#every little detail I remember now as adult with basic child psychology education from my teacher background is just. how

[envolvenuances]

and I think child modelling should be illegal I'm not even joking

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Socialization techniques through which the UC / FFWPU members were able to influence

by Geri-Ann Galanti, Ph.D.

Abstract This article reports on the experiences and thoughts of an anthropologist who, under an assumed identity, participated in a 3-day Unification Church workshop.  Although the author’s expectation that she would encounter “brainwashing” techniques was not met, she was, nevertheless, struck by the subtle, yet powerful, socialization techniques through which the UC members were able to influence her.  She concludes that, to be effective, preventive education in this area must address the subtleties of the socialization processes that can bring about major personality changes.

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I recently had an encounter with what has been termed “brainwashing,” when I spent a weekend at Camp K, a Moonie training camp in Northern California [in circa 1981-83?].  As a result of my experience there, I would like to offer a few comments on the nature of brainwashing from the perspective of an anthropologist.  I went to the camp to do research for a project on deprogramming.  I thought it was important to see what the “programming” was all about.  I pretended, however, to be a young woman who wandered into their church by chance, and who knew little about Rev. Moon or Moonies.

To begin with, I was allowed plenty of sleep and given a sufficient amount of protein.  Both mornings, I got out of bed around 8:30 or 9:00 – when I was tired of laying around.  No one made me get up early.  We were given eggs, fish, tuna, something that looked like “chicken spam,” lasagna (meatless, but plenty of cheese) and other foods.  We were constantly being fed – three meals and about two snacks per day. Most people looked a bit overweight. In any case, the two things I was looking for that might “brainwash” me were not present.

I was further disarmed by the fact that the group let me know right up front that they were the Unification Church, and followers of the Reverent Moon.  The San Francisco Bay area center had earned a rather bad reputation for hiding that fact until a new recruit was already well entrenched in the group.  Apparently, this is no longer true.  I walked into the church on Bush Street in San Francisco on a Friday evening, and the first thing that was said to me was “You understand that this is the Unification Church and that we’re followers of the Reverent Moon?”  They also had a permanent sign on the front of their building stating “Unification Church.”  The first evening at Bush Street, after showing some interest in the Church, I was shown a videotape about the Church and Reverend Moon.  In order to go to their camp for the weekend, I had to sign a release, which clearly stated that I was going with the Unification Church.  However, the fact that they were now being honest about who they were, in contrast to their past deceptiveness, served to weaken my defense.

The first night, I heard the word “brainwashing” used four or five time, always in a joking context.  I finally asked John, my “spiritual father,” why that word kept cropping up so often.  He said it was because people often accuse them of being brainwashed.  The explanation I heard several times that weekend in this regard is that “people are so cynical and they can’t believe that we can be happy and want to help other people and love God and each other.  So they think that we must be brainwashed to feel this way.  Ha! Ha!”  I was also told by two different Moonies about a recent psychological study comparing Moonies with young adults from other mainstream religious groups.  They told me that Moonies came out much better in terms of independence, aggressiveness, assertiveness, and other positive characteristics.  The group is apparently meeting the criticism leveled at them head on.  Their explanations seemed so reasonable. They would ask, “We don’t look brainwashed, do we?”  And they didn’t.

I somehow expected to see glassy-eyed zombies.  I didn’t.  There was one new member – he’d been in the group only a month and a half – who seemed to fit that stereotype.  When I talked to him, his gaze wandered, his eyes not fixed on anything.  But everyone else seemed perfectly normal.  They were able to laugh and joke (about everything except themselves, which I’ll discuss later) and talk seriously about things.  The only thing that really struck me as strange was a kind of false over-enthusiasm.  Any time anyone performed, which was often, everyone would clap and cheer wildly.  They were good, but not that good.  During lectures, they would underscore points with a hearty “yeah!”  I must admit, however, that by the end of the weekend, much of the enthusiasm seemed more charming than odd.

Since the issue was brainwashing, I was constantly monitoring my mental state. During lectures (three per day, each lasting about an hour to an hour and a half), I would sit there and smugly critique the lecture (to myself) as it was presented.  My intellectual faculties were as sharp as ever.  I was able to note the kinds of techniques they were using as well.  Immediately before each lecture, we would sing songs from their songbook, to the accompaniment of a guitar.  Their songs are very beautiful, and the lyrics always upbeat.  As a result, you start off the lecture feeling good from the singing.  The lectures are always ended by singing a few more songs.  This puts a whole aura of “goodness” around the lectures.

The lectures were carefully orchestrated so as to create a feeling in the listener that they must be “learned,” rather than analyzed.  I could discuss this in greater detail, but for now, I will return to the issue of brainwashing.  Despite the use of questionable and manipulative educational techniques, I was constantly aware of the functioning of my intellect and of my beliefs, and at no time did I feel that they were being influenced.  This may not be the case with an individual who has not spent 13 years in college, but, as will become clear, it only underscores the power of brainwashing.  As an anthropologist, I found their beliefs interesting; as an individual, I found them ridiculous.  Nor did I experience any altered states of consciousness to indicate that I was being hypnotized in any way.  So I thought I was safe.

What I didn’t realize is that the “brainwashing” – or to use a better term, “mind control” – doesn’t come until later.  And what is really being talked about is a process of socialization, one which goes on in every household around the world.  Human beings are not born with ideas.   Ideas are learned.  Anthropologists, more than any other group, perhaps, are aware of the variety of beliefs that are held by people around the world.  We acquire these beliefs through a process that involves observation, imitation, and testing.  Beliefs that are acquired in childhood are generally the strongest, although they may be changed through experience as one grows older.  When we have experiences that conflict with our world view, we either rationalize the experience (e.g., I couldn’t find my necklace in the jewelry box yesterday, but today it’s there – I must have overlooked it, or someone must have taken it and put it back), leaving our beliefs intact (e.g., objects don’t magically disappear and reappear), or, if it happens too often and we are presented with an alternative world view which accounts for it, we may change our beliefs.  (This is the stuff that Kuhn writes about in his classic book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.)  it is possible to explain the same event in many ways.  What cults do is to offer an alternative way of looking at things.  When everyone holds the same belief but you, their view starts to make sense.  Society, especially the smaller scale societies we had throughout most of human evolution, could not operate smoothly if everyone were to hold a different belief about the nature of reality.  Millions of years of evolution have selected for a human tendency to be influenced by the beliefs of others.  If this were not the case, how could any child be socialized to be a member of the group? There are, of course, rebels and visionaries, people who do not accept the beliefs of the group.  But they are much fewer in number.  Furthermore, adolescence seems to be a major time for group conformity.  Teenagers appear to have a strong need to belong, to look and act like one of the group.  And it is these adolescents and post-adolescents who are most strongly attracted to cults.

