The psychology of religion: An overview.

Abstract

No other human preoccupation challenges psychologists as profoundly as religion. Whether or not they profess to be religious themselves-and many do not-psychologists must take religion into account if they are to understand and help their fellow human beings. Factoring in religion, however, is far more easily said than done, for in hardly any other sphere are individuals so cut off from one another. For modern secular psychologists, the great diversity of experiences, conceptions, and practices that constitute "religion" is largely unfamiliar. Moreover, the essential meanings of these phenomena are ultimately derived from their association with a transcendent dimension or realm that, although palpably real to many religious devotees, seems strictly illusory to the secular psychologist. Stripped of the transcendent dimension, religious content can only appear to be deluded superstition and fantasy.Yet even those psychologists for whom the transcendent is an unquestioned reality may have difficulty penetrating the worlds of other religious people. There is first of all the peculiar resistance of religious experience to expression in discursive language. Inevitably, even the most careful description risks being misunderstood, especially by those who have not had the experience themselves. Furthermore, because religion by definition concerns itself with a shared, ultimate reality, every religious claim implicitly asks for the listener's assent and personal appropriation. Most of 43

Clinical Judgment Faith Bias: The Impact of Faith and Multicultural Competence on Clinical Judgment

“…Psychologists may be particularly prone to equate social deviance with psychopathology, since there is a general clinician bias to perceive psychopathology (Garb, 1998). As noted above, clinicians have frequently considered religious beliefs and behaviors to be symptoms of psychopathology -especially the socially deviant religious beliefs and behaviors which highly religious people demonstrate (Frame, 2003;O"Connor & Vandenberg, 2005;Wulff, 1996). It is true some socially deviant traits are also pathologically deviant.…”

Secularisation and the ‘Holistic Milieu’: Social and Psychological Perspectives

“…But there is a body of evidence indicating that a questing orientation to religion, characterised by complexity, tentativeness and doubt, is more likely than orientations characterised by orthodoxy and commitment to be associated with such positive social traits as high levels of moral judgement, valuing of equality and non‐discriminatory attitudes (see Batson et al. 1993; Wulff 2001, p. 21). Thus, the lack of certainty in the spirituality of the holistic milieu may again be a sign of not weakness but maturity – or at least of a move towards maturity.…”

Perceived Clinician Competence to Work with Spiritual Issues in Supervision

“…This division has made arriving at a definition of religion difficult. Wulff (1996) discussed the theoretical differences that have contributed to modern psychology's understanding of religion. Several early theorists believed that religion was a liability.…”

“…B.F. Skinner suggested that people engaged in religious practices because the practices were followed by reinforcing stimuli. He suggested that religious practices were essentially exploitative and aversive because their primary goal was to be controlling (Wulff, 1996). In addition to Skinner, Freud believed religion was an infantile response.…”

“…He believed religion was an essential function of the human psyche and contributed to his conceptualization of the collective unconscious. Jung expressed the importance of considering the full range of human experience which includes religion (Wulff, 1996). A third psychology pioneer, Erik Erikson, viewed religion as an avenue of hope for people asserting that it was the path to "the most fundamental needs, fears, and longings of humankind" (Wulff, 1996, p. 58).…”