1. Origins of Gratitude
1.1. Humans are not alone in their capacity to demonstrate gratitude. Studies have shown that chimpanzees can remember and identify chimps that groomed them in the past. From an evolutionary perspective, the behavior mechanisms of gratitude stem from the same origins in both apes and humans. To deny our shared potential for gratitude would flout volumes of anthropological research. The proensity for gratitude, thus is established during the emotional development of both species.
1.2. Logical Value. Adam Smith is associated with the moral sense school of 18th century philosophy which rejected the idea that morality was based strictly upon reason. Smith theorized that our conventional gratitude is what prompts us to compensate others for their assistance. As with love, esteem, and resentment, the passion of gratitude compels us to extend beyond ourselves and become concerned with the emotional status of others.
2. GRATITUDE
2.1. Every conscious moment of our lives is affected by our attitude. We can express two basic types of attitude: negative or positive. People exhibiting negative attitudes can trace their pessimism to a skewed spirit of entitlement. Positive attitudes, on the other hand, are demonstrated by people possessing an overall spirit of gratitude.
3. Self-Awareness
3.1. Undertaking social reforms will certainly present a challenge. We can implement less difficult alternatives-install metal detectors in every high school, for example. This however, would be only treating the symptoms and not the underlying disease. Decay will recur. In order to halt our society's rapid degeneration, we must encourage intense self-awareness.
4. EMBRACING DIVERSITY
4.1. Education traditionally american education promotes homogenization. Despite the lip service we grant to diversity, differences make us uncomfortable. In fact, some educators still feel compelled to proclaim their colorblindness. They profess that possessing this avant-garde racial imparticality is indispensable in instructions of our youth. In fact, these individuals are only serving to emphasize the classifications to which they claim to be oblivious, and are encouraging distinctions of race where they may not have previously existed.
5. Rehabilitation
5.1. Overcoming the entitlement attitude also must be accomplished for effective team and group interactions. Competitiveness knows no boundaries, and can even arise when individuals are working together to achieve a common goal. The following four guidelines can help institute of atmosphere of sincere cooperation within work groups.
5.1.1. 1. MANDATE MATURE AND PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR. Infusing the surroundings with accountability and integrity from the outset will impart team members with the sense that they are being treated as adults, and they will behave accordingly. As part of the group, they are expected to meet their obligations, and know that they will be proofessionally disciplined if they fail to perform. Feelings of entitlement will not even come into play if participation is presented as compulsory
5.1.2. 2. RESPECT EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT. Groups show appreciation for their member by giving them the tools they need to do their jobs, augmenting their qualifications and potential for advancment, and fostering an intellectual atmosphere. When high priority is placed on adequately equipping employees for their designated tasks, people will suffer from less insecurity reguarding their inherent ability. Showing an intrest in increasing the value of human resources will demonstrate an employers commitment to his or her employees, and elicit commitment from them in return.
5.1.3. 3.ESTABLISH OBJECTIVE METHODS FOR MEASURING PERFORMANCE. To prevent employees from feeling they or others are unconditionally entitled to their positions, performance must be subject to just and repeat evaluation.Employees must be obligated to meet well-defined and measurable conditions. If these objective criteria are well-communicated, jealousy and conflict will have no grounds from which to emerge. The groups commitment to its goals will be strengthened from the knowledge that each member's competency has been confirmed.
5.1.4. 4. COMMUNICATE INFORMATION FREELY. Most of us have experienced a situation where, lacking comprehensive information, we were forced to come to our own conclusions. We may have later discovered that our assumptions were far off the mark. Open communication can benefit any situation by reducing the potential for misinterpretation and entitlement. there is no substitute for routine communication-both formal and informal-for providing positive motivation in the workplace. This will deflect feelings of resentment and alienation, and will give employees the incentive to dedicate themselves to thier work, regardless of the potential for personal gain. The service orientation will have thus been invoked.
5.2. We are not implicitly owed anything for your actions. How you behave in life is your personal decision, and is not directly linked to any compensation schedules. Others enjoy this same freedom, and may unintentionally obstruct your dreams when trying to accomplish their own. the challenge truly resides in grasping that compassion for others is simply mature and right.Expecting consistent and exact reciprocation is destined to lead to disappointment and animosity.
6. Stigmatization by the Media
6.1. Group Representation
6.2. Coupled with the deficiencies of our education, we are also daily bombarded with the biased imagery and partial contexts of our media. Our perspectives do not benefit from these subtle reinforcements of sterotyping-whether emphasizing classifications based on nationality, race, age, sex, or status. though largely unintentional, these implications serve to further categorize and segregate our society.
