John Locke Global Essay Prize 2026 Psychology Prompts Breakdown

Feb 8

The John Locke Institute has just released the prompts for their international essay writing competitions for high school students. They have released three prompts for each of the following categories, philosophy, politics, economics, history, law, psychology, international relations, public policy, science & technology and theology. Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration).

To be eligible to compete, one's 19th birthday must fall after 31 May, 2026. Given this easily satisfied requirement for high school students the world over, many compete in this competition, making it incredibly competitive.

The John Locke Competition is one of the most prestigious essay writing competitions for high school students. It ranks alongside the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards as a humanities extracurricular activity that would impress admissions officers. Placing competitively in this competition could be what convinces an admissions officer at an elite university to admit an applicant.

One major difference between the John Locke competition and the Scholastic Writing and Arts Awards is that it has a right-wing, instead of a left-wing focus. Past winning essays have argued for fringe ideas like anarcho-capitalism. The John Locke Institute is committed to upholding the principles of classical liberalism espoused by John Locke, the founder of liberalism. Being liberal in Europe has a different connotation than it does in the U.S. While liberalism in the U.S. is associated with center-left politics like the Democratic Party, in Europe, it denotes what Americans would call libertarians, who believe in laissez-faire economic policies and upholding individual freedom to the point that it might enable individuals to infringe on the liberties of others, such as individuals having the right to deny service to people at their place of business due to their sexual orientation.

Despite the competition's right-wing focus, and the well-known left-wing bias of academics and admissions officers, high school students can place competitively without arguing for positions that would decrease their likability with a left-wing audience when applying to college.

We have extensive experience guiding applicants through this competition and are proud to have students who received at least a commendation from the judges. In this article, we will outline the three psychology questions they ask and provide resources, along with cliff notes for these resources, to help start one's journey towards drafting compelling answers to these questions.

Psychology Q1: Why do we care what happens to our body after death?

John Locke's Works

1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

Book II, Chapter XXVII "Of Identity and Diversity" is Locke's famous treatment of personal identity
Argues personal identity consists in continuity of consciousness, not bodily continuity
Raises puzzle: if identity is not bodily, why should we care about the body after consciousness ends?
Essential framework for examining the rationality of post-mortem bodily concerns

2. Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)

Discusses how habits, beliefs, and emotional attachments form in childhood
Relevant for understanding how attitudes toward death and the body develop
Framework for examining whether post-mortem concerns are learned or innate

3. The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)

Discusses bodily resurrection as Christian doctrine
Examines relationship between earthly body and resurrected body
Relevant for understanding religious motivations for post-mortem bodily care
Locke's engagement with theological questions about body and afterlife

4. A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

Discusses the limits of what the state can require regarding religious practice
Relevant for examining burial practices and religious liberty
Framework for understanding diverse cultural attitudes toward the dead

Historical Resources

1. Plato's "Phaedo"

Socrates's discussion of death and the soul's immortality
Argues the philosopher should not fear death or care excessively about the body
Challenges bodily concern as philosophically unsophisticated
Classical philosophical treatment of death and the body

2. Aristotle's "De Anima" (On the Soul)

Argues soul is the form of the body, inseparable in life
Raises questions about what happens to personal identity at death
Framework for understanding soul-body relationship
Contrasts with Platonic dualism

3. Epicurus's "Letter to Menoeceus"

Famous argument: "Death is nothing to us"
Argues we should not fear death or care about post-mortem states
Challenges the rationality of post-mortem bodily concerns
Influential ancient response to death anxiety

4. Thomas Aquinas's "Summa Theologica"

Supplement, Questions 69-86 on resurrection of the body
Argues bodily resurrection is essential to human fulfillment
Theological framework for why the body matters eternally
Medieval Christian treatment of body and afterlife

5. Philippe Ariès's "The Hour of Our Death" (1977)

Comprehensive history of Western attitudes toward death
Documents changing practices in burial, mourning, and body treatment
Shows cultural variation in post-mortem bodily concerns
Essential historical context for understanding contemporary attitudes

6. Robert Hertz's "Death and the Right Hand" (1907)

Classic anthropological study of death rituals
Argues death is a social process, not just biological event
Framework for understanding why societies regulate body treatment
Foundational text in death studies

Contemporary Resources

1. Ernest Becker's "The Denial of Death" (1973)

Pulitzer Prize-winning analysis of death anxiety
Argues fear of death is fundamental human motivation
Terror Management Theory precursor
Framework for understanding psychological functions of death rituals

2. Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski's Terror Management Theory research

Empirical research on how death awareness affects behavior
Shows mortality salience increases attachment to cultural worldviews
Explains why people invest meaning in post-mortem treatment
"The Worm at the Core" (2015) provides accessible summary

