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An attachment theory perspective on religion and spirituality
Abstract
Attachment theory emphasizes the importance to human beings of socio-emotional bonds with available, sensitive, and supportive others for effective emotion regulation, mental health, and psychosocial functioning. Originally, the theory focused on the quality of the infant–parent relationship, but it was extended to friendships and romantic relationships in adulthood and to a person’s relationship with God. In this chapter, we focus on an attachment theory perspective on religion and spirituality and argue that attachment theory and research provide a useful framework for studying and understanding the development of religious beliefs and a believer’s relationship to God. We open with a brief outline of attachment theory and research. We then review research showing that a believer’s perceived relationship with God meets the defining criteria for attachment bonds and hence that God can serve as a protective and supportive attachment figure. The chapter also considers evidence for the correspondence model that suggests that attachment to God mirrors peoples’ other attachment bonds, as well as evidence for the motivated compensation model that suggests that attachment to God may be used to substitute for insecure attachment bonds. Finally, we review research on connections between particular religious phenomena and attachment-related individual differences in the “earthly” realm of interpersonal relationships.
... Though research on the trajectories of change in response to adolescents' spiritual struggles is sparse, an area of inquiry that has received considerable attention is understanding the attachment relationships people may form with God. Building on adult attachment theory, which maintains children's internal working models for their attachment relationships transfer from parents to romantic partners during adolescence, personality psychologists maintain adolescents may also form attachment relationships with God (Granqvist et al. 2020). In many ways, God (or some other type of religious entity) may be an ideal attachment figure who is well-suited to replace parents as a primary attachment figure during adolescence and adulthood-perhaps even more so than romantic partners (Kirkpatrick 2005). ...
... The Compensation Hypothesis holds that people will build a secure internal working model in their relationship with God that offsets their poor human attachments and provides a secure base. The two hypotheses are not necessarily competing at a population level; evidence for both can be found within and across studies, though evidence is more robust for correspondence (Granqvist et al. 2020). ...
The fields of personality and social psychology, with their focus on individual differences and human communalities, have much to offer the study of religious and spiritual development in adolescence. This review describes the ways McAdams and Pals’ comprehensive personality theory and Saroglou’s Big Four functional account of religion inform the scientific understanding of adolescents’ religious and spiritual development. These theories suggest religious/spiritual development of adolescents should be studied at three levels of personality (traits, characteristic adaptations, and narrative identity/objective biography) and account for the potential functions of religion in relation to behaving (moral), believing (cognitive), belonging (social), and bonding (emotional) across diverse cultural contexts. The utility of these theories for investigating adolescent religious/spiritual development is illustrated through description of empirical studies and lines of research based on methodologies commonly employed in personality and social psychology, including longitudinal studies, religious priming experiments, and experience sampling methods. Likewise, this review highlights areas for future investigation and provides specific suggestions for inquiry on adolescent religious/spiritual development, which include deploying experimental designs, merging narrative identity with identity status approaches, and adopting a more holistic view of traits through analysis of experience sampling data.
... It may also encompass feelings of anger and disappointment due to the perception of an indifferent God, leaving individuals to navigate their lives independently (Schaap-Jonker 2018). The way people perceive God is related to mental health outcomes (e.g., Jonker et al. 2008;Silton et al. 2014;Stauner et al. 2016) and is supposed to reflect one's attachment (Granqvist et al. 2020), as described by the correspondence and compensation theories. According to the correspondence theory (Granqvist and Hagekull 1999), a secure attachment corresponds to perceiving God as loving and supportive, whereas an insecure attachment is related to perceiving God as strict and distant. ...
Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) has recently been gaining public as well as scientific interest. Evidence is lacking on the relationship between SPS and different dimensions of religiosity and spirituality (R/S). We investigated the associations between SPS and R/S in the Czech Republic. Two samples of Czech adults (N1 = 1406; 48.1 ± 16.4 years; 49.4% women, N2 = 1494; 50.7 ± 15.8 years; 44.1% women) participated in the online survey. We measured SPS, religious attendance, religiosity, spirituality, images of God, negative religious coping (NRC) and religious conspiracy theories (RCT). Results of binary logistic regression found SPS significantly associated with religiosity, spirituality, and NRC with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.38 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22–1.56), 1.61 (95% CI 1.33–1.96) and 1.25 (95% CI 1.02–1.52), respectively. Higher SPS indicated a greater likelihood of perceiving God as ever-present, fatherly, forgiving, gentle, loving, motherly, punishing, just, and absolute, with ORs ranging from 1.14 to 1.26. No significant association was found between SPS and RCT. Results revealed associations between SPS and various aspects of R/S. The study highlights the relevance of considering SPS in clinical contexts involving religious and spiritual issues. Further research might be aimed at comparing the results with countries with different religious backgrounds, or at exploring the links with other variables that may play a role in these relationships.
... Unfortunately, there are some extreme situations, which cannot be controlled by man, as we can discuss about the pandemic situation which hit the entire world (Granqvist et al., 2020). It is our duty to underline the psychological effects which are present even today in people who developed the illness. ...
... Theoretical and empirical support for connections between social relations and spirituality also emerges from the "religion as attachment" framework of Granqvist, Mikulincer, and Shaver (2020). The "correspondence mechanism" of the "religion as attachment" framework posits connection with a divine being as a form of attachment security, reflecting human attachments. ...
