PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION

1
PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION

• Historical Context, Underlying Assumptions,
  Perspectives on Religion

2
Historical Context

• USA

3
TENSION OPPORTUNITIES

• The psychological study of religion in the USA
  illustrates tensions and opportunities that exist
  between psychology and religion. It also
  demonstrates the multifaceted views taken by
  psychologists as they address areas of living
  that have personal implications.

4
BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

• Many psychological theorists have had interesting
  perspectives on religion
• William James (1842-1910)
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
• Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
• Carl Jung (1875-1961)
• Gordon Allport (1897-1967)
• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
• Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

5
WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)

• Major work, Varieties of Religious Experience
• James distinguished between institutional
  religion and personal religion.
• Institutional Religion This refers to the
  religious group or organization, and plays an
  important part in societys culture.
• Personal Religion This refers to the individual
  who has a mystical experience, one that can be
  experienced regardless of the culture.

6
SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)

• Freud laid the foundation for psychoanalysis
  which has had tremendous influence on modern
  culture.
• In his broad theories, he attempted to explain
  how we are influenced by past events and by
  things outside our conscious awareness.

7
FREUDPSYCHOANALYSIS

• As a therapy, psychoanalysis is based on the
  observation that individuals are often unaware of
  many of the factors that determine their emotions
  and behavior. These unconscious factors may
  create unhappiness, sometimes in the form of
  recognizable symptoms and at other times as
  troubling personality traits, difficulties in
  work or in love relationships, or disturbances in
  mood and self-esteem. Because these forces are
  unconscious, the advice of friends and family,
  the reading of self-help books, or even the most
  determined efforts of will, often fail to provide
  relief.

8
PSYCHOANALYSIS

• Freud suggested that people experience conflicts
  between what they do (represented by our ID) and
  what we are told by society and parents that we
  should do (represented by our Superego). This
  conflict is resolved by the Ego.
• Freud viewed religion as originating in the
  childs relationship to the father hence in many
  cultures God is viewed as a Heavenly Father. In
  this way, religion reflects an attempt to fulfill
  our wishes and is an illusion.
• The popularity of the psychoanalytic perspective
  has declined to 10 in the APA and 5 in the APS.
  
• However, psychoanalytic interpretations of
  religion remain popular in some circles.

9
ALFRED ADLER (1870-1937)

• Primary work portraying his ideas, Individual
  Psychology
• One of Adlers most famous ideas is that we try
  to compensate for inferiorities that we perceive
  in ourselves.
• A lack of power often is at the root of
  inferiority.
• One way religion enters into this picture is
  through our beliefs in God, which are
  characteristic of our tendency to strive for
  perfection and superiority.

10
ADLER RELIGION AS COMPENSATORY

• Example In many religions God is considered to
  be perfect and omnipotent, and commands people
  likewise to be perfect. If we too achieve
  perfection, we become one with God. By
  identifying with God in this way, we compensate
  for our imperfections and feelings of inferiority.

11
ADLER GOD AS MOTIVATOR

• Adler is interested mainly in the idea of God as
  a motivator, and not in the question of whether
  or not God exists. What is important is that
  God (conceptually) motivates people to act.
• Adler suggests that we are left with two options

12
ADLER OUR OPTIONS

• We can either assume that we are at the center of
  the world both ours and Gods and that God will
  care for us as we wait passively for attention,
  or
• We can assume that we are the center of the
  world, and actively work to achieve societys
  interest.
• Adlers point is that if we assume that we have
  power over our surroundings, then we will act in
  ways to benefit the world around us. Our view of
  God is important because it embodies our goals
  and directs our social interactions.

13
ADLER SOCIAL IMPACT

• According to Adler, religion is important in that
  it exerts a great influence on our social
  environment, and represents a powerful social
  movement.
• When compared to science (another social
  movement), religion is more advanced because it
  motivates people more effectively.
• Adlers assertion was that only when science
  begins to capture the same motivational fervor as
  religion, will the two be equal in the publics
  eyes?

