Kevin L. Ladd

Inward, Outward, and Upward: Cognitive Aspects of Prayer

Recent investigations concerning ways people employ prayer typically suffer from either a fundamentally atheoretical approach or an indiscriminant mixing of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. The present study examines the theory that a general concept of prayer–as–connection contains prayers of inward (connection with oneself), outward (human–human connection), or upward (human–divine connection) foci. Participants rated words or phrases according to what they “thought about” while praying. Factor analysis revealed eight primary factors: two inward, four outward, and two upward. Three second–order factors emerged (two outward and one upward). However, no general factor appeared.

Meaning, God, and prayer: Physical and metaphysical aspects of social support

This paper highlights unique aspects of social support in a religious context, with an emphasis on the practice of prayer. We first discus presuppositions that drive work in the area including (1) adoption of a “medical model” of evaluation and (2) the corollary influence of existential chauvinism. We next outline how religious groups differ from others with respect to the provision of meaning, the position of a deity, and the practice of prayer. Examining the latter facet in detail, we explore possible ways in which prayer is related to physical behaviors (e.g., folding hands, bowing head, closing eyes) that may promote and intensify internal experiences of social support independent of the actual content of the prayer itself.

Religiosity, the need for structure, death attitudes, and funeral preferences

Study one (N = 309) verified the common assumption that religious beliefs provide a sense of structure. Religion and structure indices contributed both shared and unique variance to the prediction of hope, affect, and life satisfaction. In a second study, 368 participants self-reported death attitudes, desire for structure, and answered questions concerning their own death (e.g., disposition of body, style of memorial). Strongly held religious beliefs linked to more positive and less negative attitudes toward death. The need for structure resonated with pain and natural aspects of death. Religious beliefs and structure needs further independently influenced attitudes toward and planning for ones own death.

Inward, Outward, Upward Prayer and Big Five Personality Traits

Personality and prayer are both conceptualized as focusing on issues of connectivity with the self and beyond. Individual participants each recruited a peer to join the study (total N = 140). Participants (n = 70) rated themselves according to multi-item scales that detail five personality factors (extraversion, intellect, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability; Abridged Big Five Circumplex). They also responded to an instrument specifying eight foci of the inward, outward, and upward cognitive content of prayer (examination, tears, intercession, petition, radical, suffering, rest, and sacrament); these eight foci were reduced to three prayer themes: internal concerns, embracing paradox, and bold assertion. Finally, respondents reported the strength of six “basic” emotions (happiness, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness) that may be experienced during their typical prayer. Using the same instruments, each peer (n = 70) rated her or his matched participant. Results reveal discrete patterns between self and peer ratings, with respect to links among prayer and personality variables. Both self and peer ratings emphasize a relation between prayer and the personality traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness (e.g., prayer themes of internal concerns correlated with agreeableness). Several concluding points highlight the value of the present conceptualization of personality and prayer with relation to connectivity, potential differences between personal and corporate prayers, and the potential role of sex differences in the disclosure of prayers content and emotional influence.

Review of Handbook of Religion and Health (2nd Edition). By Harold Koenig, Dana King, and Verna B. Carson