Communities often face numerous challenges and opportunities—situations that may be reduced to specific domains by researchers, policy makers and interventionists. This study informs and animates a new “flourishing community” model that seeks to build collective capacity to respond to challenges and opportunities. Our work is a response to children living on the streets, whose families face myriad challenges. The Sustainable Development Goals make explicit the need for new, integrative models that acknowledge the interplay of challenges and opportunities within communities through the flow of everyday life. Flourishing communities are generative, supportive, resilient, compassionate, curious, responsive and self‐determined, and they build resources across economic, social, educational, and health domains. Integrating theoretical models—specifically, community‐led development, multi‐systemic resilience, and the “broaden and build” cycle of attachment—provides a testable framework to understand and explore hypothesised relationships between survey‐collected, cross‐sectional variables with 335 participants. Higher collective efficacy, a common byproduct of group‐based microlending activities, was correlated with higher sociopolitical control. This correlation was mediated by higher positive emotion, meaning in life, spirituality, curiosity, and compassion. Further research is required to understand replicability, cross‐sectoral impact, mechanisms of integrating health and development domains, and implementation challenges of the flourishing community model. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.
... For example, positive beliefs about the Divine can engender trust in God, which is known to buffer against anxiety and sadness (Rosmarin et al. 2009a), and intrinsic religiosity involving valuing religion in of itself similarly seems to be a psychological support (Baker and Gorsuch 1982). Beyond this, religiosity generally involves an affective bond with an omnipresent and omniscient deity and research indicates that this attachment provides salutary effects on mental health (Granqvist 2020;Cherniak et al. 2020a;Pirutinsky et al. 2019). Furthermore, when used in the context of life stressors, religion can be a positive coping resource involving "the use of religious beliefs or behaviors to facilitate problem-solving to prevent or alleviate the negative emotional consequences of stressful life circumstances" (Koenig et al. 1998, p. 513). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic presents potential mental health challenges, and the American Orthodox Jewish population has been particularly affected by the virus. The current study assessed the impact of the pandemic and explored the relationships between exposure, religiosity, and distress in a sample of n = 419 American Orthodox Jews. Results indicated high levels of exposure, concern, and compliance with medical guidelines; however stress was generally low and we found evidence for positive impact. Direct exposure correlated with higher religiosity. Positive religious coping, intrinsic religiosity and trust in God strongly correlated with less stress and more positive impact, while negative religious coping and mistrust in God correlated with the inverse. While the study is limited by its design, findings highlight that for some, faith may promote resilience especially during crisis.
Teacher performance is a measure of the success of teachers in carrying out their duties. Teacher performance can be influenced by variables such as work environment, work stress and work motivation to increase or decrease the value of the measure. This research was conducted at Junior High School 6 Banda Aceh school teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of work environment, work stress on teacher performance through work motivation as an intervening variable. The sample in this study amounted to 47 people. Data were collected using a questionnaire. This study uses path analysis techniques for hypothesis testing. The results of the study found that the work environment has a positive and direct influence in increasing work motivation and teacher performance. Work stress has a positive and direct influence in increasing work motivation and teacher performance. Work motivation has no influence in improving teacher performance. The work environment has no indirect effect on teacher performance through work motivation. Job stress has no indirect effect on teacher performance through work motivation. For future researchers, it is recommended to use other motivation indicators or other variables to examine their influence on teacher performance. Keywords: Work Environment, Work Stress, Work Motivation, Teacher Performance
This paper discusses the concepts of religion and spirituality in the context of a study on the perceptions and possibilities of the Bhagavad Gita for values education in Durban, South Africa. The ideas are explained through a model of spirituality that has been adopted from the 3H (head, heart, hands) and BMSEST (body, mind, spirit, environment, social, transcendent) models of spirituality in multicultural whole-person medicine (Anandarajah 2008). I argue for a broad and open understanding of spirituality, which I feel has the potential to extend the youth beyond religion. However, I also maintain that young people are easily influenced by material surroundings and are seen as a ‘generation of suspects’ (Giroux 2006, 149). The model that I present indicates that religious scriptures (in the case of this paper, the Bhagavad Gita) have a perennially valid set of values, which has the potential to contribute to a programme of values education among the youth. However, the youth are not abstracting and extracting these values. For the youth these values remain elusive and even ethereal.
Motivation: This paper aims to show the central role of the notion of attachment in human behavior, the image of God in the representation of the believer as a parental figure and as an oversized attachment figure in the personal relationships, social and religious behavior. Methods: Scientific and comparative studies of different concepts from psychology of religion, social psychology, psychoanalytic theory, cognitive psychology as well as theory, research and behavioral studies. Results: Attachment to God seems to develop in a coordinated way with the maturation of attachment to the primary figure but also with the development of cognitive processes involved. In addition, in case of danger, loss and separation are validate the human and common response to approach God as a substitute figure of attachment, the intensification of religious activities. Conclusions: The need for attachment and attachment for religion is one of the prerogatives of survival, development and growth and it is present in all-important areas of the life, culture and in all societies. People who develop a secure attachment are less prone to become religious over time.
We studied attachment-related variations in the process of apostasy (abandonment of religion) and compared these variations to those occurring in religious conversion. A sample of 280 Israeli Jews who had undergone religious change (apostasy or conversion) completed scales assessing attachment orientations, themes/motives and other characteristics of religious change, and well-being. Attachment orientations had similar associations with the two forms of religious change. Specifically, attachment anxiety was associated with reports of more sudden changes, more rejection of parents’ religiosity, and more emotional compensation themes. Attachment-related avoidance was associated with weaker exploration and socialization themes. Moreover, compensation themes, for both forms of religious change, were associated with lower well-being at present and a heightened link between attachment anxiety and distress. Socialization themes were related to greater well-being at present and a weakened link between attachment anxiety and distress. Implications for an attachment-theoretical approach to the study of life transformations are discussed.
Five studies examined the effects of priming the secure base schema on intergroup bias. In addition, Studies 1-2 examined the effects of dispositional attachment style, Studies 2-5 examined a mood interpretation. Study 3 examined the mediating role of threat appraisal, and Studies 4-5 examined the effects of secure base priming while inducing a threat to self-esteem or cultural worldview. Secure base priming led to less negative evaluative reactions toward out-groups than positive affect and neutral control conditions. In addition, whereas the effects of secure base priming did not depend on attachment style and were not explained by mood induction, they were mediated by threat appraisal and occurred even when self-esteem or cultural worldview was threatened. The discussion emphasizes the relevance of attachment theory for understanding intergroup attitudes.
Using an affective priming procedure (S. T. Murphy & R. B. Zajonc, 1993), 7 studies examined the effects of the contextual activation of representations of attachment security (secure base schema) on the evaluation of neutral stimuli under either neutral or stressful contexts. In all the studies, participants also reported on their attachment style. Results indicated that the subliminal priming of secure base representations led to more positive affective reactions to neutral stimuli than did the subliminal priming of neutral or no pictures under both neutral and stressful contexts. Although the subliminal priming of positively valued, attachment-unrelated representations heightened positive evaluations under neutral contexts, it failed to elicit positive affect under stressful contexts. The results also revealed interesting effects of attachment style. The discussion focuses on the affective component of the secure base schema.
Three studies explored the effects of subliminal threat on the activation of representations of attachment figures. This accessibility was measured in a lexical decision task and a Stroop task following threat-or neutral-word primes, and was compared with the accessibility of representations of other close persons, known but not close persons, and unknown persons. Participants also reported on their attachment style. Threat primes led to increased accessibility of representations of attachment figures. This effect was specific to attachment figures and was replicated across tasks and experiments. Attachment anxiety heightened accessibility of representations of attachment figures even in neutral contexts, whereas attachment avoidance inhibited this activation when the threat prime was the word separation. These effects were not explained by trait anxiety. The discussion focuses on the dynamics of attachment-system activation in adulthood.
Prior research, using correlational and self-report methodologies, suggests that religion and public welfare function as alternate security/insurance systems. Consequently in countries with more expansive public welfare systems people report less religiosity. The present studies expand this field by utilizing experimental methodology and by replicating and extending two previous experiments in both a secular/welfare state context (Sweden) and a religious/non-welfare state context (the United States). In the first set of experiments, we tested if cognitive access to religious and welfare-related mental schemas differ depending on context. We also tested whether previous findings indicating that people cognitively turn to religion when exposed to threat replicate and extend to the welfare system. In the second set of experiments, , we tested whether religious and welfare reminders lead to increased risk-taking in these contexts. Our findings show that participants in the secular/welfare state context had lower cognitive access to religious schemas and were less willing to take risks after religious reminders. However, our findings did not replicate those from previous studies; our participants did not have increased cognitive access to religion, nor public welfare, after threat primes. Similarly, our participants were generally not more prone to risk-taking after reminders of religion (or public welfare), although such an effect was obtained specifically on high-religious participants. We conclude that cultural context is important to consider when studying psychological functions of religion, and we suggest that the failed replications may be due to cultural, contextual factors. Finally, religious reminders may have contradictory influences on risk-taking.
The study is based on the assumption that the attachment system is closely related to religiosity and religious behavior. Previous research showed that a type of attachment was related to religious conversion. Insecure attachment was related to sudden and emotional conversion and secure attachment was related to gradual adoption of caregiver's religion. The present research focused in more detail on the relationship between attachment styles and the religious conversion process. 101 Christian converts filled out the Religious Conversion Process Questionnaire measuring different aspects of how conversion came about, and two attachment questionnaires: Attachment History Paragraphs for measuring attachment towards parents a nd Relationship Questionnaire measuring attachment in the current relationships. Pearson correlation analysis of the relations between conversion dimensions and attachment styles showed that secure attachment towards parents was related to the presence of some religiosity education before conversion and parents being a positive factor in the conversion. On the other hand, insecure attachment toward parents (especially toward the father) correlated with experiencing religious conversion as a more sudden, emotionally driven process accompanied by mystical experiences. These results gave support to both, compensation and socialized correspondence hypotheses as described in attachment and religion research and theory.
In this paper we argue that attachment theory, as developed by John Bowlby and refined and extended by a host of other psychological researchers, offers a potentially powerful theoretical framework for the psychology of religion. A wide range of research findings concerning such topics as images of God, conversion, and prayer can be conceptually integrated within this framework. An exploratory investigation was conducted of the relationship between individual differences in respondents' childhood attachments to their parents and their adult religious beliefs and involvement. A sample of 213 respondents to a newspaper survey on love completed a follow-up mail survey concerning their religious beliefs and family backgrounds. Multiple regression analyses revealed that certain aspects of adult religiosity, particularly beliefs about God and having a personal relationship with God, can be predicted from the interaction of childhood attachment classification and parental religiousness. Respondents who classified their childhood relationships with their mothers as avoidant (one of two insecure patterns of attachment) were more religious as adults, according to several measures, than were those classifying their childhood relationships as secure or anxious/ambivalent; however, this pattern held only when the parents were reported as having been relatively nonreligious. Respondents in the avoidant category also reported significantly higher rates of sudden religious conversions during both adolescence and adulthood, irrespective of parental religiosity. These results suggest that God and religion may function in a compensatory role for people with a history of avoidant attachment; that is, God may serve as a substitute attachment figure.
This study investigated the role of security in one's attachment to God in relation to both secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious illness. The main objective was to test whether attachment to God and type of disease were related to secular coping strategies, when controlling for the effects of religious/spiritual coping. Study participants (N = 105) had been diagnosed either with cancer (i.e., an acute disease) and were under chemotherapy/awaiting surgery or with renal impairment (i.e., a chronic disease) and were attending dialysis. Results showed that secure attachment to God was uniquely related to fighting spirit, whereas insecure attachment to God was uniquely linked to hopelessness, suggesting that security, unlike insecurity, in one's attachment to God may impact favourably on adjustment to the disease. The only coping strategy related to type of disease was cognitive avoidance, which was linked to chronic disease.