How does mind control work?  Let me rephrase that.  Even “mind control” is too strong a term – for it, too, conjures up visions of men reaching invisible fingers into your brain, controlling your thoughts and actions like a puppeteer.  I think of it more as a socialization process in which one is led to think like the rest of the group.  Robert Lifton, in his seminal book entitled: Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism:  A Study of Brainwashing in China, outlines the eight conditions that result in ideological totalism: milieu control, mystical manipulation, need for purity, personal confession, acceptance of basic group dogma as sacred, loading the language, subordination of person to doctrine, and dispensing of existence.  As I see it, all of these features conspire to do two things: (1) isolate the person within a particular cultural context so that that context becomes the only reality, and (2) make the individual feel that if he becomes a member of the group, he will be special.  These features are an inherent part of any culture, and not necessarily purposefully contrived to achieve particular aims.  Let me give an example.

Several years ago, I spent a summer doing fieldwork in Guatemala.  After a month in the field, I couldn’t remember a lot of things about home, e.g., my husband’s voice.  He was back in the U.S.  Reality was where I was, in Guatemala. One regret I have is not buying more of the beautiful Indian weavings.  The reason I didn’t was that they were “too expensive.”  The finest cost approximately $30.  To buy something similar here would cost well over $100.  But I had internalized the Guatemalan standard of money.  That summer, no one was purposely trying to control my environment.  It was controlled by virtue of the fact that I was spending most of my time in a small rural village. Though I retained most of my American ways and beliefs, my sense of reality was slowly changing, and Guatemala became the standard by which I tested reality.

Regarding the notion that ideological totalism functions to make an individual feel that if he joins the group, he will somehow be better than everyone who is not a member – this is not a new concept.  All cultures promote this idea about themselves.  The attitude is called “ethnocentrism.”  Everything we do is right and natural; everything outsiders do is unnatural, barbaric, etc.  The names that most small scale societies use to refer to themselves generally translate into something meaning “the people” or “human beings,” implying that everyone who is not a member of the group is somehow less than human.  Perhaps I am overstating the case, but what I saw the Moonies do was to do on a smaller scale what all cultures do with their members.

The techniques they use are for the most part, not very sinister.  They are things we encounter in everyday life.  They are how we become socialized.  The cult becomes a total subculture.

Which brings me to what I think is the most important part.  In the beginning, they don’t influence you by changing your beliefs.  As I said earlier, they did not affect mine in the least in that short weekend.  (although I should point out that my beliefs are very clear and strong.  Most people who join the church are self-described “searchers”: they’re looking for answers.)  the way they get to you is emotionally.  If you stay with an isolated group of people long enough, you will eventually begin to think like they do, act like they do, see the world as they do.  It’s part of human nature.  It’s what we anthropologists mean when we talk about enculturation.  The degree of enculturation (taking on the culture of another group) will depend upon the relative amount of time you associate with people from your own culture and from the new culture, among other factors.  If you associate only with members of the new culture, acculturation will generally be much more rapid.

So how do they get you to stay?  By giving you a good time, by being likeable, by being happy.  Of all the things I expected to happen that weekend, the last thing I expected was to have a good time.  Except for the lectures, which I found rather boring and insulting (I thought they were aimed at about a third grade level), I really had fun.  We sang a lot, people performed songs and poems, we put on a group talent show, we played volleyball.  We became children again, with no responsibilities.  It was like being at camp; in fact, it was called camp: Camp K.  the setting was beautiful – in the mountains, along a creek, with lots of trees.

They also make you feel really good about yourself.  One of the famous Moonie techniques is “love bombing,” which basically consists of giving someone a lot of positive attention.  For example, one morning, Jane said to me, “You know, you’re really one of the most open people I’ve ever met.  You don’t put up any defenses.  You’re really open.  I think that’s so great.”  When she said this, part of my mind went “flash.  Love-bombing, love bombing.”  But the other part of me went, “Yeah, but it’s really true.  (Don’t we all like to believe the best about ourselves?)  She probably really means it.”  In any case, it made me feel good.  Despite my intellectual recognition of what she was doing, emotionally, I bought it.

Another technique they use is to make you feel part of the group.  New recruits were constantly encouraged to take part in the many performances that were put on.  During one of the initial group sessions, when we were introducing ourselves, I mentioned that I like to dance.  That night, when we were making up our presentation for the “talent show,” everyone kept urging me to choreograph our musical number.  I felt a bit shy about it, but then figured, why not?  I had never seen a more supportive group in my life.  There was no way to fail – except not to take part.  I had about 5 minutes to make up and teach a number to a group of 15.  needless to say, my “dance” was simple and rather silly.  But it was all in fun and didn’t matter. It made me feel a part of the group.  It also gave them ample opportunity for more love-bombing.  After the show and all the next day, at least a dozen people came up to tell me what a “great” dance it was.  Despite the fact that I knew it wasn’t, it still felt good to have people compliment me on something that is important to me.  I was made to feel good by being part of the group.

