زيمباردو

"يتحدث البعض  أحيانا عن "وحشية" قسوة الرجل, ولكن هذا غير عادل ومسيء بشكل رهيب للوحوش, لا يمكن أن يكون هناك حيوان قاسٍ أكثر من رجل بدهائه وتفننه بالقسوة."

فيودور دوستويفسكي

هذا المقال لا يهدف بأية طريقة إلى تبرير قسوة الإنسان ولكن لتعزيز الإنسانية عن طريق لفت الانتباه أن " الطبيعة البشرية ليست كليا تحت سيطرة ما نشير إليه بالإرادة الحرة , ولكن الغالبية العظمى منا يمكن استدراجه الى التصرف بطرق شاذة بعيدة تماما عمّا نعتقد " (فيليب زيمباردو ) ، ولذلك علينا أن نكون على علم به ، وتطوير القدرة على التحكم بنوايانا ومقاومة النفوذ الاجتماعي المقنع

أجرى عالم النفس البروفيسور فيليب زيمباردو وزملاؤه تجربة سجن ستانفورد التي كانت تهدف للتحقيق في تطور مبادئ المعايير وآثار الوظائف, والعلامات والتوقعات الإجتماعية في بيئة سجن متصنع. التجربة كانت من المفترض أن تستمر لمدة أسبوعين ولكن بعد ستة أيام فقط انتهت فجأة، بسبب سلسلة من الانهيارات النفسية، و تفشي السادية و الإضراب عن الطعام.

وضع فريق البحث إعلانات في صحف بالو ألتو تايمز و ديلي ستانفورد عرضاً بـ 15 $ / اليوم  للذكور من طلاب الجامعات لدراسة سجن علم النفس: قد تم اختيار 24 طالب معظمهم من البيض, ومن الطبقة الوسطى:وتم اختيار  12 شخصا منهم للعب دور السجناء و 12 للعب دور الحراس. ولم يكن لهؤلاء الطلاب سجل مسبق من الاعتقالات الجنائية ، والظروف الطبية ، أو الاضطرابات النفسية.

أجرى قسم الشرطة بالو ألتو المحلي اعتقالات مفاجأة في منازل " السجناء". كبلت أيدي الطلاب , وفتشوا , وقرأت حقوقهم, وأخذوا في سيارة الشرطة الى مركز الشرطة للحجز وأخذ البصمات, وتم اتهامهم بالسرقة.

لم يعط للحراس إلا القليل من التوجيه الموجز ان عليهم الحفاظ على القانون والنظام ، وتجنب العنف الجسدي ، و منع هروب السجناء. تم تزويدهم بالهراوات الخشبية من أجل توطيد مكانتهم، وملابس مشابهة لتلك التي لحراس السجن الفعلي و النظارات الشمسية المعكوسة لمنع اتصال العين. ارتدى السجناء أثواب غير مريحة وغير مناسبة وقبعات، وأيضا سلسلة حول كاحل واحد. صدرت تعليمات للحراس بمناداة السجناء بأرقام معينة منسوجة على زيهم بدلا من أسمائهم.

كما ذكر البروفيسور زيمباردو ، " في اليوم الأول الذي جاءوا فيه كان هناك إعداد صغير للسجن في دور سفلي مع أبواب خلية وهمية و اليوم الثاني كان سجناً حقيقياً خلق في أذهان كل سجين ، ولكل حارس وللموظفين أيضا". أصبحت المحاكاة حقيقية ، وأصبح الحراس مسيئين جدا ، لدرجة أن هذه التجربة كان لا بد من إيقافها بعد 6 أيام فقط بدلا من الأسبوعين المخططين لها. قد قال البروفيسور زيمباردو: "فجأة ، تغيرت الديناميكية كلها عندما اعتقدوا أنهم كانوا يتعاملون مع سجناء خطرين ، وعند هذه النقطة لم تعد هذه مجرد تجربة " .

يبدو أن سلوك الحراس المسيء قد نجم عن شكل الوضع الحاصل وليس من شخصية الحراس. قال زيمباردو أن كلا من السجناء و الحراس قد أضافوا أدوارهم الذاتية. لم يجبر أحدا منهم على التصرف بطريقة معينة، وكانت لديهم الحرية التامة للانسحاب من هذه التجربة في أي وقت. ومع ذلك ,لم يغادر أيا من الحراس التجربة قبل إنتهاء وقتها، في حين تم الإفراج عن نصف السجناء في وقت مبكر نظرا لردود الفعل العاطفية أو المعرفية الشديدة.

