Psychology of Religion

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Psychology of Religion

• Chris Dykhuisen
• Honors 201
• November 4, 2003

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William James(1842-1910)

• US psychologist and philosopher
• Varieties of Religious Experience (1903)
• Institutional vs. personal religion
• Against dogmatism

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Alfred Adler(1870-1937)

• Austrian psychiatrist famous for theory of
  Individual Psychology
• Belief in God characteristic of ones tendency to
  strive for perfection and superiority
• Ideas about God important indicators how we see
  the world
• View embodies our goals and directs our social
  interactions

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Gordon Allport(1897-1967)

• Important contributor to personality psychology
  through trait theory
• The Individual and His Religion helps show
  Allports interest in people as individuals the
  book discussed how people use religion in
  different ways
• Mature religioncharacterized by those whose
  approach to religion is dynamic and open-minded

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More Allport

• Immature religionself-serving and generally
  represents negative stereotypes
• Religious orientation Intristic vs. Extrinsic
• Example Intrinsic people attend church for
  religious purposes while extrinsic people attend
  as a means of meeting people or coping with
  everyday stress

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Abraham Maslow(1908-1970)

• Hierarchy of Needs Self-Actualization
• Motivation of religion is to move towards a goal
  that is both individual and community centered
• Self-Actualization achieves this through setting
  rules for everyday life while at the same time
  explaining why the rules are important

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More Maslow

• Maslow contibuted heavily to what is now
  Transpersonal Psychology, or the study of the
  spiritual well-being of individuals
• Transpersonal psychologists blend both Eastern
  and Western religion with modern psychology
• Often reject mainstream psychologys adoption of
  scientific methods

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Erik Erikson(1902-1994)

• Known for psychosocial stages consisting of
  crises and virtues
• Psychohistory of Gandhi and Martin Luther reveal
  positive influence of religion on culture
• Cultures use religion to promote the learning of
  virtues which leads to healthy personality
  development

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Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung(1856-1939) and
(1875-1961)

• Freud saw religion as originating from the
  child/father relationship as God is seen as
  Heavenly Father
• Jungs archetypes, or mythical heroes, could be
  seen as God-like since they are outside the
  individuals ego
• Jung was also interested in uniting Eastern and
  Western religious ideas

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Works Cited

• http//www.psywww.com/psyrelig/psyrelpr.htm
• http//www.totse.com/en/ego/self_improvement/selfa
  ctualizat169144.html