tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74303067170260308652024-03-13T23:17:35.837-07:00Geoff W. Sutton BlogI blog about psychology, counseling, and culture. Nothing I post should be considered as a psychological consultation or personal advice. My website is www.suttong.com I may earn income from purchases of advertised products or links.Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.comBlogger304125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-45640137559354903852024-01-31T09:34:00.000-08:002024-01-31T09:42:30.531-08:00The Cost of Leaving a Church To leave a Christian group can involve a
painful loss. In addition to the pain of condemnation, there is the potential loss of
family and friends. For some, it can mean an economic loss. Some may experience grief or grief mixed with relief.A religious way of life is an investment—a call to
commitment (Mt 10:37–38).
The social psychology principle of sunk costs helps explain why some,Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-45865557178453170992024-01-26T11:04:00.000-08:002024-01-26T11:16:20.874-08:00The Importance of Helping Refugees I recently saw a social media post decrying
money spent on refugees in the United States. As a fiscal conservative, I am
concerned about the national debt and the burden it places on future Americans.
Nevertheless, I disagree with the posted
remarks. Here’s why.
1. We have a legal obligation.
Sometimes the United States' actions
overseas cause the displacement of people, which can lead Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-37648262341467037122024-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:002024-01-14T07:00:33.131-08:00Ordained by God- Politics & Religion The Washington Post story on 14 January 2024 quotes a Trump supporter and reveals insight into the American evangelical mind.Understanding American evangelical morality can be tricky because the personal sins of the widely supported candidate are aside based on his perceived victory in defeating the national sin of abortion, which no previous candidate could accomplish.This great act trumpsGeoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-70064006975870914682024-01-10T08:02:00.000-08:002024-01-10T13:53:12.657-08:00Evolution Psychology and Christianity Irreconcilable Differences Evolving 2023Geoffrey W. Sutton & Bing AIEvolution, Psychology, and Christianity
Irreconcilable Differences
Barriers and Bridges
The Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection was published 24 November 1859. Scientists have built on
the solid foundation laid by Charles Darwin 165 years ago. New discoveries have
refined the theory and expanded our understanding of the evolution Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-60087695618072702422023-12-28T15:02:00.000-08:002023-12-28T15:02:23.108-08:00A New World Order in 2024Why the US Needs Allies According to a report by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the recent expansion of the BRICS group of nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to include six new members (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates) will have a significant impact on the future of the international balance of powers.According to Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-25170308944147658852023-12-28T10:36:00.000-08:002024-01-10T08:30:10.031-08:00Einstein and the God Problem Einstein
and the God ProblemBarriers to
the Integration of Christianity and Science—Including Psychological Science
Every so
often, the famous German scientist, Albert Einstein makes news. He’s been
quoted and misquoted on a variety of subjects outside his area of expertise. It
is not surprising to read what Einstein said about God Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-35337681876436569862023-12-18T07:27:00.000-08:002023-12-18T16:54:46.200-08:00The Broken Spell at Christmas
Now it came to pass one snowy Christmas Eve, that Will
invited Cate to join him at church where Amelia, his much younger sister, was
to shine as an angel. Will and Cate had become close friends as they worked
together on High School physics projects. Both were brilliant students who shared
a passion for science and perhaps for each other. Cate was more of an
