Abstract
The psychology of religion used to be a small and little known field. Although a few pockets of work in the area were done when Psychology began, it was functionally nonexistent for 1/3 of psychology’s history, and received little attention for most of the rest of it. However, in the past 20 years the field has become vast in scope. It now intersects all subfields of general psychology. Also, the psychology of religion no longer exists only in Western countries. It is now an international field with research being conducted worldwide. This article summarizes this trend and documents psychology of religion in the world and in Brazil as a part of it. The need for a multilevel interdisciplinary approach to research and theory is highlighted, as a way to synthesize knowledge of religiousness cross-culturally and trans-religiously. Future research should invoke a meaningmaking model in order to examine not merely observable religious behaviors, beliefs, or experiences, but their underlying roots, i.e., their meanings and attributions made about them. Such research can help us eliminate barriers between disciplines, cultures, religions, and nations.
Highlights
The psychology of religion used to be a small and little known field
In the past 20 years the field has become vast in scope. It intersects all subfields of general psychology
The phrase “post-Christian” era was often heard in intellectual circles. This trend was reflected in the field of psychology by the absence of an area of research called the psychology of religion
Summary
Based on talk given at the 10th Seminar of the Psychology and Religious Sense, Curitiba, Brazil, 10TH November 2015. Mainstream psychology paid little attention to it and a scant amount of convention time was devoted to it at professional meetings Saroglou (2014) examined publications in personality and social psychology journals and found that the frequency of use of the word “religion” or “spirituality” in article titles and abstracts increased by a factor of approximately 3-4 over the previous couple of decades. There was some modest increase in interest in the psychology of religion (and at the later stages, in the psychology of spirituality) in the years prior to 9/11 This can be accounted for by a new generation of psychologists who decided that this topic was important, manifestations of which include the advent of APA Division 36, IAPR, and the early writings on the cognitive science of religion. Psychologists who previously did not do research on this topic were convinced that the psychological roots of religiousness should be researched in a serious way, just as any other behavior, if we were ever going to create a comprehensive, valid theory of all human behavior
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