Content deleted Content added
Denninithan (talk | contribs) added the categories and see also |
m →Psychology: fix common MOS:REFSPACE spacing errors, replaced: {{sfn| → {{sfn| (2) |
||
Line 50:
==Psychology==
While conversion is the most studied aspect of religion by psychologists of religion, there is little empirical data on the topic, and little change in method since William James' classic ''Varieties of Religious Experience'' in 1902.
# ''Definition''. Calling this the "oldest issue in the field", Scroggs and Douglas indicate psychologists ask whether conversion requires a sudden about-face or gradual change. There is no consensus.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=206}} The word connotes a sudden about-face, but psychologists are unwilling to let go of the possibility of gradual conversion.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=206}}
Line 56:
# ''Type of person.'' Many wonder if there is one kind of person that is more likely to be converted than others.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=209}} Sociologists stress the importance of such variables as social class, group expectations, and social change (as in American frontier society or contemporary China). According to Scroggs and Douglas, William "James regarded the sick soul as the most likely candidate for conversion. The sick soul lives 'close to the pain threshold.' He is generally introverted and pessimistic in outlook, taking the evil of the world profoundly to heart. The sick soul is brooding, steeped in existential angst. He is Kierkegaard's man who is in despair and knows he is in despair".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=209}}{{pb}}
Trauma and existential crisis can lead to conversion. For the already converted, trauma is also often associated with "beneficial changes in self-perception, relationships, and philosophy of life, and positive changes in the realm of existential, spiritual, or religious matters" according to a study by psychologists Rosemary de Castella and Janette Simmonds.{{sfn|Tedeschi|Park|Calhoun|1998|p=13}}{{sfn|de Castella|Simmonds|2012|loc=abstract}}{{pb}}
A 2011 study indicates conversion can take either an inward form, wherein religion becomes the primary guiding principle and goal of the convert's life, or it can take an outward form where religion mostly serves other purposes, such as political or economic goals, which are more important to that individual than religion. For those who experience inward conversion, lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress are associated, while higher levels are associated with those who practice outward conversion only.
# ''Age''. Scroggs and Douglas say that early writers on the psychology of conversion were unanimous in regarding adolescence as the most probable age for conversion.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=210}}{{blockquote|In surveys of three churches, psychologist Robert Ferm found the average age of conversion to be 43, 46, and 41 years respectively.(Ferm, Robert, The Psychology of Christian Conversion. Westwood, N. J., Fleming Revell, I959,p. 218.) Converts made by Graham's first British campaign averaged in their middle twenties.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}} Jung emphasized mid to late thirties... Hiltner writes that conversion "is most important, most likely, and most cultivatable in the thirties, rather than being regarded primarily as an adolescent phenomenon".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}}}} Accordingly Ferm writes that, "It is probably fair to conclude from Erikson's theories that both the identity crisis in adolescence and the integrity crisis in the middle years constitute ripe moments for conversion".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}}
# ''Conscious or unconscious''. Exactly how much of the conversion experience is brought on by conscious control, and how much by unconscious factors behind or even beyond an individual, is also a matter of debate.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}} Forces beyond conscious control are cited by the majority of converts. Scriggs and Douglas wrote that "most psychologists agree the role of unconscious factors is extensive and often decisive in conversion, and that a long period of subconscious incubation precedes sudden conversions".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}} Allport, Maslow, Rogers, and others stress the role of conscious decision.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|pp=211-212}}
| |||