independent thinker withGeoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-83655326625803947662023-09-29T06:44:00.006-07:002023-12-18T07:27:01.565-08:00Painful and Expensive Government ShutdownsPark Closed 2023Geoffrey W. Sutton & Bing AI It's September 29th and the US is about to shutdown again--that is, the government closes nonessential operations. Of course, what's "essential" isn't decided by us--the citizens of this great nation. Surely, there is a more effective way to avoid this recurring event and the horrific costs to our financial and wellbeing.I do think our Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-12163892067110779462023-09-27T15:19:00.002-07:002023-09-29T06:40:06.015-07:00Fundamentalism and Biblical LiteralismViewing a Sacred Book 2023by Geoffrey W. Sutton & Bing AI Are Conservative and Progressive Christians Trading Insults?I'm in the process of writing about the assessment of spirituality, which I hope to complete by the end of the year. I've come across articles and research measures attempting to clarify the related concepts of fundamentalism and biblical literalism. And so, I have a Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-40330466561640400262023-09-15T09:58:00.004-07:002023-09-27T15:11:30.318-07:00Anchors and Survey Items Anchors are the labels at the end points of a rating scale.For example, a researcher may ask respondents to rate an item on a five-point scale of agreement ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.The two endpoint labels, strongly disagree and strongly agree, are the anchors.AdLearn more about Creating SurveysGeoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-15691390610675548482023-09-12T07:40:00.004-07:002023-09-12T07:47:27.970-07:00CLIMATE SCIENCE and the Unscientific MIND Pants on Fire 2023Geoffrey W. Sutton & Bing AICLIMATE
SCIENCE and the Unscientific MIND
Challenging
Thoughts About Climate Science
and
Psychological Explanations
Climate
science has become a political football. The teams of political rivals seek to
exploit research about climate science to score points they can trade in for
political power. Their fans cheer and sneer and lookGeoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-3534458306898059692023-09-02T08:07:00.001-07:002023-09-02T08:07:39.948-07:00Intruder Rooms- Are Your children Safe Yet? Intruder RoomMy wife asked our grandson about school. As part of his response, he told about the new "Intruder Room." Have you seen them?I used to work as a psychologist in schools. You can imagine we dealt with some horrific situations. Most of us care about our children and all those fine teachers and staff trying to provide a safe learning environment. I've been in some schools in Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-46798235845080214492023-08-21T06:42:00.010-07:002023-09-02T08:07:46.034-07:00Baptist Leader Down: What’s The Good News? Glass church image 2023Geoffrey Sutton and Bing AIBaptist
Leader Down: What’s The Good News?
The latest
leader of the large US group, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resigned
last week. Willie McLaurin was interim president and CEO. The committee searching
for a permanent leader discovered “McLaurin’s education credentials that he
presented in his resume are false.” According to RNS,Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-68898236964293359332023-07-17T09:58:00.006-07:002023-08-21T06:43:30.204-07:00Does religious music influence wellbeing? Religious Music 2023 byGeoffrey Sutton and BingDoes religious music influence wellbeing?
Music, Religious Identity, and Wellbeing
Renate
Ysseldyk and others examined responses of Christians and Atheists to religious music.
Previous studies found a positive link between listening to music and both
memory and wellbeing. But the authors wondered if religious identity would make
a Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-48195627174655743542023-05-24T21:24:00.002-07:002023-07-17T09:57:28.752-07:00Memorials 2023 Unmarked grave of Grandmother Mary Suttonand daughter MargaretA Day of Remembrance
I began thinking about Memorial Day in a different way this
year. I especially like the old name of Decoration Day—a day to decorate the
gravesites and honour those who died while they were in service.
Memorial Day has to be different for we immigrants who do
not have close connections to family members or Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-88126871292034228182023-04-11T06:07:00.002-07:002023-04-11T06:13:04.286-07:00Inspired by Sara Do you know someone
who died from COVID?
It was, 10
April 2020 when Sara Trollope died. That was another Easter weekend—Good Friday
then. It’s hard to believe three years have passed since our healthcare
professionals were overwhelmed as they courageously struggled to meet the needs
of the sick and dying.
