ATTITUDE CHANGE THEORY | CARL HOVLAND

The main reason for the attitude change theory to come into effect was World War II. When World War II broke out the American public showed reluctance to allow their government to take part in it as they realized the effects of World War I (and still felt the repercussions).

Therefore the government embarked on publicity campaigns to mould public opinion in favor of the nation joining the war.

The US Office of War Information (OWI) commissioned Carl Hovland and his team of researchers to test the effect governments propaganda was making on the public. This led to the development of attitude change theory.

This theory tells us how communication can influence ones attitude and behavior.

The Attitude Change Theory is based upon two important elements: Dissonance and Selective Processes.

Dissonance is founded on the belief that a new or paradoxical situation makes us uncomfortable and gives us the feeling of dissonance.

In order to overcome this discomfort we take recourse to three interrelated selective processes:

Selective exposure

Selective retention

Selective perception

Selective Exposure – Admitting only such messages that go hand in hand with our beliefs and attitudes.

e.g. One is not interested in information about a Mac Book. Once you buy it – you read the information – this is done to assure oneself that the money spent is not wasted.

Selective Perception – ensures that a person will interpret a message in the light of already existing beliefs and attitudes.

Selective Retention – cause very little attitude change as they allow admittance to only selective content. But this is true only when the media content is mostly informational in nature and not when it is cultural in nature.

e.g. media tackling issues related to racial prejudice… devdasi system in India and prostitution.

ROLE OF SRUTI & SMRITI IN THE INDIAN LEARNING PROCESS

Hindu religious literature, the most ancient writings in the world, is of two types: primary scriptures (Sruti) and secondary scriptures (Smriti). The Sruti scriptures are of divine origin, whose truths were directly revealed to ancient rishis (sages) in their deep meditations. The Smriti scriptures are of human origin and were written to explain the Sruti writings and make them understandable and meaningful to the general population. Sruti scriptures include the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sãma and Atharva) and the Bhagavad Gîtã, and constitute the highest religious authority in Hindu religion. Smriti scriptures include five distinct groups of writings:

• Itihãsas (History or Epics)
• Purãnas (Mythology)
• Dharma Shãstras Law Codes
• Ãgamas & Tantras Sectarian Scriptures.
• Darshanas Manuals of Philosophy

Traditional Indian learning process has emerged from the twin practices of Shruti and Smriti, i.e., Listening and Contemplation, the very basics of effective communication. The various scriptures have come down to modern through the process of these two methods. The various “complex Truths “of the world have been passed down form “mouth-to-ear” in an encrypted form – Shlokas. These have a basic meaning and several levels of deeper meanings.

Instead of writing them, they were told verbally.

When we listen we have both subjective aspect and objective aspect to the listening, (while when we read a written matter, the subjective aspect is most predominant). So each individual starts interpreting both subjectively and objectively in his own unique manner. There are discussions and debates and point of views which result in going deeper levels of understanding the “hidden secrets” through Smriti that is contemplation.

Everyone thus goes through the alternating cycle of Shruti and Smriti continuously like a communication loop.

It ensures that the learner identifies the subjectivity of his understanding and separates it from the objectivity of his understanding, thereby the ‘issue” from the “personality”

In the corporate world today there is an emphasis on Communication, especially effective listening. Many senior managers in spite of being “successful” seem to be poor listeners. Many a time, Corporate Communication has different interpretations with various managers. The cultivation of Shruti & Smriti methods is very useful in these contexts. In fact, Corporate Training is including such modules involving, reading, listening and contemplation Cases, more to develop soft skills than analytical skills.

DHYANA | MIND STILLING

Mind stilling is a form of mind control thorough careful thought channeling. We are a “storm“of mixed thoughts most of the time. Every time we want to concentrate or focus, we find ourselves “making efforts” to concentrate or focus. The mind i. e. the Mano Maya Kosha follows the streaming principle like water. If thoughts are “forced” to be contained then the thoughts “fill” the same very “container”. On the other hand if the thoughts are “left alone” and just observed, they take a natural course of flow, which does not ‘disturb” the individual with opposing and mixed thoughts.

Mind stilling is a process in which thought streaming is “observed” by the individual without any “effort”. This is taught by a qualified Master. While observing the thoughts, a stage comes when the thoughts are seen to flow and their randomness does not affect the individual. The individual takes the position of an “observer” rather than a “involved particiapant”. The dissociation of the person from the thoughts through observation leads to disidentification of the thoughts as “mine”. Hence the mind gradually becomes calm and still. Hence the term Mind stilling.

Dhyana is a form of meditation. By adopting a calm disposition, the individual does observation of a form or chants a mantra. There is a focus but without effort. It is more of a happening rather than a doing. Initially it starts with a guidance through effort, till the observation starts. Then on, the observer takes over and acceptance follows. For Dhyana to be effective, the prescribed conditions are calmness, let-go, observation, effortlessness or minimum effort. The key is to not to put in effort and thus keep the stress totally out.

LEADERSHIP - INDIAN CONTEXT | DHARMIC LEADERSHIP

 Leadership is the natural ability of any individual to direct any one or a group of people towards getting some goal accomplished.

Leadership in the Indian context is a “build-up” process. It an overall build-up of various human attributes that one builds up from his younger days to be accepted as a Leader.

Leadership in the Indian context has its foundations on ethical base and character of the individual. They are paramount for a person to be accepted as a Leader. Results have to ensue from a strong ethical base and character (following the Dharma-Artha-Kaama-Moksha path).

As a result of his ethical behavior and moral practices, he commands respect and inspires others to follow him. Thus he commands, rather than demands respect.

Such people who have rigorously lived a Dharmic life automatically qualify to be a Leader, and when they run businesses they run Dharmic businesses, based on human values and relationships leading to profits.

Unlike in the Indian context Leaders in the West are driven by tangible factors of achievement and material success. As a matter of fact, leaders in West are focused on issues of dominant leadership, where leaders are glorified and talked about as super achievers, with media exposure. In the Indian context, on the other hand, Leaders emerge from a background that comes from acceptance by society, (because of the virtues) and not by “being thrust” upon them. He is pleasantly and willingly accepted as a leader more by nomination than by “thrust and domination”. Indian leaders are accepted as leaders only when they are seen to be Dharmic in action, whereas the Western leaders are accepted as leaders when they are result-oriented and goal focused, the Dharmic part of the task, being given a secondary or little importance (more by default rather than design).

