Synthesis:Psychology

Human psychology is rich and complex. The present page presents some of its aspects that seem of particular relevance for various purposes of the EmergeWiki.

Attachment style

Cherniak (2022) proposes to explore the relationship between attachment-styles and the phenomenology, mechanisms and outcomes of psychedelic experiences. According to Attachment Theorist Bowlby, Internal Working Models (IWMs) of Self and Others developed through relationship with early caregivers will determine and crystallize into attachment styles or orientations, including two essential dimensions: attachment anxiety (linked to image of self as lovable) and attachment-related avoidance (see summary in Cherniak, 2022).

However it may well be that (1) these two dimensions can vary quite a bit through an individual's life, and (2) depend on factors which are far more diverse than just the relationship with primary caregivers (for instance, bad personal circumstances, e.g. a depressive episode or lack of emotional skill due to lack of cultural know how about this) mixed with strong identification, can lead to lots of shame about one's self and lead to attachment avoidance and anxiety… which may have nothing to do with how the person was treated by their parents.

Others have argued that 6 months to 2 years of age is also not taking into account the importance of peri-natal experiences in the development of attachment etc.

Further, attachment-style, on top of possibly changing radically over time, can also vary according to things such as bilinguality. Bi-cultural individuals sometime report different attachment styles and emotional worlds according to the language and cultural world of respective parents.

There are also more deeply cultural differences in attachment styles. Some cultures are more weary in relationships in general. So there are cultural determinants here as well.

Similarly, ecological factors can play a strong role. Someone who had great caregivers but finds themselves in a situation of chronic deprivation of any need, may become relationally extremely anxious/avoidant, etc. Is that an attachment style?

Furthermore, what is more determinant in the process: the early experiences with caregivers shaping negative IWM of self and others and then determining fixed attachment styles ? Or, the IWM themselves ? Can someone who had good early experiences still develop negative IWM for other reasons ? Many practices involve working on representations of self and others as a way to happiness and well-being. For instance, Daniel P. Brown has written a book for "comprehensive treatment of attachment problems in adults" based on the perfect parent protocol and a re-shaping of self and other representations which seems very functional. This would suggest that the IWMs themselves are more important, to a certain degree.

Fluidity/flexibility of consciousness

A major outcome of meditation, with e.g. Francisco Varela describing buddhist meditation as "the fixed mind becoming unfixed", fluidity of consciousness is one of the main goals and mechanisms of psychotherapies according to Drs. Vion-Dury and Mougin (2016), according to whom “all therapies […] are therapeutic because they generate particular modalizations of consciousness, which could be said to open up a new way for consciousness to function […] it seems possible to subsume all psychotherapies under the general concept of therapies that regulate the modalizations of consciousness”. The Questionnaire for the Evaluation of the Fluidity of Consciousness (QEFC) involves 4 factors: Availability to self and environment, Letting go, Relative passivity in the face of the world, Acceptance of change. This might be correlated with some physiological markers of "cognitive health" such as default-mode network functional connectivity and a person's ability to fluidly switch between different modes of processing —highlighted by anti-correlated functional connectivity.

Imagination

There is a link between «vividness of mental imagery and transe ability», with fantasy proneness and creativity possibly representing predisposing factors for "altered-states of consciousness", but also between daydreaming, and particularly “maladaptive daydreaming”, childhood adversities, and dissociative disorders. This is very relevant in the case of meditation or psychedelic-induced depersonalization/derealization or dissociation, possession-like phenomena in various emergent traditions, etc. Note that maladaptive daydreaming is opposed to the QEFC characteristics of “availability to self and environment” and “letting go”, suggesting such individuals have low levels of “fluidity of consciousness” and instead live in a rigid mode seemingly linked with some dysfunction.

Personality, character, dispositions

One should be careful not to be excessively individualistic, rigid, categorical, and stereotypical, i.e., they do not take into account social, familial, developmental, emotional context and the possibility of change depending on these things, or various practices, etc. A person may be very sensitive/nervous in a certain context and not at all in others.