14
CARL JUNG (1875-1961)

• Jung was concerned with the interplay between
  conscious and unconscious forces. He proposed two
  kinds of unconsciousness
• Personal Unconscious (or shadow) This includes
  things about ourselves that we would like to
  forget.
• Collective Unconscious This refers to events
  that we all share by virtue of our common
  heritage (humanity).

15
JUNG ARCHETYPES

• The word "archetype" was coined by Carl Jung, who
  theorized that humans have a collective
  unconscious, "deposits of the constantly
  repeated experiences of humanity.... a kind of
  readiness to reproduce over and over again the
  same or similar mythical ideas...." This shared
  memory of experiences has resulted in a resonance
  of the concepts of hero and heroine (or, gods and
  goddesses) that transcends time, place and
  culture. Jung called these recurring
  personalities archetypes, from the Greek word
  archetypos, meaning first of its kind. 

16
GORGON ALLPORT (1897-1967)

• Classic work, The Individual and His Religion
• Allport made important contributions to the
  psychology of personality, refining the concept
  of traits.
• Allport classified the use of religion as
• Mature Mature religious sentiment occurs when a
  persons approach to religion is dynamic,
  open-minded, and able to maintain links between
  inconsistencies.
• Immature Immature religious sentiment is
  self-serving and generally represents the
  negative stereotypes that people have about
  religion.

17
ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908-1970)

• Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs, ranging
  from lower level physiological needs, through
  love and belonging, to self-actualization.
• Self-actualized people are those who have reached
  their potential for self-development.
• Maslow claimed that mystics are more likely to
  have had peak experiences, experiences in which
  the person feels a sense of ecstasy and oneness
  with the universe.
• Maslows theory of psychological health is
  value-based.

18
(No Transcript)
19
ERIK ERIKSON (1902-1994)

• Erikson is best known for his psychology of
  development.
• Erikson believed that proper psychological
  development occurs in a series of eight stages
  that follow a sequence.
• Associated with each stage is an identity
  conflict involving a positive resolution (or,
  virtue) and a negative resolution (or,
  pathology).
• Erikson considered religions to be important
  influences in successful personality development,
  promoting virtues and prohibiting pathologies.

20
(No Transcript)
21
UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

• THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY

22
UNDERLYING ASSUMPTION

• The Psychological Assumption of Reductionism
  This view asserts that scientists understand
  something by examining the effects of its
  component parts (phenomena, observable to the
  senses) and as such is at odds with the religious
  assumption that the world cannot be taken at face
  value (i.e., there is more than meets the eye).

23
UNDERLYING ASSUMPTION

• Psychologists who study other phenomena assume
  that those phenomena are real.
• Those psychologists who study religion address it
  as a reality that can be received only in a
  state of faith.
• This sets up a tension between psychology and
  religion.
• For example The act of faith is so critical to
  religious knowledge and experience, but in
  psychology skepticism (all knowledge is
  uncertain, contra. dogmatism that asserts a
  matter of opinion as though it were fact) is an
  enduring value, but in religion it is an
  intermediate step on the pathway to belief.
• The methods and theories (assumptions) of
  psychology have appeared to be incompatible with
  the more subjective and experiential methods of
  religion.

24
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY

25
Psychoanalytical Unconscious motives for religious beliefs (Freud) Reduces religious belief to some natural attempt to cope with life.
Analytical Archetypes explain religious belief (Jung) Considered by most psychologists as unscientific
Object Relations Maternal influence on the child (Freud) Methodology Case Studies and Group Samples
26
Transpersonal Confronts spirituality directly, often assuming the spiritual phenomena are real (Maslow) Small, but growing influence among psychologists.
Phenomeno-logical Favor description and critical reflection over experimentation and measurement. Methodology Experience-based and reflective in analysis.
Measurement Use mainstream scientific psychological methods (experimentation and correlation) to study religious life (Allport) Methodology Measure belief according to certain social behaviors and attitudes.