Leadership is symbolic of hero worship in the Indian context, because the Indian leader is seen as a paragon of virtue from which emerges results and goal achievement. While in the Western context, the Leadership symbolism is functional in content. Beyond the functional aspect, there is hardly any “mass hysteria” over the Leadership position.

 

DHARMIC LEADERSHIP

We have come across principle-centered Leadership which Stephen Covey talks about. Simply stated, Dharmic Leadership is an all-encompassing approach towards leading people into goal achievement. It emphasizes as much on the means as on the ends. In fact, there is a greater emphasis on the means.

Dharmic Leadership is based on the concept of Dharma, which includes the path of Truth & Righteousness. In the corporate context, to be a Dharmic Leader is not easy. On one hand we have the challenges of performance in a highly competitive marketplace, while on the other hand we have the brand/image of the company to be maintained in the marketplace as a truly fair and ethical player.

 While in the past due to certain compulsions, companies “mindlessly” and/or “ignorantly” emphasized on results (ends) and did not give importance to the means, in the global businesses of today, companies have increasingly become conscious of their brand and image. To create an enduring true brand, one needs to be value-centered, in other words Dharmic centered. Hence Dharmic Leadership is more relevant today and imperative to be understood and followed and propagated.

PURUSHARTHA (INDIAN CONCEPT)

There are four stages man is prescribed through in rightful living. They are collectively known as Purushartha. This consists of Dharma, Artha, Kaama Moksha.  These are comparable with the Western model of Maslow’s Pyramid of Hierarchy of Needs. While Maslow’s Model addresses need fulfillment, Purushartha model addresses the duty-based necessary and sufficient that is a must for appropriate spiritual growth.

In the Purushartha model we have Dharma taking the first and foremost stage through an individual is duty-bound to start his life learning process. Largely, this stage is characterized by Value-sowing and nurturing and strengthening the character and ethical base of the individual at the early age. “Catch them young” is the approach. Dharma is the path of righteousness and truth. This “training” is imparted through the “hard approach” through the rigorous but highly effective Gurukul method of education.

After the “convocation” the student returns to his abode (home) and enters into the next stage. He enters into the next stage of life duty, Artha fulfillment, meaning the creation of material wealth through Dharma path and setting up his home and making himself self-sufficient and adequately comfortable. This again is a duty, not a whim which one could “take it or leave it”

Having made himself comfortable materially, man enters into fulfilling his desires in the Kaama stage of duty fulfillment, in which he is prescribed to fulfill all his desires with Dharma as the guideline following the path of moderation (not overindulging, neither repressing his desires).This includes settling with a married partner, having a family, raising children, nurturing them and sowing Values in them (all activities of involved living, in short)

The last duty for man should strive to fulfill is the attainment of Moksha. In the Kaama stage, he goes through involved living of life. Although it is prescribed that he has fulfill his Kaama tendencies through moderation, man tends to overindulges or underindulges as a result he experiences a certain attachment with his “not fully experienced and not fully expressed” desires. Through understanding and careful steps he should address these issues and enter into Moksha stage, where the individual enters into transcending (going beyond the twin attributes of attraction and repulsion, not getting affected by the extremes, by joy or sorrow). He practices the wise art of detachment both mentally and physically from the world of interaction, involvement and indulgence. At the end he is “ready” to meet the Creator through “shedding his mortal coil” (physical death) into the life thereafter. This stage is prescribed to make the transition spiritually easier and meaningful and less painful.

One could compare the Purushartha model with Maslow’s Pyramid. The basic notable difference is that in the Indian context need fulfillment has to happen with Dharma as the first stage not through the physical need fulfillment as the first stage. Artha, Kaama Moksha stages are similar to the five stages of the Maslow’s Pyramid, with the additional base at the base of Dharma.

RENAISSANCE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

DISCUSS THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE RENAISSANCE IN THE LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF THE PERIOD 

The term ‘Renaissance’ means rebirth or revival. It was the period of the intellectual movement in European cultural history that is traditionally seen as ending the middle ages and beginning modern times. The renaissance started in Italy in the 14^th century and flourished in Western Europe until about the 17^th century.

The aim of renaissance education was to produce the ‘complete human being’. The renaissance man, conversant in the humanities, mathematics and science, the arts and crafts and athletics and sport; to enlarge the bounds of learning and geographical knowledge, to encourage the growth of skepticism and free thought, and the study and imitation of Greek and Latin literature and art. The revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman culture inspired artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Durer, writers such as Petrarch and prose writers such as Boccaccio; and scientists and explorers proliferated.

Humanism was the first feature of the Renaissance. It freed man from the hold of rigour and puritanical negation of life, by advocating that man is the centre of life. Humanism relegated God and religion to the periphery. It was responsible for reducing the hold of the Church on an individual’s life and setting him free to develop his natural self. Humanism came to influence different aspects of life, especially art and literature. After many centuries, for the first time, the beauty of the human body came to be depicted without restraint in art and literature. Human nature itself came to be examined in all openness.

The major influence that worked the change in the secularization of thought and style in literature, in European countries, was that Christian scholars fled to Italy after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. It was the eastern roman capital. The western roman capital was at Rome. These conservators of culture fled with rare manuscripts of Greek and Roman authors. They were not theologians but pure scholars. The Italian nobles sheltered them and encouraged them to spread learning.

The revival of interest in classical literature in a way served to deepen the glory of man. The glorification of the individual was in direct contrast to the medieval approach. Initially man was looked upon as a product of the original sin of Adam. With the paramountacy of the Catholic Church, every man was regarded as a penitent and had to work out his salvation and the church would cooperate. The church had a hole on man’s mind for 1400 years. All knowledge was related to the bible and theology.

With the arrival of the learned men, thought was revolutionized, therefore man’s thinking was separated from the Bible and theology and knowledge was secularized. The intention of education was no longer didactic. The poems of Homer and Virgil, the lyrics and satire of Horace and the plays of Seneca were revived as a result of human interest. A growing concern for secular man and his experience was evinced. (Thus Renaissance literature was characterized by secularism and individualism.)

