Showing posts with label social psychology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social psychology. Show all posts

Monday, June 10, 2024

Cult and Psychology

 

Spiritual Lights 2024 by
Geoffrey W. Sutton & Designer

In psychology, cult is an old and somewhat vague term that was used to describe a religious group having several of the following characteristics:

 High cohesiveness

 An influential and authoritarian leader

 A highly organized authoritarian structure

A high demand for group loyalty supported by coercive social power such as peer group pressure

 A set of features not commonly found in established religious groups:

Beliefs such as unique interpretations of, or based upon, an existing religious text

            Values that may be unique or rare compared to other groups

            Practices or rituals that may be unique or rare compared to other groups

Unique documents such as a new religious text

            Secretive practices or meeting places

            Hostility toward particular outgroups

An example of an analysis of religious groups and cults can be found in Galanter (2013).

 

Cult Conversion

Castaño et al. (2022) referred to cults as groups of psychological abuse (GPA) in their study of warning signs related to cult conversion based on the views of people related to group members. In their summary, they reported the following:

Analyses revealed that warning signs, vulnerability factors, and motivational elements were key drivers for understanding the process of cult recruitment and participation. Moreover, results indicated that cult conversion of an individual has measurable mental health and well-being consequences for their relatives, as family members are often left legally helpless and without access to specialized psychological support.

 

ALTERNATIVE TERMS

 

New Religious Movements (NRMs)

Psychologists and sociologists prefer the term, New Religious Movement (NRM) to identify groups having many of the characteristics and features mentioned above. In psychology, NRMs are an area of study within the Psychology of Religion, which is a subfield of Social Psychology. NRMs do not necessarily produce harmful effects. See Woody (2009) regarding the term cult and teaching about religion and spirituality.

Abusive Groups

Abusive groups is a useful term that includes both NRMs and nonreligious groups linked to harmful effects on their members. The types of harm are generally considered by assessing the wellbeing of group members in the group or after they have left the group. Abusive groups may have many of the characteristics and features previously used to describe a religious cult as described above. For an example of the harmful effects on people who former members of a group, see Antelo et al. (2021).

Violent Groups

Violent groups is a useful term that includes NRMs and nonreligious groups that perpetrate harm on members of other groups or society in general. Violent groups may include the features of abusive groups thus the harm is directed outward toward nonmembers as well as inward toward group members. For examples of research articles, see Gomez et al. (2020) and Gøtzsche-Astrup et al. (2020).

Sects versus Cults

A sect may have some features of a cult but there is an identification with a more established religious tradition. For example, sects may share some common beliefs, practices, or values in addition to their distinctive features.

Expanded use of the term cult

In the general culture, the term cult has been used to describe a variety of nonreligious groups that have many of the features of a religious cult mentioned above. For example, the groups may be primarily political, health focused, or philosophical.

 

Why Many Scientists Prefer Other Terms

1. The term cult is often used as a label to refer to groups and the people in the groups (cultists) in a negative or pejorative way. Currently, the term cult and related terms like cult leader and cultic practices are used to insult people who are strongly committed to a minority religious, quasi-religious, or other distinctive group.

2. Scientists note that some established religious groups were once considered cults. If you think about some of the newer, or even some older religious groups, you may find that several of the characteristics of a cult could apply to group members who are highly devoted to their group and believe their group offers the true path to salvation or a better nation.

3. Experts disagree on which groups should be identified as a cult, a sect, or even another religion.

4. Social concerns appear to focus on the harm done to group members or society, which requires adding adjectives like positive cults, negative cults, or benign cults, destructive cults.

