Showing papers in "International Journal for the Psychology of Religion in 1992"
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relationships among right-wing authoritarianism, various indices of religious orientation, and prejudice, and found that religious fundamentalism and nonquesting are linked with authoritarianism and prejudice toward a wide variety of minority groups.
Abstract: Five studies of university students and their parents were carried out to investigate the relationships among right-wing authoritarianism, various indices of religious orientation, and prejudice. Measures of religious fundamentalism, and religious quest, developed for this research, proved to be psychometrically sound, and were good discriminators between prejudiced and unprejudiced persons, across a variety of different measures of prejudice and authoritarian aggression. Scores on both Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Quest scales also were correlated strongly with right-wing authoritarianism and the Christian Orthodoxy scale, although orthodoxy itself tended not to be correlated with prejudice. Apparently, religious fundamentalism and nonquesting are linked with authoritarianism and prejudice toward a wide variety of minority groups. Possible explanations for these relationships are discussed.
1,116 citations
TL;DR: The authors demonstrate that attachment theory, as originally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory concerning the psychology of religion and argue that extending attachment theory in this direction may benefit social and developmental psychologists interested in such topics as interpersonal relationships, stress and coping, and loneliness.
Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that attachment theory, as origi- nally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory concerning the psychology of religion The essay begins with a brief over- view of contemporary models of attachment, with particular emphasis on adult attachment relationships Selected literature is reviewed concerning a variety of topics in the psychology of religion, including research on images of God, conversion, and prayer, and attachment theory is shown to provide a useful conceptual framework for integrating these findings It is argued that extending attachment theory in this direction may benefit religion researchers as well as social and developmental psychologists interested in such topics as interpersonal relationships, stress and coping, and loneliness
320 citations
TL;DR: The authors depolarize the concepts of means and ends in the psychology of religion, arguing that the critical question is not whether religion is lived or used, as Allport suggested, but how religion is used and to what ends.
Abstract: This article attempts to depolarize the concepts of means and ends in the psychology of religion. It is argued that everyone uses his or her religion. However, religion can be used in constructive as well as destructive ways. The critical question is not whether religion is lived or used, as Allport suggested, but how religion is used and to what ends. Thinking about religion as means and ends rather than means or ends offers a framework for organizing the richly diverse forms and functions of religious life, spiritual as well as nonspiritual. It provides a way to conceptualize and study the widely used but poorly defined notion of religious orientation. It also offers a way to evaluate the efficacy of religion in living.
111 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that the explanations for evil can be classified as natural, theological, or human ignorance and that they depend on the nature of the event to be explained (involving its type and severity) and on the factors associated with an individual's religious alignments and the importance of religion in his or her life.
Abstract: This study was concerned with lay explanations about the problems of evil, and so with theodicy. More than 100 subjects completed a six-part question- naire on human suffering in which they were presented with 15 possible ex- planations for the outcomes of five events-one concerning suffering in general and the others referring to specific instances of human suffering as a result of natural or manmade disasters that produced one or many deaths (and were therefore assumed to be less or more serious). Results showed that the explanations for evil can be classified as natural, theological, or due to human ignorance and that they depend on the nature of the event to be explained (involving its type and severity) and on the factors associated with an individual's religious alignments and the importance of religion in his or her life. These results are discussed in terms of attributional accounts of the re- sponsibility for evil.
41 citations
TL;DR: Hood, 1985, 1986, Spilka, Hood, & Gorsuch, 1985 as mentioned in this paper examined the pre-experience correlation between religious experience and mental health and found that it is a sign of the need to understand the complex nature of intense religious experience.
Abstract: Understanding religious experience constitutes one of the perennial problems of the psychology of religion. Though formal work on this topic began almost a century ago (Coe, 1990; Cutten, 1908; Hall, 1904; James, 1902; Starbuck, 1899), the questions phrased by early scholars have still to be definitively answered. Following the landmark research of E. T. Clark in 1929 on "religious awakening," research on religious experience essentially disappeared from mainstream psychology until about 1960 (W. H. Clark, 1971; W. H. Clark, Malony, Daane, & Tippett, 1973; Godin, 1985; Stark, 1965). Ralph Hood rapidly became the key research scholar in this area (Hood, 1985, 1986; Spilka, Hood, & Gorsuch, 1985). Despite his very significant efforts, including the construction of a mysticism scale (Hood, 1975), there is still a need for theoretically and operationally understanding the complex nature of intense religious experience. Specifically, this domain merits examination in terms of (a) possible pre-experience correl...