The notion of man as an achiever was celebrated. Man was no longer seen as an insignificant thing on earth. Tamburlaine, King Lear and Hamlet exemplify that man has tremendous potential. They celebrate the spiritual aspiration and fulfillment of man. According to Laurie Magnus, the whole philosophy of the Renaissance was contained in Hamlet’s Perception:

      “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties,

      In form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel,

      In appreciation how like a god; the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals

       – (II   ii 303-307)

If man was glorified and became the sole concern of the writers, the world of human experience became the focal point of human attention. Writers laid stress on individual man’s ambitions, longings and aspirations. Christopher Marlowe’s lines from Tamburlaine speak about the infinite knowledge that man seeks:

     Nature, that fram’d us of four elements,

     Warring within our breasts for regiment

     Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds,

     Our, souls, whose faculties can comprehend

     The wondrous architect of the world

     And measure every wand’ring planet’s course,

     Still climbing after knowledge infinite

     And always moving as the restless spheres

     Wills us to wear ourselves and never rest

     Until we reach the ripest fruit of all

     That perfect bliss and sole felicity

      The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.

 

Thus passage and Faustus’ search for experience are taken to indicate a spirit of exultation. The fruit of the tree of knowledge is no longer forbidden, or, if it is forbidden so much the more exciting

     For lust of knowing what should not be known

     We make the Golden Journey to Samarcand

Gorgeous dreams of both Orient and Occident shimmered and swam in the imagination of poet and dramatist. Tamburlaine, Faustus and the Jew of Malta ferment with visions of far lands and of the wealth and power that they promised. In Shakespeare’s Othello the lure the sea and the far splendor of the Orient lent a certain grandeur to the characters and action. In the Tempest, beneath all its romantic frenzy and charm, the poet is realistically engaged with actual problems of contacts between civilization and savagery. He associates with far, unknown lands, especially the Western World.

That perennial vision of the ideal commonwealth prevalent during this time, and recurrent with the English longing westward overseas, is reflected in Thomas More’s Utopia and Daniel’s Musophilus. More’s Utopia that was published in 1516, describes an ideal society on an imaginary island. Fundamentally, the book is derived from Plato’s Republic and his dream of an ideal state. It is also written from an impulse to react against the glaring abuses of the time, of poverty undeserved and wealth unearned, of drastic punishments, religious persecutions and the senseless slaughter of war. This book was written in Latin and later translated. It was read throughout Europe.

With the introduction of Greek thought, there emerged a Neo-Platonic influence. According to Plato the highest reality was the world of Ideas meant essence of a thing. It was an essentially distinguishing character of a thing. God created these numerous ideas. Ideas created in the Universe could not exist in itself, it needed matter to complement it, to give it full expression. An attracting influence drew matter and Idea together, that was Love. If this did not exist, the world would collapse. Love was praised time and again.

Christianity was the religion of Love, which found expression between mother and child and man and God. Since the Virgin Mary lost her importance, the attributes of perfection, generosity and love were transferred from the divine beloved to the human beloved.

Dante, a famous Italian poet, is best known for his epic poem Divina Comedia or the Divine comedy. It is an allegorical account of his journey through hell, purgatory and Paradise, guided by Virgil and his idealized love Beatrice. His other works include La Vita Nouva in which he celebrates his love for Beatrice. He is one of the earliest poets to shift his focus from the divine beloved to human beloved. He had several followers among the English poets.

Petrach, the Italian lyric poet and scholar, also celebrated this theme in his Canzoniere, which is a sonnet sequence. In these sonnets, the poet craves for the affection, favour and sovereign virtue of his beloved, Laura. Love was a disciplining force, not a form of indulgence. Discipline resulted in restraint. His sonnet sequence was a significant poetic legacy that he gave Europe and England. Each poem expresses an experience of personal love and idealization of love. Nature is in sympathy with the poets. Petrarch found imitators among the English Poets – Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare.

Sidney’s poems are a combination of Neo-Platonism, the Petrachian and the Pastoral convention. His Astrophel and Stella sonnet sequence was published in 1591. Astrophel means ‘star lover’ and Stella means ‘star’. This sequence is partly autobiographical and was published after his death. It was probably written just before and after his proposed marriage to the beautiful Penelope Devereux failed. Sidney is writing in a convention about a courtship that should have ended in marriage. There is sincerity and depth in this sequence and it is written with real feeling.

Spenser’s achievement was of a different king from Sidney’s. The Amoretti sonnet sequence published in 1595 was written in honour of Elizabeth Boyle. It was a synthesis of various tendencies – the Petrachian and neo-Platonic influence and also the use of native English in his treatment and conception of nature. In this sequence the beloved becomes the source of bliss and happiness, a solution to problems, a lodestar and a haven of peace.

Shakespeare’s sonnets fall into two distinct categories. About 50 early sonnets are taken to be addressed to a young man whose identity is established but still remains a matter of conjecture. The remaining 100 sonnets are addressed to a female beloved, reputably to the ‘Dark Lady’. Shakespeare’s sonnets go well beyond their conventional manner and philosophical idealism, to reveal depths of thought and feeling that are known only to one who have come to grips with life and pondered over his experience with detached and sane judgement.

The poems of Wyatt and Surrey deserve special mention. Tottel’s Miscellany distilled the best English song of nearly forty years, and in turn it proved the chief propagator of English love poetry for a generation more. Wyatt had composed nearly a third of the collection and Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, had contributed forty songs. Much of Wyatt’s work was translated from Petrach’s love poetry, and that of other Italians. Latin poets, Horace, Martial and Ovid also influenced the English poets. It was full of imported conceits, and of a new ‘poetic’ phrase and diction that circulated long and wide. The Elizabethian sonnet ending always with a couplet is said to have been invented by Surrey, though it is approached by Wyatt. Under Wyatt’s fingers the music began to stir, and rose to fuller melody in Surrey’s lines.

The political philosophy of expediency propounded by Niccolo Machiavelli in his book The Prince gained prominence. According to this view, that which was politic was to be adopted in preference to that which was just and right, and what served the need of the moment. If the end or the goal was useful, the means could be anything. Murder, deceit and treachery became the philosophy of unscrupulous people. It repudiated honesty. This doctrine of expediency appealed to Renaissance dramatists who modeled their villains and bastards along these principles. Machinations became the principle in all their activity and they came to be regarded as Machiavellian.

Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta was written on these lines. Barabos, has been sinned against by Christian rulers, but he loses all sense of proportion and resorts to indiscriminate destruction. He displays traits of Machiavellian disposition and kills all the nuns in the convent.

Shakespeare modeled his villains and bastards on this principle. The bastard in King John and Edmund in King Lear, have been modeled on the Machiavellian principle. Bastardy was a social stigma in Christian society and Edmund and other characters who see no prospect in life, invariably turn to Machiavellian principles to achieve their ends. Thomas Kyd and John Webster also used Machiavellian characters in their plays The Spanish Tragedy and The Duchess of Malfi respectively.

Another very popular and influential book of the age was by the Italian writer Baldassare Castiglioni. He presented his humanist doctrine in his work Il Cortegiano or The Courtier. He put forward his view of the ideal gentleman at court who was to be highly accomplished in all fields.

This book exerted a cultural influence on literary minds. The ideal man underwent a change. The medieval ideal was ‘vita contemplativa’ or the contemplative mind, characterized by an ascetic or a pertinent sinner. He was represented by the figure of the ploughman in William Langland’s Piers the Plowman. The renaissance ideal on the other hand was ‘vita activa’ or the active man. He was to be a courtier, highly accomplished in all fields. Heroic action was stressed which well expressed the greatness of soul.

Christopher Marlowe’s plays exemplify the heroic in man. He is half Apollo, half mortal. Shakespeare was impressed by these ideas and many of his characters, particularly Hamlet and Othello glorify the spiritual potential in man. Hamlet is a philosopher, scholar, prince and soldier, all in one. In Spenser’s Book VI of The Fairie Queene, Sir Calidore is the perfect man who cherishes art and beauty in all fields.

The knight was regarded as an ideal individual. The ideal knight can be seen in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales where he is the repository of Christian values and love, truth, honour, courtesy and freedom. In hi ‘moral battles’ the knight never failed to kill his foe

     He nevere yet no vileyne ne sayde

     In al his lyf unto no maner wight

And the Squire as lover, succeeded in cutting out all sleep, not because mortal lovers can really succeed, but because as an ideal they should be imagined to do so. Thus, when Chaucer calls his knight’s bearing, ‘as meeke as is a mayde’, he is picturing him as conforming to an ideal of chivalry.

The effects of the Renaissance can be seen in the works of Michaelangelo, Leornado da Vinci and Raphael. Michaelangelo is considered the greatest of the Renaissance artists of Italy. His most famous works include the colossal statue of David, ‘The Giant’ carved in a block of marble, his sculptured figures of ‘the Pieta’ and ‘Moses’, and his frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at Rome. All these figures that celebrate the human body, bear eloquent testimony of the impact of the Renaissance on other forms of art.

To sum up one may say that after 1400, the momentum of medieval literature was spent. There was new matter recovered out of ancient authors, history, biography, poetry, speculations on philosophy, politics and nature. There was as always love, in this case the old courtly love made young by the infusion of Plato’s philosophy; and there was medieval mysticism likewise renewed by mingling with plato’s Mystical ideas. There were besides the fascinating forms of ancient literature to copy and emulate. The whole world was expanding and there seemed to be no bound to man’s imaginings and powers.

LITERARY USE OF LANGUAGE AND NON LITERARY USE OF LANGUAGE

DISTINGUISH CLEARLY BETWEEN THE LITERARY USE OF LANGUAGE AND THE NON LITERARY USE OF LANGUAGE

 

Literature can be defined as anything in print. Thus timetables, catalogues, text books, etc., may all be regarded as literature.

But when we talk of literature we speak of it in a deeper sense. Thus another way of defining literature is to limit it to ‘great books’, i.e., books which are notable for their literary form or expression. These books are selected on aesthetic grounds or for their intellectual eminence or the general force of presentation.

Unlike most kinds of writing, literature is not concerned merely or primarily with the communication of facts. For instance, one would compare a piece of writing about London from an encyclopedia with a poem ‘Westminster Bridge’ written by Wordsworth. The purpose of the former is to give as many facts about London as possible, whereas, words worth wanted to communicate feelings, not information. Thus, while a piece of writing from the encyclopedia is literature in a broader sense, the poem is literature in the fuller and deeper sense.

We could therefore say that ‘literature is writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards life’.

But then, one can argue that there are other kinds of writings which also perform the same function, for e.g., advertisements and journals. However, according to R.J.Rees, such writing is not literature in the true sense because it lacks one of the qualities that make serious literature i.e. permanence. The advertisement writer and the journalist is concerned only with people of his own time…

The novelist on the other hand or the poet hopes that his works will be permanent.

One way of understanding literature is by considering its special use of language. Language is the medium, which the writer uses to communicate his/her thoughts and visions. Thus language is a material out of which literature is made, just like stone or metal is a medium of the sculptor, paints of the artist, sounds of the musician. However, we should realize that language is a creation of human beings and thus undergoes changes in the course of time. Writers using language record their experiences of life and what they have thought and felt about those experiences of life which have most immediate and enduring interest for all of us. We can then say that literature is fundamentally an expression of life expressed through the medium of language.

Here we have to distinguish the ‘literary’ use of language mainly from the ‘scientific’ language on one hand and the everyday use of language on the other hand. Literary example is connotative in nature, while scientific language is denotative in nature. Literary language abounds with ambiguities permeated with memories and associations. It has its expressive sides and conveys the tone and attitude of the writer instead of merely stating what it says.  Literary language is self referential and tries to draw attention to itself – all kinds of techniques have been devised to draw attention to it, for e.g., metre, alliteration etc.

Not all linguistic durations are considered as literature. If one says that literature is a special kind of language in contrast with ordinary language, then we must first ask, what is this ordinary language? There is no single normal language shared equally by all members of society. Any language consists of highly complex range of discourses differentiated according to class, religion, gender, status, etc and which cannot be neatly unified into a single homogeneous linguistic community. One person’s norm may be another person’s deviation.

