Christopher F.J. Ross

The relationship of intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious orientations to Jungian psychological type among churchgoers in England and Wales

Employing the New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO), this study examines the theory that different religious orientations are related to individual differences in psychological type as developed by Carl Jung and operationalized by the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Data provided by 481 weekly churchgoing Christians who completed the MBTI and the NIRO demonstrated that quest religious orientation scores were higher among intuitives than among sensers, but were unrelated to introversion and extraversion, thinking and feeling, or judging and perceiving; that intrinsic religious orientation scores were higher among extraverts than introverts, higher among sensers than intuitives and higher among feelers than thinkers, but unrelated to judging and perceiving; and that extrinsic religious orientation scores were unrelated to any of the four components of psychological type. The findings relating to Jungian psychological type differences are applied in order to elucidate the psychological significance of extrinsic, intrinsic, and quest orientations to religion.

Type patterns among evangelical Protestants in Ontario

Drawn from five southern Ontario evangelical churches and two related church organisations, evangelical women (N = 93) were more J, F, FJ, IJ, SJ, and NJ compared to both Canadian and American women, and more I, SF, and IS than Canadian women. Evangelical men (N = 84) were more S, J, SJ, IS, and included more ISFJs and ISTJs compared to Canadian men, but did not diverge from Consulting Psychologist Press American male norms, nor from Canadian Catholic men except for including more ISFJs. Compared to a combined female and male sample of Ontario Anglicans, the total evangelical sample was more E, S, T, J, ES, IS, SJ, ST, and SF. The study replicates for Anglophone Canadians findings from studies in Francophone Canada, the USA, England and Wales that established the association of sensing and judging type preferences with activity in, or affiliation to, evangelical Protestant Christian groups. Type-associated limitations to growth of evangelical churches are discussed here.

New Kadampa Buddhists and Jungian psychological type

Building on previous studies on Canadian Anglicans and Catholics, this study examines and discusses the psychological type profile of 31 adherents to New Kadampa Buddhism. Like Anglicans and Catholics, Buddhists preferred introversion (I). Like Anglicans who preferred intuition (N) and unlike Catholics who preferred sensing (S), Buddhists displayed a preference for intuition (N). Unlike Anglicans and Catholics who both preferred feeling (F), Buddhists displayed a balance between feeling (F) and thinking (T). Like Anglicans and unlike Catholics, Buddhists preferred the Apollonian temperament (NF) over the Epimethean temperament (SJ). These data are discussed to interpret the psychological appeal of New Kadampa Buddhism.

Religion and the sensation function

The sensation function, a form of perceiving contrasting to the intuitive function in Jungs personality typology, is explored in reference to Van der Hoops description of its distinct phenomenology: (1) a perceptual field in which details show up clearly but separately; (2) its association with two-sided, subject and object, transcendence. Implications are examined for individuals’ religious orientation when the sensation function is dominant or preferred, drawing on studies by pastoral theologians and spiritual directors, and the authors survey studies among Canadian Anglicans, Catholics and undergraduates in religious studies. Evidence is considered for the sensation function contributing to orientations to religion in the following forms: religion as (1) simplicity and presence, (2) providing direction, (3) practical service, (4) triggers to memory, (5) change avoidant, (6) preference for particular forms of prayer, and (7) a tendency to dichotomise. Conclusions focus upon the value of Jungian typology in providing an informed basis for differentiating a variety of religious pathways for psychological development, which may be useful to spiritually or religiously oriented individuals, and those who advise, guide, or teach them.

My hero, my friend: exploring Honduran youths’ lived experience of the God–individual relationship

Extensive social science research has focused on God image and God concept through the lens of attachment theory and the parental relationship. While vast theoretical frameworks exist, the authors suggest that more focused phenomenological research would shed light on adolescent lived experience within experiential descriptive language and provides additional cultural insight into how youth understand and experience God. Twenty-three female Honduran youths in residential care, ages 11 to 19, shared their understanding and experiences of the God–individual relationship using The Lived Experience of the God–Individual Relationship Questionnaire. The study discovered that relationships are complex and evolving between the individual and God. Particularly, the God–individual relationship was found to become more personal and intimate with age. Terms used to describe God’s role in one’s life vs. identity descriptors differed. Finally, youth saw their relationship with God as different than their peers indicating uniqueness to their perceived experience. The implications of the study relate to perceptions of God and to developmental theory of God relationships.

Principles of cultural psychology and the Hindu avatar tradition: A study of Mother Meera through personal narratives

Using principles from cultural psychology, we describe and analyse the senior authors experience of dissonance while visiting Mother Meera, a contemporary Hindu avatara, in order to receive her darshan, the blessing derived from the gaze of a self-realised person. Feelings of love and acceptance were contrasted with the disturbing feelings evinced by the exclusion of emotionally disturbed and physically handicapped individuals. Using the principle of intentional persons and intentional worlds co-constructing each other, socio-organic and role-centred conceptions of personhood found in South Asia are contrasted with separative and individual rights-based conceptions of individuals in North Atlantic cultures. Other theoretical formulations from cultural psychology including those concerning narrative are employed in order to illustrate the felt intensity of dissonance between the experiences of love and that of exclusion.