In this article, we conceptualize the sense of attachment security as an inner resource and present theory and research on the broaden and build cycle of attachment security generated by the actual or symbolic encounter with external or internalized loving and caring relationship partners. We also propose that the body of research stimulated by attachment theory offers productive hints about interventions that might increase positive experiences and prosocial behavior by bolstering a person's sense of security. On this basis, we review recent experimental studies showing how interventions designed to increase attachment security have beneficial effects on mental health, prosocial behavior, and intergroup relations, and discuss unaddressed issues concerning the mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of these interventions, the temporal course of these effects, and their interaction with countervailing forces.
The purpose of the study was to test our (Granqvist, 2002a) emotional compensation and two-level correspondence hypotheses by examining longitudinal associations of attachment and change in romantic relationship status in relation to religious change. Questionnaires were filled out by 196 adolescents in Stockholm (mean age = 16 years); 72% completed the 15-month follow-up. Virtually no main effects on religious change as a function of either attachment or relationship status were obtained. However, in line with the interaction predictions, an insecure attachment history and insecure adult attachment in romantic relationships predicted increased religiousness for those who had experienced a separation and decreased religiousness for those who had formed a new romantic relationship. The pattern of relations for a secure attachment history and romantic attachment was in the opposite direction. The findings imply that attachment predicts religious change primarily in the context of changes in romantic relationships. These findings may explain why previous studies in the separate domains of attachment and relationship status in relation to religiousness have yielded weak or inconsistent results, and suggest that the two fields need to be integrated. Implications for romantic attachment theory and research in general are discussed.
The correspondence hypothesis maintains that people with secure parental attachments will experience gradual religious conversions, with internal working models of childhood attachment figures forming the basis of attachment to God. The compensation hypothesis predicts that people with insecure attachments will experience sudden and dramatic conversions as they seek a relationship with God to compensate for insecure attachment relationships. In Study 1, faith narratives from 162 adolescents were analyzed; associations between parental attachment and the type of conversion reflected in the narrative support both hypotheses. In Study 2, data were prospectively collected from 240 adolescents attending religious summer camps; after camp, 138 participants reported a gradual conversion and 21 reported a sudden conversion. Participants who rated themselves securely attached to their parents before camp were more likely to report a gradual conversion, supporting the correspondence hypothesis. Pre-camp insecure parental attachment did not predict the subsequent incidence of a sudden religious conversion.
Developmentalists have often conceptualized infant-adult ties in terms of an implicit trait construct evolved from the study of dependency. The major dimension of individual differences has been conceptualized in terms of quantitative differences in the "strength" of attachments, and a variety of discrete behaviors (touch, look, smile, approach, cling, cry) have been assumed to be valid "indices" of this dimension. These behaviors have been assumed to be significantly intercorrelated and stable across situations and over time. Critics have argued strongly that these assumptions cannot be defended empirically. It has further been argued that the study of individual differences in infant-adult ties is unlikely to he a productive research strategy and that attachment (as implying anything more than infant-adult interaction) has outlived its usefulness as a developmental construct. When, however, trait models are abandoned and greater attention is paid to the functions, outcomes, and context sensitivity of attachment behavior and to the underlying behavioral control systems that organize it, the apparent conflict between situational influences and stable individual differences can be resolved. The study of changes in the organization of behavior during development provides a framework for productive individual differences research. When greater emphasis is placed on the organization of behavior, both the stability and the flexibility of attachment behavior can be comprehended, and the attachment construct can continue to play an important integrative role in developmental theory.
On 22 February 2011, Christchurch New Zealand (population 367,700) experienced a devastating earthquake, causing extensive damage and killing one hundred and eighty-five people. The earthquake and aftershocks occurred between the 2009 and 2011 waves of a longitudinal probability sample conducted in New Zealand, enabling us to examine how a natural disaster of this magnitude affected deeply held commitments and global ratings of personal health, depending on earthquake exposure. We first investigated whether the earthquake-affected were more likely to believe in God. Consistent with the Religious Comfort Hypothesis, religious faith increased among the earthquake-affected, despite an overall decline in religious faith elsewhere. This result offers the first population-level demonstration that secular people turn to religion at times of natural crisis. We then examined whether religious affiliation was associated with differences in subjective ratings of personal health. We found no evidence for superior buffering from having religious faith. Among those affected by the earthquake, however, a loss of faith was associated with significant subjective health declines. Those who lost faith elsewhere in the country did not experience similar health declines. Our findings suggest that religious conversion after a natural disaster is unlikely to improve subjective well-being, yet upholding faith might be an important step on the road to recovery.
The current research reports that mothers' security of attachment predicts their children's sense of God's closeness. A total of 71 mother–child dyads participated (children's M age = 7.5). Mothers' attachment organization was studied with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; Main, Goldwyn, & Hesse, 200334.
Main , M. ,
Goldwyn , R. and
Hesse , E. 2003. Adult attachment scoring and classification systems, University of California at Berkeley. Unpublished manuscript View all references) and their religiosity and attachment to God were measured with questionnaires. Children were told stories about visually represented children in attachment-activating and attachment-neutral situations, and placed a God symbol on a felt board to represent God's closeness to the fictional children. Children of secure mothers placed the God symbol closer (d = .78) than children of insecure mothers across both types of situations, suggesting that children's experiences with secure-insecure mothers generalize to their sense of God's closeness. Also, girls (but not boys) placed the God symbol closer in attachment-activating than in attachment-neutral situations, giving partial support for an attachment normative God-as-safe-haven model. Finally, mothers' religiosity and attachment to God were unrelated to child outcomes.