Emmons and Paloutzian (2003) note that "spiritually-transformative experiences" have little effect on core traits like the Big 5, but can profoundly transform other mid-level aspects of personality like "goals, attitudes, feelings, behaviors". Whether this is true of longer term cultivation is an open question. It may be that these traits can change more deeply with repeated cultivation. In any case, this observation echoes, on the psychological level, the idea that emergent practices are unlikely to alter deep aspects of physiology like composition of organs or bone structure.

Developmentally generative or disruptive dispositions

According to Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2007), “throughout the life course, human development takes place through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopsychological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate external environment [the authors call this “proximal processes”]. To be effective, the interaction must occur on a fairly regular basis over extended periods of time”. In other words, development results from the repetition and complexification of a given activity.

This is an important topic for us, since it underscores how long-term cultivation or training, such as meditative practices, contemplation, or prayer, which are practiced regularly over a long time in various practice schools and paths, holds higher developmental possibilities and perhaps involves different causalities compared with singular episodes or transient experiences—as was already noted by William James in Varieties of Religious Experiences.

According to Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2007), certain "predispositions [to action]" are "shapers of development", while others disrupt potential for development. General predispositions considered as generative of development, because they lead one to engage in activities that lead to repeated and learning include (1) curiosity, (2) a tendency to initiate and engage in activity alone or with others, and (3) readiness to defer immediate gratification to pursue long term goals.

By contrast, generally disruptive predispositions include traits that lead to (1) difficulty controlling emotions and behaviors, like impulsiveness, explosiveness, distractibility, inability to defer gratification, and ready resort to aggression and violence (pole 1), and (2) a tendency to withdraw or avoid activity, like characters like apathy, inattentiveness, unresponsiveness, lack of interest in surroundings, feeling insecure (pole 2). Although there is an innate component, and individuals will be more or less fortunate with what make up they start with, these qualities can certainly also be cultivated or managed through various approaches and practices.

It should be noted that whether a disposition is considered disruptive or generative in part depends on what is being developed (i.e., a given disposition may hinder the development of some skills seen as desirable, but may be helpful to develop other capacities also seen as desirable).

Furthermore, while the question of which skills and qualities are seen as desirable or not is culturally-relative to a significant degree, there may be core common themes. For example Buddhism describes lists of hindrances seen as obstacles to the cultivation of desirable mind states and spiritual development in general, which are ill will, greed, sloth, restlessness and worry, doubt. These largely intersect with the characters described above, and exploring the world's great ethical and moral systems, we would likely find many similarities with it as well.

Virtues and Strengths

Common virtues in the world's religions

Emmons and Palutzian (2003) underscore that the main R/S traditions (the Abrahamic traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and more) all value dispositions such as forgiveness, love, hope, humility, gratitude, self-control, and wisdom; the opposites of these virtues or strengths, vices or weaknesses, being grudginess, hate, despair, arrogance, ingratitude, lack of self-control, and foolishness. They can also be seen as values.

These dispositions are widely recognized as conducive to inner strength, resilience, physical and psychological well-being, prosociality, and are protective from depression and other challenging mental states. While in large part predispositions, these qualities can be voluntarily developed by a person, cultivated, and belonging to a group which collectively seeks to abide by such principles can be a huge help in this.

Love

Love is endlessly praised as the most fundamental source of individual and collective wellbeing and goodness.

For instance, the essential ethical principle of the new-testament and thus of Christianity, the Great Commandment, is to love. The most ancient gospel, that of Mark, 12, 29–31, where Jesus answers the question "What is the most important commandment?", actually starts with the Sh'ma, a foundational Hebrew prayer: ²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

The other Gospels as well as other new-testament sections reiterate this, with John, 15:12: "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you" and again, 17: "This is my command: Love each other." Corinthians, 1:13: "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing [...]¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Song of songs, 8:6­–7:

"Place me like a seal over your heart,

   like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death,

   its ardor unyielding as the grave.

It burns like blazing fire,

   like a mighty flame.

⁷ Many waters cannot quench love;

   rivers cannot sweep it away."

