The Psychology of The Arab deals with: The domination of the ruthless Arab rulers who have inflected enormous pain and suffering on the populace, and who are intoxicated with the pathology of narcissism. The entire energy of the Arab population has to go toward massaging the Ego of these megalomaniacal leaders. They have split personality-both parts evil- Religion is a big piece of the fabric of Arab society. Arab are inclined to focus solely on the ritualistic part of religion and ignore the foundation of religion which is the faith in the Almighty God. Sadly, Arab have never deeply absorbed the true teaching of God. In the time of Jaheliah- time before Islam-, Arab used to feel ashamed of having a baby girl. Thus, they used to bury the girl alive. The strict adherence to the practice of virginity has kept the Arab woman in such miserable place . Psychologically , virginity represents to a man that he is the first conqueror of a woman, as if he is in battle and the blood from deflowering woman represent his victory. Arab are inclined to overemphasize the significant of the words and pay less regard to action. That can be also a result of the psychological replacement of action by words . Throughout history, Arab have been traders. Thus, their way of thinking is inclined to be in terms of benefits and losses, and that has been reflected in the way how they deal with each other.

The Psychology of the Arab

The Influences That Shape an Arab LifeBy Talib Kafaji

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Dr. Talib Kafaji
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4634-6821-7

Contents

Introduction...................................................................................1Chapter One Is There Such A Thing As Arab Psychology?..........................................7Chapter Two The Psychology of Arab Leaders.....................................................11Chapter Three The Place of Women in Arab Society...............................................21Chapter Four Learning Helplessness in Arab Lives...............................................28Chapter Five The Psychology of Arab Religion...................................................33Chapter Six Arab Thinking Processes............................................................38Chapter Seven Factors That Influence the Psychology of the Arab................................42Chapter Eight The Psychology of the Desert Inhabitants.........................................48Chapter Nine The Psychological Makeup of Arab Society..........................................52Chapter Ten Arab Family Structures &...........................................................62Chapter Eleven The Psychology of Emotion.......................................................67Chapter Twelve Psychological Structure of Arab Society.........................................72Chapter Thirteen The Dynamic of Oppression.....................................................79Chapter Fourteen East is East ... West is West, The Twain Shall Never Meet.....................84Chapter Fifteen Arab Self-image and Identity Formation.........................................91Chapter Sixteen The Psychology of Language.....................................................94Chapter Seventeen Social-Cognitive Learning Theory of the Arab.................................99Chapter Eighteen The Psychology of Defense Mechanisms In Arab Daily Lives......................102Chapter Nineteen The Psychology of Stigmatizations In Arab Culture.............................110Chapter Twenty The Recent Phenomenon of Terrorism in Arab Lives................................114Chapter Twenty One The Recent Developments In the Arab World...................................119Conclusions....................................................................................123References.....................................................................................129

Chapter One

Is There Such A Thing As Arab Psychology?

The science of psychology began with the founding father of experimental psychology, Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920). Then Sigmund Freud, in the middle of last century, revolutionized the whole concept of the human behavior. These men and others like them offered distinctive perspectives about human behavior by factoring in cultural practices, family upbringing, economic conditions and educational level.

In other words, an individual is born in a specific place in a specific time and under certain circumstances; all of these factors have a tremendous impact on the formation of his psychological makeup. Throughout much of the 20th century, psychology remained embedded in these European and North American patterns of thought.

In recent decades, however, our planet has become more of a "global village". Therefore, many cultures took the science of psychology and tailored it to suit their prevailing values or cultural practices. Carl Jung accentuated the impact of the collective conscience, which mostly is comprised of the cultural practices people inherited from their ancestors.

In answer to the question, "Is there such thing an Arab psychology?" yes, there certainly is, just as there is a Japanese psychology or a Chinese psychology. Each group around the globe: 1) lives in a specific geographic location; 2) shares the same historical struggles; 3) eats certain foods; 4) wears a certain type of clothing; 5) follows the same customs, traditions and cultural practices; 6) speaks a specific language; 7) shares the same religious beliefs; and 8) has a particular educational system. All of these components work collectively to shape the individual psychology for each group, differentiating it from others living elsewhere with a different set of values and cultural practices. Although there is the above universal principle that shapes behavior in a similar fashion worldwide, it is equally meaningful to conceive of culture as a system that has its own dynamic bounds. These boundaries can create phenomena that appear contradictory to the universal notion of how humans function in their locale, or how their world should be understood by the outsider.

Nevertheless, the psychology of Arabs who lived a hundred years ago was diabolically different from the psychology of Arabs today. It's very similar to saying the people who live in the Amazon region in Brazil are completely different than the people who live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The surrounding environment can shape the psychology of its inhabitants. Thus, there IS a psychology of the Arab, and it is a very complicated one. The tenet of this book is to explore all facets of Arab psychology.

The psychology of the Arab has been shaped by living in the desert; by its shifting sands, which make the Arab temperament volatile. It is shaped by lack of water, causingArabs to be nomads who move from place to place, to look for water and food for human and animal alike. This is why the Arabs do not have strong alliances to their land; they like to move and immigrate to other places in the world.

The psychology of the Arab has also been shaped by a strong affinity to the tribe to which he belongs. Thus, the concept of nationality is a relative one, because Arabs' alliances must first be to their tribe or community.

It is also worth mentioning that the psychology of the Arab has been shaped by their pompous language, which is very rich in descriptions of their lives in the desert, or their lives under abusive rulers, or their glorious lives in the distant past. Linguists around the world agree that language can sculpt the depth of the psychological structures of people; it is thus with the Arabic language. The Arabic language carved its place in the psyche of the Arab, because it is the language of the holy book, the Quran. English-speaking peoples do not attach to the English language because it is not the language of Christianity. The language of Christianity is Aramaic, the language that Jesus Christ spoke. Aramaic is now spoken by a group of Iraqi Christians called Chaldean.

Moreover, Arab society is a collectivist one, meaning the individual self-concept can be derived from community approval or community acceptance or recognition. It is not the individualistic society as in the West, in which a person derives his own self-concept from his personal merit, or his personal accomplishments and achievements. This factor alone can shape the Arab individual differently from others. Arab culture may be similar to Japanese culture, which also focuses on community. The benefit of society is placed ahead of individual interests.

All these factors collectively characterize the Arab individual and make his psychology unique. The study of the individual within the content of his environment gives a clear picture about his uniqueness. People do not live in isolation; they are surrounded by an environment or culture that influences each reciprocally. There is fluid...