The Beginnings

1
The Beginnings

• Edwin Starbuck

The Psychology of Religion, 1899
2

• John B. Watson
• Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and
  my own specified world to bring them up in and
  I'll guarantee to take any one at random and
  train him to become any type of specialist I
  might select doctor, lawyer, artist,
  merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and
  thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
  tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his
  ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit
  it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and
  they have been doing it for many thousands of
  years.

Psychology as the Behaviorist Sees It, 1913
3

• William James
• Father of Psychology
• First U.S. laboratory

Principles of Psychology (1890) The Varieties of
Religious Experience (1902)
4
The Middle Period--Fear

• Some religious leaders feared
• 1. naturalistic explanations of behavior
• 2. determinism and issues of human responsibility
• 3. humanistic views of human nature
• 4. sex and Freudian notions
• 5. feelings
• Some psychologists were fearful because of
• 1. superficial understanding of religious faith
• 2. their identity problem
• 3. unclear perceptions
• 4. time constraints

5
Contemporary Period

• Trends of growth in the field
• 1. Academic journals
• 2. Psychology of Religions text books
• 3. Important articles and books
• 4. Graduate programs
• 5. Professional organizations