Buddhism also gives immense praise to the virtue of Love: "There is no greater virtue than practicing love everyday". Dhammapada 1:5: " Hatred is never ceased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law." The Itivuttaka, 27, states that "In all the grounds for making worldly merit, none are worth a sixteenth part of the heart’s release by love. Surpassing them, the heart’s release by love shines and glows and radiates."

Some of the acquired benefits are cited by Nāgārjuna, in the Mahaprajñaparamita shastra (as quoted by Thich Nhat Hahn, 2007): "Practicing the mind of immeasurable love puts an end to anger in the hearts of living beings. Practicing the mind of immeasurable compassion puts an end to sorrow and torment in the hearts of living beings. Practicing the mind of immeasurable joy puts an end to sadness and grief in the hearts of living beings. Practicing the spirit of immeasurable equanimity puts an end to hatred, division and attachment in the hearts of living beings."

These four — loving kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity — are the four "immeasurables" and are often considered as indispensible aspects of "love" in Buddhism. In AN 11:16 we find that one who practices love sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no nightmares, is dear to human beings, dear to non-human beings, protected, gains concentration quickly, has a bright complexion, and... dies unconfused (among other more culturally specific benefits).

Practical ways to develop the immeasurables, Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity, can be found in many good modern sources such as Thich Nhat Hahn's excellent Teachings on love. Traditional practical instructions can also be found in the discourse on love SN 1:8.

Virtue, inner strength and social wellbeing

It is interesting to note that these dispositions and virtues influence and are influenced by directive and paradigmatic beliefs, can alter perceptions and emotions, and influence social behaviors, among other things. For instance, a high degree conviction in the perspective that life itself is a gift will likely affect the way we perceive our surroundings and those around us, make it easier to develop an attitude and feelings of gratitude, leading to a pleasant mental state and likely to prosocial behavior in most cases. These originally "intrapsychic" dynamics can thus have ripple effects, impacting one's direct social circles, and beyond.

This is confirmed by recent findings, of a more pragmatic and instrumental nature — i.e. focusing on the "benefits" of love for mental health and social cohesion, and the positive influence of belonging to a religion/spirituality that invites cultivation of such virtues, a meta-analysis of clinical trials on the effects of "kindness-based meditation" (KBM) found that "KBM showed evidence of benefits for the health of individuals and communities through its effects on wellbeing and social interaction." Beyond the individual, this ties in to health and wellness at the sociocultural level.

Along similar empirical lines, a 2024 survey on 239,692 individuals across 65 countries found that regions of the world where people reported that they felt a lot of love for their fellow humans, also reported much higher levels of wellbeing. More specifically, (1) those who are spiritual love and care for the wellbeing of a wider circle of people, while those who are atheist are five times more likely to love no-one; (2) the increase in mental wellbeing gained through spirituality arises through the increase in one’s feelings of love and care for others, and spirituality without love and care for others does not have mental wellbeing benefits; (3) active religious practice is associated with a higher likelihood of spirituality and love for others, regardless of religious affiliation; (4) More religious regions of the world have greater love for others led by Latin America, South-East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Europe and Oceania have the least love for others with United Kingdom and Germany having the lowest among all countries from which data was collected.

These findings — a small sample of existing literature... — confirm the pragmatic value of such wisdom, yet gives a gloomy picture of the state of western societies in this regard. For instance the SapienLab report on "global mental wellbeing" for 2023 found that "as in previous years, several African and Latin American countries topped the country rankings, while wealthier countries of the Core Anglosphere such as the United Kingdom and Australia are towards the bottom. This pattern suggests that greater wealth and economic development do not necessarily lead to greater mental wellbeing." Such considerations should have impact on individual life choices but also in policy decisions.

In positive psychology

Positive psychology writers have put forward 24 character strengths and virtues of: creativity curiosity judgment love of learning perspective courage bravery honesty perseverance zest kindness love social intelligence fairness leadership teamwork forgiveness humility prudence self regulation appreciation of beauty and excellence gratitude hope humor spirituality (Peterson and Seligman, 2004).

