Extreme Belief Research Articles

Discovery of Hepatitis E and Its Impact on Global Health: A Journey of 44 Years about an Incredible Human-Interest Story.

The story of the discovery of hepatitis E originated in the late 1970s with my extreme belief that there was a hidden saga in the relationship between jaundice and pregnancy in developing countries and the opportunity for a massive epidemic of viral hepatitis, which hit the Gulmarg Kashmir region in November 1978. Based on data collected from a door-to-door survey, the existence of a new disease, epidemic non-A, non-B hepatitis, caused by a hitherto unknown hepatitis virus, was announced. This news was received by the world community with hype and skepticism. In the early 1980s, the world watched in awe as an extreme example of human self-experimentation led to the identification of VLP. In 1990, a cDNA clone from the virus responsible for epidemic non-A, non-B hepatitis was isolated. Over the years, we traversed three eras of ambiguity, hope, and hype of hepatitis E research and conducted several seminal studies to understand the biology of HEV and manifestations of hepatitis E. Many milestones have been reached on the long and winding road of hepatitis E research to understand the structure, biology, and diversity of the agent, changing the behavior of the pathogen in developed countries, and the discovery of a highly effective vaccine.

De intergenerationele overdracht van extreme gedachtensystemen

The intergenerational transmission of an extreme belief systems: Theoretical exploration of a new field of study With the recent rise and fall of IS, academics and policy makers around the world are expressing concerns about the fate of children of former foreign fighters. Will they follow in their parents’ footsteps? In this paper, we argue that in light of this discussion, the intergenerational transmission of extreme beliefs deserves a research agenda of its own. The transmission of extreme ideologies, such as extremism and cultism, constitutes a unique topic, not previously captured in traditional transmission studies. The concepts commonly used in popular media, such as ‘brainwashing’ and ‘indoctrination’, similarly fall short when trying to understand this phenomenon. Instead, a multidisciplinary approach centered around the concept intergenerational transmission is proposed. We present some of our preliminary literature findings on this topic, and consider their relation to broader theoretical frameworks. We conclude with several considerations and suggestions for future research, to better understand the intergenerational transmission of extreme ideologies in all its complexity.

Belief system alignment and cross-sectoral advocacy efforts in policy debates

ABSTRACT Political actors participate in policy debates as an advocacy strategy to influence political opponents and public opinion. They often engage in cross-sectoral advocacy by participating in multiple adjacent debates. To investigate what factors influence cross-sectoral advocacy in policy debates, we examined advocacy coalitions in two health policy debates in the UK – the regulation of sugar-sweetened beverages and alcoholic drinks. We predicted cross-sectoral advocacy efforts across 237 actors, such as health charities, manufacturers, or retailers, as a function of their belief system alignment relative to their advocacy coalition. In a methodological innovation, Bayesian item response models were applied to policy beliefs stated publicly by actors in eleven newspapers to measure the ideological positions of actors and beliefs relative to their advocacy coalition. Extreme belief alignment relative to one’s coalition, a small spread of stated beliefs, and a strong engagement were found to explain cross-sectoral advocacy.

“Social security is a scam”: the Ethical Dilemmas in Treating Overvalued Beliefs

<h3>Introduction</h3> In the 19^th century, Carl Wernicke introduced the term ueberwertige idee (overvalued idea), a rigidly held belief that influences behavior and is shared by others. Delusions, on the other hand, are defined as fixed, false beliefs, not accepted by others of that culture. Through the internet and social media, information is ever more readily accessed, leading to rapid transmission of ideas, including those considered fringe or extreme. Here, we present the case of a man with major neurocognitive disorder complicated by an ueberwertige idee that undermined his care. We consider the diagnosis of delusional disorder versus an overvalued belief, and the ethical implications inherent in the distinction. <h3>Methods</h3> Case report: The patient was assessed and treated on the inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit. This case was reviewed and compared with relevant literature. <h3>Results</h3> This is a case report of an elderly homeless man with a history of major neurocognitive disorder, lower extremity deep venous thromboses, chronic venous stasis, and blindness secondary to glaucoma. He was hospitalized for treatment of cellulitis, then involuntarily transferred to the inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit for grave disability. He had a long-standing suspicion of the American social security system, believing it to be a means of covert government control. He expressed a consistent preference to live on the streets, while his health conditions required a higher level of care. Unfortunately, his fixed beliefs were a barrier to supported housing, health insurance, and disability benefits. During his prolonged psychiatric hospitalization, he did not exhibit other psychotic symptoms and he refused to take psychotropic medication. We were unable to secure a Lanterman Petris Short conservatorship for him; themes of the difference between delusion and extreme belief dominated the legal hearing. The patient was discharged to the streets, per his preference. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Distinguishing between delusions and overvalued beliefs can be a significant challenge. With the internet and the global growth of subcultures, encountering patients with extreme beliefs will become increasingly common. Examining the diagnosis and ethical considerations carefully is essential to providing the care most aligned with an individual's interests and values. <h3>Funding</h3> No funding sources to report

NEOCLACISISM'S VIEW OF ART AND DAVID

Although neoclassicism seems to be a continuation of classicism, the content that neoclassicism possesses, philosophical thought, is completely different. But this difference does not create a huge gap between classicism and neoclassicism. Neoclassicism reflects the ideals of the Roman empire rather than the Greek antiquity. These ideals and concepts are presented with enrichment with the concepts brought by the French revolution. Neoclassicism, a child of enlightenment, brings itself into existence with its belief in rationalism and science. Besides, concepts that have not been heard until that time have gained meaning with neoclassicism. The concepts which were brought up with a philosopher rigor by David, the most important artist of neoclassicism, such as virtue, patriotism, freedom, equality and fraternity have been intensely treated. In addition to this, the concept of the republic and the concept of justice created by the revolution after the great struggle, tears, and labor took its place in the art together with neoclassicism. The extreme belief in science has formed the most important pillars of neoclassicism. The unbending understanding of the academy, which has been going on for centuries, together with neoclassicism that has changed mentally and many concepts have entered into art as a subject. Keywords: neoclassicism, art, idealism