They also made me feel that I was a lot like individual members of the group.  Part of my “cover” was that I was a third grade school teacher.  (I did teach 3rd grade for 10 weeks once.)  when I told this to my “spiritual father” he replied, “I used to be a school teacher too.”  He kept emphasizing how much alike we are.  (We’re not.)  He also told me how much I remind him of a close friend of his.  Someone else told me how much I reminded her of her sister-in-law.  Other people told me that I look “so familiar.”  It was rather transparent to me that this was merely a technique to make me feel that we were not so different and I could be a part of them.  (Actually, this technique was too obvious and not effective on me.)

Socialization also works through subtle peer pressure.  At the end of Saturday evening, we once again got in our groups to discuss “what we liked best about the day.”  As we went around the circle, people mentioned things like the lecture we had on Rev. Moon, or the movie about the Unification Church, or something that was said in the lecture.  As it was coming around to me, I was thinking, “My honest answer would be the volleyball game.  I really had a great time playing volleyball.  But if I say that, I’m going to sound really shallow compared to everybody else.  And I know I’m not shallow.”  So I chose something that was also true, thought less so, but which sounded much better.  When my turn came, I said, “I really enjoyed meeting a lot of really nice people.”  Because of a general human tendency to try to create a positive image of ourselves, I was slowly becoming socialized into the ways of the group.  If this were a group that valued physical activity, my true response would have been appropriate.  But this was a group that valued God, love, ideals, and so I found myself shaping myself in a way that emphasized the aspects of my being that were most acceptable to the values and standards of the group.  We are all multi-faceted.  It is a common experience to find that different people or groups of friends being out different aspects of our personality.  Generally, we change subtly as we interact with each group, thus emphasizing all aspects of our personality.  In a totalist group like the Moonies, however, the group values are so strong and so consistent that only one side of ourselves is elicited and reinforced.  We thus shape our personality as we become socialized into the group.

The most powerful aspect of the whole experience was the personal relationships.  At the beginning of the weekend, I remember thinking that there really wasn’t anyone there that I would want to be friends with.  But by the end of 2 ½ very intense days, I had developed a few attachments, especially to two of the women, Susan and Jane.  I also felt very guilty about deceiving them regarding who I was and why I was there.  Yet I couldn’t tell them the truth because then I couldn’t be sure that they weren’t treating me differently from others – non-researchers.  Even though I knew they were deceiving me in subtle ways and that the ultimate goal that was shaping their behavior toward me was the desire to get me to join the group, I still felt guilty.  I honestly liked them.  They seemed so open and honest with me, although I still don’t know how open and honest that really was.  They seemed to like me.  My ego wants to believe they did. The whole cult issue is very clouded in my mind.  It is exceedingly complex.  If their main motive was to get me to join the group, it was because they believed that by doing so, they were helping to save the world and my soul.  Is that so dishonest?  Yet how honest is it to consciously use those very effective techniques?  I see them as both victims and victimizers.  Simultaneously.

They presented a lifestyle alternative that was very appealing.  Community, love, idealism.  They presented a picture of true happiness. Yet we learn from ex-members (who admittedly have their own biases) that this picture is false.  Or at least, only part of the picture.  What is left out is the fear and guilt and the loss of self.

What the “brainwashing” is all about, in my view, is grabbing you emotionally.  Giving you a good time, showing you others, like yourself, who are fulfilled.  People who, like you, were searching for answers to life’s basic questions and found them.  Why not stay a little longer, and learn a little more about them?  You don’t have to believe in the doctrine right away.  You can still think critically at the end of the weekend, when you make the decision to stay on for the 7-day seminar.  But you’ve begun to develop emotional ties that will keep you there.  To learn a little more.  Until they have finally socialized you into their way of life.  They grab you emotionally until they can keep you long enough to completely socialize you.

I am writing this article because I think it is important to understand what is going on.  I know that I didn’t understand, despite having done a lot of reading and talking to people about it.  I think it is because most of us have too many strong associations with the words “brainwashing” and “mind control.”  They seem so overt.  They’re not.  The process can be extremely subtle.  But because we have such strong associations, we do not recognize the process in its other manifestations.  I think that in part it is because it is so familiar.  It is something that happens everyday to every child that is born on this planet.  Society is possible only because socialization techniques are effective.  Socialization isn’t sinister.  The problem I see with the cults is the context.  As an anthropologist, I am aware of the existence of what we would term cults in other societies.  I think that cults have a greater and more damaging impact in our culture because we value the individual so highly.  From discussions with ex-members, it appears that one of the most negative effects of cult involvement is a loss of self.  Many other societies value the group over the individual.  Although I am not a psychiatrist, I would guess that it is not so damaging to the psyche to give up your individual identity to the group (the cult), if you have always been raised to value the group over the self.  But in our culture, where the opposite is true, this can be devastating to many individuals.

I think it was the contrast between my expectations and my experience that allowed the weekend to have such a strong emotional affect on me.  I was looking for something big and evil and what I found was very subtle and friendly, so I didn’t recognize its power.  I was also mistaken in believing that the socialization process (or the influence process) was intellectual.  It’s not.  It’s emotional, and thus touches a deeper and more central part of one’s brain.  When I left at the end of the weekend, a friend who had been in the Moonies and worked for a while as a deprogrammer picked me up.  One of the first things I said to him was, “I had a great time.  Remind me again what’s so bad about the Moonies.”

The next day I was interviewing a former deprogrammer.  About half-way through the interview I asked her to describe exactly what she did during the deprogramming.  She looked me directly in the eye and said, “Exactly what I’ve been doing with you.”  This shocked me, because I didn’t think I needed any deprogramming.  I didn’t buy their doctrine.  They didn’t brainwash me.  But they did get to me.  I had forgotten all of the organization’s abuses of church members: the long hours of fund-raising, sometimes in dangerous areas, late at night; the lack of proper nutrition; the suicide training; the fear and guilt; the relative poverty the members live in, while the leaders live in splendor; the munitions factory owned by a church which is supposedly striving for world peace; the divisions created between family members; the deception; all of the horrors.  Part of me remembered them, because I remember asking questions about what exactly the church does to make the world better, knowing that most members spend them time selling flowers.  But that knowledge didn’t seem important.  The people seemed good, so by association, the group did too.  I had been influenced.  The emotional truth was so much stronger than the intellectual one that it was the only one that seemed important.

