Which psychology(ies) serves us best? Research perspectives on the psycho-cultural interface in the psychology of religion(s)

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-316
Author(s):  
Adam Anczyk ◽  
Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska ◽  
Agnieszka Krzysztof-Świderska ◽  
Jacek Prusak

The article concentrates on answering the main question to be addressed, as stated in its title: which psychology(ies) serves us best? In order to achieve this goal, we pursue possible answers in history of psychology of religion and its interdisciplinary relationships with its sister disciplines, anthropology of religion and religious studies, resulting with sketching a typology of the main attitudes towards conceptualising psycho-cultural interface, prevalent among psychologists: the Universalist, the Absolutist and the Relativist stances. Next chosen examples from the field of applied psychology are presented, as the role of the cultural factor within the history of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ ( DSM) development is discussed alongside presenting research on the phenomenon of ‘hearing voices’, in order to show the marked way for the future – the importance of including the cultural factor in psychological research on religion.

Author(s):  
Leah R. Warner ◽  
Stephanie A. Shields

Intersectionality theory concerns the interdependence of systems of inequality and implications for psychological research. Social identities cannot be studied independently of one another nor separately from the societal processes that maintain inequality. In this chapter we provide a brief overview of the history of intersectionality theory and then address how intersectionality theory challenges the way psychological theories typically conceive of the person, as well as the methods of data gathering and analysis customarily used by many psychologists. We specifically address two concerns often expressed by feminist researchers. First, how to reconcile the use of an intersectionality framework with currently-valued psychological science practices. Second, how intersectionality transforms psychology’s concern with individual experience by shifting the focus to the individual’s position within sociostructural frameworks and their social and political underpinnings. In a concluding section we identify two future directions for intersectionality theory: how psychological research on intersectionality can facilitate social activism, and current developments in intersectionality theory.


Author(s):  
Kristin A. Hancock ◽  
Douglas C. Haldeman

Psychology’s understanding of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people has evolved, become more refined, and impacted the lives of LGB people in profound ways. This chapter traces the history of LGB psychology from the nineteenth century to the present and focuses on major events and the intersections of theory, psychological science, politics, and activism in the history of this field. It explores various facets of cultural and psychological history that include the pathologizing of homosexuality, the rise of psychological science and the political movements in the mid-twentieth century, and the major shifts in policy that ensued. The toll of the AIDS epidemic on the field is discussed as is the impact of psychological research on national and international policy and legislation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 566-598
Author(s):  
Matthias van Rossum

AbstractThis article argues that we need to move beyond the “Atlantic” and “formal” bias in our understanding of the history of slavery. It explores ways forward toward developing a better understanding of the long-term global transformations of slavery. Firstly, it claims we should revisit the historical and contemporary development of slavery by adopting a wider scope that accounts for the adaptable and persistent character of different forms of slavery. Secondly, it stresses the importance of substantially expanding the body of empirical observations on trajectories of slavery regimes, especially outside the Atlantic, and most notable in the Indian Ocean and Indonesian Archipelago worlds, where different slavery regimes existed and developed in interaction. Thirdly, it proposes an integrated analytical framework that will overcome the current fragmentation of research perspectives and allow for a more comparative analysis of the trajectories of slavery regimes in their highly diverse formal and especially informal manifestations. Fourth, the article shows how an integrated framework will enable a collaborative research agenda that focuses not only on comparisons, but also on connections and interactions. It calls for a closer integration of the histories of informal slavery regimes into the wider body of existing scholarship on slavery and its transformations in the Atlantic and other more intensely studied formal slavery regimes. In this way, we can renew and extend our understandings of slavery's long-term, global transformations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ndikho Mtshiselwa ◽  
Lerato Mokoena

The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle E. Bauer ◽  
Antonio L Teixeira ◽  
Marsal Sanches ◽  
Jair C. Soares

This review discusses the changes in the diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), and recent findings exploring the etiology of and treatment strategies for these disorders. Depressive disorders are typically characterized by depression in the absence of a lifetime history of mania or hypomania. New developments in the DSM-5 include the recognition of new types of depressive disorders, such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, persistent depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and the addition of catatonic features as a specifier for persistent depressive disorder. These diagnostic changes have important implications for the prognosis and treatment of this condition. A thorough understanding of both the clinical phenotype and the biosignature of these conditions is essential to provide individualized, long-term, effective treatments to affected individuals.  This review contains 1 table and 52 references Key words: brain volumes, depressive disorders, DSM-5, hormones, inflammation, neuropeptides, somatic therapy, stress


2009 ◽  
Vol 217 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Herrmann

One cannot predict the future of the sciences or that of psychology. The question “What’s next?” gives reason to think about which principles to which psychology has developed. In analyzing the historical development of psychology, one should differentiate between basic psychological research, psychological technology, and the structure of institutions. Historical changes of psychology occur slowly and continuously. These continuous changes are obviously a foil for short-term changes that we can refer to as discontinuities. The complex pattern of continuities and discontinuities is based on very different conditions. External and internal causes of the changes in the history of psychology are discussed.


Philosophy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Graham

AbstractThe prominence of David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion in contemporary philosophy of religion has led it to overshadow his other short work, The Natural History of Religion, and thus obscure the fact that the social psychology of religion was in many ways of greater interest and more widely debated among the philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment than philosophical theology. This paper examines and compares the social psychology of religion advanced by Hume and Adam Smith. It argues that Hume's account of the psychological sources and social significance of religion is less satisfactory than Smith's.


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