Which psychology(ies) serves us best? Research perspectives on the psycho-cultural interface in the psychology of religion(s)

Abstract

The article concentrates on answering the main question to be addressed, as stated in its title: which psychology(ies) serves us best? In order to achieve this goal, we pursue possible answers in history of psychology of religion and its interdisciplinary relationships with its sister disciplines, anthropology of religion and religious studies, resulting with sketching a typology of the main attitudes towards conceptualising psycho-cultural interface, prevalent among psychologists: the Universalist, the Absolutist and the Relativist stances. Next chosen examples from the field of applied psychology are presented, as the role of the cultural factor within the history of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ ( DSM) development is discussed alongside presenting research on the phenomenon of ‘hearing voices’, in order to show the marked way for the future – the importance of including the cultural factor in psychological research on religion.

Three decades of the Polish psychology of religion (1989–2020)

“…In terms of qualitative researcher's workshop, the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, used and developed by Pietkiewicz and his team (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014), is becoming more and more popular among scholars. The cultural approach, the postulate of conducting culturally sensitive research, or paying more attention cultural contexts, is yet another postulate of Polish psychologists of religion, especially those from the "Kraków school" (Anczyk et al, 2020), and also cross-cultural psychologists from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw (e.g. Piotrowski, Żemojtel-Piotrowska).…”

“…Piotrowski, Żemojtel-Piotrowska). Last, but not least, it was in Poland that a new proposal appeared to extend the horizons of the psychology of religion to issues related to migration processes, thus conducting research within the discipline, taking into account the achievements of the psychology of migration and migration studies (Anczyk & Grzymała-Moszczyńska, 2020;Grzymała-Moszczyńska & Kanal, 2019). Certainly there are more studies on the subject of religion published by Polish psychologists in other leading psychological journals, authored both by scholars associated with the IAPR or the Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, and academics-social psychologists mostly, but also researches in the field of cognitive study of religion-that are not specializing in psychology of religion/spirituality, but occasionally publish works that are somewhat connected to the field (e. g. Sekerdej et al, 2018;Slyke & Szocik, 2020;Talmont-Kaminski, 2018;Talmont-Kaminski & Wojcik, 2017).…”

“…Psychologists connected to Catholic institutions who study the Catholic religion often have great knowledge of it, but also understand the studied phenomena in a more profound way. This is especially important in Polish cultural context, where Catholicism, in its different shades, is an important part of culture and identity (or its negotiation), therefore research done by such scholars (or at least part of it) could fit into the "indigenous psychology of religion" paradigm and thus respond to the demand for a more culturally-sensitive approach in modern psychology of religion and spirituality (Anczyk et al, 2020).…”

Perilaku Religiusitas Komunitas Muslim Timor Leste Pasca Konversi Agama di Sumedang

“…Aturan serta kewajiban tersebut dapat berfungsi sebagai alat dalam mengikat seorang individu atau kelompok dalam menjalankan hubungannya dengan Tuhan sebagai Sang Pencipta dan sesama umat manusia di sekitarnya. Karena sulitnya memberikan definisi yang universal yang dapat mencakup pada semua aspek agama, maka hingga saat ini memang belum ada satupun definisi tentang agama (religion) yang dapat diterima, karena para filsuf, sosiolog, psikolog dan agamawan merumuskan agama menurut cara dan latar belakang keilmuannya masing-masing (Anczyk, et al,, 2020).…”