3. Jesse Bering's "The Belief Instinct" (2011)

Cognitive science approach to afterlife beliefs
Argues humans have innate difficulty imagining non-existence
Explains psychological basis for caring about post-mortem states
Framework for understanding why body concerns persist

4. Paul Bloom's "Descartes' Baby" (2004)

Argues humans are intuitive dualists from infancy
We naturally think of mind and body as separate
Explains why we can imagine the body without the self
Developmental psychology perspective on death attitudes

5. Caitlin Doughty's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (2014) and "From Here to Eternity" (2017)

Mortician's examination of death practices across cultures
Documents diverse approaches to body treatment
Argues for more open engagement with death and bodies
Contemporary cultural critique of death denial

6. Thomas Laqueur's "The Work of the Dead" (2015)

Comprehensive study of why the dead body matters
Argues caring for corpses is constitutive of humanity
Examines burial, cremation, and memorialization practices
Scholarly treatment of the question's central puzzle

7. Research on continuing bonds in grief

Dennis Klass et al., "Continuing Bonds" (1996)
Challenges older models requiring "letting go" of deceased
Shows ongoing relationships with dead are healthy and common
Framework for understanding emotional attachment to remains

Key Questions and Issues to Address

Definitional Challenges

What does "care" mean? Emotional concern, ritual practice, or both?
Whose perspective matters? The dying person, survivors, or society?
Is the question asking why we do care or why we should care?

Theoretical Frameworks

Evolutionary psychology: Does caring for the dead have adaptive value?
Terror Management Theory: Does body concern manage death anxiety?
Cognitive science: Are we hardwired for dualism and afterlife intuitions?
How does Locke's consciousness-based identity theory address this puzzle?

Possible Explanations

Religious belief: Bodily resurrection, karma, or spiritual transition requires body care
Symbolic immortality: The body represents the person's continuing significance
Social bonds: Body treatment expresses and maintains relationships
Dignity and respect: Persons deserve respectful treatment of their remains
Grief and closure: Body rituals help survivors process loss
Intuitive dualism: We can't help but see the body as still connected to the person

Philosophical Puzzles

If personal identity is not bodily (per Locke), why should bodily treatment matter?
If Epicurus is right that death is nothing to us, why do we care?
Is caring about post-mortem body irrational, or does it serve important functions?
Can we distinguish rational from irrational post-mortem concerns?

Cultural Variation

Why do practices vary so dramatically across cultures (burial, cremation, sky burial, etc.)?
What explains historical changes in body treatment practices?
Are there universal features beneath cultural variation?

Contemporary Applications

How should we think about organ donation, body donation to science, or cryonics?
What obligations do the living have toward the dead?
How do digital remains and online memorials change post-mortem concerns?

Psychology Q2: Is mental illness over-diagnosed now, or just better recognised?

John Locke's Works

1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

Book II, Chapter XI discusses the association of ideas, including pathological associations
Chapter XXXIII specifically addresses "wrong connexion of ideas" as source of unreason
Locke's proto-psychological framework for understanding mental dysfunction
Relevant for examining what counts as disordered thinking

2. Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)

Discusses individual differences in temperament and capacity
Addresses how education can address or create psychological difficulties
Framework for examining whether problems are innate or environmental
Relevant for understanding how we categorize normal versus abnormal

3. The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)

Discusses relationship between reason and belief
Addresses when belief becomes irrational or pathological
Relevant for examining boundaries of normal psychology

Historical Resources

1. Michel Foucault's "Madness and Civilization" (1961)

Argues mental illness categories are socially constructed
Traces how "madness" was defined differently across eras
Critiques psychiatric power and institutionalization
Influential framework for questioning diagnostic expansion

2. Thomas Szasz's "The Myth of Mental Illness" (1961)

Controversial argument that mental illness is not real illness
Argues psychiatric diagnosis is social control disguised as medicine
Critiques medicalization of problems in living
Important skeptical perspective on psychiatric diagnosis

3. The history of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual)

DSM-I (1952): 106 disorders
DSM-5 (2013): approximately 300 disorders
Documents dramatic expansion of diagnostic categories
Essential context for the over-diagnosis debate

4. George Beard's "American Nervousness" (1881)

Historical example of culturally-specific diagnosis (neurasthenia)
Shows how diagnostic categories emerge and disappear
Relevant for understanding social construction of diagnosis
Historical precedent for contemporary debates

5. Emil Kraepelin's psychiatric nosology

Foundational work in psychiatric classification
Distinguished dementia praecox (schizophrenia) from manic depression
Established scientific approach to psychiatric diagnosis
Historical context for modern diagnostic systems