I have mixed feelings about the use of the term “brainwashing” with regard to cult indoctrination.  Because of the general effectiveness of the techniques in influencing a person’s thoughts and actions, I can understand the persistence of its use.  If someone like Patty Hearst is going to be defended on such a basis, it needs to be recognized as a powerful and legitimate technique (although degree of susceptibility will vary).  However, if the goal is to keep people out of cults, I am afraid the contrast between the stereotypic notion of brainwashing (which I don’t think we can escape) and the experience a new recruit has is to sharp, that people are disarmed and no longer aware of the techniques being used on them.  Instead, I would advocate seeing the brainwashing process in the context of socialization.  This is something with which we are all familiar and about which we hold few, if any, negative connotations.  At the same time, it is something that we are aware of the power of.  I would contend that the process of “brainwashing” can best be understood as an intensified socialization experience.  I may be quibbling over semantics, but given the fact that the words in question are so loaded, I feel that semantics are important here.  The Moonies take the raw material of our human needs – to be loved and to be accepted – and use the same techniques that for centuries cultures have used to shape individuals into members of the culture: peer pressure, reward and punishment, and the experience of being surrounded by individuals who all view the world in the same way.

My weekend with the Moonies was intended to answer some questions I had.  Instead, it raised many more.  The most solid thing I came away with, however, and my reason for writing this, is a new understanding of brainwashing.  If we are to avoid it, we must first learn to recognize it.

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Geri-Ann Galanti is a medical anthropologist, and lecturer at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Galanti was formerly on the faculty of California State University’s Department of Anthropology and California State University’s School of Nursing, where she developed the curriculum for the BSN program’s Cultural Diversity in Healthcare course. Dr. Galanti is a consultant to Civility Mutual.

Geri-Ann Galanti

This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1984, Volume 1, Number 1, pages 27-36.

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Moon’s ultimate truth is … absolute obedience – Allen Tate Wood

Video: Paul Morantz on Cults, Confession and Mind Control

[emmybauer]

‹ alycia debnam-carey, cisfemale, she/her ›  i was scrolling through insta earlier and i saw that @EMMY is moving to honeysuckle ! you know the TWENTY-THREE year old CURRENTLY UNEMPLOYED from WASHINGTON, D.C. that i’ve been telling you about, EMMY BAUER. still not ringing any bells ? they’re a total VIRGO remember that picture of HER WITH HER GRANDPARENTS or the video of them singing HEAVENLY by PALE WAVES ? Whatever, you’re hopeless - they’re moving onto SYCAMORE STREET, hopefully i’ll get a chance to meet them. 

what’s up kids, it’s me, bronny, back at you with another kiddo of mine. instead of rambling on for years like i did on kieran, i’m going to get onto emmy’s intro because it’s.........really something. love you all, please don’t hate me. love my kid.

Emmy Songs:

Heavenly

Red

Eighteen

Leaving Tonight

Now, Now’s whole album honestly

BACKGROUND

Clémence Emelie Bauer—better known as Emmy—was a child who was far from planned. You see, Justine ( neé Reynolds ) & Nolan Bauer only just finished their junior year of college ( 20 & 21 ) when Emmy was born. Though the two of them had been dating for years and had plans of getting married sometime, children weren’t in the near future as they wanted to focus on finishing college & starting their careers—both wanted to get into the FBI—so Emmy put a spanner in the works.

But thanks to supportive Grandparents they made it work and though Justine & Nolan Bauer adored their little girl, they made the decision to let Justine’s parents raise Emmy for the majority of her early childhood in their hometown of Happy Camp while they continued on with their college education. Even if there was a distance between them, Emmy adored her parents. The young girl didn’t exactly understand but during their school breaks were the best times of Emmy’s life.

After finally graduating both parents entered into the working world to get their minium 3 years of work experience before they could apply for the FBI and those 3 years were heaven for the three? They made the decision to move permanently to Washington, D.C. ( even convincing Justine’s parents to tag along—though there wasn’t much resistance there ). They really settled into being a family and when they were 24 and 25 and Emmy was 4 they finally got officially married.

Basically ever since Emmy could remember, it had been her, her father and her mother. Maybe there were times when she was with her grandparents still when her parents were busy with work but the three of them were inseparable and many times Emmy cheesily compared them to the three musketeers after her mother introduced her to the story when she was only little. Something that quickly became her favourite thing in the world. It was really no surprise that throughout her childhood Emmy was a child who never could keep still. She was forever moving, forever wanting to go on adventures and explore the world around her and forever pretending to be D’Artagnan. Something her parents were more than happy to indulged. Emmy was really their pride and joy.

Justine & Nolan got accepted into the FBI Academy when they were 26 & 27 and Emmy being only 6, once again started to live mostly with her Grandparents while they were at the Academy. It was the hardest time for all of them, especially since Emmy was a little more aware of her parents absence and there were times little 6/7 year old Emmy swore she hated them but it never lasted long, but they deemed it necessary since becoming an FBI agent was all the two of them had ever wanted and after 20 weeks, they finally reached their goal.

But no matter what Emmy’s childhood was more than happy. If it wasn’t her parents there to love her, her grandparents were. Emmy wasn’t just a happy child with a small twinkle in her eye. The twinkle burned furiously and brightly, she adored the world around her and would often stop to pick snails up from the path and place them safely on a near by plant. Everything and everyone was something special to her.  Even throughout the first years of her teenage life, Emmy never once lost the innocence she held throughout childhood. She was still a bubbly girl, dedicated to the multiple sports teams she joined and active in almost every detail of her life.

That was until one day, one moment, one second, changed everything. 