وتشير نتائج التجربة أن الوضع ، وليس الشخصيات الفردية هي التي سببت سلوك المشاركين.

قال البروفيسور زيمباردو : " هذه الدراسة هي الوصف الكلاسيكي بأن قوة الأوضاع والنظم تطغى على النوايا الحسنة لدى المشاركين و تحول الشباب العادي الى حرس سادية أو لأولئك الذين يلعبون دور السجناء الى انهيارات عاطفية ".

يقدم زيمباردو التفسير النفسي لكيفية ارتكاب الناس العاديين أعمال غير متوقعة في بعض الأحيان ، وما هي السبل الممكنة لتفاديها. ويقول إن السلوك الأخلاقي يمكن زراعته في وقت مبكر من الحياة عن طريق مكافأة السلوك الإيجابي.

انه يسلط الضوء على بعض الأفكار التي يمكننا أن ندخلها في حياتنا الخاصة وفي مصالح أطفالنا.

كما انه يعطي مجموعة من النصائح العامة حول كيفية التحول الى شخص أكثر تأثيرا ودهاءً.

إذا أخذنا في الاعتبار أن بعضاً من هذه المبادئ النفسية العامة يمكننا أن نبرز المفيد والقضاء على السلبيات في حياتنا. في نهاية اليوم، وبصرف النظر عن خلفية مواقفنا الأثنية أو الاجتماعية أو الدينية، "الإنسان هو المخلوق الوحيد الذي يرفض أن يكون ما

(هو عليه". (ألبير كاموس

الدكتورة اناستازيا بوريمولوفو

مستشارة نفسية

Zimbardo

“People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”  Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by psychologist professor Philip Zimbardo and colleagues. Aimed to investigate the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated prison environment. The experiment was supposed to last two weeks but was ended abruptly just six days later, after a string of mental breakdowns, an outbreak of sadism and a hunger strike.

The research team placed newspaper advertisements in the Palo Alto Times and The Stanford Daily offering $15/day to male college students for a study on the psychology of imprisonment: 24 students, predominantly white, middle-class, were chosen: 12 to role play prisoners and 12 to role play guards. These students had no prior record of criminal arrests, medical conditions, or psychological disorders.

The local Palo Alto police department conducted surprise arrests at the home of “prisoners”. Students were handcuffed, searched, read their rights, and driven in a squad car to the police station for booking and fingerprinting and were charged with robbery.

The guards were given only a brief orientation telling them to maintain law and order, avoid physical violence, and prevent prisoner escapes. They were provided with wooden batons in order to establish their status, clothing similar to that of an actual prison guard and mirrored sunglasses to prevent eye contact.  Prisoners wore uncomfortable ill-fitting smocks and stocking caps, as well as a chain around one ankle. Guards were instructed to call prisoners by their assigned numbers, sewn on their uniforms, instead of by name.

As mentioned by Prof Zimbardo, "the first day they came there it was a little prison set up in a basement with fake cell doors and by the second day it was a real prison created in the minds of each prisoner, each guard and also of the staff". The simulation became so real, and the guards became so abusive, that the experiment had to be shut down after only 6 days rather than the two weeks planned. "Suddenly, the whole dynamic changed as they believed they were dealing with dangerous prisoners, and at that point it was no longer an experiment," said Prof Zimbardo.

Abusive guard behavior appears to have been triggered by features of the situation rather than by the personality of guards. Zimbardo argued that both prisoner and guards had internalized their roles. None of them were forced to behave in certain ways and were free to withdraw from the experiment at any time. However, none of the guards left the experiment earlier, while half of the prisoners were released early due to severe emotional or cognitive reactions.

Results of the experiment suggest that the situation, rather than individual personalities, caused the participant’s behavior.

"The study is the classic demonstration o

f the power of situations and systems to overwhelm good intentions of participants and transform ordinary, normal young men into sadistic guards or for those playing prisoners to have emotional breakdowns," said Prof Zimbardo.

Zimbardo offers psychological interpretation of how ordinary people sometimes commit unexpected acts and what are the possible ways of preventing it. He argues that moral behavior can be cultivated in early life by rewarding positive behavior.

He highlights some ideas that we can bring into our own lives and those of our children.

He also gives a set of general advice of how to become more influence savvy.

If we consider some of these general psychological principles, we can accentuate the good and eliminate the negatives in our lives.  At the end of the day, regardless of our ethnical, social or religious background, “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is” (Albert Camus).

Dr. Anastasia Burelomova
Counseling Psychologist

I am jealous- Help me!

