REASON rejecters - Species PROSPECTOR

“I believe strongly in thinking things through when making a decision.
I always try to identify the reasons for my actions.”

REASON REJECTERS are those who score in the lowest (approximate) tertile
of agreement with these statements.

Figure 1. REASON rejecters - Species PROSPECTOR


Prospector REASON rejecters share four of their Top 7 Attributes with all rejecters:

PATRIARCHY, SIMMER, FORCE, BUDGET BEDLAM, SPECULATE.

The first three of these can lead to some nasty scenes among these REASON rejecters, more so with them than among the population as a whole. Some of the triggers for physical violence or property damage may attempt to be rationally justified. But the REASON rejecters deprioritization of logical thinking (‘a’ precedes ‘b’ which precedes ‘c’, etc.) – degrades that orientation. This often leads to discussions and arguments that attempt to justify anti-social behaviours, but will often have little basis in rational evidence (facts).

Does this bother the Prospector REASON rejecter?

NO.

They are more concerned about getting their way through the use of force rather than through reasoned argumentation or discussion. The FORCE Attribute ranks 4 out of 118 Attributes among the REASON rejecters – and the Prospectors are the most likely to reject REASON. Looking even closer, the data reveals that REASON rejecters that are also FORCE espousers over-index among the Prospectors at 128, compared to 76 for the Pioneers and 95 for the Settlers.

So FORCE is more of a motivator for these rejecters than it is for other Groups.

The Attribute that ranks 5 among the TOP 7 (IMAGE AWARENESS) provides another perspective on this mind set. It has a major influence on the type of anti-social orientation and possible behaviour. Their values orientation is likely to be visible and public, rather than ‘hidden under a bushel’. Behaviours will be made and displayed as part of their image – something that they think will bring esteem of others - a way to stand out from the crowd. This is seen in anti-authoritarian demonstrations that appear to be rooted in conspiracy theories and fringe thinking that creates unsubstantiated claims, driven by energies that are not open to rational argumentation.

The Prospector REASON rejecter will often be seen espousing ‘alternative facts’ in public places, with others who will also hold similar beliefs. Weekend visitors to the West End of London and the Trafalgar Sq. area likely to have come across one or more regular demonstrations involving public disruptive behaviours in the support of a host of fringe theories.

A personal story: I was walking along the Strand one Saturday afternoon in November and the pavement was blocked by demonstrators that seemed to be ‘anti-vaxxers’. But there were also multiple other banners and placards being hoisted among the noise of slogan shouting. Rather than walking around the blockage like my friends, I tried to engage several protesters to talk to me about what the claimed was "The World Order and the secret plan to vaccinate ‘Sheeple’ to control them". This was something I had come across on the net, but had never talked with anyone who really believed it. I was genuinely interested in why they believed it. I could agree with some of their starting points – but was left behind when they got to their conclusions.

It quickly became clear to me that they were angry at others who did not hold their view. It was also clear that my engaging with them was not a chance to explain their beliefs, but was an opportunity to build their ‘esteem from others’ in their group. This was through a lot of physical posturing and emotional brandishing of (meant to be) demeaning rhetorical memes and tautologies. I came away from the interaction realizing that a rational discussion was NOT desired by the demonstrators. Rather it was a chance for them to create emotional performances designed to appeal to like-minded people, to enhance their status among their reference group, not a ‘reasonable discussion’ of evidence.

This is just an anecdotal case, a little everyday example, of one small example of REASON rejecters displaying their values system that is driven by their espousal of SIMMER, FORCE and IMAGE. However it is likely to be small part of a larger picture.

I’ve just come across a recent (August 2021) academic paper at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000885 that examined a cross national set of surveys (over 8800 people) looking into the nature of political communications on-line. The paper gives an insight that the behaviour experienced off Trafalgar Sq. was just as likely to be the same, from the gentlemen in question, if I had attempted to engage on-line instead of face-to-face.

The researchers identified that mean and spiteful postings were primarily from a small subset of ‘status driven’ individuals who behaved the same off-line as they did on-line, re the edited extract below.

Research on the psychological roots of dominance reveals that “inducing fear, through intimidation and coercion” is a key strategy for attaining status and one of the most consistent psychological findings is that individuals preoccupied with attaining higher status are much more likely to commit aggressive and hostile acts (including homicide) in everyday life. Recent research has extended this to the political domain and found that status-seeking (both at the individual and the group-level) is a strong empirical predictor of support for and engagement in aggression, even violence for a political cause around the world.

Status and power-driven Prospector REASON rejecters – a mouthful there - fit this profile more so than other Groups. As such, they are more significant than just their numbers. Their cultural impact can become much more negative than their numbers would suggest.

Their profile and over-index on the PATRIARCHY Attribute also helps explain their narrative and ‘ironic sexist humour’, often displayed in their on-line postings as merely another way of displaying a values system that prioritizes status and power over care and compassion.

The final two over-indexed Attributes – MATERIAL WEALTH and BUDGET BEDLAM - go a long way to explain emotional trigger points for their anti-social thoughts and behaviours. Their deep-seated desire to have more money and wealth is more developed in them than the population as a whole – over-indexed significantly at 162. This is allied with their disappointment that they are not on target to achieve that goal easily, plus the thought that their finances are in a mess. BUDGET BEDLAM measures this and they are 59% more likely than the population to have this as a ‘sparking point’ for the actualization of their other Top 7 Attributes.

Identifying themselves as ‘victims’ is a common factor among frustrated Prospectors.

This in contrast with more main-stream Prospectors who, espouse rather than reject REASON. This much larger group within the Prospectors primarily use their suboptimal life to stimulate a quest for their weak and strong points, and seek out opportunities and limit threats, to positively enhance their ability to accumulate money, status and power. In other words, their feelings when not achieving their desires spurs them to greater success and life satisfaction.

The REASON rejecting Prospectors also use their undesirable financial status to search for the supposed causes and apportion 'blame'. They never find the cause within themselves, but in other people, organizations and institutions that have ‘caused’ their emotional. They choose to avoid rational explanation of the reasons for their emotional discomfort, but attempt to align their emotions with their values system - making it acceptable to us force against those that have caused their lack of success. They will often be open to the appeal of authoritarian thinking because ‘there ought to be a law against it’. They will be attracted to fringe thinking that identifies groups that ‘need’ to be repressed, because ‘they take our job/benefits/ potential sexual partners' etc. If they cannot easily identify groups or individuals to blame - immigrants and migrants are easy to target as well as gender and ethnic differences – they will be attracted to more conspiratorial thinking groups and individual both on-line and off-line.

It is in these forums – face-to-face or on-line – that they can use to bolster their status through public behaviours among their peers. REASON rejecting Prospectors are more likely than other groups to be in ‘bubbles’ that mutually reinforce the status of each other within a limited network – the classic bubble dynamic. Flame wars, trolling and exclusive memes are all manifestations of the REASON rejecting Prospector behavioural profile.

Summary: REASON rejecting Prospectors present a real challenge to democratic social behaviours and progressive workplace practices that encourage personal responsibility and cooperative teamwork dynamics. Their high needs to dominate or denigrate others to enhance their own status and image is a socially disruptive orientation. It upsets most others – but is likely to be welcomed by this group. Opposing them with evidence or logical argumentation is likely to firstly denigration and then denial as they are resistant to the type of thinking that leads to them changing their minds. They can easily feel themselves to be victims - based on their emotions rather than facts – and can be spurred to sporadic and unplanned physical violence. Long before that occurs they are likely to disparaging of others, building themselves up by tearing others down.