According to De Quincey, all that is literature seeks to communicate power, whereas all that is not literature seeks only to communicate knowledge. Thus De Quincey’s distinctions divided writing into literature which serves a didactic purpose and literature which has no end beyond itself. ‘A poem must not mean but be’. There are texts which exist to state an argument, record facts or convert to an opinion but it is literature of the second class which is ‘real’ literature. It belongs to the domain of fine arts. Poetry, drama and fiction when treated artistically cannot like didactic literature be proved right or wrong. They are subject to their own laws which are apprehended not by decisive reason but by intuition, imagination and esthetic sense. Both kinds of literature may be concerned with truth but they arrive at it in different ways – the first by judgment, and the second by intuition.

According to R. J. Rees, good literature is that which has originality. He says ‘of course no work of art can be original through and through. To find an original subject for example for a novel would be almost impossible task since writers have already dealt in one way or another with almost every imaginable situation, but the novelist may nevertheless see an old idea or story in a new light’. None of Shakespeare’s plays were original in the sense that the stories and characters were created, so to speak, out of nothing. Hamlet and Macbeth were real historical characters, Othello was in all probability a character invented by an Italian novel-writer; but the plays Shakespeare made out of these figures were truly original in the sense that they showed old characters and stories and situations in a new and fascinating light. Most good literature is traditional and original at the same time.

It must be remembered that the central themes of all literature – life, love and death – are in themselves unchanging; so are most of our ideas about these great subjects. Yet writers continue to discover new ways of looking at them and will continue to do so as long as mankind exists. Originality then consists not in inventing themes but in seeing and expressing the old unalterable themes in a new way.

This is also what Pope meant when he said ‘True wit in nature to advantage drest; / what oft was thought, but ne’er so well exprest’.

If there is now a tendency to overvalue originality in literature and the other arts, there is an equal tendency to undervalue the quality of technical skill or craftsmanship. Writing is not only a matter of ideas and inspiration, but also of practice and technique. Pope in his Essay on Criticism says: “True ease in writing comes from art, not Chance; / as those move easiest who have learnt to dance”.

In conclusion, one can only say that it is not possible or desirable to come to a definite conclusion about what literature is. 18^th century critic Boswell asked Dr. Johnson, “Then, sir, what is poetry?” Dr. Johnson replied: ‘Why, sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is, but it is not easy to tell what it is’.

THE PLATO ARISTOTLE DEBATE & DIFFERENT VIEWS ON LITERATURE

PLATO

Plato was an idealist and a moralist.

He was converged with the ultimate truth.

According to him the study of literature should be diverted and controlled by the search for the ultimate truth.

He ignored the concept of beauty and pleasure of literature.

For Plato considered literature a vehicle for philosophical inquiry.

According to Plato there are three mutually dependent principles of literature

1.    Thought is prior to forms

2.    Greatness in art depends on the morality of artist

3.    Art and morals are connected – a work of art has an influence on the moral of people – character of the artist is reflected in his works of art.

According to Plato literature was immoral, untrue and false. In his ideal Republic there was no room for poets and poetry.

He attacked literature declaring it as unreal. Plato takes a common example of a bed and distinguished 3 forms in it. The first is the idea or the archetype. The second is the actual piece of furniture, and the third is the artist’s reproduction. Artist’s work is an imitation of an imitation and is twice removed from reality.

Another charge was that in literature emotional element becomes a detrimental factor in the rational aspect.

Plato believes that the poetic imitation ‘waters and cherishes the passion when they ought to whither and makes them govern when they ought to be kept in subjection in order that we may become better and happier instead of worse and more miserable.

Poetics of Aristotle in which we have perhaps the most fruitful of all critical discussion devoted to inquiry into the nature and value of imaginative literature.

There is, oddly enough no single ward in English that corresponds to the Greek Poesis of the German Ditching, terms which refer to products of the literary imagination and do not include, as the term literature does anything at all that is written.

The poet was possessed creature, not using language in the way that moral human beings do, but speaking in a divinely inspired frenzy Plato suggests this view in the Phaedrus the same man is nowhere at all when he enter into rivalry with the madman’.

He develops this view at greater length in Ion where poet is an inspired rhapsodist through whom God Speaks, a man lacking art and Valition of his own, a passive vehicle merely

The Ion is the most elaborate presentation of the nation of poetry as pure inspiration in the ancient world. The nation has been modified and survives even today.

Dryden wrote: ‘Great wits are sure to madness near alli’d’ (Absalom and Achitophal)

Shakespeare noted: ‘The lunatic the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact’.

Plato mediated much on the war between poet and philosopher, emphasized the difference between these two wholly to the advantage of philosopher.

Plato’s objection to poetry is of an epistemological concern

If true reality consists of the ideas of things of which individual objects are but reflection or imitations, then anyone who imitates those individual objects is imitation an imitation, and so producing something which is still further removed from ultimate reality.

There are three arts which are concerned with all things: one which uses, anther which makes, a third which imitates them.

Artist is ignorant of the use and nature of what he imitates

The imitative poet who aims at being popular is not by nature made, nor is his art intended to please or to effect rational principle in the soul; but he will prefer the passionate and fitful temper which is easily imitated.

Poetry feeds and waters the passions instead of drying them up

Plato opposes the reason to the passions

According to him poetry is the product of an inferior part of the soul

 

ARISTOTLE

Aristotle defended literature against Plato’s charges

According to him literature has neither ethical motive nor moral view points.

Aristotle says that art is a union of your productive and creative faculty as well as reason

His concern is one of discovering what infant literature is rather than the normative one of describing what it should be

Mimesis – imitation or representation

For Aristotle the poet works ‘according to the law of probability or necessity’ not according to some chance observation or random invention.

Imitation is natural for man because we do it from childhood

We learn by imitation that is it is a way of obtaining knowledge being introduced to and learning about the world around us

We delight in imitating and works of imitation and it is natural for us to do so. This imitation combines the twin aspects of learning as well and delight and pleasure.

……..

The function of the poet is representing ‘to describe’ but not necessarily what has happened but what has happened but what is ‘probable’ or ‘necessary’. And in this lies the distinction between the historian and the poet that the former imitates what has been while the latter imitates what might be. It is for this reason that the truth of poetry is ‘more philosophic and of graver import’ than history. Because literature represents the universal while history represents the participation, moreover, even if the poet writes something that seem impossible it is all right as long as it is credible. In fact this is preferable to something that is possible but not very convincing.

