Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

    JOY  & HAPPINESS       Joy to the World is a powerful anthem. Bells ring. Choirs sing. And people gather round trees, open presents, and gorge on meats and sweets. Joy seems to abound this time of year. Even news media seem keen on adding a dollop of good  news to their daily buffet of badness. Of course, the Christmas story is full of good news. Joy is an advent theme. In the Christmas story, Joy comes as a child. We know that joy. I recall the ultrasound picture of my first granddaughter. Marvelous. A happy moment for all. And of course you naturally want to celebrate by giving presents. So the joy spreads from inside to others. Especially the children who can barely wait to peak beneath the tree and ornament decorated swaddling paper wrapped lovingly around a precious gift. JOY has an effect. Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson has looked at the effects of positive emotions like joy and negative emotions like fe...

  I returned to work one day and discovered my office had been moved. Well, I really didn’t have an office anymore. I asked a friend, "what happened?" She mentioned something about the new boss. I did not have plans to find different employment so I put up with what turned out to be a loss of social status and privileges, which I had the year before. No one complained about my work. This was one example of a location in the United States when I was not privileged for being a white man.  White men can point to examples of discrimination. Perhaps that's what makes it hard to deal with generalizations about race and privilege. As I read the a  WP story  of a man who lost his teaching job allegedly because he taught his students that white privilege was a fact and that conservatives are acting to censor what teachers can say about race, I began to think about the lack of nuance in the story. For the most part, I have not experienced discrimination based on my ethnici...

  Belgium confirms case of new,  heavily mutated  Covid variant Dow Drops 900 Points…   The photographer captures the face of fear on the CNBC website Friday (26 Nov 2021). The loss of value in savings and investments is more powerful than an equal value of an increase. People fear losses of all kinds. The trigger of fear is the new virus variant, which can trigger fear of death and severe illness—especially for those who have lost a loved one or struggled through a hospitalization or even a tough bout at home. Fear is a powerful motivator to take action—self-defense—hide, avoid threats, seek safety. Action in financial markets isn’t really about the value of a company or business but about human nature and that powerful emotion of fear, which drives action. Fear also motivates people to avoid vaccines. Of course fear is not the only reason people have avoided the vaccines—skepticism and distrust are other reasons. Seeking safety is a good thing wh...

  Photo: Mr Brown upper left; Rev Kenyon lower right We had Sunday dinner in the kitchen by the window. My wife asked me about people in my life. Soon we began sharing stories of those people we admired or respected. Somehow, we went back to our childhood—perhaps it was the holidays. We both grew up in very conservative churches with strict behavioral codes but we had fond memories of some people who made life special and created good memories. When I was 13, we moved to Millville NJ. I turned 14 in the summer and entered 9th grade. So, it was a new community with a new school, new neighbors, and a new church. If you moved to new settings, you know the anxiety it can bring. I’m thankful for the things kind adults did. In those days, adults didn’t have first names. My dad wasn’t a fisherman but I learned to enjoy fishing when two different Millville men took me fishing in the Delaware Bay. Thanks Mr. Montgomery (Pictured below) and Mr. Sharp. Mr. & Mrs. Montgomery At that ti...

  Can expressing thanks really make a difference in your life? A classic and oft cited study suggests the act of writing about things we are thankful or grateful for is good for us. Here’s a summary of what Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough found in a sample of 192 college students— mostly women (147). The Research Method The students were divided into three experimental groups at the beginning of a quarter. The students completed 10 weekly reports. The three groups: 1. Gratitude . They were asked to think about last week and write down 5 things that they were grateful or thankful for. 2. Hassles . The researchers explained that hassles are things that are irritating. They were to think about what happened today and list up to 5 hassles. 3. Events . The students were asked to think about the past week and write 5 events that impacted them. How the researchers measured change in the participants—what the participants did. 1. They rated their feelings using 3...

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...