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Introduction:
Part 5

    Carl Rogers explained it (the dialoguing of opinions to a consensus) this way: "If we have the power or authority to establish the necessary conditions, the predicted behaviors will follow." [By removing the father's/Father's authority system from the room (by insisting upon open dialogue), the child's carnal nature will become manifest, with him and the group affirming it, making it the standard by which to live by. The dialoguing of opinions to a consensus is even being used by the "church" to "grow" itself, i.e., to grow its membership (its numbers), doing so through the use of "youth groups," "cell groups," etc.,. While the minister might be preaching a "good sermon" from the pulpit (in some cases to silence any opposition) it is through the process being used in the church, i.e., in its meetings, classes, sessions, or fellowship (assisted by the use of polls, surveys, and feasibility studies) that 'change' takes place in the "church."] "We know how to change the opinions of an individual in a selected direction, without his ever becoming aware of the stimuli which changed his opinion." "We know how to influence the ... behavior of individuals by setting up conditions which provide satisfaction for needs of which they are unconscious, but which we have been able to determine." "We can choose to use our growing knowledge to enslave people in ways never dreamed of before, depersonalizing them, controlling them by means so carefully selected that they will perhaps never be aware of their loss of personhood." "'Now that we know how positive reinforcement works [dialogue opinions to a consensus, i.e., affirmation], and why negative doesn't' [chastening for doing wrong or the threat of judgment and damnation for sinning]... 'we can be more deliberate and hence more successful in our cultural design." "We can achieve a sort of control under which the controlled, though they are following a code much more scrupulously than was ever the case under the old system, nevertheless feel free. They are doing what they want to do, not what they are forced to do. That's the source of the tremendous power of positive reinforcement―there's no restrain and no revolt. By a careful design, we control not the final behavior, but the inclination to behavior―the motives, the desires, the wishes ["self interest"]. The curious thing is that in that case the question of freedom never arises." "Prior to therapy the person is prone to ask himself, 'What would my parents want me to do?' During the process of therapy the individual come to ask himself, 'What does it mean to me?'" (Carl Rogers, on becoming a person: A Therapist View of Psychotherapy)

© Institution for Authority Research, Dean Gotcher 2016