Hindered by what development agencies acknowledge has been poor planning, insufficient appreciation of the environment's myriad complexities and an aid mentality focused on quick cash infusions rather than longer-term investment, many economic programs for women in Afghanistan have struggled to find their footing.
That same mentality aided Presti when, in 2007 at age 30, he became the N.B.A.'s youngest general manager with the Seattle SuperSonics.
The ease with which Pochettino's side created openings would have been a concern for Pardew, who before kick-off said his return to the stadium would aid a "winning mentality".
And when used to perpetuate a patrician v. plebeian mentality, it's a script perfect for aiding campaigns that win and justifying those that don't.
This is the mentality that has propelled the Treasury to promise up to $950 billion to aid Wall Street, Detroit and perhaps other recipients.
And keeping a happy mentality doesn't just improve our outlooks -- an optimistic attitude can aid in a healthier immune system, better cholesterol and even increase longevity.
Freud and Alfred Adler "created specifically Jewish doctrines," Jung wrote, "thoroughly unsatisfying to the German mentality". He became president of the Nazi-dominated International General Medical Society for Psychotherapy, but said his purpose was to aid endangered Jewish colleagues, which he tried to do.
A top Republican who supported the appeal told me this week that the decision could be useful in changing the longstanding legislative mentality of making school aid a matter of naked power politics.
A country in its own right for barely 10 years, Macedonia has developed a "bunker mentality," as one foreign aid official described it, feeling that it is surrounded by unfriendly powers.
With the unemployment rate rising and a recession mentality gripping the country, financial aid administrators say they expect many more calls like the one from Ms. Jacobs.
But stories also abound of the startling stupidities and failures of aid projects whose origins lie in a mentality belonging to a world that appears to have vanished.