Beyond utilitarianism

We should not dilute the value of virtue in a purely utilitarian/instrumentalist (or spiritually materialist) view of these as sources of relative well-being. These strengths and virtues can be elevated to extraordinary levels, and lead to almost superhuman resilience in the face of adversity, as exemplified by historical and mythical or semi-mythical figures such as Etty Hillesum, Jesus, the Bodhisattvas, the Martyrs, etcetera.

Personality traits

Many theories of core personality traits existe. The Five factor model (FFM or Big five) is based on five pairs of personality traits:

• openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
• conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless)
• extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
• agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/rational)
• neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident)

A more detailed theory is Cattell's 16 personality factors, which can be tested using the 16PF personality questionnaire:

• Warmth (A)
• Reasoning (B)
• Emotional Stability (C)
• Dominance (E)
• Liveliness (F)
• Rule-Consciousness (G)
• Social Boldness (H)
• Sensitivity (I)
• Vigilance (L)
• Abstractedness (M)
• Privateness (N)
• Apprehension (O)
• Openness to Change (Q1)
• Self-Reliance (Q2)
• Perfectionism (Q3)
• Tension (Q4)

Jungian/Brigg-Meyers 16 types

Rush, M. (2019). An Evaluation of Jung’s Psychological Types and Their Relationship to Psychopathology. Psychotherapy Section Review, 63(Spring), 32–39.

Meta-cognition

The capacity to be aware of our internal emotional states, to recognize them, to name them, and to act on them, a skill set that involves metacognition and emotional intelligence, is important in the context of cultivating a healthy mind and well-being.

Absorption

Some research shows that the "Absorption" trait is connected with a tendency to have "dramatic" spiritual experiences, such as Lifshitz et al. (2019), or Corneille & Luke (2021). About the Tellenger absorption scale, see Jamieson (2005).

Hypnotizability/suggestability

This is related to the former (absorption) - the first scale measuring "absorption", the Telleger scale, was originally devised to measure "hypnotizability". Some like Dr Ian Wickramasekera (2020) suggest that "hypnotizability" and "mind-body talent" for dzogchen and other practices are connected.

Angelini, F. J., Kumar, V. K., & Chandler, L. (1999). The harvard group scale of hypnotic susceptibility and related instruments: Individual and group administrations. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 47(3), 236–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207149908410035

According to Taves (2020 ), LSD "robustly enhances suggestibility" affecting "those who score high on conscientiousness the most. This may have implications on appraisals of experience, hedonic tone, and subsequent impact.

Schizotypy

Research has explored links between this personality trait and SE(Y), see e.g. Harris, et al., (2019). This particular article correlates positive schizotypal traits with SE(Y) proneness.

TLL (Temporal Lobe Lability)

This has been correlated with a tendency to have "spontaneous spiritual awakenings", e.g. in Corneille & Luke (2021)

Playfulness

(Winnicott, Play and reality; Piaget, Plays, dreams and imitation)

Playing is an important aspect of developing a healthy sense of self and of reality according to Winnicott and Piaget. In fact according to Bailly (2001), "Winnicott considers that what makes a child capable of play amounts to questioning "what makes life worth living" (Winnicott, 1971)" Bailly, R. (2001). Le jeu dans l'œuvre de D.W. Winnicott. Enfances & Psy, 15, 41-45. https://doi.org/10.3917/ep.015.0041. One may wonder about the role of seriousness/rigidity VS playfulness/fluidity in reaction styles to EPEEs and how this could lead to DPDR/Psychosis/Disorders. Considered within a developmental perspective, play is clearly a generator of development. Maintaining a playful attitude may well be a crucial though often overlooked aspect of any training, in particular within the context of "spiritual", contemplative, and related practices.

IQ

Latent Inhibition

Cognitive style

Divergent VS Convergent "Cognitive style" have been linked with proneness to Esthetic Experiences (Schaeffer, 2016)

Beliefs and psychological narratives

Directive beliefs, i.e. various beliefs that directly influence attitudes and behaviors such as class-related beliefs, etc. Targeted by positive psychology, CBT, Schema therapy, Coherence therapy, various philosophical schools like stoicism, etc.

