"[This is] the doctrine that we cannot accept the command of an authority, however exalted, as the ultimate basis of ethics. For whenever we are faced with a command by an authority, it is our responsibility to judge whether this command is moral or immoral. The authority may have power to enforce its commands, and we may be powerless to resist. But unless we are physically prevented from choosing the responsibility remains ours. It is our decision whether to obey a command, whether to accept authority. "


Posts tagged with 'relationships'

Social integration and a midsummer potluck lunch

21st June 2009

We have fifty to sixty people due for lunch today. I better not hang around writing blog postings for too long. There's still lots of preparation work to do. It's great. I love these midsummer potluck lunches that we've been hosting for many years now. It's such fun to invite …

Stanford psychophysiology lab: social anxiety, mindfulness with kids, & loving kindness

7th June 2009

Emotional reappraisal (changing the way we see a situation) and emotional suppression (inhibiting our already present emotional response) have very different effects on our feelings, relationships and wellbeing. As a generalisation, reappraisal tends to work well, while suppression comes at higher cost. I wrote about this last month in a …

Stanford psychophysiology lab research on emotion regulation

24th May 2009

Last week I talked about coming across Srivastava and colleagues' paper (Srivastava, Tamir et al. 2009 - see below) on the social costs of emotional suppression. This led me to Srivastava's lab at the University of Oregon. It's then an easy jump to James Gross's Psychophysiology lab at Stanford University …

Handouts & questionnaires for depression, CBASP & neuroscience

18th May 2009

Here is a mixed bag of handouts and questionnaires. Most are spin-offs from CBASP (pronounced 'seebasp') - the awkwardly named cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy. There are also a few handouts which are adapted downloads from the neurosciences site "The brain from top to bottom". When in 2000, Keller …

Oregon University research on emotional regulation, interpersonal perception & personality

17th May 2009

I love it when I follow up ideas from a new research paper and then break through into a whole area of helpful knowledge that I haven't come across before. This happened recently with the paper by Srivastava and colleagues (Srivastava, Tamir et al. 2009 - see below) on the …

Peer groups: Cumbria spring group - more on what makes groups helpful

8th May 2009

Yesterday was a fairly classic first full day of one of these four day peer groups that I've been involved with for so long. Like a musical form ... a concerto or something ... there are usual stages to the group, phases which it typically moves through. When I wrote …

Peer groups: Cumbria spring group - initial thoughts

7th May 2009

It's the first morning of this year's "Mixed Group" in Cumbria. I wrote about this group in some detail when we last met up almost exactly a year ago. Lying in bed a little earlier on, I thought over why I'm here. I should be reasonably clear about this by …

Handouts & questionnaires for self-determination theory (SDT), an upgrade

23rd February 2009

I'm a big fan of self-determination theory (SDT). I've posted before on SDT. See, for example, the September post from last year with its links to a lecture I've given and to a number of handouts. See too Wellbeing, time management & self-determination in the website's Good Knowledge handouts section. …

A couple of interesting, helpful websites

21st February 2009

Here are a couple of very interesting, helpful websites that I've been reminded of recently. They illustrate in a fun way the diversity and possibilities of the internet. The first is http://www.meetup.com/ which calls itself the "World's largest community of local Meetups, clubs and groups" with its strapline "Do something, …

Handouts & questionnaires for healthy sexuality, sexual dysfunctions, and for abuse

9th February 2009

Here are a series of handouts,questionnaires and book suggestions for healthy sexuality, for sexual dysfunctions, and for abuse screening. Touch, sex & caring - this two page Word handout is rather dated now, but still makes a series of very valid points. Sexual interaction inventory - this questionnaire asks about …