31 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the adequacy of attachment theory to account for all forms and levels of religious alignment is examined in terms of the essential ambiguity of religious attachments and it is concluded that the attachment must be recognized if they are not to be regarded merely as another form of compensation or as corresponding directly with other established attachments.
Abstract: Kirkpatrick's essay is examined in terms of the adequacy of attachment theory to account for all forms and levels of religious alignment. It is concluded that the essential ambiguity of religious attachments must be recognized if they are not to be regarded merely as another form of compensation or as corresponding directly with other established attachments.
15 citations
TL;DR: Freud's critique of religion cannot be fully understood if his ontogenetic perspective is explored outside of his phylogenetic perspective as discussed by the authors, which allows for illusionistic thought processes that are orthogonal to reality claims.
Abstract: Freud's critique of religion cannot be fully understood if his ontogenetic perspective is explored outside of his phylogenetic perspective. The former allows for illusionistic thought processes that are orthogonal to reality claims. The latter requires consideration of empirical claims to truth within a social psychological perspective. It is only the phylogenetic perspective that allows Freud to maintain that religion is delusional, whether or not it is also illusional. Freud's rejection of "as if" philosophies as exemplified by Vaihinger is based upon his refusal to allow religious truth claims to escape their empirical, social foundations. Recent efforts to revive psychological theories of religion rooted only in illusionistic thought, as exemplified in the use of Winnicott's conceptualization, must confront social psychological issues similar to those articulated within Freud's phylogenetic view. A mystical reading of Freud is suggested in which claims to truth within psychoanalysis, science, and reli...
12 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that this is a misleading picture of normative rabbinic and Hasidic views and contemporary practice and argued that depression-and suffering in general--is seen as an important opportunity for spiritual development.
Abstract: Frost claims that melancholy, in Judaism, can be an actively chosen, positive state and supports this with Wiesel's presentations of some Hasidic masters. I argue that is a misleading picture of normative rabbinic and Hasidic views and contemporary practice. Much as Frost suggests, however, depression-and suffering in general--is seen as an important opportunity for spiritual development.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors question the adequacy of theories of depression by challenging their reliance on a homeostatic model of mental health that labels all experiences of incongruity as negative.
Abstract: This essay questions the adequacy of theories of depression by challenging their reliance on a homeostatic model of mental health that labels all experiences of incongruity as negative. The concept of melancholy is offered as an alternative to understanding and evaluating experiential incongruity; it is a concept extracted and developed from the literature on religious studies in general and from the Hasidic stories of Elie Wiesel in particular.
7 citations
TL;DR: The psychology of religion emerged as an independent discipline in ecclesiastical universities in the 1960s and has since produced a substantial corpus of empirical research on Catholic religious behavior as well as numerous theoretical studies, mainly reassessments of Freud's view of religion as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Although the psychology of religion appeared relatively early in the history of psychology in Italy, it remained only a marginal academic concern for many years owing to suspicion and disagreement between Catholic religious institutions on the one hand and academics, psychologists, and practicing psychoanalysts on the other. It emerged as an independent discipline in ecclesiastical universities in the 1960s and has since produced a substantial corpus of empirical research on Catholic religious behavior as well as numerous theoretical studies, mainly reassessments of Freud's view of religion. The psychology of religion is still relatively unimportant in state universities in Italy, but numerous conferences and publications on a range of epistemological, methodological, and empirical research topics testify to a steady growth of interest in the subject.
6 citations
TL;DR: Hood's article on Mysticism, Reality, Illusion, and the Freudian Critique of Religion is examined from a constructivist point of view in this paper, where it is argued that Hood's misinterpretation of Freudian statements and of recent developments within psychoanalysis are due to an outdated conception of reality.
