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Introduction
Forthcoming book:
The General Theory of Behaviour: A Sourcebook (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2025)
Recent papers:
Homeostasis Theory of Well-Being,Journal of Health Psychology
https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053231216014
Phenomenological Studies of Visual Mental Imagery:A Review and Synthesis of Historical Datasets. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision7040067
Defining and ‘diagnosing’ aphantasia:Condition or individual difference? (With A Blomkvist) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.09.004
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
July 1976 - December 1976
January 1977 - July 2000
April 1976 - July 1976
Publications
Publications (243)
The relationship between vividness of Visual Mental Imagery (VMI) and factors such as age and gender is poorly understood. We developed a Chinese version of the Visual Vividness Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), labelled VVIQ-C, and assessed its reliability.
Using the VVIQ-C, we investigated individual vividness differences in 1,015 Chinese participan...
The Homeostasis Theory of Well-being proposes a homeostatic modular system for the creation of human well-being. This article aims to: (i) provide a proof-of-concept demonstration of the feasibility of the theory in its biopsychosocial context; (ii) indicate prima facie empirical support for the homeostatic nature of the 16 proposed modules; (iii)...
This article reviews historically significant phenomenological studies of visual mental imagery (VMI), starting with Fechner in 1860 and continuing to the present. This synthesis of diverse VMI phenomenological studies in healthy adults serves as a unique resource for investigators of individual differences, cognitive development and clinical and n...
There can be no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought devastation on the lives of billions of people, yet the high casualty rates are as much ideological and psychosocial phenomena as biological. Vaccines are front and centre of the effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic, an effort that has often been thwarted by political incompetence a...
Gustav Fechner (1801-1887) was a German physicist, philosopher and experimental psychologist, and co-developer
of the Weber-Fechner Law. In 1860, Fechner published a two-volume work, Elemente der Psychophysik, To date,
only Volume I has appeared in English translation. This article publishes a translation of a significant part of Volume
II concerni...
This is the first article reporting research conducted by the author with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). It describes the associations between VVIQ scores and performance in memory and perceptual tasks.
This document is the Reference section of the chapter by Marks (1972).
This is the opening chapter of a book published in 1990 presenting the author's enactive theory of mental imagery.
This document completes the republication of Marks (1990): On the relationship between imagery, body and mind.
This document is a French translation of the VVIQ published by Marks (1973).
A discussion of the theoretical basis of mental imagery in consciousness and cognition.
The Action Cycle Theory (ACT) is an enactive theory of the perception and a mental imagery system that is comprised of six modules: Schemata, Objects, Actions, Affect, Goals and Others’ Behavior. The evidence supporting these six connected modules is reviewed in light of research on mental imagery vividness. The six modules and their interconnectio...
The purpose of this opinion piece is to discuss the legitimacy of the British Psychological Society as a learned society in light of evidence of a crisis of dysfunctionality. 1 In this author's opinion, judging from past and present actions, the Society of today is not fit for purpose. It has lost its moral compass and become a fraudulent organisat...
The purpose of this article is to review the evidence of similar symptomatology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). Reanalysis of data from a study by Jason comparing symptom reports by two groups of ME/CFS and PASC shows a notably similar symptomatology. Symptom sco...
Despite evidence of physiological and cellular abnormalities in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), the dominant therapeutic approach has been cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET). Patients report distress and dissatisfaction following healthcare encounters based on GET and CBT. A significan...
The Action Cycle Theory (ACT) is an enactive theory of perception and mental imagery with six components: Schemata, Objects, Actions, Affect, Goals and Others’ Behavior. The evidence supporting these six connected processes is reviewed in light of research on mental imagery vividness. The six processes and their interconnections receive empirical s...
The purpose of this opinion piece is to discuss the legitimacy of the British Psychological Society as a learned society in light of evidence of a crisis of dysfunctionality. In this author’s opinion, judging from past and present actions, the Society of today is not fit for purpose. It has lost its moral compass and become a fraudulent organisatio...
The purpose of this article is to review the evidence of similar symptomatology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). Reanalysis of data from a study by Jason et al. (2021) comparing symptom reports by two groups of ME/CFS and PASC shows a notably similar symptomatolog...
The psychosomatic approach to medically unexplained symptoms, myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (MUS/ME/CFS) is critically reviewed using scientific criteria. Based on the 'Biopsychosocial Model', the psychosomatic theory proposes that patients' dysfunctional beliefs, deconditioning and attentional biases cause or make illness...
