberals would lean right under stress? Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteFascinating--there's so much out there (sadly). I'm thinking of Eric Hoffer, and let's look at every war to see how people got whipped up in phobic frenzy during uncertain times! I bet we can find thoughts about "escaping freedom" and abdicating reason right back in antiquity. Any quotes?
ReplyDeleteWell, back in the mid-1800s, Soren Kierkegaard wrote that "anxiety is the dizziness of freedom" a century later, Erich From stressed that freedom comes with a burdensome price tag; it requires us to make decisions for which we are obliged to take responsibility. This yoking of freedom and choice to responsibility tempts us to grant authority figures too much unconditional power. "It is the existence within our own personal attitudes and within our own institutions of conditions which have given a victory to external authority. The battlefield is also accordingly here--within ourselves and our institutions" (Fromm, E., "Escape From Freedom," 1941, p. 49). Wonder if Stone Age cave artists conveyed these ideas on cave walls. What would their pictures look like?
ReplyDeleteNot quite a caveman, but wholly self-educated and emerging from a working-class life, Eric Hoffer published The True Believer in 1951, which included this quote: "We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand." How would a person with no formal education, orphaned and forced to fend for himself in his teens, rise to gain such objectivity and insight into the human condition, as is reflected in this book and others? Hoffer read avidly and seemed gifted with passion, compassion, and awareness. Surely even an ancient human could sometimes wonder if there was more to life, or other ways of being?
ReplyDeleteI just started reading your most insightful book Judy. So much food for thought, such a small tummy. I can only eat a little bit at a time. And the sagacity of your blogger. Quite intimidating. But you have enticed me to make my first post on any blog. I watched Bill Moyers on PBS last Friday and have been relating your ideas to his program about right-wing pundits and how they twist and frame the news to frighten people and keep them in a state of perpetual anxiety - the better to control them and keep them from venturing into the land of thought. Scary stuff. I try to stay optimistic but methinks bad times they are a'comin'. Keep spreading the good words!!
ReplyDeleteYou too Dale! Keep on blogging--your thoughts are well worth the read! Entertaining too! ..."venturing into the land of thought" is just where the dogmatist dare not go because it threatens too much need. They need to be respected for being right(absolutely right)and if they were to question their rigid certainty, they'd first have to tolerate ambiguity and step outside their black and white boxes. Touching the void, as it were, would shake the foundation of their identity, which is defined by their belief systems. Do your belief systems define you?
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