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THE GUILFORD PRESS
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION
Also Available
The Psychology of Prayer: A Scientific Approach
Bernard Spilka and Kevin L. Ladd
The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism
Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Peter C. Hill, and W. Paul Williamson
The
Psychology
of Religion
AN EMPIRICAL APPROACH
F I F T H E D I T I O N
Ralph W. Hood, Jr.
Peter C. Hill
Bernard Spilka
THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London
To Emery Grace Jorgensen
—Ralph
To Carol
—Peter
To Ellen, for 65 years of love,
support, and guidance.
My love for you continually grows.
—Bernie
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Printed in the United States of America
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Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hood, Ralph W., Jr., 1942- author. | Hill, Peter C., 1953- author. |
Spilka, Bernard, 1926- author.
Title: The psychology of religion : an empirical approach / Ralph W. Hood,
Jr., Peter C. Hill, Bernard Spilka.
Description: Fifth Edition. | New York, NY : Guilford Press, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018031189 | ISBN 9781462535989 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Psychology, Religious.
Classification: LCC BL53 .P825 2018 | DDC 200.1/9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018031189
About the Authors
Ralph W. Hood, Jr., PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Leroy A. Martin Distinguished
Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is past presi-
dent of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association and a
recipient of its William James Award, Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award, and Distinguished
Service Award. He is cofounder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion,
for which he has served as coeditor and book review editor. Dr. Hood has also been editor of
the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and is currently coeditor of Research in the
Social Scientific Study of Religion.
Peter C. Hill, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Biola University’s Rosemead School of Psy-
chology in La Mirada, California. He is past president of the Psychology of Religion division
of the American Psychological Association and a recipient of its William C. Bier Award and
Distinguished Service Award. He is editor of the Journal of Psychology and Christianity.
Bernard Spilka, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Denver. He
is past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Asso-
ciation and a recipient of its William James Award and Distinguished Service Award. Dr.
Spilka has also been vice-president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and
president of the Colorado Psychological Association and the Rocky Mountain Psychological
Association. Now retired, he continues to write on the psychology of prayer and on religion,
evolution, and genetics.
v
Preface to the Fifth Edition
At the beginning of the 20th century, those who were to become highly esteemed figures
in the history of psychology and its sister disciplines focused much of their interest and
attention on religion. In academic psychology, scholars such as William James and G. Stanley
Hall not only helped to found psychology, but manifested a great interest in the psychological
study of religion. In psychoanalysis, a new field was created outside of academic psychology
that nevertheless immensely influenced psychology. One cannot read Freud or Jung for long
without encountering extensive discussions of religion.
The second quarter of the 20th century saw a rapid decline in the study of religion among
psychologists. Behaviorism was indifferent to the topic, while psychoanalysts relegated it to
the province of psychopathology. The net effect was that research in this area remained on
the periphery of scientific respectability. The mid-1950s, however, saw a renaissance in the
study of religion. Perhaps as psychology became more secure as a science, it could once again
look with some interest into the serious investigation of religion. This time the study was less
speculative, not as concerned with grand theory, and focused on issues other than the origin
of religion. In a word, an empirical psychology of religion emerged. This was a more limited
view, to be sure, but it demanded that statements about religion be formulated as hypotheses
capable of empirical verification or falsification.
In rapid succession, journals devoted to the empirical study of religion emerged in the
middle of the last century. Among these were the Journal for the Scientific Study of Reli-
gion, the Journal of Religion and Health, and the Review of Religious Research, as well as
three journals with specific religious interests: the Journal of Psychology and Theology, the
Journal of Psychology and Christianity, and the Journal of Psychology and Judaism. More
recently, additional journals and annuals have appeared, including The International Journal
for the Psychology of Religion; Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion; Mental
Health, Religion and Culture; and Spirituality and Health International. Since the fourth
edition of this text was published, the American Psychological Association has introduced
the journal Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.
vii
viii Preface to the Fifth Edition
Likewise, the Archiv für Religionspsychologie (Archive for the Psychology of Religion),
once the yearbook of the Internationale Gesellschaft für Religionspsychologie (International
Association for the Psychology of Religion), founded in 1914, has been revived and is now
published as a journal; this indicates that the psychology of religion has proven to be a topic
of truly international interest. The pertinent literature continues to grow at a rapid rate across
the globe. Specialty journals such as the Journal of Muslim Mental Health address religious
traditions other than Christianity, which has been long dominant in the work of American
scholars of the psychology of religion. The domination of interpretative and conceptual dis-
cussions of religion in psychology is gradually yielding to data-based research and writing
that are pulling the psychology of religion into the mainstream of academic psychology.
Likewise, several general and specialty handbooks focusing largely on empirical studies of
religion and spirituality have been published. The appearance of the fifth edition of this
text is itself an indication of the vigor of our field. Finally, the psychology of religion is now
a frequent topic in mainstream psychology journals, indicating the increased frequency of
experimental studies in the field.
Our aim remains the same in the fifth edition as in the first four: to present a compre-
hensive evaluation of the psychology of religion from an empirical perspective. We are not
concerned with purely conceptual or philosophical discussions of religion, or with theories
that have little empirical support. Interesting as these approaches may be, they generate few,
if any, hard data of relevance to their evaluation. We do not, however, ignore these theories
when meaningful empirical predictions follow from their claims. When this occurs, they
are considered, as are other hypotheses, tentative claims to be judged by the facts. We have
not imposed a single theoretical perspective across all the chapters. However, we do see the
issue of meaning and control as the single most general theme running through each of the
chapters. We avoid siding unequivocally with any of the emerging grand theories, such as
evolutionary psychology, that have been proposed to integrate the psychology of religion.
Likewise, we do not give exclusive dominance to a single empirical approach, such as cogni-
tive science; nor do we unequivocally endorse emerging areas of psychology, such as posi-
tive psychology. Instead, these theories, approaches, and areas are integrated where relevant
throughout the text. We simply approach the field from an empirical perspective, broadly
conceived to include any studies in which either quantitative or qualitative data are germane
to establishing and/or resolving questions of fact. Although we are sensitive to the difficulties
and limitations of a purely empirical approach, we have not abandoned the commitment to
empiricism as the single most fruitful avenue to understanding the psychology of religion.
However, as several of the chapters also reveal, the same empirical data can lend credence to
radically different ontological claims. Since the work of William James, texts on the psychol-
ogy of religion have suggested various metaphysical options under which the same empirical
data can be viewed with radically different consequences. All we ask is that our readers not
lose sight of the empirical data, so that various theoretical interpretations can be recognized
and evaluated in terms of their relationship to these data.
While we retain the basic structure of the fourth edition, we have added much new
material while trying to show the continuity of the field. However, as with the fourth edition,
many chapters can be read independently, so instructors can reduce the range of material
assigned on the basis of their own classes’ needs. The rich variety of empirical research that
continues to be published is itself a testimony to the vitality of the field.
We briefly acknowledge three major cultural influences that have affected our field.
The first is the growth of spirituality outside of organized religion. A glance at the references
