Relevance to psychology .. I will be brief but have to give my annual spiel but will make it brief.
Many evolutionary psychologists make very good cases that religiosity/spirituality is a basic human category of behaviors present in all cultures and at all times in recorded history. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology_of_religion and there is also an excellent chapter by Paul Bloom "Religion, Morality and Evolution" in the 2012 Annual Review of Psychology . We can see behavior IN religious practices that are universal - group identification processes, in-group/out-group dynamics, deference to authority (in some societies the pope is revered and looked to for guidance and meaning .. in others movie stars and sports figures play that role). Calender dates, rhythms to seasons and holidays revolve around religious (or spiritual) events, but, if they don't there are secular calender cycles that play the same role. There is now enough evidence to support the God gene idea (see the wikipedia entry), and some factor analytic support for Spirituality as a separate personality trait rivaling the "big 5." Yet with all these lines of evidence, religiosity/spirituality remains conspicuously neglected as a research topic. Div 36 of APA (spiritual/religiosity) is a start, though much of the research presented at the conferences are applied. IMO there are two obstacles here. One is the false (to me) idea that religion involves *beliefs* more than behaviors. Second and related, we tend to think of these beliefs as being so antithetical to science that religiosity (and perhaps spirituality) cannot be studied scientifically. OK end of spiel! And it's OK that Boston is not everyone's fav :-) JK ========================== John W. Kulig, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Coordinator, University Honors Plymouth State University Plymouth NH 03264 ========================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Cc: "Michael Palij" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 4:09:22 PM Subject: re: [tips] Hey, We Got A Pope! Really? On Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:23:56 -0700, Dap Louw wrote: >And the relationship to the Teaching in Psychological Sciences is >.............?? >From the Wikipedia entry on Pope Francis (boy, those folks are fast!): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Bergoglio |Jorge Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five |children of an Italian railway worker and his wife.[2] He |received a master's degree in chemistry at the University of |Buenos Aires, then studied at the seminary in Villa Devoto. |He entered the Society of Jesus on 11 March 1958. Bergoglio |obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo |San José in San Miguel, and then Got to break in here and say "wait for it". |taught literature and psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada |in Santa Fe, and the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires. OMG! A Pope that TAUGHT PSYCHOLOGY!!!!! See, I run rings around you logically! |He was ordained to the priesthood on 13 December 1969, by |Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He attended the Philosophical |and Theological Faculty of San Miguel, a seminary in San Miguel. |Bergoglio attained the position of novice master there and became |professor of theology. A PROFESSOR! WOW! Well, maybe you are right and this has nothing to do with teaching. >But just in case I miss the point: A new Minister of Transport was >announced in Cape Town today ..... not Zulu- but Xhosa-speaking (do not >forget the clicking sound). She is doing a good job with promoting >traditional medicine and she looks, well ..... African. Very humble as >well. Btw, she's from Ngqamakhwe in the Eastern Cape, which I also >prefer to Boston. Hmm, has she taught a Psychology of Transportation course? ;-) >Okay, okay .... it must be my blood sugar ? Eat a Snickers(tm) bar. You're not yourself when you're hungry. ;-) NOTE: Do Canadians get this TV commercial up in the Great White North? >Regards from this side of the ocean. Yeah, the same to you. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] >>> "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> 2013/03/13 08:29 PM >>> On Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:17:21 -0700, John Kulig wrote: >Mike et al > >I'm laying my bet on O'Mally from Boston ... not an Italian but >he is perceived as doing good job with scandals AND he really >looks the part (the beard and all) ... As much as it pains me to say something nice about Boston, O'Malley is my choice, primarily because of his humbleness and apparent good sense. I don't like Dolan. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Cc: "Michael Palij" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 2:09:40 PM Subject: [tips] Hey, We Got A Pope! Or else someone used the wrong smoke. No word yet on who it is but in about 45 minutes we should know (if the white smoke wasn't a mistake). So go back to work now. ;-) --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66454&n=T&l=tips&o=24326 or send a blank email to leave-24326-13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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