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Cults & Society
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| Bookreview | ||||
Frank MacHovec, Ph.D. Center for the Study of the Self Gloucester, Virginia |
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The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach (2nd ed.).This book
is authored by four full professors of psychology who promise to be
“sensitive to the difficulties and limitations of a purely empirical
approach” without abandoning “commitment to empiricism as the single
most fruitful avenue in understanding the psychology of religion” (p.
viii). No biographical information is given other than university
affiliations on the title page. This second edition has been expanded
with more material on family, schools, “religion and coping,” and
more recent research. The book’s format is scholarly, with a preface,
acknowledgments, and an annotated table of contents, as well as numbered
endnotes throughout the 13 chapters, an impressive 67-page,
single-spaced references section; 15-page, 3-column author index; and
10-page, 3-column subject index. The book provides an overview of the
subject, then explores the psychology of religion in separate chapters
on childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, death and suicide, conversion,
mysticism, morality, coping and adjustment, and mental disorders. While
classic theorists are cited, such as James, Freud, Piaget, Kohlberg,
Bowlby, Erikson, and Eysenck, the citations far exceed those sources. Chapter 1
describes problems of past research, hindered by a lack of operational
definitions and a firm theoretical base. Biological, social,
attribution, and disposition theories of religion are reviewed. Starting
from classic heredity versus environment might have made the text more
easily understood by nonacademic readers. Locke, Leibnitz, and Rousseau
- forerunners of today’s major personality theories - are not cited.
Chapter 2 explores religion in childhood in the context of major
theorists Piaget, Elkind, Erikson, Kohlberg, and Bowlby. Chapter 3
describes religion in adolescence with respect to parenting, peers,
college, and gender differences, with reference to Allport’s
“religious doubt” and socialization theory. Chapter 4
explores religion in adulthood. It criticizes many previous studies that
classified people by stated faith rather than denomination or depth of
commitment. Religious aspects of socialization, marriage, sex, and
politics are described. Therapists may question the conclusion that
“more recent research suggests religiosity has no inhibiting effect on
sexual behavior” (p.128). Despite more than a decade of political
activity by the “moral majority” and antiabortion protestors, the
area of politics and religion “begs for exacting research”
(p.145). Chapter 5
studies how the threat of death, anxiety, bereavement, near-death
experiences (NDEs), AIDS, and euthanasia is affected by religion.
Becker, who authored the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Denial of Death, and Kenneth Ring, who wrote The Omega Project on NDEs, get one reference each out of 158. Kubler-Ross,
a pioneer in the hospice movement, is not cited. Chapter 6 examines the
experience of religion from sensory, behavioral, cognitive, and
affective aspects. There is interesting data on biofeedback, altered
states, meditation, prayer, speaking in tongues, hallucination, and
split brain phenomena. Chapter 7
explores religious mysticism and possible explanations of erroneous
attribution, heightened awareness, evolved consciousness, or a normal
function of someone struggling to find meaning. Mystic movements within
major world religions are not included (e.g., Gnostic Christian, Sufi
Moslem, Hassidic Jews, Zen Buddhists, Hindu yoga). These and ancient
mystery cults are evidence of a significant common need met by mystic
ideas and ritual. There is no reference to Joseph Campbell, Thomas
Merton, or Alan Watts, prolific writers on the subject. Religious
conversion is the subject of Chapter 8, described as complex,
multifactoral, and varied: “No one process of conversion applies to
all conversion motifs” (p. 288). Deconversion is also examined, less
researched but similar to conversion phenomena. Chapter 9
treats social aspects of religion, starting with Neibuhr’s church-sect
theory, organizational dynamics, and ends with cults and the anti-cult
movement. “Most cults by their very nature can be expected to appeal
permanently only to a minority of followers” (p.328). That is perhaps
of little consolation to loved ones of the more than a thousand persons
who died at Jonestown and Waco. “Research suggests the controversy
surrounding new religious movements is not simply an issue of the
processes such movements employ to attract and convert members” but
“more likely one of the significant tensions that mainstream religions
and secular groups have with novel religions” (p.329).
Mainstream religions may be defensive about cults, but this is
not the sole or major concern. Religion
and morality are considered in Chapter 10, where the authors conclude
that “research has generally found that stronger religious beliefs and
involvement are associated with decreased premarital sexual activity in
a broad sense” (p. 346). The more fundamentalist the religion, the
greater the inhibiting effect. The chapter ends with a review of
research on the correlation of authoritarianism to religiosity. Chapter
11 examines how religion relates to coping skills and adjustment.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Selye’s general adaptation syndrome
are not included. Chapter
12 discusses religion and mental disorders. Religion is seen as having a
socially conforming and behavior-control function which also provides
positive role models and a “haven” from stress. Mystical
experiences, glossolalia, conversion, and scrupulosity are described. A
discussion of the therapeutic aspects of religion, the role of pastoral
counseling, and the concerns about sex abuse, aging, ethnicity, and
gender closes the chapter. In this
reviewer’s opinion, Chapter 13, “Epilogue,” should have been
included in chapter 1. It places the study of the psychology of religion
into historical and theoretical contexts. Wundt and James were both open
to objective and subjective research studies. Both nomothetic and
idiographic research models are useful. The old dichotomy between
science and religion is fading and “religion is no longer a marginal
concern of psychology” (p. 446). There is a need now for empirically
supported theory to “illuminate religious and spiritual phenomena that
otherwise may only be seen ‘through a glass darkly’”(p.
452). This book
is valuable as a source book of tables and references that reflect the
1990s approach of psychology as an organized science to religion and
cults. It is of limited use to therapists since it is a study-based
researcher’s view of the religious experience rather than clinical
realities, exceptions, and individual differences. Frank
MacHovec, Ph.D. |
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