Psychology and Religion: An Introduction

Should psychology try to explain religion or try to understand it? Pioneers in psychology like Sigmund Freud and William James took opposing views on the matter, and it has been a hotly debated issue ever since. While psychology has been used in the past to attack religion, recent psychological findings have been more sympathetic to matters of faith.

How should we understand their relationship today? In Psychology and Religion, Michael Argyle, one of the world's most famous experimental psychologists, provides a comprehensive and accessible survey of what psychologists know about religion--and what they don't. Offering fascinating and surprising insights into people and their religious worlds, Argyle examines the results of psychology's study of religion--including those of his own important experiments--and explores a wide range of topics such as: the importance of religion in the works of Freud, Jung and James; the proven effects of religion on the behavior of individuals and groups; how psychologists study religious activities like prayer, worship and ritual; and how psychologists have revealed the significance of change in religion, particularly in understanding the impact of new religious movements.