The poet can represent things in anyone of these three aspects:

1.    As they were or are

2.    As they are said or quote to be or to have been

3.    As they ought to be

Catharsis

Aristotle assures plato’s notion that art corrupts by nourishing the passion (emotion)

Aristotle replies that far from nourishing the passions, it gives them harmless or even useful purgation

Because of the pressure of emotion it purges one of the excess emotions.

Aristotle, by Katharsis, claims some kind of therapeutic value for tragedy

They provide a safe outlet for disturbing passions which is effectively siphons off

Just as medical treatment cures the physical system of its ‘humans’, poetry affect the moral system of the reader by relieving his excess emotion when emotion is artificially excited in the performance or tragedy. Thus the effect of poetry on the emotion is beneficial and harmful.

Tragedy imitates the actions of men

Aristotle placed art upon the dual function of sense and reason. He distinguished the method of creative literature – literature with or without metre form – the method of history and other branches of learning which are metre transcripts of reality; and so separated the truth of art from the truth of logic.

He showed that the appeal to the emotions which Plato blamed is an essential in the dominant form of poetry and proved by medical analogy and by philosophical analysis that the effects of this appeal was not hurtful but beneficial to the moral nature of man.

The poet, says Aristotle, can make an error of the fact the ‘is not in the essential in the dominant form of poetic art’ and does not affect the poetic truth of his work. He distinguishes clearly between practical knowledge and literal truth on the other, and imaginative understanding and poetic truth on the other.

The purpose of literature is to be moving, exiciting elevating, transporting and the critics duty is to see how this is achieved by showing which element best conduce to this result.

Different views on literature

After Plato and Aristotle perhaps the most famous early comment upon the ails of poetry with respect to its audience is his work called Arts Poetic (Horace 165-68 B.C.). He writes ‘the aim of the poet is to inform her delight of to combine together in what he says both pleasure and applicability to life. He who combines the useful and the pleasing win out both instructing and delighting the readers. Subsequent critics have taken Horace’s cue and attributed to literature the power to teach the reader, delight him; move him and act therapeutically upon him. The other side of the poem is that ever since Plato, there have been attacks upon literature voicing the fear that it teaches things unsuitable to the young or even the middle ages.

One of the earliest assertions about literature is that it teaches the reader or that it sets some sort of example to be followed. For Plato literature set a bad example because of its irrationality and therefore submissive in nature; critics have also altered there assumptions and have praised literature because it is irrational or because it is submissive of the opinions of the establishment and they have attacked some kind of literature because they have too openly tone.

Beyond the moral trend, literature has been considered a conveyer of information – social, psychological, historical, scientific while some critics have insisted on the aesthetic irrelevance of its informational function.

The traditional complaints against poet is made on moral grounds. Plato’s is a classic complaint. He is concerned lest the poet reduce everything to the test of hedonic pleasure and pain: ‘pleasure and pain will be the rulers in our state’. Many writers took Plato’s complaints that poetry aims at pleasure and turned it into praise. From Horace through Longinus to Sydney, critics generally claimed that poetry aims to delight.

On the Sublime (Longinus –AD 80)

‘…The marvelous, with its power to amaze, is always unnecessarily stronger than that which seeks to pursue and to please’. Generally it was not until the 18 century when Longinus became particularly fashionable that ecstasy transcending both delight and teaching was considered a purpose of art.

Sydney ‘An Apology…’

His famous essay speaks to the delight and teach principle Sydney claims that because the poet does delight, he is a more effective teacher that the historian or the philosopher. He claims that even though poetry teachers, it is primarily concerned with moving the passions. The philosopher, he says, cannot move the reader deeply as he did. ‘And that moving is of higher degree than teaching it may by this appears, than it is well-nigh, the cause and effect of teaching. Others have tried to establish the therapeutic nature with reference to psychoanalysis.

Freud (1856-1939) Creative writers and Day Dreaming

The unreality of the writer’s imaginative world, has very important consequence for the techniques of his art: for many things which if they were real could give no enjoyment, can do so in the play of fantasy, and many excitements which in themselves are actually disturbing, can become a source of pleasure for the hearers and spectators at the performance of the writer’s work.

Freud and Literature (Lionel Trilling)

…Starba the same criticism and first mate who struggles to mediate between forces embody in movie day and symbolize a balance and suitable rationalism, that is, ego. Perhaps the most controversial fact of psychoanalytic criticism is his tendency to interpret imagery in terms of sexuality.

Dr. Ernest Jones ‘Hamlet and Oedipus’, Dr Jones bases on the thesis that Hamlet’s much debated delay in killing his uncle Cladius is to be explained in terms of internal rather than external circumstances. Jones builds a highly persuasive case mystery of Hamlet as a psychoanalytic suffering from manic-depressive Hysteria combined with (an abulia an inability to exercise will-power and come to decision) all of which may be traced to the heroes severely repressed Oedipus feelings.  Jones also illustrates a strong misogyny that Hamlet is placed throughout the play especially as it is directed against Ophelia and is almost the conscious ideal of fatherhood, the image that is socially acceptable. His view of Claudius on the other hand represents his repressed hostility towards his father as a rival for his mother’s affection.

Mythological Criticism

Mythological criticism deals with relationship of art to some very deep word in human nature. The mythological criticism is concerned to seek out those mysterious archetype built on the certain literary forms that elicit with almost uncanny force dramatical and universal human reactions.

An obviously close connection exist between mythological criticism and psychological approach. Both are concerned with motives that underline human behavior. The difference between the two approaches are those of biological science. Psychology tends to be speculative and philosophic; its affinities are with religion, anthropology and cultural history. And just as dreams reflect the unconscious desires and anxieties of the individual so myths are the symbolic projections of people’s hopes, values and fears and aspirations. Unlike the traditional critic who relies heavily on history and biography of the writer the myth critic is intellectual more in pre history and the biographies of the god’s. unlike formalistic critics who concentrated upon the shape and chivalry of the work itself the mythological criticism is for the inner spirit which gives the form, its vitality, its enduring of appeal. And unlike the Freudian critics who is apt to see the ‘her chicken’ phenomenon as symbolic of some form of sexual neurosis the myth critic assumes a broader perspective.