Homeostasis is a fundamental physiological principle that ensures equilibrium, stability and safety of the organism in a continuously changing and potentially life-threatening environment. This article introduces a new theory of the aetiology of ME/CFS that hypothesises that ME/CFS is caused by a breakdown of homeostasis that produces an aberrant s...
The Action Control Theory (ACT) is an enactive theory of perception and mental imagery with six components: Schemata, Objects, Actions, Affect, Goals and Others’ Behavior. The evidence support-ing these six connected processes is reviewed in light of research on mental imagery vividness. The six processes and their interconnections receive empirica...
Since the first case of human SARS-CoV-2 infection late in 2019 workers across multiple disciplines have been strenuously engaged in attempting to prevent the spread of the virus and to provide care to patients. Never in history has so much human effort been concentrated on a single health trauma. Much of the new research is empirical in nature wit...
The ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ syndrome concept and the cognitive-behavioural
treatment model
Abstract
The American Psychiatric Association’s, 2013 DSM-5 abandoned the use of the term ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ for non-neurological disorders. In the UK, treatments for various medical illnesses with unexplained aetiology, such as chroni...
The American Psychiatric Association’s, 2013 DSM-5 abandoned the use of the term ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ for non-neurological disorders. In the UK, treatments for various medical illnesses with unexplained aetiology, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia, continue to fall under an MUS umbrella with cog...
The Wessely School’s (WS) approach to medically unexplained symptoms, myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (MUS/MECFS) is critically reviewed using scientific criteria. Based on the ‘Biopsychosocial Model’, the WS proposes that patients’ dysfunctional beliefs, deconditioning and attentional biases cause illness, disrupt therapies,...
Homeostasis is a fundamental physiological principle that ensures equilibrium, stability and safety of the organism in a continuously changing and potentially life-threatening environment. This article introduces a new theory of the aetiology of ME/CFS that hypothesises that ME/CFS is caused by a breakdown of homeostasis that produces an aberrant s...
Despite evidence of physiological and cellular abnormalities in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), the dominant therapeutic approach has been cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET). Patients report distress and dissatisfaction following healthcare encounters based on GET and CBT. A significan...
ME/CFS a multi-system, complex illness disabling millions of people worldwide. A new theory holds that ME/CFS is caused by a breakdown of homeostasis [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-homeostasis/]. Homeostasis is a fundamental physiological principle that ensures equilibrium, stability and safety of the organism in a continuously...
The COM-B system of behaviour change is analysed. The system involves three processes termed "Capability", "Opportunity" and "Motivation". The crucial motivational element of "Wanting" is missing from the system. Wanting eliminates the intention-behaviour gap in explaining why people do or do not do the things necessary for their survival. Prospect...
The document associated with this DOI has been withdrawn.
The COM-B system of behaviour change is analysed. The system involves three processes termed "Capability", "Opportunity" and "Motivation". The crucial motivational element of "Wanting" is missing from the system. Wanting eliminates the intention-behaviour gap in explaining why people do or do not do the things necessary for their survival. Prospect...
A note of commemoration of the life and work and Dr Hope Landrine, 1954-2019. Dr Landrine was Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Psychology for two decades and a frequent contributor to the journal. Hope Landrine's research in the health psychology and public health fields was pioneering and pathfinding. Dr Landrine's focus on ethnic minorit...
PREFACE
Welcome to Health Psychology: Theory, Research and Practice (Sixth Edition). This textbook provides an in-depth introduction to the field of health psychology. It is designed for all readers wishing to update their knowledge about psychology and health, especially undergraduates and postgraduates taking courses in health psychology, medici...
The prevalence of reported subjective paranormal experience (SPE) is at high levels in all populations investigated to date. This article presents a new integrative theory of SPE in light of the brain’s homeostatic response to early trauma. I hold that developmental factors in the brain’s responses to trauma predispose victimized individuals toward...
The field of research on the paranormal has changed enormously in the last 20 years. Examining experiences of ESP, psychokinesis, precognition, ganzfeld, dissociative states, out-of-the-body experiences, alien abductions and near-death experiences, David Marks appraises the best available evidence to date on scientific claims of the paranormal. Eac...
