Title: Cognitive approaches to religion
1Cognitive approaches to religion
2Cognitive approaches
- Belief systems are pivotal as they provide people
with a working model of the world that helps them
make behavioural choices. - Cognitive-psychological research on religion
remains sporadic and incompletely connected.
3Key websites
4Information processing the modal model
- In the modal model environmental input enters the
sensory registers and from there is encoded into
short-term or working memory. - Some of this material makes it to long-term
memory where it is organised according to
existing knowledge, such as categories, schemas,
and scripts in a richly interconnected network. - What we experience and what we think we know is
always framed by what we experienced before and
believed already.
5Applications to religion research
- A number of theorists maintain that religious
cognition is produced exactly the same as other
kinds of cognition. - Boyer (2001) suggested that the human mind
produces a limited set of recurring concepts
across religious and cultural groups. - Theorists concur that normal cognitive processes
are sufficient to explain religious belief and
experience. - However, some theorists assert that religious
cognition is distinctive, raising the possibility
of a scared agency being partially responsible
for the patterns of religious cognition observed.
6Key Books
- Boyer, P. (2001). Religion explained London
Random House.
7Perception
- Recent evidence supports the priming effect of
religious terms (Wenger, 2004) as well as
perceptual differences related to religious style
(Ash et al., 1996). - It is possible that people with different
perceptual styles are drawn to different
manifestations of religious faith.
8Memory
- Since memory content is extensively structured by
pre-existing patterns, both culturally given and
personally salient, our experiences tend to
confirm our expectations, both religious or
otherwise. - McCauley and Lawson (2002) point out that memory
is essential for ongoing transmission of
religious practice, particularly in preliterate
cultures. - For example, rituals believed to involve the
direct intervention of a superhuman agent rely on
high sensory and emotional stimulation rather
that rehearsal to be memorable.
9Knowledge structures and framing
- Religion has been described as a cluster of
schemas that are used to organise new information
and to guide decision making (Ozorak, 1997) - Many religions and some religious philosophies
help believers distance themselves from past
failures and approach the future with a positive
outlook (Barnes-Holmes et al., 2001)
10Judgement, decision making and problem solving
- Subjective utility theory the notion that
people choose on the basis of what they want,
tempered by what they expect is the dominant
model of decision making. - Research on religion and decision making has
focussed mainly on choices involving
contraception (Iyer, 2002), and sexual abstinence
(Paul et al., 2000), or explicitly religious
choices (Chaves Montgomery, 1996). - For those with highly elaborated religious
schemas, many choices likely reflect religious
values.
11Judgement, decision making and problem solving
- Religious based problems solving research has
focussed mainly on coping. - This research often has a strong cognitive
component as it often focuses on appraisal. - Maltby and Day (2003) found that positive
religious coping is associated with tendencies to
appraise problems as challenges rather than as
threats or losses.
12Insight and intuition (implicit knowing)
- Miller and CDe Baca (2001) suggest that insight
is more than cognitive, involving the opportunity
for self-transformation through recognition of an
authentic truth that demands a new way of
acting. - Two theories of insight (McGregor et al., 2001
Knoblich et al., 2001) concur that self-imposed
constraints on the definition of the problem or
the strategies considered for solving it are
frequently the cause of mental impasse, and that
insight occurs when these restraints are removed
or tempered.
13Insight and intuition (implicit knowing)
- Religion because of its strong affective
component, might provoke such impasses as well as
resolve them. - Research ought to examine peoples reported
experiences of applying their faith to problem
solving to see whether the patterns of thought
predicted by theories of insight occur.
14Counterintuitive ideas
- A shared quality of religious belief systems is
that they deal with mysterious or
counterintuitive phenomena events or entities
that cannot be accounted for by mundane
explanations. - Boyer (2003) argues that religious belief systems
generate mysteries, much like supernatural
thinking. - Boyer and Ramble (2001) have shown that
information with counterintuitive features is
more easily remembered than similar information
with no intuitive violations.
15Counterintuitive ideas
- Sinnot (2000) argues that the ability to
assimilate counterintuitive religious ideas is a
consequence of postformal cognition, a mature
ability to hold apparently contradictory logics
in dialogue with one another. - Cognitive capacities may explain what it is
possible for us to believe but they do not tell
us why particular beliefs emerge from the set of
possible beliefs.
16Social Cognition schemas and scripts
- Social cognition is thought involving social
interaction and ourselves as social beings. - Since religion provides contexts for interaction
it plays a role in social perception, social
memory, and relational reasoning.
17Basic dimensions of religious schemas
- Moehle (1983) analysed reported religious
experiences to identify the salient dimensions
along which they varied. - These dimension were level of personal control
spiritual-temporal and social-individual. - Distinctions in prayer types (e.g. Ladd Spilka,
2002) appear to relate to the social-individual
and level of personal control dimensions of
religious experience.
18Attributions of causality
- There is evidence that religious attributions are
favoured for events with far-reaching
consequences, especially positive ones (Lupfer et
al., 1996). - Both religious orientation and religious
conservatism affect the way in which individuals
make attributions (Hovemyr,1998 Kunst et al.,
2000). - When religious attributions are made individuals
often perceive divine causes working indirectly
(e.g. through other people) rather than through
direct action.
