Religion in Personality Theory

439 Pages·2014·3.18 MB·English

by  Frederick Walborn (Auth.)

Religion in
PERSONALITY
THEORY
FREDERICK WALBORN
Glenville State College,
Glenville, WV, USA
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to my parents. Without my mother’s unfaltering faith
and love and my father’s modeling and supporting the importance of ques-
tioning, this book would never have been written.
PREFACE
The original reason I wrote this book is because there are so few psycho-
logical texts that summarize the religious and spiritual writings of the classic
psychologists. In personality theory textbooks, if there is any mention of the
religious/spiritual writings of the theorists, the summations are limited and
brief. They are frequently limited to the writings of Freud, Jung, Maslow,
and Allport. Due to the brevity of the summations, the richness of the origi-
nal theorists’ writings on religion and spirituality is lost.
Twelve of the 14 theorists reviewed in this book wrote expansively on
religion and spirituality. Two of the theorists had little or nothing to write
on religion and spirituality, Mischel and Bowlby. Walter Mischel’s writing on
religion and spirituality (Mischel & Mischel, 1958) was limited to an article
on the primitive religious practices of the Shango worshippers in Trinidad.
I decided to include a chapter of his writings in this book because it served
as a good introduction to the thought-provoking research conducted by
Ralph Hood (1998) on the religious practice of serpent handling. I also
included the chapter on Mischel because there is research to support that his
concept of delay of gratification is exhibited more frequently by religious
compared to nonreligious participants. This delay of gratification is probably
an important mediator variable, partially explaining why religious people
tend to be emotionally and physically more healthy than nonreligious.
John Bowlby, attachment theory, wrote nothing on religion and spiritu-
ality. I included a chapter on attachment theory because in the past twenty
years, there has been a surge of research associating attachment theory with
a variety of religious and spiritual pathways.
Except for the above two theorists, Mischel and Bowlby, the remaining
twelve theorists extensively wrote on religion and spirituality.
Many of the theorists, writing during the 1900s, commented how reli-
gions needed to evolve. They noted the exodus of many people from the
traditional practices. Reading their words leaves a person with the feeling
that civilizations are on the culmination of something equivalent to the
Protestant Reformation; otherwise, religions will go the way of the dino-
saurs. Europe has particularly encountered the emptying of the churches,
temples, and synagogues.
xi
ix Preface
As highlighted in Chapter 1, in the United States the movement within,
away, and toward religion is different from the European exodus. Even
though most of the people in the United States declare they are religious,
their participation in regular religious services is on the decline and the
younger generations are less likely to be religious. The definition of the
terms “religion” and “spirituality” as used throughout this book are also
clarified in the first chapter.
The remaining chapters, on individual theorists, each follow a similar
format; there are a couple of exceptions due to limited information. The
chapters are divided into three major lobes. The chapters open with a reli-
gious and spiritual biography of the theorist. Research has supported there
is a linkage between the personal lives of theorists and their resulting theo-
ries (Runyan, 2006). The second major area covered by the chapter is the
writings of the theorists. I extensively use direct quotations from the theo-
rists because it enhances the overall tone of their message and leaves less
room for misinterpretation. The third, and final, section of the chapter is an
overview of the current research on the theoretical writings. During the
past 20 years, there has been a proliferation of research on religion and
s pirituality. The next 20 years will definitely be even more exciting, as the
quality of research also evolves.
It was not my original intent, but the book concludes with an i ntegrative/
comprehensive personality theory of spirituality and religion. A compre-
hensive theory is needed. The quagmire of divergent theories on spirituality
and religion has been reflected by the mixed results of research. The struc-
ture of the comprehensive theory is based on the suggestions of Salvatore
Maddi (1976, 2007).
This book is intended for clergy, clinical therapists, empiricists, personality
theorists, and theologians. The majority of people question the role of
r eligion and spirituality in their development of an identity and while mak-
ing some meaning of life. The resulting answers of peoples’ questioning of
religion and spirituality have a profound impact on their personalities and
how they live their lives.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to Peter Barr, PhD, the president of Glenville State College
(GSC), for his support of this endeavor. We had enlightening discussions of
the book, and he granted a sabbatical leave to work on this book. Even
though we may have varied on some of the tenets of religion, Dr. Barr’s
enthusiasm and questioning of this project was always welcomed.
The support of GSC’s library staff was unequivocal in the efficacious
retrieval of journal articles. Particularly, I acknowledge Gayle Westbrook
and Amanda Lamb. I have benefited greatly from my discussions with
Alan Daniels and Mark James on the various topics of this book. When I
read the theorist’s original works, I would highlight sentences to consider
using as citations. Michaela Grogg enthusiastically took on the tiring job of
typing out my highlights so that I might have direct quotes to use in the
book.
