Normative and Motivational Determinants of Reported Religious Experience in Two Baptist Samples

Abstract

The eflects of both normative expectation and personal religious motivation on reported religious experience were studied in two Baptist samples. Subjects were categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic types according to their pattern of responses to Allport's Religious Orientation Scale. The dependent measure was reported religious experience as measured by Hood's Religious Experience Episodes Measure (REEM). In both samples intrinsically oriented subjects were more likely than the extrinsically oriented to report religious experiences. Southern Baptists as a group were more likely to report religious experiences than American Baptists. There was no interaction between religious membership and religious orientation. These data support the validity of the REEM as a measure that is sensitive to both sociological and psychological factors. Two recent studies Hood, (1970, 1971) have demonstrated a relationship between religious orientation and a measure of reported religious experience, the Religious Experience Episodes Measure (REEM). Employing Allport's (1966; Allport & Ross, 1967) intrinsic and extrinsic typology, Hood demonstrated that intrinsically motivated persons were more likely to report having had religious experiences than were extrinsically motivated persons. Hood's basic approach is consistent with the tendency of social scientists to view religious experience from a purely psychological perspective as evident in both classic (James, 1902; Jung, 1936; Leuba, 1925; Starbuck, 1899) and current works (Arieti, 1967; King, 1968; Maslow, 1954; Van Kaam, 1964). However, while the purely psychological perspective is clearly relevant and empirically fruitful, it tends to ignore the sociological fact that some situations are organized toward producing reported religious experience as simple normative expectations. Glock and Stark (1965:152) have empha-