When I was asked about jealousy 2 weeks ago, I started to write an article which is now long gone in the trash. The 1st version was too philosophical & the 2nd too academic. I did not feel like I had anything to say to this person that needed my help! I truly prayed to be able to help this person, and fortunately God answered my prayers. I now write from my heart, and the tools to overcome it come from experience  making them effective.

Jealousy is a deep rooted feeling of insecurity telling you that you are not good enough. The mind starts to protect itself to be able to hide the vulnerability of “not enough” creating more emptiness.The problem is its ALL A LIE,  lies only create an imaginary situation that does not exist, will never manifest and you are only empowering a power that does not exist.

The feeling of wanting something but the fear that you will not have it is an illusion, it's not reality for you need to know that you have, and will have everything you need in order to grow, become a better person and ultimately live a better life.

Deeper Factors of Jealousy:

Where does this fear of ‘not enough’ (emptiness) stem from, the truth is simple: from prior experience. It might not be the same situation on the surface and initially it might not even seem related, but somewhere along the lines you experienced loss or felt that something was taken from you. This feeling generated a strong thought and thus the linear working mind decided to start creating ways to protect itself.

STEPS 2 Recovery

The bright side is everything in life is desire, if you are willing to put enough effort in the right way you can change your jealousy by awareness and rearranging the content of your mind.

STEP 1:

When you feel any negative emotion, observe if it is coming from fear and lack, if it is... then withdraw and let the thought go.

STEP 2:

Connect to this particular idea, and come to believe it.

“The outcome of all affairs is determines by Divine decree. If something is meant to go elsewhere, it shall never come your way, but if it is yours by destiny from you it cannot flee”

Connecting to this simple truth can help you elevate from jealousy and take a path to your own ability and purpose in life.

Imitate Me:

Unaware reactive behavior causes a person to act on auto pilot, meaning that everything he does in action is predetermined by an over thinking mind which is not reality. This reactive mind causes you to imitate other people, wishing you had their life,creating more dissatisfaction as you are not the leader but an effect. This diminishes your power, making you more jealous, unhappy and the longer you refuse to change the more unhappy you will become..

I sincerely hope this article helps those in need, and may we be helped by divine grace to overcome this challenge.

By Jana Sharaf

Political consultant, philosopher, dream analyst and founder of "NOON EVE"

Road to Arab Women Presidency

Last week, a mother signature became obligatory for children travel form in Lebanon. While it's a tiny step but definitely a new step forward for women rights. 

A long road ahead of Lebanese women and long long long road ahead of Arab women in general. 

It is inevitable to empower women and raise awareness of all the benefits a woman has the right to have in western countries yet in the Arab world they are still struggling.

Women, know that YOU MATTER! You are essential between your family, at your school, at your work... 

It helps if you found a woman idol whether it was a celebrity or just your mother you can evoke her soul. Whenever you needed to remind yourself to be strong, think of what that person would say or do.

And please stop being the drama queen. I know it's our title, but don't fall in the emotion circle and drown there. 

Handle insults and don't give compliments more than it should. Keep your self balanced. Don't be a tide!

Today we got a signature.. Tomorrow we will get the citizenship right and after salaries equality and next we will see a woman president in the Arab World!! 

"One can only dream", they say. But when thousands dream and millions dream, the dream has to kneel and become reality.

LBCI Reportage in Arabic

By Heidi Shebaro
Founder of " The Kindness Project in the Middle East", a teacher and a blogger. 

Dream A-way

How do you know which dreams are meaningful ones i.e what we call messages and which are nonsense i.e mind defragment? Both mind defragment and message dreams are actually messages, so why do we pay attention to some and not to others.

Most dreams that people have are a result of everyday stress and coping mechanism hence they should be carefully examined for patterns as those patterns shape our reality, but we are not looking into those dreams for symbology or actual stuff that become true, we are simply looking for patterns of fear, laziness, dissatisfaction etc.. Once brought to the surface and understood, it's unhealthy to linger or focus on such dreams as it becomes an obsession and hinders your growth. Mind defragment dreams should be seen for what they are coping strategy, we should understand them, improve ourselves but not FOCUS on them.

We look into message dreams to help us analyze our character, our true making, our purpose and to receive guidance beyond the 5 senses.. Message dreams are vital for our growth and connection to ourselves.So how do we know the difference, follow us on Facebook and you will slowly develop the ability to interpret your own dream.

"Noon Eve" has compiled a video explaining what happens when you sleep in the spiritual sense and why it is important to start observing both types of dreams...

By Jana Sharaf
Political consultant, philosopher, dream analyst and founder of "NOON EVE"