The psychology of religion has existed as a neglected subdiscipline in general psychology, but a trend toward integration is currently present, partly due to applications of well-corroborated theories from mainstream psychology. The article has two aims. First, the most influential psychodynamic "depth" approaches (those of Erikson, 1958, 1959, 1963; Freud, 1913/1919, 1927/1964a, 1939/1964b; Jones, 1991; Rizzuto, 1979, 1991) to the study of relations between secular and divine relationships are criticized. The critique encompasses theoretical, methodological, and empirical reservations, including natural science and falsifiability concerns; reservations concerning the relation to the biological sciences and the theory of evolution by natural selection; and concerns with broad stages of development, the content of mental representations, and the parsimony of the analyses. Methodological points of critique are offered for the sole use of nonoperationalizable constructs, clinical case study designs, and post hoc reconstructions of past relationships. It is suggested that the problems with the depth approaches are serious enough to warrant a different point of departure for the study of relations between secular and divine relationships. Second, for the sake of further integration of the psychology of religion with general psychology, attachment theory is proposed as an emerging alternative to the traditional depth approaches, and some of the convergences and divergences between the two are highlighted. It is argued that besides passing the test in relation to the above theoretical and methodological challenges, the emerging attachment framework retains the most important insights of the traditional depth perspectives.
In this article we review previous work on religious conversions, relate this work to attachment system dynamics, and present a meta-analysis of results from 11 cross-national questionnaire studies (N = 1465) that have investigated links between religious conversions and perceived childhood attachment history with parents. Two general hypotheses derived from attachment theory were tested. Based on the compensation hypothesis, it was predicted that sudden religious conversions would be associated on average with insecure, rather than secure, attachment histories. Based on the 2-level correspondence hypothesis, it was predicted that nonsudden conversions and gradual religious changes would be associated with a secure attachment history. Both predictions were supported in the meta-analyses, with small to medium effect sizes. It was concluded that attachment theory is a valuable framework for integrating previous findings and guiding future research on religious conversions, but that several methodological improvements should be made in future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Evaluated the contribution of several cognitive factors (tolerance of ambiguity, impermeability of present belief system, and cognitive quest) and emotional factors (perception of childhood relationship with parents, and childhood and adolescence stress and trauma) in precipitating religious conversion. Ss were 40 religious converts (aged 20–40 yrs) from 4 religious groups (Jewish, Catholic, Bahai, and Hare Krishna) and 30 age-matched religiously affiliated nonconverts (Jewish and Catholic). Converts' present belief systems were judged as more impermeable; but contrary to the cognitive hypotheses, the groups did not differ on several measures of tolerance of ambiguity and in degree of cognitive quest during adolescence. Emotional factors were more closely associated with religious conversion. Converts' perceptions of their parents were markedly more negative, and incidence of father absence was higher in the convert sample. Converts reported more traumatic events during childhood and described their childhood and adolescence as unhappy. In the interview with converts, personal stress was also reported more often than cognitive quest as characterizing the 2-yr period preceding conversion and as involved in the immediate consequences of conversion. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Guided by attachment theory, the authors explore the relationship of verbal, physical, and sexual mistreatment to attachment to God, as well as to concepts of God. Each form of mistreatment was related adversely to the religiosity measures. Attachment to parents mediated the relationship between two maltreatment variables (verbal and physical mistreatment) and attachment to God, as well as the concept of God as loving and as distant. However, attachment to parents did not mediate the relationship between attachment to God and the sexual abuse variable. Sexual abuse was strongly related to difficulties with attachment to God and one's concept of God. The findings add support to the notion, even when childhood mistreatment is taken into account, that a secure attachment to parents provides the necessary context for socialization into religion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Four studies examined implications of attachment theory for psychological aspects of religion among Israeli Jews. Study 1 replicated previous correlational findings indicating correspondence among interpersonal attachment orientations, attachment to God, and image of God. Studies 2-4 were subliminal priming experiments, which documented both normative and individual-difference effects. Regarding normative effects, findings indicated that threat priming heightened cognitive access to God-related concepts in a lexical decision task (Study 2); priming with "God" heightened cognitive access to positive, secure base-related concepts in the same task (Study 3); and priming with a religious symbol caused neutral material to be better liked (Study 4). Regarding individual differences, interpersonal attachment-related avoidance reduced the normative effects (i.e., avoidant participants had lower implicit access to God as a safe haven and secure base). Findings were mostly independent of level of religiousness. The present experiments considerably extend the psychological literature on connections between attachment constructs and aspects of religion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
In this study we sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion by (1) developing a dimensional attachment to God scale, and (2) demonstrating that dimensions of attachment to God are predictive of measures of affect and personality after controlling for social desirability and other related dimensions of religiosity. Questionnaire measures of these constructs were completed by a sample of university students and community adults (total n= 374). Consistent with prior research on adult romantic attachment, two dimensions of attachment to God were identified: avoidance and anxiety. After statistically controlling for social desirability, intrinsic religiousness, doctrinal orthodoxy, and loving God image, anxious attachment to God remained a significant predictor of neuroticism, negative affect, and (inversely) positive affect; avoidant attachment to God remained a significant inverse predictor of religious symbolic immortality and agreeableness. These findings are evidence that correlations between attachment to God and measures of personality and affect are not merely byproducts of confounding effects of socially desirable responding or other dimensions of religiosity.