Thirumoolarin Thirumanthira Thiruvarutkaatchi

This article looks at the various street game of the lord through the thirumandra Thiruvarut scenario. The essence of this article is to know the greatness of Siva, Siddhu, Siddhu games through Thirumanthiram. Through this article, the Principles of the life Style, Yoga, Ethical, and Piety which Thirumoolar illustrates through three thousand songs are researched. Thirumoolar’s Thirumandhiram (Patham Thirumurai) is a part of Panniru Thirumurai. This book includes many divine play of Lord Shiva and divine appearance of god to his devotees. A review of this book reveals the spiritual faith of Thirumoolar in Lord Shiva. The aim of this paper is to tell about spiritualism of Thirumoolar and his extreme belief in the mantra “OM NAMA SHIVAYA” to blend his soul with the supreme power. In Thirumanthiram, Thirumoolar has mentioned about Shivam, Bhathi, Yoga, Meditation, Shakthi in human physiology, Maya, Prayers, Belief in god, method of worshipping god. He categorized all these characteristics into science, psychology, spiritualism and exchange of soul from one body to another. he explained the presence of Lord Shiva in living and non-living things, blending of spiritualism with psychology, attitude of human beings towards spiritualism. Thirumanthiram insisted that the great five letters mantra “OM NAMA SHIVAYA” covers the entire universe with love and affection of Lord Shiva.

New technologies, continuing ideologies: Online reader comments as a support for media perspectives of minority religions

The recent growth of populism has resulted in dramatic political change in British, European and American politics. Given the role of right-wing media in legitimising and encouraging traditionalist, nationalist or sometimes far-right populist discourse, the linguistic and semantic relationship between news and readers’ discourse in the context of right-leaning news websites merits investigation in the current climate. This paper examines the relationship in terms of representations of Islam and Catholicism in Daily Mail and Telegraph websites. Empirical keyword analysis of news articles and linked comments is presented. Key semantic categories revealed evidence for stereotypical representation of these religions, as applicable to new media contexts and enacted in the websites of traditional print media. Results highlighted that long-term themes such as ‘Islamic terrorism, war and extreme belief’ and ‘the Pope, Vatican and scandals in the Catholic Church’ continue to dominate news stories online. 18 out of 19 categories in Islam news repeated in comments, and 9 out of 13 in Catholicism news repeated in comments. This strong overlap indicated close connections between news and comments and shared ideologies. Higher numbers of semantic categories in comments showed greater variation of topics than news, with 15 and 23 additional categories in Islam and Catholicism comments respectively. However, key multi-words reflecting collectivisation of communities, such as Muslim country, were identified in news and repeated in comments. Investigation of Muslim country revealed nationalistic and polarising statements by readers, while investigation of penitents revealed portrayal of Catholics as an ‘out-group’ through lexis which denoted violence, shock and crime. Closer analysis of some keywords revealed polarity between readers displaying differing views in relation to various aspects of religion. Taken together, however, findings suggested that age old stereotypes of minority religions were perpetuated in new media contexts.

The iNEAR programme: an existential positive psychology intervention for resilience and emotional wellbeing

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a new psychological intervention, the iNEAR, which is a resilience and wellbeing programme consisting of a classroom based set of activities designed to facilitate the formation of positive identities through the acquisition of skills for growth and personal flourishing. Three hundred and fifty-four young people aged 11 and 12, matched for age and gender, were randomly allocated to the intervention (84 girls; 80 boys) and control conditions (93 girls; 96 boys). Following the intervention, boys, compared to girls, showed higher levels of wellbeing and environmental mastery, and higher levels of tolerance to uncertainty. The intervention was effective in increasing appreciation of positive relationships with others, for girls, and, although not statistically significant, it generated change in the desired direction for boys. In contrast to boys, girls’ scores on openness to diversity also increased between baseline and post-intervention. Ways in which positive psychology interventions can resource individuals to better respond to adversity, coercion, and personal uncertainty, and so contribute to safeguarding against the adoption of extreme belief systems are also discussed.

Acceptable bias? Using corpus linguistics methods with critical discourse analysis

This paper considers the proposal that corpus linguistics approaches can improve the objectivity of critical discourse analysis research, resulting in a more robust and valid set of findings. Taking a recent project which examined the representation of Islam and Muslims in the British press, corpus-driven procedures identified that Muslims tended to be linked to the concept of extreme belief much more than moderate or strong belief. There were differences across newspapers, with 1 in 8 Muslims describing it as extreme in The People while this figure was 1 in 35 for The Guardian. Such patterns of quantification, however, still require researchers to carry out their own critical interpretations with regard to what counts as acceptable frequencies.

Strategic Plans and Principals’ Needs for Control

This study investigates the extent to which the managerial behavior of school principals is related to their beliefs about control. Contrary to previously reported findings, this study argues for a negative relation between extreme internal locus of control and the perspectives used by individuals for strategic and long-term plans. Findings based on questionnaires and interviews that studied 45 American school principals’ locus of control and schools’ strategic perspectives reinforce this conclusion: principals characterized by an extreme belief of internal control use relatively short perspectives for schools’ strategic and long-term plans (equal or less than 2 years), while longer perspectives (4 to 5 years) are found in schools with principals characterized by an internal but less extreme belief of control. The need to train school principals to confront uncertainty and produce strategic plans is discussed.