This approach is relatively new and purely understood. In the first place only during the present century only have the progress interpretative tools become available through the development of such disciplines as anthropology, psychological and cultural history. Second many scholars and teachers of literature have remained skeptical of myth criticism because of its tendencies towards the cult and the occults.

The rapid advancement of modern anthropology since end of 19 century has been the most important simple influence on the growth of myth critic. The most important member was Sir James G Frazer (The Golden Bough – 1890)

Many scholars theorized that from certain primitive rites (killing of the king for the sacrifice of the kingdom). The tragedies of Sophocles (author of Oedipus) and Aeschylus for example were written to be played during the festival of Diouysis and ceremonies during which the ancient Greek celebrated the deaths of kings and the rebirths of God’s of spring and renewed life.

The Quest Motive: Oedipus as the hero undertakes the journey during which he discovered the spins, a supernatural monster with a body of lion and the head of the woman; by answering the riddle he delivers the kingdom and marries the queen. The second motive was the king as sacrificial scape goat. The war fare of the state both human and natural (themes are stricken by rout) is bound up with the personal fate of the ruler, only after Oedipus has offered himself up as the scape goat is the land redeemed. Such critics are prof. Gilbert Murray has provided up with dues to many of Hamlet’s archetypal mysteries. Francis Ferguson discloses how ‘in both plays a royal sufferer is associated with pollution is its various sources of an entire social order; both plays open with an invocation for the well being of the endangered body politic. In both, the destiny of the individual of society are closely intervened, and in the suffering of royal criticism seems to be necessary before purgation and renewal can be achieved.

The second major influence on mythological criticism is the work of Dr. Carl Jung the great psychologist, philosopher and one time student of Freud. Jung’s primary contribution to mythological criticism is his theory of racial memory and archetypes. He expanded Freud’s theory of the personal unconscious asserting that belief is a primeval collective unconscious shared in the psychic inheritance a wall member of the human family. He explains that archetypes are inherited ideas of patterns of thought, they represent inherited forms of psychic behavior. He indicated that archetypes revealed himself in the dreams of individuals. So that we might say that dreams are ‘personalized myths’ are ‘depersonalized dreams’.

The great artist as Jung observes in ‘Modern Man in Search of a Soul’ is the man who possessed the ‘Primordial vision’. A special sensitivity to archetypal patterns and a gift for speaking in primordial images which enabled him transmit experiences of the ‘inner world’ to the ‘outer world’ through his art form… the primordial experience is the source of his creativeness; it cannot be furthered and therefore requires mythological imagery to give its form.

Myth critics who use lines in sights also use the materials of anthropology. A classic example is Moud Bodkin’s Archetypal Patterns in Poetry (1934) and now recognized as the pioneer work of archetypal criticism. She traces several major archetypal patterns through the great literature of western civilization.

Conclusion: it should be apparent from the foregoing illustrations that mythological criticism offers some unusual opportunities for the enhancement of our literary appreciation and understanding. Considering the vastness and the complexity of mythology, a field of study whose mysteries the anthropologists and psychologists are still working too penetrate, a brief introduction can give the reader a superficial and a fragmentary view. As with psychological approach the reader must take care that is for enthusiasm for a new found interpretative key does not tempt him to discard other valuable critical instruments just as the Freudian critic so the myth critic tends to forget that a literature is a more that a vehicle for archetypes and ritual patterns… he forgets that literature is above all art that discrete crisis with supply even intrinsic perspectives as the mythological and psychological only so far as they enhance the experience of the art form and only as far as the structure and potential meaning of the work consistently support such approaches.

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY | EASY ANSWERS - DEFINITIONS, SHORT NOTES, DISTINGUISH BETWEEN

SHORT NOTES

Basic areas of modern psychology:

Biological psychology – studies animal behavior and compares it with human behavior. Psychologists in this field study the ways in which the nervous system and other organs provide the basic for behavior.

Sensation and perception – This specially is concerned with how the sense organ operates. Operation of sense organs is sensation and interpretation of sensory organs is called perception.

Learning and memory – The ways in which we learn and remember new information, new skills, new habits, and new ways of relating to other people are studied in this specialty.

Cognition – Psychologists in this are concerned with intelligent action e.g., thinking, planning, decision making.

Development Psychology – This field of psychology is concerned with changes that take place in people during their life span. It is also the changes occurring from time of conception to death.

Motivation and emotion – Psychologist study the needs and states that activate and guide behavior such as hunger, thirst, sex, the need for achievement, the nature of the feelings and mood that color experience.

Personality – focuses on the more or less consistent ways of behaving that characterize our personality.

Social psychology – It studies the influence of other people on our behavior, the behavior of people in groups, intimate relationships and attitudes towards others.

Sociocultural psychology – In this area psychologists focus on the ethnic and cultural factors, gender identity, sexual orientation.

 

Applied areas of modern Psychology:

(Personal problem / correct abnormal behavior)

Clinical Psychology – Clinical psychologists try to understand and treat personal problems and correct abnormal behavior in a clinical set up.

Counseling psychology – Specialists in this field help people with their personal / school problems and with their career choices.

Industrial – Organizational Psychology – This field focuses on ways to train and motivate workers on ways to promote job satisfaction and good relationships among workers.

Educational and School Psychology – Educational psychology is concerned with the ways children learn in the classroom and the construction of the psychological and educational concepts. School psychology consults with teachers and about children who are experiencing learning behavior problems and they test children to see whether they could benefit from the special education programs.

Health psychology – specialists in this field focus on the ways of coping up with stress and trying to bring out the effect of stress. They seek to prevent health problems such as heart diseases by teaching people to relax, exercise and control their diets.

 

Ethic of research with animal subjects:

There are a number of reasons why psychologists study animal behavior.

Some studies conducted on animals would not be possible on humans.

Experiments conducted on animals can eb better controlled than experiments done on humans.

A great deal of information ca be learnt by comparing the behavior of animals of different species:

a.    Health: All animal subjects must be cared for in a manner that ensures good health.

b.    Necessity: Studies of animals are considered to be ethical only when they are necessary to significantly advance the understanding of human behavior and mental process.

c.    Humane treatment: Every effort must be made to minimize the discomfort of the animal subject. Necessary surgery must be performed under anesthesia and the animal’s death must be as painless as possible. Studies that inflict pain or stress are considered essential to worthwhile scientific aims.

