Phenomenology of the trickster archetype,U.S. electoral politics and the Black Lives Matter movement

This paper examines the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in cultural, historical and relational contexts at the intersection of the U.S. Civil Rights movement, U.S. Civil Rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and reforms thereto in the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision of Shelby County v Holder, 570 U.S.529 (2013). The intergenerational relations between the BLM movement and these ongoing movements for civil and human rights is underscored. In the wake of protests about the sadistic murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, by a Caucasian police officer, the BLM movement has been mischaracterized as an affront to law and order by the Trump-led U.S. administration. The mischaracterization was a re-election campaign effort designed to ignite ‘white fear’, ‘white rage’ and to defend police brutality and systemic racism. Analytical psychology and the phenomenology of the trickster archetype, as amplified from the African-centric perspective in the Yoruba deity Esu-Elegba, are employed to interrogate partisan obstructionist behaviours that assault multicultural democracy in both contemporary U.S. electoral politics and the political economy. The paper concludes with a brief note on the social activism of Fair Fight Georgia and the integration of its agenda into the BLM movement.     

Anxiety between personality and cognition: The gray zone

The aim of the study was to explore relations between Gray’s revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST) systems (Behavior Inhibition, Behavior Activation and Fight/Flight/Freeze System – BIS, BAS and FFFS) and two cognitive vulnerabilities to anxiety disorders (Intolerance of Uncertainty – IU and Anxiety Sensitivity – AS). The sample comprised 223 participants. The results suggested that BIS was a significant predictor of all components of the anxiety vulnerability measures. However, Freeze and Flight had also significant contributions, particularly in explaining vulnerabilities to physical and social threats as well as inhibitory behaviours while facing uncertainty. The findings provide insights into the nature of AS and IU which is in accordance with the rRST.     

Jackson-5 scales of revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST) and their application to dysfunctional real world outcomes

Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST) is a neurobiological theory of personality which has many differences compared to the original version. This highlights the need for measurement scales to reflect the revised theory. Study 1 uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to develop and test new scales (the ‘Jackson-5’) which are shown to be internally reliable, have scale inter-relationships matching theory, and to have desirable construct validity properties. Study 2 compares r-RST with original RST in the prediction of delinquency and psychopathy in students. Results suggest the new scales capture the main properties of r-RST and indicate that r-RST provides a substantially different explanation of the personality basis of dysfunctional behavior compared to original RST.