Sara was one of those
people who are gifts to humanity. Sara lovingly Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-67385184517547904522023-04-08T08:32:00.004-07:002023-04-11T06:12:16.045-07:00The Gift of Life at Easter Dietrich Bonhoeffer/ Bing Search
A Story of Moral Courage
I’m writing this post at the end of Good Friday 2023 and
I’m reflecting on the story of a man who knowingly put his life at risk. On 8
April 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was sentenced to death for his participation in
the German resistance movement and the plot to overthrow the murderous Nazi
regime. The next day, 9 April 1945, Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-58072301733717364542023-02-18T10:37:00.001-08:002023-02-18T10:39:18.613-08:00Music Therapy and Mental Illness in the BiblePhoto credit Dennis Jarvis 2016Many of us have noticed the biblical connection between music and symptom relief in the story of David and King Saul of ancient Israel.More than some 2,000 years ago, David, the man credited with writing many psalms played a lyre for his king (See 1 Samuel 16). Apparently, the people had observed the connection between music and relief because they offered to Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-45072426992830348302022-12-29T08:41:00.002-08:002023-12-06T20:17:11.252-08:00Successful New Year's Resolutions New Year's Resolutions are popular but there isn't much research about how well we do. Fortunately, Martin Oscarsson and his team studied over a thousand people to see what works.Not surprisingly, they found that the most popular resolutions were physical health, weight loss, and eating habits.Goals Make a DifferenceAfter a full year, the most successful group reached nearly 59% Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-12561302679964515522022-11-26T08:40:00.008-08:002022-11-27T11:37:46.268-08:00Thanksgiving and Joy to the World A Circle of Well-BeingGratitude and Joy
One of the
beautiful holiday connections in the United States is the Thanksgiving to
Christmas festivities. Just after Thanksgiving, I noticed that a former student
posted a photo of an ultrasound. She and her husband had smiles as they hugged.
She posted her Spring due date. Great Expectations!
We know a
lot about gratitude. Saying thanks, writing Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-55522796329497585172022-11-13T08:19:00.004-08:002022-11-13T08:35:17.136-08:00Gratitude Letters and Psychological Health
Can the
practice of gratitude actually improve mental health?
Many
studies extol the benefits of expressing gratitude. What’s different about this
study by Joel Wong and his colleagues are the participants. All of them were
psychotherapy patients. The research question: Would gratitude writing add
value to psychotherapy?
The patients
All 293 volunteers
were young adults having Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-48823989040810523752022-11-08T06:10:00.008-08:002022-11-08T13:52:43.389-08:00Count Your Blessings: A Gratitude Experiment
In the past
few decades, psychological scientists have studied gratitude along with other
virtues as part of the broad field known as positive psychology, which focuses
on well-being in contrast to studies of mental disorders. Expressing gratitude
is one of those classic virtues encouraged in many cultures.Short SummaryTwo psychological scientists studied the effects of expressing Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-32900998326255241872022-10-29T06:42:00.007-07:002022-10-30T07:15:55.491-07:0012 Things to Know About Christians and Devils Demons, Spirits, and Scary Spirituality
Evangelical Christians are warned against activities that
invite Satan or evil spirits into their lives. “Don’t read Harry Potter.” Stay
away from the Ouija board.” “Yoga is a pathway to spiritual evil.” Christians
who read the Bible in a literal or near literal way have plenty of texts to
give them reasons to believe they are in the midst of Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-20055668450384922082022-10-29T06:11:00.001-07:002022-10-30T11:11:12.731-07:00Grateful People: The Big 12 - Psychology of Gratitude
The Big 12 of Gratitude
Thanksgiving is a good time to focus
on gratitude. Gratitude is a common human emotion and a virtue among adherents
of many religions.
Christians are encouraged to count their blessings and offer
thanks each day. You do not have to be religious to benefit from a grateful attitude.
In psychology, gratitude is a positive emotion expressed
toward those Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7430306717026030865.post-18062699304640896452022-10-14T06:36:00.003-07:002024-01-07T11:13:19.104-08:00Psychology and Effective Reward SystemsWhen Reward Systems Fail to Reward
On a recent
trip, I used rewards to pay for part of a hotel stay, purchase a quick lunch at
McDonalds, and pay for my wife’s jacket at Sam’s Club. Some reward systems work better than others.
We also
stopped at a place X for hot drinks. Alas, my reward had expired. Yesterday I
stopped by my local X and was told I was one visit away from a reward. I smiled and
Geoffrey W Suttonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13043815682400474399noreply@blogger.com0