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Virology Research Journal
|
Volume 2
Page 37
allied
academies
IMMUNOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY
BACTERIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES
&
Global Summit on
Global Congress on
J u n e 2 5 - 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 | A m s t e r d a m , N e t h e r l a n d s
Joint Event on
THE INTUITIVE RATIONAL-
CHOICE THEORY OF MADNESS:
SCHIZOPHRENIA, CRIMINAL INSANITY
& NEUROSES
Yacov Rofé
Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel
T
he book, The Intuitive Rational-Choice Theory: Schizophrenia, Criminal
Inanity &Neuroses, presents a new theorywhich explains the development
and treatment of schizophrenia and criminal insanity as rational coping
mechanisms. Based on the strong relationships between schizophrenia and
neurological impairments, medical models took for granted that all cases of
schizophrenia result from neurological impairments, even when there was
no evidence, as in the case the Unabomber and John Nash. The new theory,
termed also Psych-Bizarreness Theory, demonstrates that it can explain all
cases of schizophrenia, regardless whether they suffer from neurological
damages or not, as well as criminal insanity and neurotic disorders, by
conscious-rational terms. According to the new theory, when individuals are
confronted with extreme levels of stress, irrespective of whether the source of
the stress is neurological or environmental, their behavioral options become
limited: They can commit suicide, develop a drug abuse, use aggression to
eliminate the stressor, or intuitively choose certain mad/bizarre behaviors
diagnosed by five empirical criteria (Rofé, 2000, 2016), that suite their coping
demands. Madness is seen primarily as a repressive coping mechanism,
which individuals intuitively choose when confronted with unbearable levels
of stress. Thus, contrary to psychoanalysis, madness cause repression
rather than visa versa. The choice of a specific mad behavior is determined
by the same three principles which guide the consumer’s decision-making
process when purchasing a certain product. The major principal is the need
controllability: The specific mad behavior must increase the patient’s ability
to exercise control over the stressor and or provide certain desired privileges.
The second guiding principle is availability: The choice of the specific
symptom is affected by various channels of information, such as the media,
personal experiences, genetic predispositions, family and peers that increase
the saliency of certain suitable behaviors. The third principle is cost-benefit
analysis: Themad behavior is chosen only if the individual intuitively feels that
it will reduce the level of his or her emotional distress. Although the decision
to implement the intuitive/unconscious choice is conscious, patients become
unaware of the Knowledge of Self-Involvement (KSI) through a variety of
cognitive processes that disrupt the encoding of this knowledge and a number
of memory inhibiting mechanisms that cause its forgetfulness. Subsequently,
utilizingtheirsociallyinternalizedbeliefsregardingthecausesofpsychological
disorders, patients develop a self-deceptive belief which attributes the
cause of their symptoms to factors beyond their conscious control. The
Yacov Rofé is a professor of psychology and
former chair of the Interdisciplinary Department
of Social Sciences at Bar-Ilan University in Ra-
mat Gan, Israel. He taught for the Department
of Psychology at Washington University in St.
Louis, Missouri, and was a visiting professor at
Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey. He has
published many articles in leading academic
journals of psychology, including a theory en-
titled “Stress and Affiliation: a Utility Theory”,
published by Psychological Review in 1984. An
additional influential article, published in Review
of General Psychology, 2008, is a review that re-
futes the existence of repression and the Freud-
ian Unconscious.
Jacov.Rofe@biu.ac.ilBIOGRAPHY
Yacov Rofé, Virol Res J 2018, Volume 2
new theory proved its ability to integrate all
therapeutic methods pertaining to neurosis
into one theoretical framework (Rofé, 2010),
explaining all data relevant to the development
and treatment of conversion disorder, including
neurological findings, which seemingly support
the medical explanation of this disorder, and
resolves the theoretical confusion regarding the
explanation of phobia by distinguishing between
bizarre (e.g., agoraphobia and chocolate phobia)
and non-bizarre phobia, such as dog phobia.
Robert Aumann, the Nobel Prize-winning
economist, noted in a letter of recommendation
to publishers of the present book (2017), Rofé’s
theory is as “revolutionary as it sounds, fits well
into the frameworks of economics, game theory,
and evolution”
.