ONE 40,000 years ago a young man goes out to look for food. He sees animal A. He succeeds in killing it, taking it home and eating it. The need is for nutrition, the drive or motivation is hunger, and the gratification is eating. The next day he sees another animal A. The same thing happens and he is gratified. Now learning takes place. The next day he finds a different species, animal B. He tries to kill it but it is too fierce. It injures him and he goes home to recover. Again learning takes place. He has learned that the door is open to gratifiction when he encounters an animal A, and that the door to gratification is closed when he sees an animal B.
Humans learn gratification from many things. Some find gratification in helping others. Some find gratification in killing others. Verbal expression is gratifying. Some find gratification in telling others how highly they think of their writing or their piano recital or their apple pie. Others take gratification in expressing hatred and anger. Yelling at someone in traffick or cursing someone on social media is gratifying.
Status by becoming an agent of gratification is common. If one says, group X are bad or inferior for some reason he is offering gratification by expressing hate and fear. The agent is trying to create a group over which he has power – a power base. After the Civil War, there was a great dislocation of status when the slaves were freed. plantation owners were stripped of much of their means of production and wealth. Non slave owners who were the vast majority………….. George Wallace was elected 4 times as governor of Alabama his advocacy of segregation, and his belief that fro-Americans should not be admitted
Percieved status and power are gratifying. It is gratifying knowing you are mayor of a city or leader of gang. It is gratifying to become a member of an exclusive country club or become a member of those worth a billion dollars.
Gratification through identification is virtually universal. Gratification of being American or Polish and seeing your country win a gold metal. Gratification as a fan of a college or professional sport. Often fans use the pronoun ”we” when referring to their team. We play Chicago next week. Gratification of seeing another black man elected president of the United States. Gratification of your spouse or family member’s accomplishment. ‘My son graduated first in his class at Tufts this year.’
‘Wilbur Wright was my great-grandfather.’
Behavior is shaped by learning which doors are open to gratification. And to control man’s behavior, for better or for worse, men have attempted to control the doors of other men. Hammurabi created one of the first codes of law nearly 4000 yeas ago. The purpose was to close the doors to gratification from doing things that were harmful to the society. Laws against murder and stealing and many others.
TWO Social science in practice
