Personality and the psychology of religion

Abstract

Three major personality dimensions were identified: extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. According to the theorizing, extraversion and psychoticism were predicted to be negatively related to religiosity, whereas neuroticism was positively related. The evidence has generally failed to support the predictions with respect to extraversion and neuroticism. However, low psychoticism is consistently related to religiosity, and this relationship is stronger with respect to the personal rather than public orientation to religion. Most of the available evidence is correlational in nature, so it is very difficult to explain this relationship. Future research should be broadened to include longitudinal studies and mood manipulations in order to clarify the processes underlying the potentially important links between psychoticism and religiosity.     

Humanistic psychology and religion: Steps toward reconciliation

Disagreements have surfaced recently among rank- and-file mental health practitioners regarding the relationship between psychology and religion. To mediate these differences and misunderstandings, a study is presented here of the basic concepts of humanistic psychology vis-á-vis major elements of Judeo-Christian biblical theology. An assumption is posited that all forms of knowledge share a fundamental language basis and symbolic system regarding the ultimate questions and meanings of existence. From this presupposition similarities and congruities among specific elements of humanistic psychology and biblical theology are discussed, providing a basis for more intensive empathic dialogue and cooperative research. A bridge is established to enable therapists to understand better their clients' religious conflicts and/or emotional stresses caused by religious factors.     

Mainstream personality psychology and the study of religion

In this commentary, I make some general observations about the study of personality and religion and some specific comments about individual articles from the perspective of contemporary personality psychology. Most of the authors represented here treat religion as a domain of human experience and behavior that can be understood in terms of familiar personality principles and processes. I therefore urge greater attention to the Five-Factor Model of personality traits, especially Openness to Experience, in understanding religious phenomena. Mainstream psychologists, including longitudinal researchers, behavior geneticists, and epidemiologists, should consider the inclusion of religious variables in their research designs.     

Interface of psychology and religion: Trends and developments

Historically speaking, psychology, as a human science discipline, has neglected the study of religion and its profound impact on human behaviour and thought processes. This paper briefly discusses why psychology must study religion and examines attitudes that psychologists and religionists hold toward each other. Empirical studies are quoted, showing a powerful relationship between religion and human adjustment. A literature review on recent developments between the two disciplines is also given. It is concluded that despite historical animosities, there is an increasingly favorable interface between the two disciplines and that given certain conditions this trend is likely to become stronger in the future.     

略论西方宗教心理学中无神论与有神论话语权的争夺

如果把1882年霍尔（Granville Stanley Hall,1844--1924）的第一篇宗教心理学论文《对儿童的道德与宗教训练》作为现代西方宗教心理学的开端,西方的宗教心理学迄今已有120余年的历史。回顾西方宗教心理学走过的道路,可以发现,有神论思潮在西方宗教心理学的发展中始终处于主导或控制地位,而具有无神论倾向的宗教心理学家的声音十分微弱．这种状况至今仍在延续。本文拟就百年以来西方宗教心理学中无神论与有神论话语权的争夺状况作一简要梳理．并就与此相关的学术文化对策问题略抒己见。     

Methodological concerns in the psychology of religion: Continuities,losses and transforming perspectives

This article seeks solutions to what has recently been called the ‘crisis' in the psychology of religion by returning to the programs of its founding fathers. It explores some of the methodological debates that followed the translation of William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience into German. More was at stake than the commonly drawn distinction between empirical and hermeneutical approaches to religion, or between quantitative and qualitative methods. What was at stake was the need for another kind of psychology in general. This article pays special attention to Wilhelm Wundt's fundamental criticism of James and of others in the psychology of religion. Despite the problems inherent in both James' and Wundt's aborted general psychology programs, each nonetheless contains approaches that may yet serve as an impetus to contemporary research on religion. Contemporary developments in cultural psychology in particular complement current research in the psychology of religion.     

Methodological concerns in the psychology of religion: Continuities, losses and transforming perspectives

This article seeks solutions to what has recently been called the ‘crisis’ in the psychology of religion by returning to the programs of its founding fathers. It explores some of the methodological debates that followed the translation of William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience into German. More was at stake than the commonly drawn distinction between empirical and hermeneutical approaches to religion, or between quantitative and qualitative methods. What was at stake was the need for another kind of psychology in general. This article pays special attention to Wilhelm Wundt's fundamental criticism of James and of others in the psychology of religion. Despite the problems inherent in both James' and Wundt's aborted general psychology programs, each nonetheless contains approaches that may yet serve as an impetus to contemporary research on religion. Contemporary developments in cultural psychology in particular complement current research in the psychology of religion.     

An encounter between psychology and religion: humanistic psychology and the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns

In the 1960s, humanistic psychology changed the relationship between psychology and religion by actively asserting the value of individual experience and self-expression. This was particularly evident in the encounter group movement. Beginning in 1967, Carl Rogers conducted a series of encounter groups, in order to promote "self-directed change in an educational system," for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a religious order in California running an educational system. William Coulson, one of Rogers's associates in the project, later charged that the encounter groups undermined the religious order and played a major contributing part in the breakup of the order in 1970. The article examines these charges, situating the incident within the context of the changes occurring in religious life and in psychology in the 1960s. The article concludes that an already existing conflict the nuns had with the conservative Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles led to the departure of some 300 nuns from the order, who began the Immaculate Heart Community, an organization existing today. Nevertheless, encounter groups proved to be a psychological technology that helped to infuse a modern psychological--specifically, a humanistic psychological--perspective into contemporary religious life.     

Switching tracks in psychotherapy: Parallel paradigms in psychology and religion

Can a practitioner work with patients who frame their concerns in religious terms and are ignorant of or hostile to psychological theory? A “roundhouse” metaphor, predicated upon the assumption that psychology and religion employ models wherein individuals are influenced byagencies that expressintentions in service ofdesigns, is proposed to facilitate movement from psychology to religion and back again. Utilizing the personality theory of C. G. Jung, a case is analyzed to see how well the roundhouse assists in using psychology to address the religious issues of the patient.