Parental perception and perceived locus of control in psychopathology

The intrusion of anxiety and disruption of ego functions seen in the more serious forms of psychopathology would seem incompatible with maintenance of an unimpaired sense of personal identity. The present study took the position that the psychiatric patient's fragile or poorly developed sense of his own identity would be reflected (a) in deficient or tenuous identifications with parental norms and values and (b) in the perception of less parental supportiveness and warmth, relative to nonpsychiatric patients, and (c) would lead the individual to perceive reinforcement as contingent primarily upon some external locus of control, rather than upon his own relatively enduring personal characteristics Support was obtained for (b) and (c), above, but not for (a).     

Size constancy in monkeys with inferotemporal lesions

In a study of size constancy, monkeys were trained with extended practice to choose the larger of two projected stimulus discs independently of distance. When surgical brain lesions were made following pre-operative training, it was found that posterior parietal lesions caused no deficit on this task while inferotemporal lesions caused a severe breakdown from which three out of four animals showed almost no recovery. Mathematical analysis showed that the pattern of performance after inferotemporal lesions could be described as due to a tendency to oscillate between a “correct” and two “incorrect strategies” and that this tendency was also apparent to at least some extent in the unoperated animals. It is argued that the two incorrect strategies might have resulted from a disturbance of size constancy, such that the animal became unable to use both retinal size and distance information in computing physical size and instead used either retinal size or distance information alone. Parallels are drawn between such an hypothetical perceptual disorder and certain clinical disturbances in man.     

Ego crisis with recovery

Summary A case is reported in which the patient felt the frightening presence of God and had an extraordinary subjective time-sense. This patient illustrates the border between psychiatry and religion. The existentialist psychology is applied for understanding and the indication for consultation with clergy is considered.     

Countermovement Mobilization and State Raids on Minority Religious Communities

An ongoing study of government raids on minority religious communities in 19 Western‐style democracies over seven‐plus decades shows a dramatic increase in raids beginning in the 1990s. Two distinct and related patterns are found to explain this escalation in frequency. Both patterns involved countermovement mobilization by coalitions of oppositional groups that effectively framed new or nontraditional religious movements (NRMs) as threats to their own members and the larger society, thereby prompting state actions of social control. The patterns are distinguished by a new relationship of countermovement actors to the state. In one pattern, we found the development of a transnational network forging a common collective action frame, movement ideology, and organizational strategy. Seizing political opportunities in the wake of increasing concerns regarding child endangerment, countermovement actors targeted NRMs as harbingers of child abuse and pressed authorities to take action. In the second pattern, we found a concentration of raids in one country (France). Here, the oppositional networks were not simply third‐party interest groups but were fully integrated into the state apparatus, hence awarded power and given extraordinary influence. Consequently, state raids increased exponentially. The study also provides five years of new data from a previous report examining their impact on the larger set of findings and identifying new trends.     

Co-Sleeping among School-Aged Anxious and Non-Anxious Children: Associations with Sleep Variability and Timing

Little is known about the co-sleeping behaviors of school-aged children, particularly among anxious youth who commonly present for the treatment of sleep problems. The current study examined the occurrence of co-sleeping in both healthy and clinically anxious children and its associated sleep patterns. A total of 113 children (ages 6–12), 75 with primary generalized anxiety disorder and 38 healthy controls, participated along with their primary caregiver. Families completed structured diagnostic assessments, and parents reported on their child’s co-sleeping behaviors and anxiety severity. Children provided reports of anxiety severity and completed one week of wrist-based actigraphy to assess objective sleep patterns. A significantly greater proportion of anxious youth compared to healthy children co-slept, and greater anxiety severity was related to more frequent co-sleeping. Co-sleeping in anxious youth was associated with a delay in sleep timing and with greater sleep variability (i.e., more variable nightly sleep duration). All analyses controlled for child age, race/ethnicity, family income, and parental marital status. Co-sleeping is highly common in anxious school-aged children, with more than 1 in 3 found to co-sleep at least sometimes (2–4 times a week). Co-sleeping was even more common for youth with greater anxiety severity. Increased dependence on others to initiate and maintain sleep may contribute to poorer sleep in this population via shifted schedules and more variable sleep patterns.     

Brexit or Bremain? A person and social analysis of voting decisions in the EU referendum

The period following UK's European Union referendum in 2016 foreshadows significant social and political change in the UK. The current research draws on social psychological theories to empirically examine the drivers of voting decisions during the referendum. We report the results of a prospective study using structural equation modelling with data (N = 244) collected just before, and self‐reported voting behaviour immediately following (N = 197), the European Union referendum. We employ a person and social approach to examine the additive roles of worldview, conservatism, social identity, and intergroup threat as predictors of voting intentions and behaviour. Results showed that person factors (worldview and conservatism) predicted voting intentions through social factors (European identity and realistic threat) and that intentions predicted behaviour. The results highlight the importance of addressing threat‐based intergroup rhetoric and the potential of common in‐group identity to mitigate psychological threat.