6.3. Nationalism is often strengthened during international sporting contests, such as the Olympic Games. On such occasions, we are encouraged to identify with our athletic representatives merely on the basis of citizenship, whether natively or more recently attained.
6.4. Stereotypes exist and continue to be propagated by subjectivity and the media.Even if you do not know them you are likely aware of the circulating stereotypes for the following ethnic groups within American society.
7. Problematic Effects
7.1. Entitlement is a great motivator, yet it is not without flaw. Limitless competition over our place in the social pecking order renders generosity quite implausible. We also remain bound to be the same, growing economic difficulties and deficits that have troubled us for generations. Entitlement compels us to forge ahead, yet also forces us to ignore the devastation we leave in our wake.
8. Current Entitlement Hierarchies
8.1. Material wealth is the current gauge of ones entitlement, both personally and publicly. Our self-confidence depends largely on our financial status, and others rank us in their social hierarchies based on our projected degree of prosperity. in contrast to entitlement based on class, a basis upon material wealth is very egalitarian. Any one of us can get rich if we try; entitlement based on birth or accomplishment, on the other hand , is restricted to its fortunate few.
9. Narcissim:
9.1. Excessive love or admiration of oneself. Conceit
9.2. A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self esteem
9.3. Erotic pleasure derived from contemplation or admiration of ones own body or self, especially as a fixation on or a regression to a infantile stage of development
9.4. The attribute of the human psyche charcterized by admiration of oneself but within normal limits
10. Altruism or Selflessness
10.1. Is the unselfish concern for the welfare of others.
11. Devastating effects
11.1. In the 18th century, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) created the concept of entitlement. Entitlement is the belief that, "What I want should be given to me because I deserve it". Entitlement is portable across individuals; it incorporates the notion that people outside of ourselves possess the same right to everything they want, as well.Those who possess the attitude of entitlement are continually beset by feelings of dissatisfaction, frustration, anger and sometimes rage at other people- nothing is enough, and other people are always to blame. To rationalize their self-righteousness, they must continue to project an untarnished image, both to others and to themselves. Violence can enter the equation when entitlement's infinite expectations are obstructed by the harsh realities of the world. Often times, violence erupts when an individual is confronted by another who feels equally entitled to the same privileges. If never before challenged, a strike to one's over-inflated sense of entitlement can be an outrage. When individual people present obstructions to the the happiness and freedom one considers his or her given right, tempers can flare.
12. CHRISTOPHER LASCH (1932-1994) was an American historian most noted for writing "The Culture of Narcissiam-American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations" in 1979. He was critical of what he perceived to be the self-centered and shallow nature of American culture
12.1. Narcissict Tendencies:
12.2. Infatuation with modernity and youth
12.3. Neglect of courtesy, etiqette and tradition
12.4. Demand for immediate gratification
12.5. Inner emptiness and depression
12.6. Fear of mediocrity
12.7. Exaggerated self-righteousness
12.8. Insecurity
12.9. Pretentiousness
12.10. Identification with and idolization of affluence
12.11. Inability to mourm
12.12. Hypochondria
12.13. Perpetual psychoanalysis
12.14. Manipulation and deceit of others
12.15. Inability to commit or engage in caring relationships
13. THE SERVICE ORIENTATION:
13.1. The willingness to do what needs to be done, regardless of any personal impact
14. Exaggerated Self-Entitlement
14.1. Most narcissistic individuals suffer from delusions of privilege. Since they fail to place themselves on any relative scale with others, their life plans and belief systems are grossly one-sided.they have conditioned to believe that all of their needs deserve to be met and fully appreciated by others. their sense of entitlement is exaggerated; they feel they have been granted the right not just to survive, but to have all their conceivable desires systematically indulged.
14.2. Five Elements for Generating Entitlement
14.2.1. 1. Accomplishment requires specific tools and can be measured
14.2.1.1. Personal Todo List
14.2.1.2. Vacation Planning
14.2.1.3. Meeting Minutes
14.2.1.4. Project Plan
14.2.1.5. more...
14.2.2. 2. An assortment of characteristics and privileges can be attained
14.2.2.1. Offline Mode
14.2.2.2. Geistesblitz Tools
14.2.2.3. Email & SMS Gateways
14.2.2.4. Offline Mode
14.2.3. 3.Possession translates into merit
14.2.4. 4. Value must be reiterated otherwise it diminishes
14.2.5. 5. Personal status is defined by comparison
14.3. Origins of Entitlement
14.3.1. 1.We enter nature and enclose, pave,wire, or dump into it to accommodate our purposes
14.3.2. 2.We purge our surroundings to clear the way for battles over relative entitlement
14.3.3. 3.We search our physical enviorment for oramental evidence to justify our entitlement