Three became two.                                         ****** DEATH TW ********

It was meant to be a routine assignment. Her mother was meant to come back that night but she never did. Instead only her father did. At first, the words didn’t sink in. How could her mother have been killed in the line of duty? She was always meant to be around, she was always meant to be here with them. Emmy’s 14 year old self couldn’t process the full effects, it was almost as if she was on the outside looking in as her father tried the best he could without breaking down to explain what had happened. Nothing was the same after that. That night was when the innocence was stripped completely from Emmy.                     ****** DEPRESSION & ALCOHOLISM TW ********

After her mother’s death, Emmy could only watch helplessly as her father feel into depression and he developed an unhealthy drinking habit ( no violence or anything of that sort, he just gets very......sad and self-medicates ). Emmy’s mother was literally the love of his life? his best friend? they’d known each other their whole lives but she was suddenly just gone? He couldn’t handle it. It forced her to grow up far quicker than she ever thought she ever would have to, she not only had to look after herself but she took it upon herself to take care of her father even if her Grandparents did try to help as much as they could.

A year after Emmy lost her mother, Nolan quit the FBI, packed all their belongings and decided to move back to their hometown, Happy Camp. Emmy was devastated to leave behind her Grandparents, they were the only thing she had left of her mother, but she had no choice. She tried to see the positives, but the only one she could see was that she’d be able to see her other set of Grandparents she only saw during the Holidays more.

At first they moved in with Nolan’s parents, Emmy’s other Grandparents, while they found their feet a little and Nolan somehow managed to get a job in the local police department, but they eventually moved into a small house only a few houses down from Emmy’s Grandparents place on Vine Street.

Over the years, the twinkle in her eye faded. The once excitable, optimistic child she’d once been faded and was replaced. Her love of the world was dampened. She still put snails upon plants near by when she came across them, but she didn’t see the world in the same way. How could she after knowing there were people out there that would willing kill someone because they were trying to help people. But if there was one thing the night she lost her mother did for her, it was give her a reason to keep fighting.

Because much to her father’s displeasure ( the thought of his daughter joining the career that killed her mother/his wife??? ouch, doesn’t want to lose his daughter as well!!!! ), Emmy settled on following her mother’s footsteps. She wanted nothing more than to join the FBI and help in ways that her mother once had.

But if there was only thing that tipped her Father over the edge was the fact she’d made up her mind to go to college out of state. Washington, D.C. to be exact when the time came. The admission pushed her Father a little far that night but in the end it was the thing he needed to finally seek out the help he needed.

Emmy’s never held any hate towards her father, she’d do anything for him, she loves him more than anything in the world but as she grew older Emmy could help but feel some resentment towards him. She’ll never get over how she felt like she had to be the adult when she was still a child. Their relationship is still a little rocky but after Emmy talked with him, their relationship started to mend and it’s slowly but surely getting better each day.

At 18 Emmy had managed to get a full-tuition Scholarship to study Psychological Science and Criminology and she packed up her little car and headed off to Washington, D.C. where she went back to live with her Grandparents ( her mother’s parents )

Over the years at College Emmy grew into herself, she flourished in ways she never thought she could and eventually the world didn’t seem so dark anymore. Some of the lightness came back into her eyes and she started to see the beauty in the world again.

Joining the FBI was still front and center in her mind after graduating and to gain her three years experience she needed, she got a job as Social Worker. Kinda lowkey fell in love with the job... and sure it had its moments, sometimes she wanted to quit, but knowing that in some cases she was helping was enough to keep her going and if there’s one thing in life she wants it’s to make a difference. 

But she’s not about to give up her one life goal that’s been keeping her going for nearly her whole life, even if there’s a little nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach.                                 ****** DEATH TW ********

But one sudden phone call one night from her Father brought her life to a halt once more.

The death of her father’s father, Emmy’s Grandfather, brought Emmy back to Happy Camp.

Emmy’s stay in Happy Camp was only meant to be for a few days for the funeral, but after seeing the state her Father was in, Emmy couldn’t leave and eventually made the decision to stay for as long as her Father needed her and due to her not being able to give her boss an exact date of her return, it broke her heart to do so but Emmy quit her job. Luckily she’d saved enough money to allow her to stay unemployed and comfortable for a certain amount of time.

It’s been a week or so since Emmy’s been back in town and at this point, it feels like she’ll never leave. She’s even rented an apartment of Sycamore Street.  

But the longer she’s here, the quicker she realises there’s something about Happy Camp that really gets in her blood and there’s a thought in the back of her mind that taking a job here would be far more needed than back in Washington, D.C. 

PERSONALITY

Quite different to the girl that left when she was 18? Both in personality and appearance. Since her time in Washington, she’s become a lot more ‘refined,’ gone is the curly frizzy haired, baby faced girl ( aka the cutest girl ) and in her place is a sleek haired woman that knows how to carry herself ? just a decent as glow-up honestly. Personality wise, she was pretty quiet and she kept to herself but she’s really blossomed and is once again a pretty bubbly girl who knows her whole mind and what she wants out of life ( or at least acts like she does ).

The actual most loving girl you’ll ever meet??  Is really the human version of the heart eyes emoji and the quote, “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be Kind. Always.”

#independentwoman who doesn’t need anyone to change a lightbulb for her.

Actually has a bit of a fiery side to her?? It doesn’t often come out but if someone’s being a complete and utter dick to someone she cares about...you may just hear a little something from her. 

violence is never the answer, definitley bordering on being a pacifist, but just in case girl has been taking self-defensive lessons and works out regularly because just because she’s not a fan of violence doesn’t mean she can’t look out for herself and the people she loves by any means possible right??

( uhhh knows how to shoot a gun, has a licence and everything but does not have a gun. goes to a shooting range or a dumb as fair to shoot those dumb water guns to keep her aim up. it’s only in preparation for the FBI, otherwise she’d stay about as far away from one as you can get  )

Loves her family more than anything in the world, especially her Grandparents on her mother’s side. 

Definitley the mom friend.

Moving away to go to college was the first ‘selfish’ thing she has ever done and she thought she’d regret it but it was the best thing she’s ever done? it really taught her who she is as a person? very solid in who she is and what she stands for.

Can’t bring herself to settle on the fact that the FBI really isn’t what she wants to do with her life because if she does, then she feels like she’s letting her mother down?

