Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

From Cadbury ad   Did you recently quit work or retire? In my recent travels, I've seen a lot of signs saying "Now Hiring." Some offer sign-up bonuses. Yesterday's news reported a drop in unemployment claims. In a recent report, Rosenberg et al. ( 2021 ) reported 4.3 million Americans quit work in August--that's nearly 3% of the US labor force. This phenomenon has been dubbed The Great Resignation . So, what's going on? It's a little early to say and according to Miller ( 2021 ), people offer a variety of reasons. Some, of course, decided to retire during the worldwide 2020 pandemic when some were laid off. Some have weighed the benefits of retiring early vs. later and decided the additional monthly income isn't worth the stress or they'd rather do something else with their time. The Pandemic as Career Crisis So many of us have had our lives significantly affected by the pandemic. I retired early because I wanted to enjoy life more than earn more m...

  9/11 and Religious Fundamentalism Thoughts on the Legacy of 9/11   As is our custom in the United States, national tragedies become the focus of a wide ranging study. Such was the case with the attacks 20 years ago on 11 September 2001 known now as 9/11.   In this post I look at the powerful role of religion in framing the transnational narrative for select Muslims in their war to rid their world of American culture. In the United States, where there is a shifting and porous wall between Christianity and governance, we see a visible rise in the influence of fundamentalist Christian values controlling the narrative of judges and lawmakers. Under threat, people become conservative and many turn to their faith. This phenomenon is well-documented in studies of Terror Management Theory . The attacks of 9/11 and subsequent war on terror triggered an intensity in faith for many who were not already highly devoted. As long as people have been spiritual or religious, a...

Dawn French, Vicar of Dibley, BBC TV Survey results from Tearfund as reported in The Guardian  and CoE data indicate an increase in religious practices during the Covid-19 lockdown. Psychologists will recognize this as consistent with Terror Management Theory as people become more conservative when death awareness increases. The CoE reported 6,000 people called a prayerline during its first two days. The CHURCHTIMES provides some results Among the respondents who said that they prayed more than once a month, the largest age bracket were adults aged 18 to 24 (30 per cent), while 25 per cent of adults who prayed more than once a month were aged 55 and over. Adults aged between 18 and 24 were also more likely to pray about the Government’s response to Covid-19 : 25 per cent, compared with 23 per cent of those aged 65 and over, and 15 per cent of those aged 25-64. 34 per cent of the respondents aged 18 to 24 said that they had watched or listened to a religious service ...

Years ago, at a Christian college, I took a course in Christian Philosophy . I don’t remember much from the textbook but I do recall the title of another book, Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell. Looking back, I wondered why the professor chose such a text for a course in a highly conservative college. Was he trying to prepare us to challenge the author? Was he struggling with his own faith? Spiritual Struggle / Bing Free to use/share Arguably, the leading atheist of recent decades is the biologist Richard Dawkins . Following the 911 attacks on America, Dawkins and his atheist friends published several challenges to religion. A best seller, The God Delusion , caught my attention. After all, as a psychologist, I know something about delusions. And as one who studies and writes about the psychology of religion, I wondered what might be new in this arena—new since Russell, that is. Five Things Christians Can Learn From Atheists I’ve written an academic ...

The Scary Season Psychology, Halloween, & Mysterious Happenings By Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD Halloween is that time of year when some Christians feel uneasy about how—or whether—to participate. Costumes range from adorable to grotesque, and for some, the real fear lies not in plastic masks but in concerns about the demonic or supernatural evil. In this post, I explore psychological perspectives on Halloween and related topics such as illusions, Ouija boards, witches, disgust, and death. A Christian Objection to Halloween “Setting aside a day to celebrate evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the demonic brings disdain to God. Period… Jesus has nothing in common with Satan (2 Cor. 6:14), and neither should we.” — Jamie Morgan (2016) This view reflects a long-standing tension: Halloween’s imagery can feel incompatible with Christian values. But psychology offers a different lens—one that helps explain why spooky experiences feel powerful and why people interpret them in such vari...