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, the World Health Organization and the majority of governments have recommended that the entire human population should ‘stay-at-home’. A significant proportion of the population live alone or are vulnerable to mental health problems yet, in the vast majority of cases, individuals in social isolation have no access...
This editorial announces this journal’s policy on transparency, openness and replication. From 1 July 2020, authors of manuscripts submitted to Journal of Health Psychology (JHP) are required to make the raw data fully accessible to all readers. JHP will only consider manuscripts which follow an open publication model defined as follows: M = Mandat...
This journal recently drew attention to an extensive body of highly questionable research published by Hans J. Eysenck in collaboration with Ronald Grossarth-Maticek. The subsequent enquiry by King’s College London concluded that 26 publications were unsafe and warranted retraction. However, the enquiry reviewed only a subset of the 61 questionable...
Subjective paranormal experience (SPE) has been a notable part of the human historical narrative. Alleged miracles, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, witchcraft, spiritualism, monsters and ghosts have received a supernatural interpretation. The incidence and prevalence of reported SPE remains at high levels in all populations investigated to d...
![Items in the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire [4] *.](profile/David-Marks-2/publication/333002685/figure/tbl1/AS:757054939619329@1557507371177/Items-in-the-Vividness-of-Visual-Imagery-Questionnaire-4_Q320.jpg)
Abstract: Organisms are adapted to each other and the environment because there is an inbuilt striving toward security, stability, and equilibrium. A General Theory of Behavior connects imagery, affect, and action with the central executive system we call consciousness, a direct emergent property of cerebral activity. The General Theory is founded...
The Journal of Health Psychology publishes here Dr Anthony Pelosi's analysis of questionable science by one of the world's best-known psychologists, the late Professor Hans J Eysenck. The provenance of a huge body of data produced by Eysenck and Ronald Grossarth-Maticek is highly controversial. In Open letters to King's College London and the Briti...
Homeostasis is a well-established principle in living systems. Here I discuss a new construct, ‘Psychological Homeostasis’. This concept gives rise to three ‘big ideas’:
i) a new general theory of behaviour;
ii) an alternative theory of evolution;
iii) unifying Psychology as part of natural science.
My aim is to persuade you that these ideas ha...
ABOUT THIS CHAPTER:
In this chapter we review two long-term conditions that are diagnosed in increasing numbers of patients: diabetes and ME/CFS. Neither can be cured using currently available treatments within biomedicine and both require an approach that utilises the Biopsychosocial Model. These conditions can often cause distress with major redu...
Parascience has so far failed to produce a single repeatable finding and, until it does, will continue to be viewed as an incoherent collection of belief systems steeped in fantasy, illusion and error.
England’s flagship ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) service has cost around £1 billion yet Scott’s (2018a) study suggests that only 9.2% of IAPT patients recover. This leaves an enormous gap of 40.8% between the observed recovery rate and IAPT’s claimed recovery rate of 50.0%. The spotlight is on patients with ‘medically unexpla...
In two commissioned articles, Health Psychology Open clarifies once and for all the role of two prominent American psychologists in the Central Intelligence Agency program of enhanced interrogation post 9/11. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program and the...
This is the Preface to a book which is due to appear in September 2018
Health psychology students will need to understand how to evaluate and critically-appraise the latest theory and research before it can be applied. This fully-revised and updated Fifth Edition takes a critical approach and places health psychology in a real-world context, enabling students to understand how public policy, theory and research can in...
We are proud that this issue marks a special contribution by the Journal of Health Psychology to the literature concerning interventions to manage adaptation to chronic health problems. The PACE Trial debate reveals deeply embedded differences between critics and investigators. It reveals an unwillingness of the co-principal investigators of the PA...
Questions
Questions (2)
I am interested in receiving RG members' answers to the question:
Is the discipline of Psychology racist? Please give reasons for your answer.
Photography and post-processing is being advocated by Trey Ratcliff (http://www.StuckInCustoms.com) as beneficial to self-development, meaning and states of consciousness. I am curious whether there is any research evidence relevant to this idea. I do not mean giving people cameras to record their 'photovoice' (e.g. "A snapshot of the lives of women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A photovoice investigation" by Sophie Williams et al., J Health Psychol, June 2016; vol. 21, 6: pp. 1170-1182). I am referring to the photographer engaging in an existential search for meaning where photograph-taking engages with feelings of truth, beauty and oneness with nature.
