Voice hearing as a social barometer

Benevolent persuasion, ancestral spirits, and politics in the voices of psychosis in Shanghai, China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2395564
AutoresE Ng (0000-0001-6122-9640, California University of Pennsylvania, autor de correspondencia), Fazhan Chen (0000-0002-3963-1868, Tongji University), Xudong Zhao (0000-0003-1493-3517, Tongji University), T M Luhrmann (0000-0001-9923-4234, Stanford Medicine)
Año2025
Volumen62
Número1
Páginas91-101
Fecha de publicación2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTranscultural Psychiatric Research Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0041-1108 • E-ISSN: 0315-4386
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13634615231202090
PMID37753781
OpenAlexW4387078183
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas53

The comparative study of voice hearing is in its early stages. This approach is important due to the observation that the content of voices differs across different settings, which suggests that voice hearing may respond to cultural invitation and, ultimately, to learning. Our interview-based study found that persons diagnosed with schizophrenia in China (Shanghai), compared to those diagnosed with schizophrenia in the United States, Ghana, and India, reported voices that were strikingly concerned with politics. Compared to participants in the United States in particular, voices seemed to be experienced more relationally: Shanghai participants reported voices notable for a sense of benevolent persuasion rather than harsh command, and knew the identities of their voices more so than in the United States. The voices were striking as well for their religious content, despite the previous prohibition of religion in China. Our findings further support the hypothesis that voice hearing seems to be shaped by context, and we observe that this shaping may affect not only conceptual content but the emotional valence of the experience

Affect (linguistics · China · Context (archaeology · Developmental psychology · Persuasion · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Valence (chemistry · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Gender Studies · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology