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Psychology and Religion

Psychology of religion is the academic discipline investigating religious experience, belief, and behavior. William James' (1902) Varieties of Religious Experience marked a quarter-century burst of research activity that faded into almost nothing with the advent of behaviorism. Since then the discipline has enjoyed a resurgence in the 1960s with the popularity of social psychology. Psychology of religion currently occupies a small but solid niche within the wider field of psychology.

Sites in Psychology and Religion

Nielsen's Psychology of Religion
Resources including online texts, course syllabi, bibliography, theoretical perspectives, and links to journals and professional organizations.

Centre for Psychology of Religion (Louvain)
Publication abstracts and contact details of research program at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), headed up by Jean-Marie Jaspard. Bilingual: French and English.

Psychological Influence in Spiritual Movements
A discussion of the features of psychological influence most common to spiritual movements.

Psychology and Christianity Project
Research program at University of Cambridge seeking to apply psychology to the work of the Church.

Spirituality Research
Publishes empirical research on spirituality. It offers a conceptual and a graphic model of spirituality, and a questionnaire designed to measure the strengths of spiritual beliefs.

Functional Origins of Religious Concepts
Essay by cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer recounting theory and experimental evidence for the ontological and strategic selection of supernatural concepts.

Tracing the Synapses of Our Spirituality
Washington Post article by Shankar Vedantam on researchers examining the relationship between brain and religion.

Perceptions of God Survey
Online research into images, concepts, and metaphors of God by Earl Schaefer.

Are We Hardwired for God?
The Guardian newspaper's review of Pascal Boyer's book "Religion Explained".

AmoebaWeb: Psychology and Religion
Douglas Degelman's directory of resources related to the integration of psychology with religion, sexuality, science, and prayer.

Virtual Religion Index: Psychology of Religion
Directory of resources covering religious experience, therapies, and psychological theory.

Wanting More in an Age of Plenty
Excerpt from psychology professor David G. Myers' book "The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty".

COG-SCI-REL-L
Archived cognitive science of religion email discussion list, focusing particularly on anthropological and cognitive developmental psychology research investigating the formation and transmission of religious ideas.

Psychology and Religion
Collection of annotated links from Nikitas Kafkios. Categories include resources dealing with integration, anti-psychology sites, journals, and bibliographies.

Centre for Psychology of Religion (Leuven)
Dirk Hutsebaut's research program within the Psychology Department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). Includes full-text articles for download.

Campaign for Forgiveness Research
Supports 46 innovative scientific projects on forgiveness and reconciliation on the individual, family, and national levels. Includes details of individual projects, a speakers bureau, and information and personal stories about how to forgive.

Centre for Ministry Studies
Research center within the University of Wales at Bangor. Includes abstracts for much of Leslie Francis' published research.

S.P.i.R.i.T. Research Group
Spirituality and psychology research team at Bowling Green State University, headed by Kenneth Pargament and Annette Mahoney. Brief description of research areas, contact details, and profiles of directors.

Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Program
Funding program for investigation into the sociocultural, psychological and neurological factors that underlie the processes of spiritual transformations of individuals and groups. Includes literature review, timeline, and details of winning grants.