This book would never have materialized on time if it were not for the
computer reclamations of Rob Kerns. I could telephone him and say “The
computer is doing something screwy,” and he would be at my house within
a half-hour to fix it. These occurrences happened over eight times. I am
thankful to have had such a computer knowledgeable person as Rob to fix
things when I was in the midst and mindset of writing. He also read and
made grammatical corrections on most of the chapters.
Finally, I am grateful to Nikki Levy and Barbara Makinster at Academic
Press. Our telephone conversations and emails were always positive and
uplifting. For example, when I informed Nikki that I wanted to stray from
the original outline of the book, and conclude it with a comprehensive
theory on spirituality and religion, her immediate response was “Why not?”
xiii
C HAPTER 1
Introdcu tion
Contents
An Overview of the Psychology of Religion/Spirituality 3
Defning Religion and Spirituality 6
Reasons for Studying Religion/Spirituality and Personality Development 7
Religious/Spiritual People tend to be Healthier 8
Dark Moments from Religion’s Past 9
Some Dark Religious Behaviors from the Past 9
Some Dark Scriptures 10
Questioning Religion and Spirituality on a Personal Level 11
Some Bright Moments from Religion’s Past 13
Some Bright Religious Behaviors of the Past 13
Some Bright Scriptures 14
Praising Religion and Spirituality on a Personal Level 15
Movement Toward, Within, and Away from the Church 16
Statistics on Religion Survey (2010) 16
The Gallup Polls (2007 and 1948) 18
What to Expect from this Book 18
During the process of writing this book, many students, colleagues, friends,
and acquaintances asked me about its content. When I replied that it was a
book about the psychology of religion and spirituality, the majority of the
people voiced strong opinions about their beliefs regarding the role of
r eligion/spirituality in life. I have known many of these people for a num-
ber of years, and I had no idea how strong their beliefs, opinions, and/or
attitudes were toward religion/spirituality. It did not matter whether a per-
son was an atheist, agnostic, of a mainstream religion, or evangelical, people
had very strong opinions about religion that they were eager to express. It
was as if, before I could tell them anything about the book, there was going
to be nothing that I could say or write that would change their opinion.
Some of the more honest people who had strong religious/spiritual
beliefs questioned me on how psychology could have anything to do with
religion. Some of these honest people were reflective of the religious camp
that believed that psychology could have nothing to do with religion
because their beliefs were based on faith and the mystical. Likewise, there
were other honest people of the opposing camp, atheists and agnostics, who
eR oigil nni eP sr ontila ehT y ory © 2014 Elsevier Inc.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407864-2.00001-1 All rights reserved. 1
2 Religion in Personality Theory
questioned what psychology had to do with religion/spirituality. They
questioned why such an area of science, such as psychology, would want to
study such an esoteric and immeasurable field as religion?
I didn’t try to convince my students, friends, or colleagues of a way for
them to think about religion/spirituality. That is neither my purpose in life
nor the purpose of this book. It is beyond my writing abilities, let alone my
intellect, to understand God and to convey this understanding or lack of
understanding to the reader. This book is not a persuasive book pro or con
religion/spirituality. I will attempt to control my personal beliefs so that the
reader may have as unbiased a presentation as possible of the various writ-
ings of the major theoretical psychologists, along with a review of the cur-
rent empirical literature. I will attempt to maintain the role of a messenger
to the best of my abilities. In the final chapter, I present a comprehensive
theory on religion and spirituality which follows the various pathways both
religious and nonreligious people might follow.
It is only fair, in such a hot-topic area, that the reader knows the author’s
“biases.” I consider myself a religious/spiritual person, because I do believe
that there is more to life than simply being rational, following our personal
unconscious paths, and/or being a passive recipient of stimulus-response
connections. I would also consider myself to be religious in that I have
attended and been a member of numerous churches and organizations, all
of the Protestant faith. The reason that I have attended churches of this par-
ticular denomination is because, like the majority of people, that is what I
have known and what has been available. I know I need to reach out more,
and become acquainted with the practices of other religions. But, I am still
trying to discover the messages of the Protestant religion. I have been for-
tunate to have found other people that are receptive to an open interpreta-
tion of God and the importance that such faith can have in today’s hectic
world. I do not interpret the Bible literally. I believe that all of the major
religions are basically similar in their writings, because they prize the gift of
moving from being self-focused to being other-focused. From such knowl-
edge, we gain a true sense of love.
