Just following orders? The rhetorical invocation of ‘obedience’ in Stanley Milgram's post‐experiment interviews

Recent research has begun to challenge the received idea that Milgram's ‘obedience’ experiments are demonstrations of obedience as typically understood (i.e., as social influence elicited in response to direct orders). One key warrant for explaining the studies in terms of obedience has been the post‐experiment interviews conducted with participants. The present study uses data from archived audio recordings of these interviews to highlight the extent to which participants used rhetorical strategies emphasising obedience when pressed by the interviewer to account for their behaviour. Previous research that has used these accounts as reports of underlying processes misses the extent to which they performed particular social actions in the context of their production. It is concluded that the standard social psychological version of ‘obedience’ is present in the experiments after all, but in a rather different way than is typically assumed—rather than an empirical finding, obedience is a participants' resource.     

Selflessness as a Foundation of Spiritual Transcendence: Perspectives From the Neurosciences and Religious Studies

Although of increasing scientific interest, the neurologic foundations of spiritual experiences remain ambiguous due to the neurological complexity of such experiences and the lack of a clear taxonomy of “spiritual experiences.” A previously proposed preliminary neuropsychological model of spirituality (Johnstone & Glass, 2008) suggests that decreased self-orientation (or increased selflessness), associated with reduced right hemisphere/right parietal lobe (RH/RPL) functioning, serves as a neuropsychological foundation of spiritual transcendence (defined as the ability to emotionally and cognitively connect with higher powers beyond the self or experience cosmic unity). This model was based on research that indicates that transcendent spiritual experiences are related to reduced activation of portions of the RH/RPL during religious rituals (e.g., Buddhist meditation, Christian prayer), as well as research that indicates that individuals with RH/RPL dysfunction report increased transcendence. This model has been supported by research with other populations (e.g., brain injury, epilepsy, tumor) and technologies (e.g., repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation), although limitations in the model persist. The current article addresses such weaknesses by demonstrating the existence of “spiritual transcendence” as a psychometrically valid construct, identifying specific self-orientation processes (e.g., physical self, mental self, autobiographical self) that may serve as a foundation for transcendence, and explaining how transcendent experiences can involve both a decreased and enhanced sense of the self. To further support the model, citations from the texts of multiple faith traditions are offered to illustrate the importance of selflessness in transcendent experiences across diverse religions. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are offered.     

The Deep Bodily Roots of Emotion

This article explores emotions and their relationship to “somatic responses”, i.e., one’s automatic responses to sensations of pain, cold, warmth, sudden intensity. To this end, it undertakes a Husserlian phenomenological analysis of the first-hand experience of eight basic emotions, briefly exploring their essential aspects: their holistic nature, their identifying dynamic transformation of the lived body, their two-layered intentionality, their involuntary initiation and voluntary espousal. The fact that the involuntary tensional shifts initiating emotions are irreplicatable voluntarily is taken to show that all emotions have an innate core, a conclusion corroborated by their strong similarities to somatic responses in dynamics, hedonic tone, and topology. The fact that emotions may be culturally reworked is shown to be explicable in terms of their complex nature: their dependence on belief, their voluntary espousal, and their ready social transmittability. Finally, it is argued that emotions may plausibly be deemed the evolutionary descendants of somatic responses.     

A Meta-Analysis of Universal School-Based Prevention Programs for Anxiety and Depression in Children

Anxiety and depression are among the most common mental health issues experienced in childhood. Implementing school-based prevention programs during childhood, rather than adolescence, is thought to provide better mental health outcomes. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate the efficacy of universal school-based prevention programs that target both anxiety and depression in children (aged 13 years or below), and examine three moderators (i.e., program type, primary target of program, and number of sessions) on prevention effects. PsycINFO, PubMED, and Google Scholar were systematically searched for relevant articles published up to and including January 2018. Fourteen randomised controlled trials, consisting of 5970 children, met eligibility criteria. Prevention programs led to significantly fewer depressive symptoms at post-program (g?=?0.172) and at long-term follow-up periods (g?=?0.180), but not at short-term follow-up. Programs were not found to prevent anxiety symptoms across any time point. Considerable heterogeneity was observed for all effects. Program type and length were found to moderate the relationship between prevention program and outcomes. Prevention programs were effective in preventing depressive symptoms at post-program and long-term follow-up, while no significant preventative effect on anxiety symptoms was observed. The FRIENDS Program and programs which contained a greater number of sessions showed beneficial effects on anxiety and depressive symptoms. Universal programs aimed at preventing both anxiety and depression in children are limited. Future research should investigate the long-term evaluation of school-based prevention programs for anxiety and depression in children.     

Affect as a foundational psychological process for spirituality and empathy

There is growing interest in understanding the manner by which spiritual experiences, religious beliefs and behaviours, and prosocial traits (e.g., empathy, altruism) are related. Research has recently focused on determining those psychological constructs (e.g., affective, behavioural, cognitive) that are common to these related constructs, although the specific relationships remain unclear. The current study evaluated relationships among spiritual experiences and affective and cognitive dimensions of empathy in 98 participants with heterogeneous health conditions. Results indicate that spirituality is significantly related to affective empathy, but not cognitive empathy. These findings suggest that individuals’ propensity to be both spiritual and empathetic is primarily related to a greater disposition towards emotional connection with others (i.e., whether with the divine or other people). Research and practical implications are discussed.