Contemporary Resources

1. Allen Frances's "Saving Normal" (2013)

Written by chair of DSM-IV task force
Argues DSM-5 expands diagnosis excessively
Critiques medicalization of normal human experience
Authoritative insider critique of diagnostic inflation

2. Jerome Wakefield's work on "harmful dysfunction"

Proposes conceptual framework for mental disorder
Argues disorder requires both dysfunction and harm
Critiques expansion of diagnosis to normal distress
Influential theoretical treatment of the question

3. The NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project

National Institute of Mental Health initiative questioning DSM categories
Argues current diagnoses may not map onto brain mechanisms
Suggests diagnostic categories may be scientifically invalid
Important institutional critique of current diagnosis

4. Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge's research on rising mental illness in youth

Documents increasing rates of anxiety and depression, especially in young women
"The Anxious Generation" (2024) and "iGen" (2017)
Debates whether increase reflects real rise or increased diagnosis
Contemporary empirical data on changing prevalence

5. Johann Hari's "Lost Connections" (2018)

Argues depression and anxiety often have social causes
Critiques biological/pharmaceutical model of mental illness
Suggests diagnosis medicalizes responses to genuine problems
Popular treatment of over-medicalization concerns

6. Research on diagnostic reliability and validity

Studies showing poor inter-rater reliability for many diagnoses
Research on heterogeneity within diagnostic categories
Debates about whether diagnoses "carve nature at its joints"
Scientific literature on diagnostic accuracy

7. Cross-cultural psychiatry research

Studies showing mental illness presents differently across cultures
Debates about universal versus culture-specific disorders
WHO studies on schizophrenia outcomes across cultures
Framework for examining cultural construction of diagnosis

8. Pharmaceutical industry influence research

Studies documenting industry influence on diagnosis and treatment
"Disease mongering" and expansion of markets
Conflicts of interest in DSM development
Critical perspective on diagnostic expansion

Key Questions and Issues to Address

Definitional Challenges

What counts as "mental illness" versus normal human distress?
What does "over-diagnosed" mean? False positives, expanded criteria, or lowered thresholds?
What does "better recognised" mean? Previously undetected cases or reduced stigma?

Theoretical Frameworks

Medical model: Mental illnesses are brain diseases, diagnosis is scientific
Social constructionism: Diagnostic categories reflect social values, not natural kinds
Harmful dysfunction: Disorder requires both biological dysfunction and social harm
How would Locke's empiricism approach defining mental disorder?

Evidence for Over-Diagnosis

Dramatic expansion of diagnostic categories over time
Pharmaceutical industry incentives to expand diagnosis
Medicalization of normal life problems (grief, shyness, childhood energy)
High variability in diagnosis rates across practitioners and regions

Evidence for Better Recognition

Historical under-diagnosis due to stigma and ignorance
Genuine suffering that previously went unacknowledged
Improved screening and access to mental health care
Neurobiological research validating some conditions

Specific Cases to Consider

ADHD: From rare to common diagnosis in children
Depression: Expansion from melancholia to broader criteria
Autism spectrum: From narrow to dramatically expanded diagnosis
Anxiety disorders: Proliferation of categories

Implications of Each View

If over-diagnosed: Many people receiving unnecessary treatment, side effects, stigma
If better recognized: Many people finally getting needed help
Mixed picture: Both may be true for different conditions or populations

Policy and Practice Implications

How should diagnostic criteria be set?
What role should pharmaceutical companies play in research?
How do we balance access to treatment with avoiding over-medicalization?

Psychology Q3: Surveys show a widening gender ideological gap in recent years. Why?

John Locke's Works

1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

Book II on the origin of ideas addresses how beliefs form
Book IV discusses how we come to hold opinions and how they spread
Framework for examining how ideological beliefs develop
Relevant for understanding how men and women might form different views

2. Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)

Discusses how education shapes beliefs and character
Notes different educational approaches for different individuals
Relevant for examining how socialization might create gender differences
Framework for understanding how ideological differences develop

3. Two Treatises of Government (1689)

Chapter VI discusses relations between sexes in state of nature
Addresses questions of equality and natural differences
Relevant context for examining political ideology and gender
Locke's own views on gender and politics

Historical Resources

1. Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex" (1949)

Classic feminist analysis of how women are socially constructed
Argues gender differences are largely products of socialization
Framework for understanding how men and women develop different worldviews
Foundational text for examining gender and ideology

2. Carol Gilligan's "In a Different Voice" (1982)

Argues men and women have different moral orientations
Men prioritize justice and rights; women prioritize care and relationships
Influential (and contested) framework for gender differences in values
Relevant for understanding ideological divergence