Related Links

 Abuse  Spiritual or Religious Abuse

Brainwashing  Brainwashing  


 Neglect   Spiritual or Religious Neglect 

Group Polarization   Group Polarization Effect

Guilt   Psychology of Guilt 

Harassment  Spiritual or Religious Harassment  

Toxic Triad   Psychology's Toxic Triad  


RESOURCE

Find questionnaires for the measurement of religious or spiritual beliefs, practices, values, and experiences in 

Assessing Spirituality & Religiosity

Available on AMAZON      AMAZON 



References

Antelo, E., Saldaña, O., & Rodríguez-Carballeira, Á. (2021). The impact of group psychological abuse on distress: the mediating role of social functioning and resilience. European journal of psychotraumatology12(1), 1954776. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1954776

Castaño, Á., Bélanger, J. J., & Moyano, M. (2022). Cult conversion from the perspective of families: Implications for prevention and psychological intervention. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 14(1), 148–160. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000410

 Galanter, M. (2013). Charismatic groups and cults: A psychological and social analysis. In K. I. Pargament, J. J. Exline, & J. W. Jones (Eds.), APA handbook of psychology, religion, and spirituality (Vol. 1): Context, theory, and research (pp. 729–740). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14045-041

 Gómez, Á., Martínez, M., Martel, F. A., López-Rodríguez, L., Vázquez, A., Chinchilla, J., Paredes, B., Hettiarachchi, M., Hamid, N., & Swann, W. B. (2021). Why People Enter and Embrace Violent Groups. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 614657. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.614657

Gøtzsche-Astrup, O., van den Bos, K., & Hogg, M. A. (2020). Radicalization and violent extremism: Perspectives from research on group processes and intergroup relations. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 23(8), 1127-1136. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220970319

Olson, P. J. (2006). The Public Perception of "Cults" and "New Religious Movements." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45(1), 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00008.x

Woody, W. D. (2009). Use of cult in the teaching of psychology of religion and spirituality. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1(4), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016730

 

 

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   X  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation. 


 

 

 

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Naïve Realism in psychology

Happy Worldview 2023


Naïve realism is a cognitive bias characterized by believing a person's view of the world is an objective reality and that those who disagree are uninformed, irrational, or biased. 

Other names for the concept:

  direct realism
  common sense realism
  perceptual realism

Naïve realism may be considered one option within a dimension of a worldview.

Reference

Ross, L., & Ward, A. (1996). Naïve realism in everyday life: Implications for social conflict and misunderstanding. In E. S. Reed, E. Turiel, & T. Brown (Eds.), Values and knowledge (pp. 103–135). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Outgroup homogeneity effect in psychology

 

Ingroup-Outgroup 2023
Geoffrey W Sutton & Bing AI


The outgroup homogeneity effect is a cognitive bias based on the finding that people in a group view outsiders as all alike in one or more characteristics.

Examples

Members of a political party view other party members as individuals with various characteristics but view people outside the party as having the same opinions, social values, or some other characteristic.

Members of a congregation view other members as being diverse in contrast to those outside whom the members see as all alike.


Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Saturday, October 7, 2023

Pluralistic ignorance effect in psychology

What are they thinking? 2023
Geoffrey W. Sutton & Bing AI



The pluralistic ignorance effect is a psychological phenomenon characterized by almost all people in a group privately disagree with what seems to be the view of the group. Each person, or most people, in the group holds a mistaken belief that everyone else has a different belief or opinion.

The individuals in the group are ignorant of the true beliefs or opinions of the others. They have reached a false conclusion.

In cases of injustice or wrongdoing, the consequences can be harmful if people do not challenge dangerous ideas.

Here is a quote from a paper by Dale Miller (2023).



Pluralistic ignorance is a situation where the plurality (group) is ignorant of (misperceives) itself-its beliefs, perceptions, and practices. The group experiencing pluralistic ignorance is not actually ignorant in the sense of lacking knowledge of where it stands but is rather mistaken as to where it stands (O'Gorman, 1986). A more descriptive, if less catchy, term might be collective misperception (Grant, O'Neil, and Stephens, 2009; Miller & Prentice, 1994). Despite being a common citation for pluralistic ignorance, Allport's 1924 Social Psychology did not mention the term; that awaited his 1931 book with his student, Daniel Katz (Katz and Allport, 1931). What Allport did discuss in his earlier tome was the "illusion of universality of opinions." He traced this "illusion", which he later renamed pluralistic ignorance, to two facts: 1) social life depends on individuals having knowledge of their peers' habitual feelings and practices, and 2) individuals must infer this knowledge from limited and thus potentially misleading information.

Read more in Miller's article.







Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Pratfall effect in psychology

Going to Work 2023


The pratfall effect is a finding that a person's likeability can change after they make a mistake. The effect depends on the perceived level of competence of the person making a mistake.

The pratfall effect is attributed to  psychological scientists, Elliot Aronson and his team (1966).

A quote from the abstract:

"An experiment was performed which demonstrated that the attractiveness of a superior person is enhanced if he commits a clumsy blunder; the same blunder tends to decrease the attractiveness of a mediocre person. "

If the effect is reliable, it suggests people may relate better to highly competent people who make a minor mistake. It's not likely to help people who have not established their credibility.


Reference

Aronson, E., Willerman, B., & Floyd, J. (1966). The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness. Psychonomic Science, 4(6), 227–228. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342263





Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Kewpie doll effect in psychology

 


In psychology, the Kewpie doll effect refers to the effect of a child's physical appearance on caring behavior. The appearance of a long forehead and rounded face elicits caregiving.

The term Kewpie comes from the word cupid. Kewpie dolls were popular between 1910 and 1940. And cupids were characters in the American magazine, Ladies' Home Journal.

No responses were found when entering the term Kewpie in PsycINFO on 7 Oct 2023.

Related

Alley, T. R. (1981). Head shape and the perception of cuteness. Developmental Psychology, 17(5), 650–654. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.17.5.650



Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Hostile media effect in psychology

 


The hostile media effect refers to a strong cognitive bias of perceiving media coverage of a story as favoring an opposing view and presenting a negative view of the perceiver's view.

Other names for the phenomenon include hostile media phenomenon and hostile media perception.

Read more in the article by Vallone et al. (1985)



Vallone, R. P., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3), 577–585. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.577



Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Social loafing effect in psychology

Looking at Work 2023
Geoffrey W Sutton & Bing AI


The social loafing effect is a psychological concept based on the finding that a person expends less effort on a group task than when they work on a project alone.

The history of the social loafing effect attributed to Bibb Latané, dates to the work of max Ringelmann.

A quote from a meta-analytic review follows.

Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually. A meta-analysis of 78 studies demonstrates that social loafing is robust and generalizes across tasks and S populations. A large number of variables were found to moderate social loafing. (Karau & Williams, 1993)



Reference
Karau, S. J., & Williams, K. D. (1993). Social loafing: A meta-analytic review and theoretical integration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(4), 681–706. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.4.681

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Ringelmann effect in psychology



The Ringelmann effect in psychology is a finding that people in a group are less productive when the size of the group increases.

The effect is named for French agricultural engineer, Maximilien Ringelmann. 

Read more

Ingham, A. G., Levinger, G., Graves, J., & Peckham, V. (1974). The Ringelmann effect: Studies of group size and group performance. Journal of experimental social psychology, 10 (4), 371-384.

 



Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Sunday, September 24, 2023

Golem effect in psychology



The Golem effect is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy evidenced by poor performance linked to low expectations.

The effect refers to underperformance by students or workers when their teachers or supervisors have low expectations of them.


Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





False uniqueness effect in psychology

Standing Alone 2023
Geoffrey W Sutton & Bing AI

The false uniqueness effect is a cognitive bias evident when people express beliefs that they are unique compared to others. The uniqueness may be views that they have rare talents or abilities.

Cite this post

Sutton, G. W. (2023, September 24). False uniqueness effect in psychology. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2023/09/false-uniqueness-effect-in-psychology.html

A research reference

Perloff, L. S., & Brickman, P. (1982). False consensus and false uniqueness: Biases in perceptions of similarity. Academic Psychology Bulletin, 4(3), 475–494.



Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.





Florence Nightingale Effect in psychology




The Florence Nightingale Effect refers to findings that some caregivers experience attraction to their patients.


Cite this post

Sutton, G. W. (2023, September 24). Florence nightingale effect in psychology. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2023/09/florence-nightingale-effect-in.html


A reference for the Florence Nightingale Effect in the workplace

Ferris, L. J., Jetten, J., Johnstone, M., Girdham, E., Parsell, C., & Walter, Z. C. (2016). The Florence Nightingale effect: Organizational identification explains the peculiar link between others’ suffering and workplace functioning in the homelessness sector. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 16. 



Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.