HOWEVER!!! No matter how much love the girl gives to people and the world around her, she’s terrified of actually falling in love?? She loves the idea of it but the actual act terrifies her ( hello Lara-Jean from tatbilb )??  She’s terrified of losing the people she loves the most and seeing what her father went through when he lost the love of his life, she’s not about to sign herself up for the chance of that happening!! Lowkey been in love once but she ruined it when she left for college ( hint, hint wanted connection there ) but she acts like it wasn’t anything serious.

WOW. If you read all of that, you are an actual saint. I cannot believe. This got far longer than I meant it to be but once I started....I couldn’t stop, I love my girl a lot.

Instead of making this even longer than it is at the moment, I’ve written out a few connections HERE that i would love to see for Emmy? So if you’re interested at all, just give this a little like & i’ll come into your ims and love you, or if you’re feeling brave send me an im and i’ll love you just as much!!

[maryanntorreson]

Why You Forgot Everything You Learned In School (And How To Change That)

Listen, we all feel like we could use a bit of memory training. Let’s start with a small thought experiment. Take a minute to think back to your science classes in high school and see how much you can recall.

Can you explain the elements that make up an atom, or the basic principles of plant biology? How about physics, or simple chemistry? Do facts and procedures come rushing back, or do you remember your teacher’s face, or the way the room smelled after an experiment?

Everyone will have different memories, and they may have very little to do with what you were taught in class. You might not remember anything at all. It’s extraordinary how quickly we manage to forget what we crammed during all those long hours of study. Algebra. Long division. Verbs, adverbs and relative clauses. The causes of World War I. Where did it all go, we muse, years later?

It is extraordinary that so many of the world’s education systems, which are usually based on testing how well a student can recall and apply information, are designed without any real thought of how our memories work. Memory is perhaps the most fundamental factor in how human beings learn. Memory training should inform all aspects of education; instead, it’s an afterthought.

Advances in cognitive science have huge implications for how we learn and remember things. It’s time for policymakers, educators, and anyone who wants to learn something — in other words, all of us — to start listening.

It’s Gotta Be In There Somewhere

Imagine a large, dusty storeroom that contains all the things you’ve ever learned. This is what Robert Bjork, psychology professor at Stanford, calls storage space. Your phone number, the Spanish word for “cat,” the route to get back home from the pub after you’ve had one too many — all these memories are kept inside the storeroom.

So when you try in vain to recall something, the problem is not that you don’t know it. It’s a question of the retrieval strength of the memory: whether you can access it or not. You can remember your current address because it has both high retrieval strength and storage strength, but might struggle to remember your old address because although you knew it well once (high storage strength), you haven’t activated that memory in years (low retrieval strength).

So if you really want to remember something, you need to have it well-situated in your storeroom, as well as know where to find it when you need it. A lot of research in the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab centers around “desirable difficulties,” the gist of which is that if something is initially difficult, you will actually learn it more deeply and be able to recall it later on. Desirable difficulties include spacing, where you study in chunks rather than all in one go, testing rather than re-studying the same material, and varying the conditions of practice instead of keeping them constant.

Will This Be On The Test?

Picture the scene, the night before a big exam: coffee, notes, a faint air of panic, cramming, cramming and more cramming.

This is a perfect example of how not to learn something. One of cognitive psychology’s most robust findings, demonstrated consistently in a variety of contexts, is the importance of spaced repetition in memory training. If you want to learn something, do it in chunks over a period of time. Each time you access that memory again, you are increasing its storage strength.

But don’t just read over your notes — test yourself with a short quiz or try to explain what you’re learning to a friend. Frequent low-stakes testing can be really helpful as both a diagnostic tool (to check if you’ve really understood something) as well as an aid to memory improvement.

The spacing intervals are important. Increasing the intervals between learning sessions, and thereby reducing the accessibility of information, actually fosters deeper learning. When you struggle to remember something that you learned a few days ago, you’re forced to work hard and engage with the material more. So you might study something on Monday, do some follow up on Tuesday, take a quiz on Thursday and then another quiz the following week. The gaps between study should initially be small and gradually increase. You want the memories to be difficult to access, but not impossible (there’s no benefit to studying things a year apart).

But what if time is of the essence? Bjork’s findings suggest that interleaving can actually mimic the benefits of spacing. This is where you chop and change what you’re learning. By interspersing different elements, you are effectively “reloading” each time, forcing yourself to learn new strategies to retrieve information. A random order is best.

Get In The Cue

Neuroscientist Daniel Willingham calls memories “residues of thought.” But simply thinking about something is not necessarily enough to create a memory. Why do we remember the things we do? You might remember a beautiful, quaint old ice cream parlor you visited last summer, but not the flavor of ice cream you had. Why would you remember one aspect but not the other?

Much of what we remember is not a result of conscious effort. We remember the aspect of an experience that we think about the most. So if you see a barking dog while going for a stroll, you might think about the sound of the bark, or how the dog looks, or you might wonder if it’s annoying for the neighbors. How you think about the experience will shape that particular memory.

Everyone has had the experience of visiting a place they knew as a child and having memories flood back. Cues are what help us retrieve memories. The creation of specific and detailed cues is the key to remembering things, and Willingham argues that missing or ambiguous cues are a major reason why we can’t recall something. He cites an example of saying to a friend, “Here’s that $20 I owe you,” and the friend saying “You don’t owe me $20.” A better cue would offer more information, like: “Remember, we were at Macy’s and I wanted to buy that shirt, but their computer wouldn’t take my card so I had to borrow cash?”

Let’s try another little experiment:

Look at the following list, and then look away and write down the items. Have a friend read the list to you, if possible.

apple, blueberry, grape, orange, raspberry, watermelon, fig

Did you get most of them? Probably. Your mind instinctively says “This is a list of fruits that I just heard.” Now do the same for this list:

apricot, banana, peach, pear, grapefruit, blackberry, plum

If you didn’t get as many, there’s a reason for that. The cue, “a list of fruits that I just heard,” becomes crowded with correct words (from this list) and incorrect words (from the previous list). If you do a third list of fruits, chances are you will remember even fewer of them. But this one should be easier:

doctor, soldier, firefighter, teacher, chef, secretary

With this list, your mind is able to form a new cue, different and unambiguous.