Abstract: Hood's article on Mysticism, Reality, Illusion, and the Freudian Critique of Religion is examined from a constructivist point of view. Hood's misinterpretation of Freudian statements and of recent developments within psychoanalysis are due to an outdated conception of "reality." We suggest that Hood's use of Freud might serve an apologetic, theological purpose. Hood has written a remarkable article that, after reading and rereading, leaves us confused. Whereas, in the empirical study of religion, Hood has produced fine scholarship, we find it difficult to catch the point he wants to make with this text. One must appreciate, of course, that he claims attention for Freud's theories of religion and enters a dialogue with recent authors in the psychoanalysis of religion, but it is doubtful whether he has done justice to Freud or Freud's successors. Moreover, Hood seems to have missed the essence of the present development of constructivism and contextualism in philosophy and psychology, and his argument rings...
TL;DR: In this article, the continua from illness and its treatment through creative depressions to normality are identified, stressing Frost's selective reading of the vast literature on melancholy and depression and his failure to accept the problems surrounding their differential diagnosis.
Abstract: With reference to historical accounts and current practice in clinical psychiatry, the continua from illness (and its treatment) through creative depressions to normality are identified, stressing Frost's selective reading of the vast literature on melancholy and depression and his failure to accept the problems surrounding their differential diagnosis.
TL;DR: The authors survey Canadian work in the psychology of religion, and discuss the difficulties involved in making such a survey, and identify the relevant work that is available, and present a survey of the most relevant work.
Abstract: This article surveys Canadian work in the psychology of religion, discusses the difficulties involved in making such a survey, and identifies the relevant work that is available.
TL;DR: This article made a distinction between clinical depression, an abnormal and alien negative state, and melancholy as an actively chosen positive state and found that the Hasidic concept of melancholy has been totally neglected by secular psychology and psychiatry.
Abstract: Although distinguishing depression (as abnormal or negative) from melancholy (as actively chosen and positive) may be helpful, we must recognize other forms of depression and accept sadness itself as a part of the human condition. From the beginning of Professor Frost's essay, I found myself resonating with his thesis that the Hasidic concept of melancholy has been totally neglected by secular psychology and psychiatry, and that them is an important distinction to be made between clinical depression, an abnormal and alien negative state, and melancholy as an actively chosen positive state. His presentation dearly illustrates how impoverished we are in the clinical disciplines for having neglected the insights not only of religious traditions but, more important, the existential approaches to understanding our human dilemma.
TL;DR: Hood as discussed by the authors argues that a Freudian critique of religion can be offered only within an experience of delusion because illusion is identified from reality, within faith, in the sense that illusion is defined by the distinction between illusion and delusion.
Abstract: As a complement to Hood's argument, it is emphasized that a Freudian critique of religion can be offered only within an experience of delusion because illusion is identified from reality, within faith. Hood's article offers a pertinent commentary on the issues that Freud addressed in applying psychoanalysis to the study of religion. In his discussion of the distinction between illusion and delusion, Hood draws attention to the essence of Freud's critique of religion. Freud's aim, one gleans throughout Hood's article, was less an attempt to illustrate the role of projection in the religious experience of individuals than it was an emboldened assay at the religious underpinnings of civilization. We may recall that, for Freud (1933/1964), religion alone was to be taken seriously as the enemy (p. 160). As such, Hood locates Freud's Contributions primarily within the context of an applied social psychology or socioanalysis. This placement distinguishes Freud from contemporary psychologists of religion, whose i...
TL;DR: The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion: Vol. 2, No. 2 (No. 2) as mentioned in this paper, pp. 135-140, 1992; The Psychology of Religious Knowing (Book)
Abstract: (1992). The Psychology of Religious Knowing (Book) The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion: Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 135-140.
TL;DR: In this article, a response to Pargament's article "Of Means and Ends: Religion and the Search for Significance" is given, in which the authors question the nature of religion as an end in itself, the tendency to make scales become constructs and the ability of people always to give reasons for their actions.
Abstract: In this response to Pargament's article Of Means and Ends: Religion and the Search for Significance, Pargament's definition of religion as always including reference to a transcendent power is questioned. Yet agreement is expressed with Pargament's questioning the nature of religion as an end in itself, the tendency to make scales become constructs, and the ability of people always to give reasons for their actions. The importance of values in the scientific study of religion is affirmed.