Archive for the Psychology of Religion

In a variety of ways, religiosity can help maintain or restore one's future capacity to act. Broadening the coping perspective for the psychology of religion (Pargament, 1997) seems to be an adequate theoretical framework for a differentiated analysis of who uses religiosity at what point, in what manner, and with which kind of outcomes in the process of coping with the future. We will introduce this approach and summarize the empirical results that are available up to now. Subsequently, we will be occupied with religious cognitions about the future in a narrower sense: with the so-called millenarian or chiliastic ideas of some religious communities about the imminent end of this world. First, we will work out the specific criteria of such cognitions. Based on the approach of religious coping we will then examine whether millenarianism can be helpful in coping with the future. Our functional analysis proposes that central elements of chiliastic ideas serve to convince the believer that his life has meaning and purpose despite the obvious suffering and evil in the world. However, specific difficulties and risks are intertwined with chiliastic forms of coping with the future, namely: the derogation of this world, the problems arising from a prediction of explicit dates for the end of the world, and the connection between millenarianism and violence.

A positive correlation between religious participation and subjective well-being has been demonstrated frequently in empirical research among Christian believers. In this article, we demonstrate that this relationship also exists in a Muslim religious context. Data are presented, collected from a sample of Muslim youngsters of Turkish and Moroccan origin, now living in The Netherlands. Analysis of variance showed that young Muslim migrants who carry out religious duties, have a better subjective well-being than those who are less religiously involved, although this is more the case with men than with women. A qualitative analysis of the interview protocols revealed that female migrants suffer more from the restrictions laid upon them by religious obligations. It revealed also that the underlying factor of the relationship between religion and subjective well-being is group cohesion. Religious observance strengthens a feeling of togetherness and collective identity.

The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality – also known as the Big Five – may be relevant to psychology of religion. First, we review empirical research which has used Eysenck's taxonomy. Second, after a brief presentation of the FFM, we hypothesize, on the basis of research in the Eysenck framework as well as on the basis of research in psychology of religion generally, how each of the five factors may be related to religiosity. Third, we insist on the necessity of including gender differences when studying the association between personality and religion. Fourth, we discuss the results from an exploratory study on religiousness and the FFM (Saroglou, 1998) and we compare the results of this study with the few studies on Big Five to have used religious variables. Finally, the discussion focuses on the importance of personality taxonomies when studying religiosity and on the usefulness of the FFM for this purpose.

This article investigates the subject of pilgrimage and change, regarding the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela from a pilgrim's perspective. Two aspects of change are being looked at more closely: 1. The inner transformation of today's pilgrims during their pilgrimage, as well as the factors leading to their transformation, and 2. The occurance of recent structural changes of the pilgrimage and their background. These changes also reflect the tensions between pilgrimage and tourism, and the pilgrims and the politics of pilgrimage respectively.

The Sator square is a widespread palindrome: It may be read like a grid from left to right and vice versa, from top to bottom and vice versa. For nearly 2,000 years, it has been serving above all for magic purposes, among other things for healing sick persons, furthermore as a magic fire extinguisher. The sequence of letters was a riddle and invited contradictory attempts to solve it. The author pleads for not taking it only as a challenge for the riddle-solving mind, but also for reading it in the bustrophedon way, i.e. bidirectionally, as the ox turns when ploughing. Doing so, a swaying rhythm would result. The cruciform middle as a cosmological cross, however, would symbolise absolute stability, and thus the complex unity would lead to „mountains moving“ faith. In research with the random generator working with Strontium 90, the Schmidt-machine, resulted that such a mental state is indeed favourable for psychokinetic effects (von Lucadou). So far, magic can be accompanied by science today. But the mystic consciousness expressed by the central TENET remains out of the positivistic science's reach and demands a different kind of religious psychology for its articulation.

The impact of sexual abuse on religious functioning is an underresearched area, notably with male victims. We are in need of comprehensive theories and sound research. Based on research by the author on religious coping and the religious dynamics in male survivors, this article outlines parts of a narrative theory, provides a case study, and concludes with implications for research on religious coping with sexual abuse. It is claimed that research should take into account the effect of sexual abuse on religious constructions and the plurivocal nature of the personal narratives.

In the Netherlands religion on the one hand and mental health care on the other, have grown apart in the process of secularisation. Nowadays however one can witness a growing need amongst counselors and psychotherapists to be educated in the field of religion, meaning giving and world views (Van der Lans, Pieper, Van Uden, 1993; Raaijmakers, 1994). That religion is back in the focus of attention can also be concluded from the fact that in the latest version of the diagnostic bible, the DSM IV, a separate code (code: V 62.89) has been included for religious or spiritual problems (Lukoff, Lu, Turner, 1992). The case study of a patient with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, which we will present is meant as a contribution to this educational process. We will show how important it is to look at the religious frame of reference of a patient and how this can be handled in the psychotherapeutic treatment. The case will be put within the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism (Mead, 1934).

This paper presents the results of an empirical study among two groups of psychotherapists in the Netherlands. One group works in a mental health institution based on religious principles (the Gliagg), and the other group in a general mental health institution (the Riagg).

The investigation starts with an overview of the religious background and religious practices of the therapists. Some equations with the average Dutch citizen are made.

The next part of the study deals with the perception by psychotherapists of religious issues connected with psycho-social problems. How often in their opinion is there a relation and what kind of relation is at issue?

The third part of the study considers the way in which psychotherapists treat these religious issues. Do they attend to them and what kind of (religious) interventions are used? Special attention is given to the question of whether there are contacts with the clergy.

We conclude that religion should be given a more pronounced place in general mental health care and that Riagg psychotherapists, in particular, should become better equipped to deal with religious issues.

During the last few years forgiveness has been seen as an important element in psychological health. The development of forgiveness therapy and its application by psychotherapists to areas like family therapy attests to its growing significance. As a consequence it is important to investigate what people understand by forgiveness and in what circumstances this knowledge structure is retrieved.

The present study forms part of ongoing research to access and measure a person's construct of forgiveness. Two studies are compared across three dimensions: semantics, questionnaire instructions and five methods of accessing a forgiveness knowledge structure. In the first study, 49 students from the University of Glasgow were presented with descriptions or videoed scenarios of an act of infidelity. After each presentation they completed the Scobie Forgiveness Scale (SFS, 1996). In the second study, 315 students from the University of Glasgow completed four measures, only the SFS is used in the current study.

A comparison of the studies suggests that minor word changes and questionnaire instructions may not exert a significant influence on participants’ responses. However, different methods of accessing knowledge structures may have an effect on an individual's construct of forgiveness. The results suggest that different methodologies (video, descriptive scenarios, personal experience, experience of friend/relative or fictional character), affect participants’ responses in both the forgiver and the forgiven mode. The findings may have implications for the general accessing of knowledge systems and for the measurement of forgiveness.