The Psychology of Religion in Brazil

Abstract

Religiousness is an important aspect of the formation of Brazilian subjectivity. This raises the issue to be addressed in this article—the issue of the place of the psychology of religion in Brazil. This text presents the psychology of religion in Brazil based on three sources of information: the activities of the Psychology & Religion Working Group, a look at the postgraduate programs that have been developing research on psychology of religion, and an analysis of studies that have been conducted in this area since 2000. A brief examination of Brazil's religious context is performed, considering its impact on culture and behavior, followed by an overview of past developments and current trends in this field of research. Psychology of religion has been studied from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives in Brazil and has an interdisciplinary connection mainly to sciences of religion, theology, philosophy, and anthropology. Theoretical approaches go from cognitive psychology of religion to cultural psychology of religion, and to social psychology and psychodynamics. This study concludes with suggestions for future directions.