Gullibility is a tendency to believe things too readily and therefore be easily decieved. Having been a participant in the Maddie thread I have seen this in action. There is a difference between conjecture and gullibility though. Many people there have theorised what happened based on the 'evidence' they have before them, i.e: newspapers, television news and rumour. Some have just taken what they read in newspapers and just believed it.

Many of us, (including myself) believe in some things which have no solid evidence, such as ESP, religious faiths of all kinds, superstitions and that it is now raining solely because we put our washing on the line!

We have our instinctive fears such as those of the dark and those who are bigger and stronger than us: this is normal, a survival technique. However, we also have irrational fears such as worms in the garden, other harmless creepy crawlies, gloves left on a table (a sign of death I was told) and a cat crossing our path the wrong way... fair enough if the cat is a sniper.

Albert Ellis (1913) argued that there are 12 ideas that sustain neurosis, this is instability or imbalance of the mind. The reading of this list made me realise that some of these are not a bad thing, they are what makes human beings unique and amazing as we are.... however an overabundance of one or more of these things can lead to mental unbalance or even illness. The fact that all of us at some time have done something in this list is not in question I don't think, I'm particularly aware of number 10. The question is though... why do we do it? Is it a source of comfort to us? Or... if we learn to be aware that we're being irrational, can we all be happy bunnies?

The list:

12 Irrational Ideas That Cause and Sustain Neurosis

1. The idea that it is a dire necessity for adults to be loved by significant others for almost everything they do -- instead of their concentrating on their own self-respect, on winning approval for practical purposes, and on loving rather than on being loved.

2. The idea that certain acts are awful or wicked, and that people who perform such acts should be severely damned -- instead of the idea that certain acts are self-defeating or antisocial, and that people who perform such acts are behaving stupidly, ignorantly, or neurotically, and would be better helped to change. People's poor behaviors do not make them rotten individuals.

3. The idea that it is horrible when things are not the way we like them to be -- instead of the idea that it is too bad, that we would better try to change or control bad conditions so that they become more satisfactory, and, if that is not possible, we had better temporarily accept and gracefully lump their existence.

4. The idea that human misery is invariably externally caused and is forced on us by outside people and events -- instead of the idea that neurosis is largely caused by the view that we take of unfortunate conditions.

5. The idea that if something is or may be dangerous or fearsome we should be terribly upset and endlessly obsess about it -- instead of the idea that one would better frankly face it and render it non-dangerous and, when that is not possible, accept the inevitable.

6. The idea that it is easier to avoid than to face life difficulties and self-responsibilities -- instead of the idea that the so-called easy way is usually much harder in the long run.

7. The idea that we absolutely need something other or stronger or greater than ourself on which to rely -- instead of the idea that it is better to take the risks of thinking and acting less dependently.

8. The idea that we should be thoroughly competent, intelligent, and achieving in all possible respects -- instead of the idea that we would better do rather than always need to do well and accept ourself as a quite imperfect creature, who has general human limitations and specific fallibilities.

9. The idea that because something once strongly affected our life, it should indefinitely affect it -- instead of the idea that we can learn from our past experiences but not be overly-attached to or prejudiced by them.

10. The idea that we must have certain and perfect control over things -- instead of the idea that the world is full of probability and chance and that we can still enjoy life despite this.

11. The idea that human happiness can be achieved by inertia and inaction -- instead of the idea that we tend to be happiest when we are vitally absorbed in creative pursuits, or when we are devoting ourselves to people or projects outside ourselves.

12. The idea that we have virtually no control over our emotions and that we cannot help feeling disturbed about things -- instead of the idea that we have real control over our destructive emotions if we choose to work at changing the musturbatory hypotheses which we often employ to create them.

(From The Essence of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, by Albert Ellis, Ph.D. Revised, May 1994.)

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Ooh, interesting.

Number 11 is especially true for me. I am happiest when I am busy, but I always think I should be happy when I have nothing to do. In fact the lowest times of my life have been when I haven't had much to do to stop me from mulling things over and getting down over them.

It's easy to read things like that and think 'ok so I should try to be happier with what I've got instead of always striving to have something better' but putting it into practise is almost impossible. I do wonder that if everyone took heed and acted on these 12 causes of neurosis, whether man would have strived to invent the wheel, the engine, to have walked on the moon, to paint REALLY well, to compose the best song etc. I do think neurosis is all part of being human.





lol.

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I used to be like 8, especially in college. Don't do well, get kicked out, must do better, work harder.
Now i'm lax about perfection, i do the best possible and if it ain't good enough for the perfectionists, well, they can all go shove it. I don't give a ♥♥♥♥. Wanna fire me? Go ahead, tons of other people to con into giving me a job.

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*cough* government *cough*
Following that list, I think I'm doing pretty well.

Though I agree with Vik that the final point from the list has driven us to invent or create many things that influence our lives, you could just as well say that we aren't any happier than a caveman who has sufficient food, water and shelter (i.e. things he needs to survive). You don't know what you're missing out on if you've never had it.

Actually, by trying to solve whatever we've perceived as 'problems' over the past centuries, we may have made everything more difficult. We have created vast networks of related things that all depend upon each other. With that, we may have solved our initial (perceived) problems -- at least to some extent --, but we've given birth to many more! So, in the end, I agree with the author that it should be a point on that list.

Thanks for posting. These things are always rather insightful if you see them linked together.

Lumière (note the è ;), what do you study (or have you studied)?

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Uh, I thought he was asking you what he studied... Like in college- maybe Philosophy or Religion or Psychology.

Anyway, I shouldn't reply because I pretty much got lost at about point two in the first posting. I am just not that cerebral, but I am glad you are!

I knew to what Nay was referring... my point was that education is more than just academic. I've now removed that post to avoid confusion such as this.

In no way am I cerebral at all! Trust me.

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Oh you don't have to tell me that. I've learned a lot more outside of school. I was just wondering if this connected in any way to something you formally studied.

Sam: it's just a way of thinking about things you already know or have experienced. Social sciences tend to be that way. Sometimes you move to (often uncomfortable or seemingly pointless) levels of abstraction, but it does make you think about every day situations. I think this list just attempts to describe whatever we do naturally. It may look rather systematic and arbitrary, but in fact it's just trying to order complex things into bite-sized chunks that make thinking about the topic easier.

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