The “Just Enough” Policy: Behavioral Control of Collective Protest through Minimum Reward, Part 2 of a 3-part series

 

Author: James Montgomery Flagg. 1917. In the public domain

The “Just Enough” Principle

by Dr. Anthony Marsella

The answer to questions raised in my previous post may reside in an organized effort to control behavioral responses by making use of a well-known psychological principle that offers “Just enough.” This principle pairs a positive behavior with a “sufficient” reward to maintain control of desired outcomes.

While there are increasing signs of American citizen discontent with both

government (e.g., 6% citizen satisfaction with Congress based on surveys, election defeats of incumbents) and corporate (e.g., community activism, Occupy Wall Street, union protests) sectors, collective discontent has been denied, contained, or suppressed.

The well-known words attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette — actually penned by Jean-Jacques Rousseau — capture the exigencies of the situation. “The peasants have no bread, let them eat cake (brioche).” No, no, no, never give too much! The key is “Just Enough!”

  • Just enough comfort, to keep them pacified;
  • Just enough tolerance, to keep them silent;
  • Just enough patience, to keep them waiting;
  • Just enough doubt, to keep them wondering;
  • Just enough satisfaction, to keep them content;
  • Just enough humiliation, to keep them humbled;
  • Just enough force, to keep them controlled;
  • Just enough deceit, to keep them believing;
  • Just enough confusion, to keep them bewildered;
  • Jus enough money, to keep them grateful;
  • Just enough vilification, to keep them angry;
  • Just enough sorrow, to keep them dulled;
  • Just enough entertainment, to keep them pre-occupied;
  • Just enough suspicion, to keep them paranoid;
  • Just enough patriotism, to keep them feeling exceptional;
  • Just enough comfort food, to keep them lethargic;
  • Just enough uncertainty, to keep them fearful;
  • Just enough secrecy, to keep them guessing;
  • Just enough “stupid” movies and TV shows, to keep them dumb;
  • Just enough partisanship, to keep them divided;
  • Just enough fear of job loss, to keep them passive;
  • Just enough force, to keep them hesitant;
  • Just enough technology changes, to keep them hypnotized;
  • Just enough media collaboration, to keep them ignorant;
  • Just enough freedom, to keep them thinking they have choice;
  • Just enough surveillance, monitoring, and archiving of privacy, to keep them ignorant of  technological realities;
  • Just enough beer, grass, dope, and dancing to keep them laughing;
  • Just enough violence, to keep them violent;
  • Just enough celebrities, to keep them dreaming;
  • Just enough stereotyping, to keep them biased;
  • Just enough advertising, to keep them buying;
  • Just enough hope, to keep them hopeful.

 

Anthony Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

 

This is the second in a three-part series originally published on https://www.transcend.org/tms/2014/06/the-just-enough-policy-behavioral-control-of-collective-protest-through-minimum-reward/