Think Of A Particular Duck

Willingham identifies several memory training techniques to create effective cues:

Have you ever studied music? If so, how do you remember the lines of the treble clef? My piano teacher taught me that Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit (E-G-B-D-F). When I get east and west mixed up, I remind myself to Never Eat Soggy Weetbix. This method is known as acrostics. Similarly, we can use acronyms, such as HOMES to indicate the great lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).

Language learners tackling foreign vocabulary might want to use keywords. If we look at the Spanish word for mushrooms, champiñones, we can see it is very similar to the English word champions. To make a memory cue, try visualizing a champion boxer, arms held aloft in the ring, with mushrooms on his hands instead of boxing gloves.

Music and rhymes are extremely powerful. No doubt you can recall childhood nursery rhymes and chants, and probably a few advertising jingles as well. Songs and chants are predominantly used with young children but are also very effective for adult learners.

Mnemonic associations are best for more abstract things. What if you can never remember if a school administrator is a principal or principle? Just remember that she’s your pal. If you’re learning devnagri (Hindi) script, you might think that the symbol for ja, ज, has a hook, which would be a good place to hang a jacket.

It’s best if these memory training cues are personalized, bizarre, memorable, and specific. Willingham argues that if you want to create a visual image of a duck, “you must think of a particular duck. You must specify its size, proportions, coloring, posture, etc. All of these details make the duck more distinctive, and thus less likely to be confused with other ducks, and therefore a better cue to the target memory.”

Finally, here are a couple of less well-known suggestions if you have to remember a list. One is using pegwords. First, you make up some simple rhyming pegwords like “one is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree.” Then if you’re trying to memorize “onion, duck, artist,” you could picture a sad man holding a bun with only onions in it, a duck trying to climb a ladder while wearing oversized shoes, and finally an artist falling out of a tree.

Perhaps the oldest mnemonic device is the method of loci or “memory palace” technique espoused by the Greeks and Romans. This involves creating a kind of mental geography — say a walk from your front door out to the street — and using strong imagery to link certain words to key points along your “mental walk.” Again, bizarre and distinctive imagery works best.

Memory Training Is Forever

Before you rush off to study at spaced intervals, creating clever mnemonic cues to help you with your Italian verbs, one final word of warning:

We constantly overestimate how well we know something. Feeling like you know something is not a very accurate guide — both children and adults consistently “think their learning is more complete than it really is,” according to Willingham.

His rule of thumb is to study until you know the material, and then keep studying, for about another 20 percent of the time you’ve already spent. In other words, because we overestimate our knowledge, we should overlearn by about 20 percent.

The latest in curriculum design from the UK, “mastery curriculum,” is heading in this direction. Its principles include spending more time on fewer subjects, interleaving topics so that learners encounter them early on and then are exposed to them repeatedly over time, and using frequent low-stakes testing, spaced out over varying intervals, to stimulate deeper learning and recall. Babbel and other educational apps also incorporate spaced repetition practices and short quizzes to aid memory retention.

In a world where the importance of human memory seems to be ever diminishing, our understanding of the crucial role of memory training in learning is moving in quite the opposite direction.

The post Why You Forgot Everything You Learned In School (And How To Change That) appeared first on Babbel.

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[jansegers]