Defense mechanisms    

Originally written about by Freud, the psychological defense mechanisms describe various ways of relating to challenging situations, described as mature, neurotic, or psychotic. The mature defense mechanisms include Affiliation, Anticipation, Humor, Self-acceptance, Self-observation, Sublimation, and Suppression. These can be viewed as effective coping strategies and skills which can be developed, leading to a mature and functional personality makeup.

Level of ego-development

Loevinger, Wilber, Cook-Greuter, O'Fallon, Angerer (see Roman Angerer's attempt to cross-reference some of the post-conventional levels)

Conventional

Post-conventional

My review of Cook-Greuter

Ego/Superego/Id

Personality disorders

Schizoid/Schizotypy/all risk factors for meditation-related psychosis (Charan et al. 2003)

Biography and personal history

Trauma

A potential risk-factor

Much recent research views trauma as a risk factor for challenging emergent phenomena and developing complications, as well as linked with psychosis, schizotypy, and dissociation. However, trauma is not necessarily predictive of distress or challenging EPEEs, e.g. Lindahl et al. (2019) found no correlation between higher trauma history and distress in experiences of “self-loss”.

How trauma is defined and its exact nature is the source of some debate. Some authors have minimized the importance of trauma and stressed the importance of present circumstances for people's life difficulties. Psychoanalytic writers have sometimes relativized the weight of trauma and adverse experiences, such as jungian psychologist James Hillman, who was very critical of the notion, while Freud wrote "there are no traumas, only traumatized people".

Regardless, those wishing to engage with Emergent Modalities like meditation or psychedelics, particularly more intense ones, should be informed of the fact that "trauma", however defined, having undergone very stressful events like adverse childhood experiences, currently being "traumatized", etc., can pose additional risks.

Working with trauma

There is a broad variety of approaches to work with trauma like the Ideal Parent Figure (IPF) protocol, EMDR, ... Brown et al. (2019) report a clinical case of a woman diagnosed with DID and severe attachment disturbances who was severely and chronically abused by their father as a child, underscore that she received successful treatment using the Ideal Parent Figure protocol which uses imagination over a period of two years, without any trauma processing techniques being applied. It is interesting to note that things like the ideal parent figure protocol seem built into many traditional practices of the various religions, e.g. for Christians, cultivating one's identity as "sons of God", the supreme and perfect being, might well have effects similar or more potent than the protocolled version of IPF, just like "mindfulness meditation" is built into many traditional practices, but these traditional practices usually involve many other components beyond simply paying nonjudgmental attention to the present moment, likely leading to more complex effects.

While some Emergent Modalities may be contraindicated for some individuals with trauma and PTSD symptoms, there is also some preliminary evidence that approaches like mindfulness-meditation or some psychedelics (like MDMA or DMT in some cases) may help treat trauma. More research is needed to understand when and for whom such approaches will be helpful or on the contrary lead to worse outcomes.

Family history and early development

Mother–infant relationship

Good mother–infant relations, involving an attentive and responsive mother attuned to the child's needs, mitigates negative factors on development (such as low socioeconomic status or low birth weight) (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2007). Brown et al. (2016) consider that attachment-styles in adulthood largely depend on positive or negative self-image, image of others, and positive relationship representations, which are likely heavily influenced by early attachment needs. They claim that relationships with early caregivers lead to the development of a sense of self that mirrors the relationship, the development of “internalized working models” (IWM) which are self-reinforcing and will influence future relationships. Various emergent practices work with self-image, image of the other, identification with ideal figures, to develop positive relationships/images of self/other and related sense of safety and emotional warmth, so this is likely an important area to consider (see the Attachment and Self-image sections above).

Environment

Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2007) underscore that “features of the environment most frequently and strongly associated with individual differences in cognitive competence” include “a physically responsive environment, presence of sheltered areas, instability and unpredictability of events, the “degree to which the physical set-up of the home permits exploration,” low level of noise and confusion, and “the degree of temporal regularity”. As noted earlier, it follows from such findings that effective proximal processes [i.e. processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopsychological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate external environment, occuring on a fairly regular basis over extended periods of time — see above] cannot function effectively in environments that are unstable and unpredictable across space and time.

