Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

In Christian texts, people may be possessed by demons. When possessed they act in ways that scare others and cause harm. The demons speak to other humans. And in response to Jesus Christ, or the apostles, the demons may be “cast out” of a person. In contemporary Christianity, the “casting out” has been known as deliverance or exorcism. Some groups believe that a place may be possessed by evil spirits thus, deliverance or exorcism may apply to both people and places. In general, protestant Christians use the term deliverance and Catholics use the term exorcism and follow a particular process (a rite) of exorcism. The term possessionists has been used to refer to people who believe in the phenomenon of people possessed by evil spirits even if they are not possessed ( Giordan & Possamai, 2016 ). About Devils and Demons A 2016 Gallup poll report indicated that 89% of Americans believe in God, but this is lowered by 10% if given the option that they are not s...

In  Living Well   chapter 7, I wrote about the importance of finding rest. Rest is more than sleep, but sleep is clearly a part of feeling well-rested and new research links sleep to brain processes important to thinking. According to the National Sleep Foundation , recommendations for sleep vary with age. For example, teens need 8-10 hours and older adults need 7-8 hours. But, not all sleep is quality sleep. A research summary in Scientific American  led me to the 11 October 2019 article in Science by Cirelli and Tononi. Here's a quote: Sleep is essential for the brain: Learning and memory benefit from sleep, whereas sleep loss causes cognitive impairment that can only be reversed by sleep (1, 2). The pressure for sleep increases with time spent awake, and sleep need also depends on the richness of the waking experience and the amount of learning (1, 3).  As Emily Willingham summarized in the Scientific American article, the link between sleep and brain f...

The problem with race and words related to race is the lack of a precise meaning and the attachment of strong emotions to certain terms like racist. We can turn to dictionary definitions to find out how people generally use the words, but there will still be local applications that are far from what academics mean. Racist and racism mean different things, but it is certainly an insult in a democracy. Race and Links to the past Before the 20 th century, scientists thought there were different races of human beings. People used to believe humans could be identified by race based on physical characteristics and people believed that traits like personality, intelligence, and morality were the result of their race. The problem is, it is difficult to make a case for different races of human beings. Surface differences like shapes of facial features and skin color are not scientifically linked to traits like personality, intelligence, and so forth. Besides, it is comm...

Prayers and thoughts have taken a hit lately.  In the wake of mass shootings in the US, I see more and more social media posts decrying the use of "prayers and thoughts" as if it were a meaningless phrase that substitutes for inaction. Is there any evidence that prayer is helpful?   That's hard to say unless you define what you mean by helpful. Clearly, whatever prayers have been offered, shooters continue to kill and injure many in the US and elsewhere.  Believers in the effectiveness of prayer won't stop praying. People do report feeling better after praying. And believers who are the recipient of such messages often take comfort in knowing they are supported in prayer. For one thing, it's a reminder they are not alone. Does prayer lead to inaction?   Maybe. A study by Tyler Greenway, Sarah Schnitker, and Abigail Shepherd examined the relationship between praying and generosity. Here's a quote from their summary ( 2017 ). Christian partici...

Will you get your fair share of the $25 billion Americans spend on mother's day this year? Talk about inflation, the expected 2019 increase is expected to be up 8% over last year. Who got even a 4% raise? And our government says inflation is under control! You might guess it's a big week for flower sales. 1-800-Flowers.com takes in over $71,000,000 in Mother's Day sales! My mother complained about the quality when I ordered flowers online--I don't recall what company I used. She was happier when I got her a plant from a local discount retailer. Did you plan ahead for a seat at her favorite restaurant? The NRA expects 87,000,000 people to eat at a restaurant for Mother's Day (NRA = National Restaurant Association, I thought I should clear that up). According to Zillow, nearly 22% of Americans age 23-27 still live with their mothers. I wonder how that's working out. What about women without children? Hallmark hasn't left them out. At least if the...

Testimonies used to be popular in conservative Christian churches several decades ago. People stood and retold the story of their conversion from sin to faith. Pentecostals told stories of healing. Some told of their conversion from a different faith to their current Christian faith. Stories of deconversion often involve conversion and follow a familiar narrative consisting of a person's struggle with their old faith, doubt and possible loss of faith, grief over the loss of faith and a faith family, and for some, joy at their new found faith. Deconversion is the term behavioral scientists use when studying how a person's conversion story unravels. That is, the process of leaving a faith group.  Some leave their faith and become a none —a person of no faith, or no particular faith. Others leave one faith for another faith. (Read more about deconversion, 2017 .) Rachel Held Evans has a deconversion-conversion story. She’s the girl from monkey town whose testimony re...

Amidst the many lessons that clergy will share between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, are timeless stories of human nature. The gospel narratives tell the story of Jesus' purpose driven death, but we also see the role of the crowds and societal leaders in killing Jesus, the author of the Christian faith. Whipping up the Crowd On Palm Sunday, a crowd in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as their king. The crowds were enthusiastic. On Good Friday, a crowd welcomes a political revolutionary (Barabbas) and calls for the death of Jesus. According to Mark , the religious leaders “stirred up the crowd.” The governor, Pilate, recognized what was happening and bowed to the demands of the crowd’s request, “crucify him.” The crowd secured the death penalty and the political rulers whipped and mocked the “King of the Jews.” Whipping People Effective leaders know the power of crowds to effect change. Jesus was a clear and present danger to the way of life for the religious le...