Proposal:

Title: ACCORD OR DISCORD?

A PROPOSAL FOR A PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SYSTEMS, PERCEPTION AND CONSEQUENCES IN THE PAN-AMERICAN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERU AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA USING CYBERNETICS.

Eric J. Lindblom PhD

Institute of Medicine and Advanced Behavioral Technology

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Thesis: A relationship discord between Peru and the United States exists. 

Peru respects fundamental human rights and law. "The structure created by the Peruvian Constitution of 1993 calls for a republic organized under the principles of representative democracy, with separation of powers and all other attributes which, together, characterize a state under the rule of law." The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights http://www.cidh.org 

For example, in regard to Peruvian consequences is in a letter by Peruvian J. Renique, historian Lehman College, USA. "Jose Luis Renique letter says Peru is still dealing with consequences of relationship between CIA and Peru's former spymaster, Vladimiro Montesinos." NY Times http://topics.nytimes.com

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This proposal suggests emphatically that the field of Psychology should be used to analyze discord between the U.S. and Peru. In a search and discovery process to identify elements in the discord, there is a place for Psychological analysis. The discipline can search for and discover the elements of discord. It could identify emergent characteristics for an accord.

Elements in the discord between the United States and Peru can be identified initially as The War on Terror versus a Peruvian concern with the consequences of war.

According to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the United States has the perception that the FIGHT AGAINST TERROR is the major U.S. concern where other countries such as Peru are considering SYSTEMIC CONSEQUENCES OF WAR. That disagreement is an enormous problem. That is the relationship discord.

It is expressed as a perceptual gap according to General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. It is a breakdown in control systems. The consequence perceptual gap is process of the discord. The perceptual gap is an arena where The Psychology of Perception excels.

Psychology can identify elements. In turn, the elements in the discord are discovered using method (between the U.S. war on terror and a Peruvian analysis of consequences.) How is a study designed? As a time-line, this proposal suggests the scientific method:

The time-line (12 months) a psychologist (in Cybernetics and Perception) would use two months per theoretical process thereby systematically generating hypotheses. Then, the psychologist would spend two months with method. Suceeding months (two each) would be used gathering data, analyzing data, determining results and planning for publication.

What is needed?

First, a working definition of systems and systemic consequences could help the identification process. “Systems is about psychology. It is about taking strategic actions that incite terror and fright in civilian populations. Terror is about making ordinary people feel vulnerable, anxious, confused, uncertain and helpless. Ultimately, when terror systems work, citizens feel hopeless and lose trust in their leaders to guarantee the fundamentals of existence -- safety and security. Terror is about imagining the monster under our beds or lurking in dark closets -- the faceless, omnipotent enemy who might be the friendly candy man, our neighbor, or some horrible creature of our imagination. It has no one place, time, space or face. The power of terror systems lies precisely in its pervasive ambiguity, in its invasion of our minds.” Zimbardo, Ph. D., Philip G., (2003). “The Political Psychology of Terrorist Alarms” Unpublished manuscript.

In a search and discovery study, possible hypotheses can be identified. In that the scientific method could be said to begin with hypothesis, what would be a possible hypothesis in the search and discovery process to identify elements in the discord?

Psychology uses method. One major method is that a Psychological analysis can break the general problem area into its emergent elements using control system Cybernetic methods.

Problem Areas involved in a possible hypothesis: The general problem area is discord. The discord, for the purposes of this proposal, shall be broken into three areas. There are three problem areas this proposal wishes to treat: 1.) Systems, 2.) Perception and 3.) Consequence. The problem areas are taken from the comments of Secretary General Scheffer.

A Psychological analysis of systems, perception and consequence is proposed. The field of Psychology is an appropriate discipline for the study of the fight against terror. To reiterate: Systems is an emotion. Psychology is focused on the study of emotion. The Psychology of Perception is a major field within Psychology. The field is appropriate for the study of consequences (The Psychology of Pragmatism).

Elements from the United States perception can be listed. The position of The United States war on systems would be seen as:  the consequences from “Awareness, Anticipation, Prevention, Detection, Response and Recovery” (Homeland Security Centers (HS Centers) Program, Broad Agency Announcement, 6/18/04 Homeland Security Center For Behavioral and Social Aspects of Systems And Counter-Systems United States Department of Homeland Security, University Programs, Office of Research and Development, Science and Technology.)

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In the scientific method, the next step beyond the hypothesis stage can be as the method stage. Within the discipline of Psychology are many theories. One Psychological theory is General Systems Theory (created by Ludwig von Bertalanffy). Further division of the General Systems discipline is Cybernetics. Cybernetics is the Science of Control Systems.

The method for a Psychological analysis is to use a Control System approach (Cybernetics, Gregory Bateson). Cybernetics would produce an identification of emergent characteristics, security measures for example, that the U.S. uses and the different security measures various countries such as Peru use. The measures used by the U.S. and by Peru are different.

Security measures center on the same discord elements previously identified: the fight against terror systems and the consequences.

The security measures, in this case, are examples of systems of control. The Control Systems approach is Cybernetics from General Systems Theory. Such measures and other emergent characteristics demand research. Further breaking of the problem area into the elements of security measures should be done. It is suggested, here, that there may be some surprises. Those surprises could, for example, stem not from the various elements and subdivisions but from additional elements produced by terror systems: emergent characteristics as defined by Cybernetics.

A proposal is needed that would discover emergent characteristics in a systematic manner, such as but not necessarily limited to security measures involved in the three major problem areas: terror, perception and consequence.

To conclude, the Cybernetic Method for this proposal is Search and Discovery research. From the study of systems, consequences and perception, emergent characteristics would evolve in a Psychological analysis. It is suggested there could be some surprises as the emergent characteristics (of discordant security systems for example) are identified.

The result would be expressed as a merging of Psychology and Political Science as one discipline is expressed in the form of the other. General Systems Theory (a Psychological Theory) embraces and professes that kind of multidisciplinary approach. The past President of the International Society for Systems Science, Bella A. Banathy, summarized the approach. “Information is no longer a homogenous entity that we use to purchase standardized descriptions of phenomena. Information is now also and active force. As in the case of nature, information has multiple faces, it may even be constituted of more fundamental underlying aspects that interact to yield a stable historical trail.” (Banathy, Bela A., (1998).  « ISSS: The Difference that Makes a Difference: In-Coming Presidential Address, Unpublished manuscript.