3. Historical data on gender voting gaps

Women's suffrage movements and early voting patterns
Evolution of gender gap in American politics since 1980
International variation in gender voting patterns
Historical context for contemporary divergence

4. Ronald Inglehart's "The Silent Revolution" (1977) and subsequent work

Documents shift from materialist to post-materialist values
Shows how economic security enables value change
Framework for understanding how social conditions shape ideology
World Values Survey data on gender and values

Contemporary Resources

1. The Financial Times analysis and viral chart (2024)

Data visualization showing dramatic gender divergence among young people
Women becoming more liberal, men becoming more conservative
International data showing similar patterns across countries
Primary data source documenting the phenomenon

2. Jean Twenge's "Generations" (2023) and related research

Documents generational shifts in attitudes and values
Shows gender divergence particularly pronounced in Gen Z
Data on political identification, social attitudes, and values
Empirical foundation for understanding the trend

3. Alice Evans's research on the "Great Gender Divergence"

Economic historian tracking global gender attitude changes
Argues women's economic independence enables ideological independence
Examines how education and labor force participation affect values
Academic treatment of the divergence question

4. Jonathan Haidt's moral foundations theory

Identifies different moral foundations (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, purity)
Research shows gender differences in moral foundations
Liberals and conservatives weight foundations differently
Framework for understanding ideological differences

5. Research on social media and political polarization

Studies on how algorithmic feeds create different information environments
Research on gender differences in social media use
Filter bubbles and echo chambers
Potential mechanism for divergence

6. Research on the "manosphere" and online male communities

Studies of incels, red pill communities, and online male spaces
Documents radicalization pathways for young men
Examines grievance narratives and ideology formation
Potential explanation for male conservative shift

7. Research on #MeToo and feminist movements

Studies on how #MeToo affected gender attitudes
Research on backlash and polarization around gender issues
Examines how movements can create divergence
Potential trigger for the gap

8. Economic research on gender and labor markets

Studies on how economic prospects shape political attitudes
Research on "deaths of despair" and male economic decline
Gender differences in educational attainment and employment
Economic factors potentially driving divergence

Key Questions and Issues to Address

Definitional Challenges

What is the "gender ideological gap"? Party identification, policy views, or values?
Which ideological dimensions show the gap? Economic, social, or cultural?
Is this a gap in attitudes, political engagement, or both?

Documenting the Phenomenon

What do the surveys actually show?
Is the gap widening because women are moving left, men moving right, or both?
Is this primarily a youth phenomenon or across all ages?
Is it specific to certain countries or global?

Possible Explanations

Education gap: Women increasingly more educated, education correlates with liberalism
Economic factors: Different labor market experiences shaping political views
Social media: Different online environments creating different information exposure
Feminist movements: #MeToo and feminism mobilizing women, creating backlash among men
Religious decline: Secularization affecting genders differently
Dating and relationship markets: Changing relationship patterns affecting attitudes
Psychological differences: Innate differences in values or moral foundations

Evaluating Explanations

Which explanations have empirical support?
Can single-factor explanations account for the pattern?
How do we distinguish causes from correlates?
Do different explanations apply in different countries?

Theoretical Frameworks

Social identity theory: Gender becoming more politically salient
Moral foundations theory: Gender differences in moral intuitions
Economic voting: Material interests shaping ideology
How would Locke's empiricism approach explaining belief formation?

Implications and Consequences

What does the gap mean for relationships and family formation?
How might it affect democratic politics and polarization?
Is this a temporary phenomenon or a durable realignment?
What, if anything, should be done about it?

Methodological Considerations

How reliable are the surveys documenting this gap?
Are there measurement issues with political ideology scales?
Could the gap reflect changing meanings of "liberal" and "conservative"?

If you are overwhelmed by the number of sources and complexity of answering these questions, we understand. English teachers don't prepare high school students to tackle such formidable challenges in the humanities. But we do. Schedule a free consultation with a John Locke competition writing expert today and learn how to unpack all of these sources to write a coherent and logically sound 2000 word essay which will earn you a competitive placing in this competition and impress admission officers.

Work With Our John Locke Expert Coaches

Cosmic College Consulting has helped students earn shortlists, commendations, and prizes in the John Locke Competition. Our three expert coaches have collectively supervised 50+ John Locke essays and bring deep expertise in philosophy, politics, economics, and academic writing.

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Supervised 25+ John Locke Competition essays with 10+ students earning commendations
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Supervised 25+ John Locke Competition essays, students have earned shortlists, Junior Prize placements, and top commendations
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