Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions pp 1904–1910 Cite as
Psychology of Religion
- Raymond F. Paloutzian 3
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Cognitive science of religion ; Cultural psychology of religion ; Neuroscience of religion and spirituality ; Psychoanalysis of religion ; Psychology of spirituality ; Scientific study of religion ; Social scientific study of religion
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The psychology of religion is that area within general scientific psychology whose goal is the understanding of the processes that mediate human religiousness in all its variations. The topics within its orbit range from the micro (e.g., the brain processes involved in experiences that a person may deem religious, spiritual, or sacred) to the macro (e.g., the psychological factors involved in complicated individual and group religious social behaviors), with all of the standard areas of psychology that reflect multiple levels of analysis in between – e.g., learning, developmental, personality, cognitive, perceptual, motivational, emotional, and social psychological processes must all be taken into account. It tries to understand both...
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Paloutzian, R. F., & Park, C. L. (Eds.). (2005a). Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality . New York: Guilford.
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The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Westmont College Psychology Department, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108-1099, USA
Dr. Raymond F. Paloutzian ( Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Editor, The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion )
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Correspondence to Raymond F. Paloutzian .
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Department of Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark
Anne L. C. Runehov
Pontificia Universita Antonianum, Roma, Italia
Lluis Oviedo
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Paloutzian, R.F. (2013). Psychology of Religion. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_939
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The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice
- Armando R. Favazza , M.D., M.P.H. ,
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For most of the twentieth century, religion has taken its lumps. Freud infantilized it. Communism decried it. God never has appeared to the ever-waiting Godot. Philosophers and even some theologians, especially after Auschwitz, have said that God is dead. Sin has been transformed into criminality and mental illness. In recent years, however, religion has been hot and spirituality even hotter. Jesus is on the cover of news magazines. Angels, the newly acclaimed social workers of the universe, suddenly are everywhere. Religious healers promise to cure “artheritis” and “old timer's disease” anytime, anywhere; all you need is a television set and a credit card. Books and articles boldly announce that people who attend church and pray live longer, healthier lives. Can this be true or too good to be true?
Kenneth Pargament, a professor of psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a recipient of the American Psychological Association's William James Award, has written a massive, scholarly, even-handed, level-headed book on religion and coping from a psychological perspective. His book does not compare major religious traditions but, rather, focuses on the pivotal periods where religion meets crisis and people are put to the test. Pargament notes that psychology and religion have become rivals; in place of confession, conversion, sins, and virtues, we have psychotherapy, personal growth, and ethics. Yet, the differences are not irreconcilable. “What psychology can offer are important insights into the footprints left by religion. These insights do not speak to religion's truth, but they do help us understand its manifestation and insights” (p. 10).
The strength of the book is its meticulous, almost plodding, step-by-step examination of what religion means and what coping means and how the two interact. A 57-page appendix neatly lists more than 250 pertinent studies with information about the sample, methods, and results. Original data are supplied from the author's own Project on Religion and Coping, in which comprehensive batteries of religious coping measures were administered to several hundred members of Protestant churches and Roman Catholic parishes who had experienced major stressful life events within the past year.
Since I cannot do justice to the intricacies of the book in the space of a brief review, I shall skip to some conclusions. First, results of research on the relationship between religious orientation and the outcomes of negative events “provide only modest evidence for the value of religion on stressful situationsIn fact, most of the time (62% of the cases), religion appears to be unrelated to the outcomes of negative events. Moreover, this pattern of results seems to hold true regardless of which aspects of religious orientation are being studied” (p. 283).
To the question, “Is religion helpful, harmful, or irrelevant in coping?” the author's answer is yes. “Religious coping is all of the above” (p. 286). He also says, “Specific forms of religious coping may be particularly effective stress buffers for particular groups faced with particular kinds of problems” (p. 306).
These conclusions are hardly ringing endorsements for religious coping. Indeed, Pargament notes, “On the face of it, people appear to be able to cope as effectively without religion as with it.” However, he goes on to demonstrate that in within-group studies, people give religion more favorable ratings than other coping strategies. Religion undeniably adds a unique dimension to the coping process and seems to be especially helpful to more religious persons who have less access to secular resources and power in our culture, such as the “elderly, poorer, less educated, blacks, widowed, women” (p. 301).
This is a very fair and respectful book; despite its proreligious stance, it contains an insightful chapter entitled “When Religion Fails.” The book sets a new standard of excellence for works on religion and psychology. Although it lacks any biological or psychiatric focus, I highly recommend it to colleagues who desire to organize their thoughts about religion.
by Kenneth I. Pargament. New York, Guilford Publications, 1997, 548 pp., $50.00.
- Cited by None
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This introduction to the special section recounts the events that led to it and the rationale for it. The goals for this special section are to address the appropriate focus for our field and this journal with concrete suggestions, to address specifically the issue of Theistic Psychology as one approach, and to identify connections between our area and the field of Psychology more generally ...
Psychology of Religion☆ Ralph W. Hood Jr., Sally B. Swanson, in Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, 2018 Challenges in Contemporary Psychology. The popularity of psychology of religion as a disciplinary specialty has prompted many areas of psychology to employ the scientific study of religion to understand human behavior and experience form a myriad of perspectives.
It presents articles covering a variety of important topics, such as the social psychology of religion, religious development, conversion, religious experience, religion and social attitudes and behavior, religion and mental health, and psychoanalytic and other theoretical interpretations of religion. The journal publishes research reports ...
The psychology of religion is that area within general scientific psychology whose goal is the understanding of the processes that mediate human religiousness in all its variations. The topics within its orbit range from the micro (e.g., the brain processes involved in experiences that a person may deem religious, spiritual, or sacred) to the ...
The book sets a new standard of excellence for works on religion and psychology. Although it lacks any biological or psychiatric focus, I highly recommend it to colleagues who desire to organize their thoughts about religion. by Kenneth I. Pargament. New York, Guilford Publications, 1997, 548 pp., $50.00. Figures.
The goal of this handbook is to provide thorough coverage of the current state of the field: what we know about religion and spirituality and their roles in human functioning (as well as what we do not know), and how we can apply this knowledge to advance the welfare of people, individually and collectively. In addition, we hope to spur the field forward by encouraging greater coherence and ...
The international, peer-reviewed journal Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv für Religionspsychologie is the oldest periodical that publishes research in the psychology of religion. It is the organ of the International Association for … | View full journal description. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics ...
Table of contents for Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 45, 3, Nov 01, 2023 ... Meaning in life has become an important topic in empirical research in the ...