This chapter is divided into five major sec- tions. In the first, we argue that people’s perceived relationships with God meet the defining criteria of attachment relationships reasonably well, and hence function psychologically much as other attachments do. We examine in the second sec- tion lifespan maturational issues involved in the development of attachment and religion. These first two sections deal with normative/typical as- pects of the attachment–religion connection. In the third section, we review empirical connec- tions between religion and individual differences in attachment. This section is subdivided into two subsections—the first focusing on a “com- pensation” pathway and the second describing a “correspondence” pathway to religion. We address in the fourth major section research findings and implications of the religion-as-attachment model with respect to psychological outcomes. In the final major section, which is new to this edition, we address the current state of theory and research on the attachment–religion connection.
Recent theoretical and empirical work by Lee Kirkpatrick and others has suggested that relationship with God can be fruitfully described as an attachment bond. However, this literature has been limited by the lack of a sound theoretical and psychometric scale that operationalizes the attachment to God construct. Toward that end, the paper presents data from three samples, two college and one community sample, describing the psychometric properties of the Attachment to God Inventory (AGI) as well as providing tests of the correspondence and compensation hypotheses. In general, the AGI subscales of Avoidance of Intimacy and Anxiety about Abandonment display good factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity. Comparisons of the AGI with adulthood attachment measures appear to support, albeit weakly, a correspondence between working models of romantic others and God.
Religiosity and participation in religious activities have been linked with decreased risky behavior. In the current research, we hypothesized that exposure to the concept of God can actually increase people's willingness to engage in certain types of risks. Across seven studies, reminders of God increased risk taking in nonmoral domains. This effect was mediated by the perceived danger of a risky option and emerged more strongly among individuals who perceive God as a reliable source of safety and protection than among those who do not. Moreover, in an eighth study, when participants were first reminded of God and then took a risk that produced negative consequences (i.e., when divine protection failed to materialize), participants reported feeling more negatively toward God than did participants in the same situation who were not first reminded of God. This research contributes to an understanding of the divergent effects that distinct components of religion can exert on behavior.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Previous studies have identified several dimensions reflecting the concepts used by religious people in describing God. Semantic Differential research has also found adjectival factors which apply to numerous concepts, including that of God. The present study sought to identify replicable factors in the conceptualization of the deity from both areas of previous research. Adjectives of possible applicability to the concept of "God" were included in a hierarchical factor analysis. A general factor of the Traditional Christian concept appeared along with factors previously identified (Deisticness, Eternality, Evaluation, Kindliness, Omni-ness, and Wrathfulness) as well as several new dimensions (e.g., Irrelevancy and Potently Passive). The internal consistency of each scale resulting from the factor analysis was determined in another sample of subjects and indicated that most of the factors could be easily measured.
Two conversion "paradigms" have been described in the behavioral sciences of religion (Richardson 1985). The "classic" paradigm portrays conversions as occurring during distress, as being sudden and intense, and as highly self-transforming. According to James (1902), these are the conversions of the "sick soul". In contrast, the "contemporary" paradigm discards the study of pre-dispositional and situational influences, and describes conversions as being more gradual, and less transforming of the self. In James' terminology, these are the conversions of the "healthy minded". The article attempts to bridge the chasm between these paradigms by drawing on findings obtained from studies of individual differences in attachment security in relation to religious change. More specifically, it is argued that the conversion characteristics of the sick soul, described by the classic paradigm, are true specifically for people with insecure attachment characteristics, and those of the healthy minded, described by the contemporary paradigm, are true of people with more secure attachment characteristics. A number of issues for future studies to consider are suggested, particularly the need for real-time prospective longitudinal studies examining the long-term psychological implications of religious conversion.
Four years after responding to a newspaper survey on attachment and close relationships, 146 women completed a follow-up survey on changes in their religious belief and experience during the interim period. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict Time 2 religion variables prospectively from adult attachment styles as measured at Time 1, statistically controlling for Time 1 religious commitment. Insecure-avoidant and insecure-anxious women, as measured at Time 1, were more likely than secure women to report having found a new relationship with God in the subsequent four-year period, and insecure-anxious women were more likely than both other groups to report a religious experience or conversion during that period. Results are interpreted in terms of religious beliefs serving a compensatory role for individuals lacking secure interpersonal attachments.
College students participated in an analogue study designed to compare threat, loss, and challenge life events on the elicitation of specific coping strategies. Subjects responded to items from Folkman and Lazarus's (1988) Ways of Coping Questionnaire in addition to new items designed to tap religious coping. A series of factor analyses produced the specific coping scales. Subjects predicted more use of Problem Solving, and less use of Religious Coping and Wishful Thinking, when confronted with Challenges compared to Threats and Losses. For Threats compared to Losses, subjects planned to use more Problem Solving and Religious Coping, and less Emotional Social Support. The findings support the value of studying coping responses as a function of stressor type, and highlight the potential importance of religious coping as a specific coping strategy
This study examines religious faith as associated with adjustment to end-stage renal failure and its treatment regimen of maintenance hemodialysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected initially and after a three-year interval in order to observe changes over time. The variable of the patient's perception of the import of religious faith was found to be positively related to interactional behavior and sick role behavior and to be inversely associated with alienation. Content analysis of qualitative responses for the item of perceived import of religious faith revealed a pattern of increasingly more positive patient attitudes occurring over time.
This study was concerned with lay explanations about the problems of evil, and so with theodicy. More than 100 subjects completed a six-part question- naire on human suffering in which they were presented with 15 possible ex- planations for the outcomes of five events-one concerning suffering in general and the others referring to specific instances of human suffering as a result of natural or manmade disasters that produced one or many deaths (and were therefore assumed to be less or more serious). Results showed that the explanations for evil can be classified as natural, theological, or due to human ignorance and that they depend on the nature of the event to be explained (involving its type and severity) and on the factors associated with an individual's religious alignments and the importance of religion in his or her life. These results are discussed in terms of attributional accounts of the re- sponsibility for evil.
