Religious attitudes and beliefs

Religion is a pervasive and significant cultural phenomenon, so people who study culture and human nature have sought to explain the nature of religion, the nature of religious beliefs, and the reasons why religions exist in the first place. There have been as many theories as theorists, it seems, and while none fully captures what religion is, all offer important insights on the nature of religion and possible reasons why religion has persisted through human history.The variety of research and intervention directions from psychology had a major influence on the religious aspect on studying human life. A consequence of numerous psychological approaches consists in the countless methods of approaching religiosity. In order to understand how an author sees religiosity and religious behavior, it is essential for us to know his theory on personality and human behavior.

The main books where Sigmund Freud, the father The main books where Sigmund Freud, the of father psychoanalysis , exposes , his theoryhis on theory religion of psychoanalysis exposes are: and taboo, The future of The an illusion, onTotem religion are: Totem and taboo, future Anguish and civilization, Moses and monotheism. of an illusion, Anguish and civilization, Moses and monotheism. common element of The common element The of this books and the idea he this books the is idea sustains all of sustains in all and of them thathe religion is ain neurosis. is as that religion is a neurosis . In so far In them so far Freud considers that neurosis is as the Freud considers that neurosis is the result of result of repressed sexuality, he sexualizes repressed sexuality, he sexualizes religion, as religion, as Palmer says. The proves proposed by Palmer says. The proves proposed by Freud to Freud to that reveal that is religion just neurosis a sexual reveal religion just a is sexual neurosis and an illusion, been discredited by and an illusion, havehave been discredited by diverse authors over time. diverse authors over time.

Some behaviorists psychologist, including Watson and Skinner, pay attention only to behavior, considering it the only objective aspect which can be measured and observed. Skinner considers that people respond to stimulations from environment and operates on environment to obtain certain consequences. Based on operant conditioning stand the idea that we behave in the way we do, because this behavior had some consequences in the past. Some behaviorists attack religion sustaining they can explain it in terms of learning process : may be due to the fact that ones involved have been rewarded for their religious behavior.

E.B. Tylor and James Frazer are two of the earliest researchers to develop theories of the nature of religion. They defined religion as essentially being the belief in spiritual beings, making it systematized animism. The reason religion exists is to help people make sense of events which would otherwise be incomprehensible by relying on unseen, hidden forces. This inadequately addresses the social aspect of religion, though, depicting religion and animism are purely intellectual moves. An important concept proposed by Jung is the archetype. Archetypes are innate forms for perception and apprehension. Archetypes are lived as emotions or images and have a significantly effect in situations like life or death. For Jung, God is an archetype of collective unconscious being common to all the people, at least at unconscious level. The consequence of the fact that for Jung God is an archetypal form, is that he is part of mental constitution of every man. At Jung, the absence of religion reports a disorder.

A special attention was paid to the study of the relationship between personality traits and religiosity of authoritarianism and dogmatism. Authoritarianism assumes that individuals are subject to the authority and conventional norms, rejecting all come out. Studies investigating the aspect of personality have shown that authoritarianism correlates positively with fundamentalism, which encourages obedience to authority, the conventional and the feeling of superiority. Dogmatism, called by Rokeach closed mind, describes individuals who are rigid in thinking, intolerance of ambiguity and unable to cope with the new information. Studies investigating the relationship between religiosity and religious dogmatism show that people get higher scores on a rating scale of dogmatism than nonreligious people; members of all churches reject members of all other churches even more because their beliefs are different. Women are considered more religious than men. Wright and Cox sustain that women have an image of God as being loving, forgiving, haling, while men see God as powerful, planning and controlling.

There have been emerged new directions in the psychology of religion from the perspective of personality. Two such examples are : spiritual transcendence and ultimate concerns. The first one refers to the ability of individuals to detach the immediate feeling of time and space and see life from a larger and objective perspective, providing such a unified look on life and nature. The second one is about religious motivation.