A Better Psychology is the third volume in my “Puppet Dreams and Viral Schemes” series. The series as a whole presents a rather detailed proposition. Here is my proposition, condensed to a single paragraph:
Series summary
“A virus is a small infectious parasite that uses a host to reproduce itself. It can be small because it uses the resources of its host to do things it can’t do for itself. We are familiar with the biological viruses that infect the cells of our bodies. But strange as it may seem there are also virus-like parasites that infect our behavior. Just as we possess an immune system that combats biological viruses, we have an immune system that fights these “behavioral viruses.” There is reason to believe that our human capacity for attention and focal awareness serves as our behavioral immune system. In order for a behavioral virus to successfully reproduce itself within our behavior, it must defeat this behavioral immunity. So successful behavioral viruses either evade or impair our attention. This keeps them out of our awareness, rendering these viral patterns unnoticeable. Such stealthy behavior makes it hard to deal with this kind of virus. All through our evolutionary history behavioral viruses and behavioral immunity have been locked in a struggle. And all through the evolutionary history of human beings behavioral viruses have led us to do things that are not good for us. The influence of behavioral viruses has in fact been disastrous. The news isn’t all bad, though. This never-ending struggle has contributed substantially to the evolution of human consciousness.”
Content summaries
Presented below are brief summaries of the books in this series. I have completed volumes 0, 1, 2, and 6. Book 3, A Better Psychology is in late draft. I’m still working on volumes 4, 5, and 7.
- Book 0, Behavioral Viruses, is a short volume providing a series overview and summary.
- Book 1, Puppet Dreams, is my effort to clarify the nature of human perception. The world as we experience it is not the same as objective reality. The discrepancy between the real world and the world of our experience is what makes it possible for behavioral viruses to perpetuate themselves.
- Book 2, Parasite Power, details the significant role the struggle with parasites has played in our evolutionary history. Some of the most astounding of our human capabilities appear to be a direct result of the arms race with our parasites. Fully grasping the link between parasites and the emergence of these capabilities makes it easier to understand how a similar struggle within the arena of our behavior might have led to amazing developments there as well.
- Book 3, A Better Psychology, lays out the evidence supporting the reality of behavioral viruses. In this third book I present specific examples of behavioral viruses. The book lines up evidence that these viral processes are invariably accompanied by a telltale alteration of awareness, and explains why. Near the book’s end I use the behavioral virus concept to account for something that is hard to otherwise explain — behaviorism’s takeover of psychology in the early 1900s.
- Book 4, The Invisible Dragon, details the substantial difficulties one encounters when studying behavioral viruses. These difficulties are rooted in the unique nature of this area of study. These viral patterns degrade perceptual and conceptual clarity. They do so actively, unceasingly, and very effectively. It’s as if they make themselves invisible. Anyone seeking to examine them must do so while immersed in the distortions of perception they create. So the effort is a little like swimming against the current of a river. Nevertheless, there are ways to achieve progress.
- Book 5, There and Back Again, focuses on ways of dealing with behavioral viruses. Simply talking and thinking about these persistent patterns can be an adventure. But a heightened understanding points to practical means of coping with behavioral viruses. This book lays out paths toward improvement of the quality of our lives through application of this new perspective on repetitive cycles of destructive behavior.
- Book 6, Alcoholism, goes into some detail about alcohol addiction specifically. It examines this familiar disorder as a rogue habit.
- Book 7, Behavioral Contagion, deals with the important issue of how behavioral viruses are transmitted from one person to another. It details common strategies such repetitive patterns develop in order to hop from person to person, and the manner in which they acquire the power to accomplish this.