“The degree of stability, consistency, and predictability over time in any element of the systems constituting the ecology of human development is critical for the effective operation of the system in question. Extremes either of disorganization or rigidity in structure or function represent danger signs for potential psychological growth, with some intermediate degree of system flexibility constituting the optimal condition for human development. In research design, this proposition points to the importance of assessing the degree of stability versus instability, with respect to characteristics of Process, Person, Context, and Time.”

Family structure (single parent, remarried, two parents), socioeconomic status, absence or presence of relatives, level of parental monitoring, all play a role in normal personal and psychological develpopment.

Family history and family type

Family history is a key component in the constitution of an individual's psychology. For instance, a family history of psychosis is a risk-factor for meditation induced psychosis, and psychopathology and personality dysfunction are linked with family environment and adult attachment.

At the anthropological level, historical family type (egalitarian/authoritarian, nuclear/communitarian, endogamous/exogamous, etc.) is a profound determinant of individual psychology, which likely deeply impacts higher levels of sociocultural realities such as political and economic development. Family type formation is influenced by religion among other factors, and in turn shapes ethical values and norms, which over the course of history in the long run has direct impact on (1) ideological convictions, (2) state formation, (3) constitutional structure, and (4) post-constitutional outcomes of societies.

Interestingly, what could be seen as negative outcomes or disruptive elements from one perspective (grief, trauma, loss...), can also have positive outcomes in other ways or on different dimensions (e.g. personal turmoil sometimes leads to "conversion" type experiences, reorientation of one's existence in a more positive direction). This is a very common theme in relation with Emergent Phenomena: suffering, loss, grief, accidents, and otherwise seemingly undesirable events, often bring on different forms of development which ultimately may lead a person to regard these "negative" circumstances as a gift. This is James Hillman's fundamental critique of the notion of trauma and the "adversarial" relationship of many psychotherapeutic approaches inherent in the very appraisal of life events as fundamentally undesirable, alien, disorders, etc. How one interprets an event as adverse or not definitely impacts outcomes including in the context of meditation, and working with one's appraisal and relationship with perceived life challenges is a perennial, central theme in contemplative traditions. It is a question of relative impact, there are likely windows of opportunities while also being completely destructive occurrences sometimes, also depending on time of occurrence.

Socialization (PF2) and Relationships

Practice history (type, hours, etc.)

History with Emergent Experiences

Exposition to various spiritual frameworks and techniques

Sociocultural determinants and consequences of individual psychology

Sociocultural health and individual wellbeing

A sense of belonging to a long history and a cultural identity is something profoundly impactful for individual human psychology. The lack of cultural grounding that runs through our contemporary, globalized, post-modern societies, is a serious source of distress for many, particularly global youth…

Indeed, the presence or absence of broadly shared norms and values, at a level where individual roles and norms of behaviors are deeply internalized and subconsciously embodied by most members of a given society, has profound impact on individual well-being and development. By contrast with Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2007), who write that level of parental monitoring, quality of the relationship between primary caregivers, Abraham Maslow argues, on the basis of empirical observation, that societies in which there exist broadly shared, clear, straightforward, pre-reflexively internalized norms as to individuals' role as members of society, as a man, a woman, a father, a mother, etc., all factor that is deeply influential on child well-being and development, regardless of the quality of relationships with parents, will have lower levels of adolescent delinquency and higher well-being. These observations suggest that the sociocultural level of shared worldviews and internalized behavioral norms is similarly or even more crucial, than the quality of individual parent-child relationships, for the psychological development and health of individuals. It is probably important to note that Bronfenbrenner and Morris mostly examine US populations, which is predominantly an "absolute nuclear" family system according to Emmanuel Todd, an anthropological fact which likely influences the ideals and norms of parental behaviors identified and valued within their works and within the culture they examine in a deep yet likely unconscious way. This means that parental norms in cultures with different worldviews, shared values, internalized roles, and family types, may well differ significantly yet still lead to healthy psychological development and social cohesion. Still, it seems likely that at least some aspects of parental care play a universal role in healthy child development, such as the quality of mother–infant relationships.