Kirkpatrick's essay is examined in terms of the adequacy of attachment theory to account for all forms and levels of religious alignment. It is concluded that the essential ambiguity of religious attachments must be recognized if they are not to be regarded merely as another form of compensation or as corresponding directly with other established attachments.
In a two-wave survey study designed to extend and refine previous research on religion as an attachment process, college students completed a four-category attachment-style measure and several religiosity measures at Time 1; a subsample also completed identical religiosity measures about 4 months later (Time 2). Analysis of Time 1 data (N= 1,126) extended previous findings by demonstrating that positive mental models of both self and others were related cross-sectionally to positive images of God and perceived relationships with God. Longitudinal analyses (N = 297) revealed that positive religious change over time was predicted by negative models of self and positive models of others. Discussion focuses on the dynamics of religious belief and change as a function of psychological attachment processes.
This study conceptualizes personal religion, like romantic love, in terms of attachment theory and explores empirical relationships between adult attachment style and religious belief and behavior in an adult sample. Respondents who classified themselves as secure reported greater religious commitment and more positive images of God than insecure respondents. Avoidant respondents were more likely to describe themselves as agnostics; anxious/ambivalent respondents were more likely to report having had a glossolalia experience. Security of attachment to God was positively associated with security of adult attachment, but only among respondents who described their childhood maternal attachments as insecure. Attachment to God, in contrast to other religion variables, was strongly and significantly related to several mental and physical health outcomes. Results are interpreted in terms of mental models of attachment relationships, including relationships with God.
Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of research on close relationships and the emergence of a new relationship subdiscipline within the social sciences. To date, the new science of relationships has been dominated by data. This article is based on the conviction that progress now hinges on the development of theory to organize and interpret extant findings and to guide future investigations. Through a selective but extensive review of the major bodies of empirical literature, we attempt to show that attachment theory can incorporate a broad range of findings on adult relationships. In addition, attachment theory addresses an impressive array of research questions concerning the functions, emotional dynamics, evolutionary origins, and developmental pathways of human affectional bonds. We conclude that a comprehensive theory of close relationships is both desirable and, with the integration of existing theories and concepts, currently achievable.
The study offers the first investigation of cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between attachment and religiosity with adolescent participants. Adolescence is a life period linked to attachment transitions and religious changes. The research was conducted to help resolve inconsistent results from previous cross-sectional versus longitudinal studies and studies on attachment to parents versus peer attachment. Time 1 questionnaire data was collected from 196 Swedish adolescents (M age = 16 years); 143 participants completed the 15-month follow-up. Results from the cross-sectional analyses generally supported the socialized correspondence and emotional compensation hypotheses, particularly in relation to attachment to mother. Results from the longitudinal analyses were more mixed. The discussion integrates the hypotheses with Kirkpatrick’s previous proposal, argues for a main focus on attachment to parents rather than peer attachment, and offers suggestions for future attachment and religion studies.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether religiosity stems more from emotion regulation strategies to obtain felt security (the compensation hypothesis) in the case of perceived insecurity of parental attachment and more from socialization of religious standards (the revised correspondence hypothesis) in the case of perceived security of parental attachment. Questionnaire data containing retrospective measures of perceived attachment to parents, socialization-based and emotionally based religiosity, sudden religious conversion, and characteristics of religious change were collected from 158 students. Results supported the revised correspondence hypothesis in that security of attachment was positively linked to socialization-based religiosity and to gradual religious changes that were associated with early onset and life themes indicating adoption of religious standards, whereas compensatory themes were uncharacteristic. The compensation hypothesis received support in that attachment Insecurity (either avoidance or ambivalence) was positively related to emotionally based religiosity, sudden religious conversions, and intense religions changes that were characterized by late onset and compensatory life themes, whereas themes indicating adoption of religious standard. were uncharacteristic. parallels were drawn to the issue of religiosity as stemming from "within" (insecurity) or "without" (security) and to the concepts of "once-born" (security) and "twice-born" (insecurity) religious individuals. Suggestions for necessary methodological improvements in future studies were outlived.
The present study investigated the opposing hypotheses, derived from attachment theory, of adult religiousness as compensating for or corresponding to the quality of childhood relationships with parents. Questionnaires containing measures of childhood attachment quality and one's own and parental religiousness were completed by 203 students at Uppsala University, Sweden. The results supported the compensation hypothesis in that insecure respondents, to a larger extent than secure respondents, reported an increase in importance of their religious beliefs during adulthood. In addition, insecure respondents who had experienced low parental religiousness were more religious, were more likely to perceive themselves as having a close relationship with God, expressed more theistic beliefs, and reported a higher level of religious change during adulthood, whereas secure respondents were agnostics to a larger extent. However, if parents had been highly religious, secure respondents generally scored higher on the religiousness variables than insecure respondents, indicating a higher congruence between parents' and respondents' religiousness in the secure groups and also giving support for the correspondence hypothesis. The usefulness of attachment theory for understanding religiousness in comparison to the predominant psychodynamic conceptualizations was discussed, and the question of compensation or correspondence was elaborated.
The purpose of the this investigation was to study whether the structure of the divine Image could be differentially modeled on parental images according to the belief system of the individual. The Score-Dieu-Parent instrument (God-Parent-Score), which measures the semantic similarities between the divine and parental images, and the Conceptual Systems Test, which identifies concrete and abstract Ss, were administered to 390 male and female university undergraduates, who were divided into two groups according to belief system: abstract or concrete. Factors were extracted for each image (the mother, father, and God images) and for each group (concretes, abstracts, and total), and the degree of congruence was determined for all possible pairs of factors. Semantic distances between the three images were calculated. An analysis of variance using a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design revealed a significant influence due to the sex of the respondent, another due to the particular distance score considered, and finally a significant interaction effect between the belief system of the respondent and the particular distance score used.