In this book, I will to keep my personal beliefs and biases at bay, but I
fully acknowledge that this will not be totally possible. Even though some
of my beliefs about religion/spirituality will emerge, I hope that the presen-
tation will enlighten many readers on the writings of the major classical
personality theorists and the current psychological research on religion/
spirituality. Many readers will like what some of the theorists in the follow-
ing chapters have written on religion/spirituality, and they will also find the
Introduction 3
writings of other theorists to be way off the mark. There is a good deal of
variety between the various great theoretical psychologists on how they
viewed the role of religion in life. The comprehensive theory, in the final
chapter, is an integration of the theorists’ and empiricists’ writings.
Even with the above disclaimers, the reader is forewarned that the vast
majority of theorists who wrote on religion/spirituality believed that reli-
gion and/or spirituality played a significant role in people’s personality
development. Also, a general finding of recent research is that religious/
spiritual people tend to be physically and psychologically more healthy than
nonreligious/nonspiritual people. A section in this chapter summarizes the
empirical studies. However, as the chapters progress, it will become apparent
that the relationship between religion/spirituality and health is not so clear.
Some theorists and research results conclude that certain religious/spiritual
practices are unhealthy. Likewise, as will become evident by the conclusion
of the book, there are also positive and negative secular trends.
The following sections of this chapter summarize the present status of
the psychology of religion/spirituality, the definitions of the terms “reli-
gion” and “spirituality,” the importance of studying religion/spirituality, the
dark and bright moments of religion, the recent waning and waxing of
formal religion, and, finally, what to expect from this book.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION/
SPIRITUALITY
A summary of a recent survey conducted with psychologists concluded,
“On the whole, psychologists remain quite nonreligious” (McMinn,
H athaway, Woods, & Snow, 2009, p. 10). On a five point Likert-type scale,
21% of the psychologists reported religion to be very important in their life
(4 or 5 rating), 25% endorsed a midpoint rating of 3, and 54% of the
p sychologists endorsed a 1 or 2 rating (1 = not at all important). The results
of this survey are similar to a previous survey of clinical psychologists
c onducted by Delaney, Miller, and Bisono (2007) and a survey conducted
on psychiatrists and other mental health professionals (Shafranske, 2000).
Overall, mental health practitioners and psychological scientists do not
endorse religion as being an import facet of their lives.
Fifty-four percent of the psychologists in the previously mentioned sur-
vey considered themselves to be unaffiliated with a religious organization.
In comparison, 16% of the general population of the United States consid-
ered themselves to be unaffiliated with a religious group (Statistics on
4 Religion in Personality Theory
Religion in America, 2010). This relative lack of endorsement of religion by
psychologists is partially reflected by the neglect of theorists’ writings in
personality theory textbooks. I reviewed ten personality textbooks, and
only three had chapters in regard to religion. Of the three personality text-
books that did include significant information on religion, they all made
reference to Eastern religions. However, in only one of the ten textbooks
was there significant material on the role of W estern religion in personality
development (Ellis & Abrams, 2009).
Even though psychologists do not tend to endorse being religious, they
do endorse being spiritual. Sixty-one percent of the psychologists surveyed
rated spirituality as very important in their lives (4 or 5 on a 5-point scale),
21% as fairly important (3), and 18% as not at all important (1 or 2) (McMinn,
Hathaway, Woods, and Snow, 2009). Thus, we are already introduced to a
major schism in the field, the idea of people being religious and/or spiritual.
In the following section, I review some of the current literature on these
two divergent-yet-related terms.
One possible reason that current psychologists who write personality
theory textbooks and other comprehensive books on psychological theory
are not reviewing the literature on religion is because the authors of the
textbooks are not religious, even though the majority of the general popu-
lation do consider themselves religious. The authors of textbooks do not
consider religion to be important in their personal lives, so they believe that
religion does not actually play a significant role in the majority of peoples’
lives. I would like to believe that this is not the major reason for the neglect
of the religious writings of various personality theorists because it would
suggest blatant denial of other people’s experiential world and an overt pro-
jection of the textbook writer’s beliefs.
A second plausible reason for the lack of a review of the religious and
spiritual writings of the theorists is that it is a touchy subject. As I men-
tioned at the opening of this chapter, people have strong opinions about
religion and spirituality. Thus, for some authors of textbooks, it might
feel uncomfortable to summarize the religious writings of prominent
psychologists.
A third reason for not including religion and spirituality, as I have per-
sonally discovered, is that there is a lot of material that can be very confusing
and difficult to summarize. The summary of personality theorists’ writings
on religion/spirituality could easily be a class in and of itself. Further,
reviewing the empirical literature on the different theorists’ vantages takes
an inordinate amount of time.