In any event, these considerations reveal how individual psychology is directly connected to the sociocultural sphere, the sphere of values, the sphere of technique, and the economic sphere. As a single datapoint, recent empirical findings show that the contemporary, ubiquitous use of technologies has serious negative impact on the mental health of global youth. Much more radically though, and returning to broad sociocultural considerations, Bernard Stiegler claimed that it is impossible to live as a society without “positive collective protentions” — in other words, shared ideals and goals which “proceed from inter– and transgenerational transmission”. In this sense, the French philosopher saw the continual “acceleration of innovation”, “disruption”, and the “technological flight forward”, as undermining “everything that contributes to the elaboration of civilization”. This position ties Maslow's observations of the impact of shared worldviews and norms on adult, adolescent, and child psychology, and Bronfenbrenner's contention that excessively unstable environments hinders development, with the sociocultural consequences of recent technical evolutions.

Escalating interpersonal tensions and lack of cohesion within a given society may then give rise to expressions of violence that take the form of “scapegoating” in order to reinstate a sense of collectivity (creating a sense of “us”) by designating an “other” which will then be “sacrificed”, symbolically or actually, a process which has been described by anthropologist René Girard as a form of re-sacralization of the social order. In this sense, we can see how sociocultural health directly impacts individual psychology and the possibility of human flourishing at all levels.

This is also true in the reverse direction. Individual development, wellbeing, flourishing, emotional and psychological health, directly impact interpersonal behavior and in turn leads to positive outcomes for the collective. Factors which disrupt individual development and harmony (see above) also likely hinder collective development and harmony. Factors which promote psychological health and intrapersonal wellbeing (such as the cultivation of ethics and virtue, developing emotional skills, mature defense mechanisms, healthy images of self and other, etc., see above), likely promote sociocultural health and interpersonal wellbeing. Thus, promoting and optimally balancing individual and sociocultural health, which are interconnected in profound and complex ways, seems like a highly desirable, integrated goal.

Cultural norms and emergent phenomena

“culturally-sanctioned” EPEEs in the DSM: criteria to exempt from a diagnosis of mental illness those who are experiencing hallucinations, delusions, or other unusual experiences that are expected in their spiritual tradition who also maintain sufficient function and don’t meet other criteria for mental illness. But what is the authority or reference which will give a comprehensive list of normal VS abnormal for all cultures/traditions? How does one even define a tradition? How about those who chance upon these experiences outside of a given tradition — it is established that members of e.g. the Anglosphere, do experience some of the DSM’s culture-bound syndromes from other cultural contexts, without having heard about them Ross et al. (2013)? Take a person who had a “mystical experience” while meditating, and now thinks they are able to communicate with the dead, in 2024 France. Picture this person as raised catholic, but practicing in a Buddhist tradition for the clarity of the instructions, and yet who does not identify as buddhist. Add that this person is experiencing significant distress and functional impairement in several areas of their life because of these phenomena. Which of the cultural norms at their disposal should be used to make a judgment call: classical french catholic culture (1,500+ years old), with its ample room for possession experiences, religious revelations, and mystical phenomena? Positivist reductionnism from the 19 hundreds, with e.g. Auguste Comte, a well-know figure of french culture? A neurophysicalist, mechanistic view, say one inspired by Descartes, another well-known figure in french cultural history? Or a more recent materialist/secular view, perhaps that of the DSM, a manual of psychiatry which is unilaterally written by a few psychiatrists from another cultural context (the US), and yet is often used by French psychiatrists? Normative judgment on this given experience, its nature, and the appraisal of whether it is compatible with the french person’s culture or not, will vary depending on how one defines this person’s cultural context. Is it a genuine case of after-death communication? The manifestation of repressed psychological material? Brain misfirings? Who is to make the judgment call as to which cultural framework to mobilize in this case? At the epitome of globalization and cultural fragmentation we are currently experiencing, this criterion seems completely outdated.

These questions are one of the core motivations behind the EmergeWiki.

Resources

• The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)