Herman Kagan
Dr. Herman Kagan obtained his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona. He has worked extensively in the field of mental health including six years with the California Youth Authority, twenty-five years with the County of Ventura Mental Health Dept. thirteen years of which were as Program Director of the Simi Mental Health Center Children's Program and eighteen years as Coordinator of the Parents United Chapter in Ventura County. The author specialized in child abuse, sexual abuse and youth crime prevention. He was the former president of the Ventura Psychological Association and taught psychology classes at the University of California Santa Barbara Extension Division. He retired in 1994. Herman has been married for 48 years and lives in Ventura. |
The Psychological Immune System
Evolution has provided humans with a biological immune system that protects them in an environment teeming with microorganisms. It does this by recognizing cells that do not belong to the body and destroying them. Evolution has also provided humans with a psychological immune system that protects them in an environment full of dangers to their life, property and identity. It does this by recognizing threats and arousing the creative potential and planning ability to take on these threats and neutralize or destroy them. That's why so much effort is expended in detection hardware, enemy recognition, border interdiction, weapon creation and rocket accuracy. That's also why so much effort goes into disease detection, remedies and prevention. The psychological immune system helps you understand how the creation of weapons and the creation of medical know-how stem from the same protective system and how conflicts can develop within this system. It has the potential to make us rise up to a noble and honorable level and fall down to a paranoid and dishonorable level. The book helps the reader better understand human behavior.
|