Simple English Word List

SIMPLE1540 : a simple English wikipedia word list based on the XML export of all articles related to the nine major groups: Everyday life, Geography, History, Knowledge, Language, Literature, People, Religion, and Science and retaining all word forms appearing 7 times or more in this corpus. The total number of words in this corpus is well over the 100.000 words. a A.D. ability able about above absence abstinence abstract academic academy accent accept access accord account across act action active activity actual actually ad add addition adherent adjective adult advance advice affect after again against age agnostic agnosticism ago agree agreement agriculture air alcohol all allow ally almost alone along alphabet also although always amateur amendment among amount an analysis ancient and angel animal annals anonymous another answer anthropomorphism any anyone anything aphasia appear apple apply approach archaeology architecture area argue argument around arrange art article artificial artist ask aspect associate association astronomy at atheism atheist atomic attack attempt attribute audience author authority available average avoid award away B.C. baby back background backpack bad bah balance band baptism base basic basis battle BCE be bear beautiful beauty because become bed bee before begin behavior behind being belief believe believing belong below best better between beyond bias biblical bibliography big billion biological biology birth bit black blind blood blue body book born both bottom boundary box boy brain branch bring brown buffalo build building bull burn business but by c. ca. calendar call can cancer canon capital caption car carbon card carry case cassette cat category cathedral catholic cause cell center central century cerebral certain change chapel chapter character chemical chemistry child china China choice choir choose chronicle church circumcise circumcision cite citizen city civil civilian civilization claim clan class classical cleanup clear clergy click climate close closer clothes clothing coast coauthor code codex cognitive col cold collection college colonization colony color column com come commentary commission common commonly communicate communication communion communist community companion company compare competition complete complex compose composer computer concept conception concern condition confuse confusion congregational connect connection conquer conquest consciousness consider consistent constitution construct construction contain contemporary content context continent continue contrary control convention conversation conversion convert cook cooking copy core correct could council country course court cover covered create creation credit crime critical criticism crop cross crust cultural culture current currently daily damage dark data date day dead death debt decadence decadent decide declaration decline deconstruction deep define definition deity demonstrate denomination department depth describe description design detail determinism developed development device devil diagnosis dialect dictionary die difference different difficult difficulty diphthong dipstick direct directly dirt disagree disambiguation disbelief discipline discover discovery discussion disease disorder distance distinct distinction distinguish distribution divide divine do doctor doctrine document dog don't door down Dr. dream drink drown druid due during dynasty each earlier early earth easier easily easy eat economic economics economy ed edge edit edition editor education effect eight either electric electricity electronic element elevation else emperor empire encyclopedia end energy engine engineering enlightenment enough enter entertainment environment environmental epic episode equal era error especially establish etc. etymology even event eventually ever every everyday everyone everything evidence evil evolution evolve exact exactly example except exchange exist existence expansion experience experiment expert explain explanation express expression external extinct face fact failure fair faith fall false family famous far fast father feature feel feeling female feudal few fiction field fight figure file find finding fire first fish fit five fix flow folk follow food for force foreign foreskin form formal former fortune fought foundation founded four fourth frame framework free freedom frequently friend from front fruit full function functional further future gas general generally generation genre geographer geographic geographical geography geology geometry germ get give glass global go god gold golden good government grammar great greatly green ground group grow growth guide guillotine hair half hall hand handbook handicap handle happen happens happiness happy hard have he head heading health hear heat heaven help hemisphere her here heritage hero high highly him himself his historian historical historiography history hold holy home homo hope hot hour house how however human hundred hunter hypothesis hysteresis I ice icon idea identify identity if illiteracy illiterate illusory image importance important impossible improve in inc. incense include increase indeed independence independent indigenous individual industrial industry influence information inquiry inside instead institute institution instrument instrumentation intellectual intelligence interlinear internal international internet interpretation into introduce introduction invent invention involve iron island issue it IT itself job join journal journalism judge just keep key kill kind king kingdom know knowledge la LA label lack lake lamp land landlocked landscape language large last late later law lead leader leap learn learned least leave legacy legal legend let letter level lexeme library life light lightning like likely limited line linguistic linguistics link liquid list literacy literary literature little liturgy live local location logic logical long longer look lord lore lose lot love low lower mac machine magazine magic magnetic magnum mail main mainly major make male mammal man mankind manuscript many map march March mark market mass material mathematical mathematics matter may May me mean meaning meant measure measurement meat median medical medicine medieval mediterranean medium meet member memory men mental mention mercury message metal method mid middle might migrate migration military millennium million mind minister minute misconception miss model modern modernism modernist moment money monologue monophthong month monument moon moral morality more morning most mostly mother mount mountain mouth move movement much museum music musical musicians must my myth mythology name narrative nation national nationality native natural naturalism naturally nature near nearly necessarily necessary need negative neither neologism network neurogenesis neuron neuroscience never new news newspaper next night nine no non none nor normal normally not note nothing noun novel now nuclear number object objective objectivity observation observe occupation occur ocean octane of off offer office official officially often oil old older on once one online only open opera opposite or oral orbit order org organization organize origin original originally orthography orthology other others our out outer outside over own oxygen p. pack pagan page paint palace paper paradigm parent parish park part participant particular particularly party pas pass past pasta pattern pay peace peer penguin penis people per percent percentage perception performance perhaps period peroxide persecution person personal personality perspective persuasion pet phenomenon philosopher philosophical philosophy phoneme phonetic phonetics photo phrase physic physical picture piece pilgrimage place plan planet plant plat plate play please poem poems poet poetry point pole police policy political politics polytheism polytheistic popular population position positive possession possible possibly post power powerful pp. practical practice praise pray prayer precise predict prediction prehistory present preserve press prevent priest primary principle print printing private probably problem process produce product production professional program project pronounce pronunciation proof property prophet propose prose proselytism protection protein provide province psychological psychology public publication publish publisher publishing punishment pure purpose put pyramid quantum question quickly quite quote race racial rack radiation radio rain range rate rather read reader real realism reality really reason receive recent recently reclamation recognize record recreation red ref refer reference referred reform reformation regard region reign rejection relate relation relationship relatively relativity reliable relic religion religious remain remember remove renaissance replace report republic request require research researcher resource respect response result resurrection retrieve return revelation revert review revision revival revolution rhetoric rich right rise ritual river rock role room royal rule ruled ruler run rural sacred sacrifice safe saga sage saint salad same sample satellite saw say schizophrenia scholar school science scientific scientist scope sea search second secondary section secular see seek seem selection self sense sent sentence separate sequence series service set seven several sexual shall shaman shape share she short should show shrine side sign significant silence similar simple simply since single situation six size skill skin slavery sleep slightly slow small smell smith snake so social society sociology soft soil solar soldier solid soliloquy some someone something sometimes song soon sortable sound source space speak speaker special specie specific speech speed spell spirit spiritual spirituality split sport spread square st. stage stain standard star start state statement station statistic statistical statue status stick still stone stop story strange strap strong structure struggle stub student study stutter style subject successful such sugar suggest sun sung sunlight superior superiority supernatural support suppose supreme sure surface survey surveyor sushi sustainability sustainable sweat symbol symbolic system table take talk tam tan task teach teacher teaching technique technology tectonics teeth tell temperature template temple ten term terminology territory tertiary test testament text textual than thank that the their theism them themselves then theology theoretical theory therapy there therefore thesaurus these they thick thing think third this those though thought thousand three through throughout thumb thus ticket tight time title to today together toilet tolerance toleration tongue too tool top topic total towards tower trade tradition traditional train translation transport travel treat treatment tree trench trial tribe tried trig true truth try turn twentieth twenty two type typical typically ultimate ultraviolet under understand understood union unit united universal universe university unknown unsortable until up upon upper urban urbanization usage use useful usually valley value van vandalism various vassal vegetable verb verbal verse version very video view violence virgin visit vitamin vocabulary voice vol. volume vowel vs. wale wall want war warm warmer wash waste water wave way we weak wealth wear weather web website weight well what when where whether which while white who whole whom whose why wide widely wild wilderness will window wisdom wise witch witchcraft with within without witness woman word work worker world worship would write writer writing wrong yam year yellow you young your

China, March and May made this list because china, march and may are on it and I didn't want to decide in favor of the common noun or the proper noun; all other proper nouns have been omitted (even the ten other months that met the criterium of appearing more then 6 times). #SimpleWikipedia #SimpleEnglish #wordlist #English #words #level1540 #Inli #nimi #selo1540