Political psychology

Political psychology is an interdisciplinary field that bridges the gap between psychology and political science. It focuses on understanding the psychological underpinnings of political behavior, attitudes, and processes. Researchers in this field examine how individual and collective psychological factors influence political beliefs, decisions, and actions.Political orientation refers to an individual's beliefs, values, and attitudes about government, politics, and the role of the state. 

Key areas of study within political psychology include:

Political Attitudes and Ideologies: Exploring how people form, maintain, and change their political beliefs and ideologies. This includes examining the cognitive and emotional processes behind these attitudes.

Political Behavior: Investigating why individuals engage in political activities such as voting, protesting, or running for office. This area looks at both individual motivations and broader social influences.

Leadership and Personality: Analyzing the personality traits, cognitive styles, and leadership behaviors of political figures. This research aims to understand how leaders' psychological profiles affect their decision-making and governance.

Group Dynamics and Identity: Examining how group identities, social norms, and intergroup relations shape political behavior and attitudes. This includes studies on nationalism, partisanship, and political polarization.

Media and Political Communication: Investigating the role of media in shaping public opinion and political behavior. This includes the psychological effects of media exposure, propaganda, and political messaging.

Conflict and Cooperation: Exploring the psychological factors that lead to political conflict, aggression, and violence, as well as those that promote peace and cooperation. This area often involves studying negotiation, diplomacy, and reconciliation processes.

Political Socialization: Understanding how individuals acquire political beliefs and behaviors throughout their lives. This includes the influence of family, education, peers, and broader cultural contexts.

Political Orientations

Here are some common examples of political orientations:

1. Conservatism: Emphasizes tradition, social stability, and maintaining established institutions. Conservatives often advocate for limited government intervention in the economy, a strong national defense, and the preservation of cultural and religious values.

2. Liberalism: Advocates for individual rights, equality, and social progress. Liberals typically support government intervention to address social and economic inequalities, promote civil liberties, and protect the environment.

3. Libertarianism: Emphasizes individual freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government intervention in both economic and social matters. Libertarians advocate for minimal state involvement in people's lives and support free-market principles.

4. Socialism: Advocates for social ownership and democratic control of the means of production. Socialists support policies that aim to reduce economic inequalities, provide universal healthcare, and ensure social welfare programs for all citizens.

5. Progressivism: Focuses on social reform and addressing systemic inequalities. Progressives advocate for policies that promote social justice, environmental sustainability, and government intervention to address issues such as income inequality and corporate power.

6. Nationalism: Emphasizes the interests and culture of one's nation, often advocating for strong national sovereignty, cultural identity, and sometimes, restrictive immigration policies. Nationalists prioritize the welfare of their country and its citizens above international considerations.

7. Communism: Advocates for a classless, stateless society where the means of production are owned collectively. Communists support the abolition of private property and the establishment of a society based on common ownership and equal distribution of resources.

Related Posts

Orientations in Psychology

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. 

Cultural Christian a Psychology of Religion Concept

A Church Wedding 2025
AI image by Geoffrey W. Sutton and Artspace. ai

The term cultural Christian refers to individuals who identify with Christianity primarily due to their cultural background, upbringing, or societal norms, rather than through a strong personal faith in God, active participation in Christian practices, and living according to the teachings of Jesus. These individuals may celebrate Christian holidays, participate in rituals, and hold Christian values.

In this post:

Definition

Concept feature list

Concept assessment

References

Cite this post

Sutton, G. W. (2025, January 28). Cultural Christian: A psychology of religion concept. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2025/01/cultural-christian-psychology-of.html

Concept Use: Cultural Christian may be used in the psychology of religion and spirituality, which is a subfield of social psychology.

There is no standard definition of the concept, cultural Christian. I offer the following suggestion.

*****

Features of the Concept Cultural Christian

The following positive features characterize a cultural Christian:

Celebrates some Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter

Participates in some Christian practices such as infant baptism, a church wedding, a church funeral

Participates in some Christian ministries, which may include occasional attendance at Christian services, volunteering in a Christian ministry, performing Christian music

Demonstrates a commitment to several Christian values such as forgiveness, peacemaking, social justice

The following features are absent:

Expresses strong belief in Christianity’s supernatural realm

Expresses strong belief in Christianity’s core theological claims

Expresses a strong commitment to a branch of Christianity (e.g., Catholic, Protestant denomination) or a recognized grouping (e, g., evangelical, progressive).

Does not identify with another religion or expression of spirituality

Does not identify as nonreligious, none, atheist, or agnostic

Cultural Christian: A Qualitative Questionnaire

The following questions may be useful in interviews and research focused on Christian types. The answers may be categorized in terms of the features noted above to distinguish people are more like a cultural Christian than a committed follower.

***

What Christian holidays do you celebrate?

   Briefly, how do you celebrate those holidays? For example, do you attend church?

What Christian ministries do you participate in? For example, do you sing or play an instrument in a church or serve as a volunteer in a church ministry?

What Christian practices are an important part of your life? For example, prayer, bible reading, or regular church attendance.

What Christian moral values are important to you? For example, what are your beliefs about the following moral issues Christian leaders preach about?

   Abortion

  Contraception

  Divorce and remarriage

  Sexual relationships outside marriage

  Same-sex relationships and marriage

  

What are your views about Christian virtues such as the following?

  Demonstrating compassion for the poor

  Forgiving those who hurt you

  Expressing gratitude

  Expressing generosity

 Living a humble life

What are your views about Christian doctrines or beliefs? Following are a few examples:

  Jesus is the Son of God.

  God is a triune being referred to as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

  Jesus was born to Mary who was a virgin.

  People who do not accept Jesus as their personal savior will spend the afterlife in hell.

  God heals some people in response to prayer without any human interventions.

  Are there any other beliefs that are highly important to you?

***

Resources

Available on AMAZON

GOOGLE eBOOK

SAMPLE ON ResearchGate

Related Quantitative Measures

Christian Beliefs Index https://statistics.suttong.com/2017/08/christian-beliefs-index-measuring.html

Christian Sociomoral Values Index https://statistics.suttong.com/2022/08/christian-sociomoral-values-index.html

Pentecostal, Charismatic Spirituality scales https://statistics.suttong.com/2018/05/measuring-pentecostal-charismatic.html

References

Davies, M. (2024, August 21). The rise of cultural Christianity: Why religion is thriving in a non-believing age. The New Statesman. Retrieved from https://www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/2024/08/the-rise-of-cultural-christianity

Frankiel, T. (2003). The cross-cultural study of Christianity: An historian's view. Religion, 33(2), 123-137.

Gaskill, A. L. (n.d.). Are you a cultural Christian? Patheos. Retrieved 28 January 2025 from https://www.patheos.com/answers/are-you-a-cultural-christian

Greene, T. M. (1953). Christianity, culture, and academic integrity. Journal of the History of Ideas, 14(3), 291-306.

Sutton, G. W. (2025, January 28). Cultural Christian: A psychology of religion concept. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2025/01/cultural-christian-psychology-of.html

Williams, N. (2020). Cultural Christians in the Early Church: A Historical and Practical Introduction to Christians in the Graeco-Roman World. Zondervan Academic.

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 psychotraumatology, 12(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. 

 

 

 

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.

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.

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