Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

A CULTURE  OF LIFE Life and Death  in 2013 The world’s largest religions generally promote a prolife position. Life is valuable from the moment of conception until death. In many countries, people of faith are outspoken about some aspect of life and death. Overall, the world is a less violent place ( Pinker, 2011 ), although it may not seem like it to those in war torn areas or to those who pay attention to news reports without an historical context. In Western Democracies, prolife has often been thought of in terms of a moral position against abortion. But in the view of many, including my own, prolife describes a culture that values life rather than death. In this summary, the reports offer brief quantitative information with links to sources for those interested in details. What’s missing from many reports is a careful look at the quality of life. This post is a look at the current state of a culture of life around the world. I am also on the lookout f...

The 1950s imaginary sentimental love man as protein-carbs winner (bring home the bacon & breadwinner) marriage has ended for most people in most Western cultures. Some folks retain that image, or some photoshopped version of it, as the ideal traditional marriage.  Picture the happy couple at church with King James Bibles under their arms and you get the Protestant Christian version of this traditional marriage. Changes are a constant The changes in marriage and romantic relationships in the last few decades are staggering for anyone alive before the 1960s. Human behavior is my business. I am a psychologist. The counseling advice offered to couples seems to reflect the mythology of the decade rather than recommendations sourced in science. I would like to say that the nature and extent of the changes in marriage and romantic relationships have never been seen before in human history. But I am no historian. Nevertheless, the changes call for some consider...