RELI 376 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Reductionism, Factor Analysis, Religious Habit
8 Sep 2015
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Document Summary
Psychology of religion torn between mainstream psychology and religion. Split between empirical scientific aspirations and non-empirical. Psychologists realize the importance of religion in social and cultural life. Personal faith significant research venture and meaningful subfield of social psychology. Empirical methodology is a source of controversy. Effort to create a scientific psychology of religion. Empirical gaining knowledge from events which are publicly observable . Objective : standardized measuring instruments and/or use of experimental methods. Subjective: focus on procedures that are more humanistic. Idiographic : focus on clinical methods, individual and claimed qualitative perspectives. Both orientations have their own advantage but for different purposes. Which is most likely to provide the most valid and useful information for a scientific psychology of religion. Scientific psychology of religion the very term complicates the study of individual faith. Religion creates a great deal of feeling and emotion. Subjective-empirical methodology better to study traditional forms of religion. Objective-subjective better to understand liberal forms of religion.