19Relational schemas
- Relational schemas predict and shape interaction
with others (Baldwin, 1992). - For religious believers in some traditions the
faith tradition suggests certain kinds of
relational schemas that should operate between
the individual and God, and between the
individual and the community. - Ozorak (2003) found that volunteer service
activated religious relational schemas for
college students who described themselves as
religious.
20Judgement and framing
- A number of researchers have looked at the role
of religious contexts and beliefs in framing
judgements, with mixed results. - Turiel and Neff (2000) argue that culture,
religion, gender, and social position interact in
complex ways to produce moral judgements, and
that individuals choices may distinguish between
the morally best choice and the pragmatically
best choice, given the social context.
21Cognitive dissonance
- Religion causes as much cognitive dissonance as
it resolves (Exline,2002). - Homosexual Christians whose own beliefs were at
odds with one another had more difficulty
resolving the dissonance than those who
attributed the dissonance they felt to external
causes, such as other peoples prejudices
(Rodriguez Ouellette, 2000). - When the church is supportive dissonance is
minimized (Rodriguez Ouellette, 2000).
22Social perception social identity
- Level of commitment to a particular reference
group affects how much an individual will be
influenced by the norms of that group. - Those whose religion is highly salient to them
show different patterns of values than those
without a strong religious identity (Lau, 1989)
and adhere more to religious group norms of
behaviour and cognition (Wimberly, 1989).
23Social identity
- Many Americans describe their belief as a logical
process (Kenworthy, 2003), perhaps because this
fits the preferred cultural script for attitude
formation. - Relationships appear to be central to the
development of religious identity (Jacobs, 2000). - Popora (1996) found that religiously oriented
people are more likely to have personal heroes
whom they try to emulate.
24Self-perception
- A religious identity can have strong effects on
self-perception. - For African Americans religion seems to buffer
self-esteem (Ellison,1993). - The reverse can be true for gay and lesbian
Christians (Mahaffy, 1996). - Intrinsic religiosity has predicted a tendency to
see oneself as more virtuous than others.
25Judgements of others
- Mixed relationship between religion and prejudice
is the result of separable factors, including
right wing authoritarianism and Christian
orthodoxy (Laythe et al., 2002). - We tend to like those who are like us and project
additional good traits onto those weve
identified with. - Hewstone et al. (2002) described several
theoretical models of biases in social perception
that help to explain how religion might affect
the perception of others.
26Group identity effects
- Even in the so-called melting pot of the U.S.
cultural groups like the Amish are identified
primarily by religion. - Group identities interact in multifarious ways
and must be kept in view when studying religion. - Gender is the group variable most widely used in
the study of religion.
27Key website
- Explaining the Amish Way of Life - VOA Story
- http//www.youtube.com/watch?vPAgSCTdnrhkfeature
related
28Language social responses to language
- Ethnic and religious minorities have strong
responses to the use of the home language, rather
than the majority tongue. - Changing from traditional masculine language for
God and humanity to more inclusive terminology
remains a sticking point in many U.S. churches
(Greene Rubin, 1991).
29Discourse and narrative
- The same story seems to have different meanings
for Christians and Jews (Goldberg, 1991). - Discourse analysis, with its attention to levels
of language illuminates such debates as the
ordaining of women. - Christian arguments about literal
interpretations of scripture considering most
cannot read the original biblical languages are
fundamentally about discourse.
30Narrative as a vehicle for transformation
- The religious individual can be changed by the
process of assenting to a new narrative often
occurs in Christian conversions (Stromberg,
1993). - Some people choose a new narrative or a new
interpretation of an older narrative because they
want to change (Miller CDe Baca, 2001).
31Suggestions for further research the truth
question
- The truth question must remain open (Argyle,
2002), in part because psychological inquiries
are about the human end of the equation not
about our perceptions - Psychology ought to welcome data from many levels
of analysis without devaluing the different
levels or religious phenomena
32Measures and method narrative analysis
- Many studies of religion use some form of
narrative data but most do not make use of the
sophisticated methods now available. - Narrative analysis seems particularly appropriate
for the longitudinal studies that are needed to
confirm direction of effects.
33Implicit measures
- Implicit measures of cognitive function would be
appropriate for the study of religion and would
fit well with a narrative research agenda.
34Applications health
- Linkages between religion and health have been
explored in mainstream psychological journals
(e.g. George et al., 2002 Powell et al., 2003). - Dull and Skokan (1995) have suggested a cognitive
model of these linkages.
35Psychology well-being
- Much research confirms connections between
religion and well-being (e.g. Fabricatore et al.,
2004 Taylor, 2001). - Clinical literature suggests that religion can be
used to reinvent the self in ways that improve
subjective quality of life (Magee, 2001). - Such research would benefit from a cognitive
model.
36Politics
- The political events of the last few years have
lent the topic of politics and religion a new
urgency (e.g., Brewer et al., 2003 Duriez et
al., 2002). - Researchers are beginning to ask if religion can
encourage peace as well war and violence. - Religion needs to be factored into broader
cognitive theories of political participation
(e.g., Lavine, 2002) and social cognitive
mechanisms need to be identified more clearly in
studies of war and peace making (e.g., Gopin,
2002).