Radical conversion, which entails a sweeping transformation of existing meaning systems, is often precipitated by emotional distress. Nevertheless, although many individuals turn toward religion when distressed, few undertake total and radical conversions. Previous research suggests that insecurely attached individuals—who resemble James's disillusioned, doubting, and divided sick souls—may be particularly prone to radical conversions. Thus, the present research examined insecure parental attachment history and convert status among 122 Orthodox and 31 non-Orthodox Jews, hypothesizing that converts to and from Orthodox Judaism, who undertake an all-encompassing transformation of beliefs, behaviors, values, and life's purpose, would report greater insecurity in parental attachment history than nonconverts. Results indicate that converts report greater maternal and paternal insecurity, as compared to both nonconverts and those with intra-Orthodox religious change. Thus, further research examining insecure attachment, and associated religious stressors and doubts, may uncover some of the individual differences underlying radical conversions.
[explore] issues concerning the multiple functions of sex within a relationship and its changing nature and importance over the course of a developing relationship [within attachment theory] / present results from 2 recent studies which indicate that, beyond infancy, attachments are formed almost exclusively with sexual partners / draw upon empirical findings from diverse sources and disciplines to derive a conceptualization of the role of sexual interest and sexual behavior in adolescent and adult attachment relationships (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose of the present cross-sectional questionnaire study was to construct a comprehensive and reliable scale to assess new age orientation as a continuous individual difference variable. Given large increases in new age orientation in Sweden in recent years, an additional purpose was to test our emotional compensation hypothesis by studying connections of retrospective parental and adult romantic attachment in relation to new age orientation, emotionally-based religiosity, and socialization-based religiosity, as well as to study links between attachment and several aspects of spiritual change. The study group included 193 participants from upper secondary school classes, Christian youth organizations, and new age establishments in Stockholm, Sweden. The new age orientation scale was shown to be unidimensional according to an exploratory factor analysis, and to possess adequate reliability and construct validity. In line with the emotional compensation predictions, new age orientation was directly linked to attachment insecurity and emotionally-based religiosity and inversely related to socialization-based religiosity. Attachment insecurity was also linked to the experience of spiritual changes, whereas most findings pertaining to characteristics of spiritual change did not support predictions. In general, unlike perceived attachment to parents, adult romantic attachment did not display the predicted pattern of results. It was concluded that attachment theory may make an important contribution by highlighting predisposing factors for new age orientation, as representing one aspect of the emotional compensation profile, but that several methodological improvements are necessary in future studies.
This study investigated whether audience characteristics identified as important in the conversion and religious recruitment literature could predict reaction to a Christianity-themed recruitment message. More specific goals involved (a) comparing the impact of potential recruits' dispositional attributes and personal motivations versus their situational availability on the persuasive effect of religious recruitment messages; and (b) rank ordering the audience characteristics examined based on their predictive power. Results indicated that dispositional and motivational considerations were more reliable predictors of receivers' responses to the recruitment message than were situational factors. Specifically, five of the six dispositional and motivational variables (i.e., loneliness, perceived childhood attachment history, meaning and purpose, other-orientation, and problem-solving perspective) were—at least under certain conditions—related to participants' interest in the church. The two variables representing situational availability, free time and membership status, however, were either unrelated to interest in the church or related to participants' reactions, but in the opposite direction of what was expected.
Research has shown that social exclusion has devastating psychological, physiological, and behavioral consequences. However, little is known about possible ways to shield individuals from the detrimental effects of social exclusion. The present study, in which participants were excluded during a ball-tossing game, examined whether (reminders of) secure attachment relationships could attenuate neurophysiological pain- and stress-related responses to social exclusion. Social exclusion was associated with activation in brain areas implicated in the regulation and experience of social distress, including areas in the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and hypothalamus. However, less activation in these areas was found to the extent that participants felt more securely attached to their attachment figure. Moreover, the psychological presence (i.e., salience) of an attachment figure attenuated hypothalamus activation during episodes of social exclusion, thereby providing insight into the neural mechanisms by which attachment relationships may help in coping with social stress.
Attachment theory is a theory of affect regulation as it occurs in the context of close relationships. Early research focused on regulation of emotions through maintenance of proximity to supportive others (attachment figures) in times of need. Recently, emphasis has shifted to the regulation of emotion, and the benefits of such regulation for exploration and learning, via the activation of mental representations of attachment figures (security priming). We conducted two studies on the effects of implicit and explicit security priming on creative problem solving. In Study 1, implicit security priming (subliminal presentation of attachment figures' names) led to more creative problem solving (compared with control conditions) regardless of dispositional attachment anxiety and avoidance. In Study 2, the effects of explicit security priming (recalling experiences of being well cared for) were moderated by anxiety and avoidance. We discuss the link between attachment and exploration and the different effects of implicit and explicit security priming.
The authors review findings from the psychology of religion showing that believers' perceived relationships with God meet the definitional criteria for attachment relationships. They also review evidence for associations between aspects of religion and individual differences in interpersonal attachment security and insecurity. They focus on two developmental pathways to religion. The first is a "compensation" pathway involving distress regulation in the context of insecure attachment and past experiences of insensitive caregiving. Research suggests that religion as compensation might set in motion an "earned security" process for individuals who are insecure with respect to attachment. The second is a "correspondence" pathway based on secure attachment and past experiences with sensitive caregivers who were religious. The authors also discuss conceptual limitations of a narrow religion-as-attachment model and propose a more inclusive framework that accommodates concepts such as mindfulness and "nonattachment" from nontheistic religions such as Buddhism and New Age spirituality.