Although we must be very careful not to assume automatically what is learnt about animal behavior will apply to human behavior, much useful research has been learned from animal research.

The use of animals in research has received a great deal of public attention in recent years due to the activities of animal rights groups.

 

Ethics of Research on Human Participants

Psychology depends heavily on research conducted with human participants for its database. More complete discussion of these issues can be found in the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.) Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with human participants.

Freedom from pressure – It is not ethical to pressurize an individual into participating in an experiment. Students in college courses for e.g., cannot be required to participate, they must be given an alternative way to meet any course requirements.

Inform Consent – The experimenter must give potential participants a full description of the experiment in a language they can understand before they are asked to participate. Its not ethical to allow individual to participate in an experiment without knowing what they are getting into. Once the experiment has begun, it must be made clear to the participants that they are fully free to change their minds and withdraw from the experiment without penalty, embarrassment and so on.

Limited deception – Sometimes it is necessary to conduct experiments without the participants knowing the true purpose of the study.

Adequate debriefing – Research participants have a right to know the results of the study. Current practice dictates that all persons are provided with a summary of the study in a language they understand. If the results are not immediately available, they have a right to receive it when it is available.

Confidentiality - Researchers have an obligation to keep everything that they learn about the research participants absolutely confidential. In addition, data must be stored without names attached in most cases to protect future abuses of the information.

 

Contemporary perspectives in psychology

Biological perspective – Relation between our biological systems and behavior. Cajal identified neurons (brain cells) understand the role played by our brain in emotion, motivation, reasoning, etc., role of heredity, role of drugs on the brain chemicals.

Socio-cultural perspective – Here, psychologists emphasize that cultural, ethnic identity and gender are the three key factors that should be taken into consideration in order to understand a person.

Definition of culture – The patterns of behavior beliefs and values that are shared by a group of people.

Definition of ethnic group – A group of persons who are descendants from a common group of ancestors.

Definition of ethnic identity – Each person’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group and sharing that groups belief, attitudes, skill, music, ceremonies, etc.

Definition of gender identity – One’s views of oneself as male or female.

Two aspects of this prospective are important namely:

It promotes cultural relativity (promotes thinking of different cultures in relative terms rather than judgmental terms). It says that cultures are simply different rather than being inferior or superior.

It reminds us that not all members of a given culture, ethnic group or gender are alike, there are more differences within the same group than between different cultures.

 

DISTINGUISH BETWEEN

Ethnic group and ethnic identity

Ethnic group – A group of persons who are descendants from a common group of ancestors.

People belonging to a particular ethnic group share the group’s belief, attitudes, skill, music, ceremonies, etc. They also share similar racial characteristics by knowing the person’s race, we will be able to know his ethic group. E.g., when a person is born and brought up in India but later decides to migrate to Australia, he then adopts the culture, values, behaviorism of the Australians. Therefore, India becomes his ethnic group.

Ethnic identity – Each person’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group and sharing that groups belief, attitudes, skill, music, ceremonies, etc.

e.g., When an individual has a particular ethic group but adopts that of another that becomes his ethnic identity. When the individual migrates to Australia, Australia becomes his ethnic identity. It can be changed simply by adopting the values, rituals, norms, etc. of another ethnic group.

 

Basic and applied area of modern psychology

Basic area of modern psychology – Those who work in basic areas conduct research on psychological processes such as emotion, thinking, learning, prejudice, etc. by using scientific methods.

e.g., Bio-psychological studies animal behavior and compares it with human behavior

e.g., Sensation and perception studying of the sense organs and their interpretations.

e.g., Social psychology studies the influence of society on behavior.

e. g., learning and memory – The ways in which we learn and remember new information, new skills, new habits and new ways of relating to other people are studied in this specialty.

Applied area of modern psychology – Those who work in applied areas (use knowledge from the basic areas to solve and prevent significant human problems such as marital difficulties, emotional instability, job dissatisfaction, etc.)

e.g., Clinical psychology diagnoses and treats psychological disorders.

e.g., Counseling psychology helps people with personal, school or career problems.

e.g., Industrial – organizational psychology studies problems of workers.

e.g., Educational and school psychology is concerned with school or college syllabus. School psychology helps to identify the problem children.

e.g., health psychology studies the effect of stress and trying to prevent health problems by certain techniques.

 

 

DEFINITIONS

Clinical Psychology – Clinical psychologists try to understand and treat personal problems and correct abnormal behavior.

Counseling psychology – Specialists in this field help people with personal or school problems and career choices.

Industrial and organizational Psychology – This field focus on ways to match employees to jobs, to train and motivate workers and to promote job satisfaction and good relationships among workers.

Educational and school psychology – Educational psychology is concerned with ways children learn in the classroom and with the construction of psychological and educational tests. School psychologists consult with teachers about children who are experiencing learning or behavior problems and they test children to see whether they benefit from special educational programs.

Health psychology – Specialists in this field focus on the ways in which pressures, conflicts, hardships and other factors may contribute to poor health. They seek to prevent health problems such as heart diseases by teaching people to relax, exercise and control their diet and to stop high-risk behaviors such as smoking.

Psychology – Today psychology is defined as the science of behaviors and mental processes.

A science: Control and Observation

Behavior: Persons overt actions that others can directly observe.

Mental processes: (Covert) Private thoughts, emotions, feelings, thinking, reasoning, etc.

 

Goals of psychology –

Describe – the information gathered through scientific research helps us to describe psychological phenomena accurately and completely.

Predict – able to predict future behavior.

Explanation – We understand behavior and mental processes when we can explain them. Explanations are theories and not facts.

Influence – Psychologists hope to influence behavior in beneficial ways i.e., therapy

Ethnic identity – Each person’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group and sharing that groups belief, attitudes, skill, music, ceremonies, etc. is called ethnic identity.

Ethnic group – A group of persons who are descendants from a common group of ancestors. People belonging to a particular ethnic group share the group’s beliefs attitudes, skill, music ceremonies etc., and racial characteristics.

Gender identity – Gender identity refers to one’s view of oneself as male or female. As boys and girls interact with their parents, siblings, teachers, and friends they learn what it means to be male or female in their society. For e.g., males traditionally have been taught to be strong and assertive whereas females have been taught to eb mature and gentle.