A hallmark of American thinking is its bent toward practical application. It is no surprise, then, that within the psychology of religion in the United States is a thriving literature on the interface of faith and health. Not only do investigators want to know what religious faith is, they also want to know what it does or could do, especially in regard to physical and psychological well-being. For this revised edition of an oft-cited work, Koenig and his two new coauthors undertake the Herculean task of collating this rapidly proliferating material. The first five chapters provide historical background on the central themes, address definitional problems (deviating from the current trend by treating religion and spirituality as largely interchangeable), touch on the views of proponents and critics of religion, and survey the various ways in which religion is believed to assist in coping. Following, then, are the two main sections of the book, both research centered: one on religion and mental health, the other on religion and physical health. Much as in the previous edition (Koenig, McCullough, & Larson, 2001), each section comprises roughly one dozen chapters on specific topics. There is also a concluding chapter laying out proposed theoretical “causal models” (p. 308ff.) accounting for religion’s supposed direct and indirect effects on health. Chapters on specific disorders typically begin with a technical but highly readable description of the disorder—for example, depression, cancer—and its known or suspected causes; then follows a brief case study illustrating how the disorder can intersect with religion. There is also an indication of how many studies were vetted for possible inclusion. A smaller number of them, selected according to the first author’s quality ratings, are then presented in the form of extended abstracts, with occasional commentary. The chapters usually close with the authors’ interpretation of the meaning of the literature and suggestions for additional work. In an appendix, which together with the reference list and index constitutes virtually half of the volume, the authors provide a 354-page table, organized to correspond to the preceding chapter topics. The table notes key aspects of each of the studies cited (e.g., the type of study, the method, sample size, etc.). The usefulness of this table is limited by a publisher’s oversight: Although topics and researchers are copiously indexed by page number, the pages of the table

Metaphysical Chauvinism and Perceptions of Deviance in Religion, Atheism, and Alien Realms

Metaphysical chauvinism suggests that prejudicial attitudes extend beyond earthly concerns. Two studies examined this notion with attention to potential preferential treatment accorded religious belief systems. In Study 1, participants (N = 169) were randomly assigned to rate 1 of 6 target groups (people with mental illness, atheists, people claiming alien visitations, people reporting angelic visitations, religious people, or “people like me”) regarding social, moral, and psychological normalcy—deviance. Data supported the existence of metaphysical chauvinism in social and psychological but not the moral aspects. In Study 2, using a between-subjects design, participants (N = 92) evaluated an art object ostensibly created by a person in response to an angelic visitation, an alien visitation, or a simple dream. Overt social distance measures and physical contact with the object supported the notion that angelic visitations were regarded more positively.

Toward A Tri-partite Psychological Model of Prayer

While empirical research concerning the psychology of prayer has increased significantly in the last decade, the development of theory has lagged behind observation. In this paper, we expand on our previous work conceptualizing prayer as consisting of perceived inward, outward, and upward connections (IOU) with aspects in both physical and supraphysical domains. Using a three-dimensional triangular model, we demonstratethe dynamic states associated with the act of praying as it unfolds across time and in response to specific events or contexts. The utility of the proposed model is that it offers a framework of prayer that accounts for intrapersonal variation. This can be useful in clinical contexts, where graphic portrayals of internal experiences can enhance understanding and facilitate desired change. In addition, the model can suggest the extent to which the individual embraces prayer in its most transparent connectional modes or displays a tendency to “mix and match” ways of praying in a personally construed patternof relevance. All of these features suggest that this model can provide substantial material for self-reflection and development.

Lockdown Legacy: A Qualitative Investigation of Incarceration, Re-Integration, and Faith Communities.

Incarceration is often thought to be most relevant to the offender and the victim, yet the network of influence involves parents, children, significant others, and community members. Participants in this project viewed a pre-recorded play highlighting the ripple effects of incarceration, then engaged in a series of discussions sharing their own experiences and concerns. Content analysis of those discussions supported a variety of themes including a perceived lack of productive response from communities of faith. The themes are positioned in the framework of efficacy theory, demonstrating the ebb and flow of this sense of personal control in relation to encounters with incarceration.

Review of Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare

“How is healthcare to engage and respond, how does it understand and interpret spirituality, what resources does it make available and how are these organized, and how does spirituality shape and inform the purpose and practice of healthcare?”—so ask the authors of this book (p. vii). There are certainly more specific questions that can be posed regarding the interface of spirituality and healthcare, but this series of inquires in itself sets out a formidable task for the editors. To go about answering this sweeping set of questions, the editors recruited a large number of scholars from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. The book’s 64 chapters are grouped into six interrelated sections: Traditions, Concepts, Practice, Research, Policy and Education, and Challenges. To fit the brief but content-rich chapters into 501 pages, the publisher used a serif font of 8 or 9 points on pages measuring 8.6 10.9 inches; on each page are two columns of crowded text, with only =4 in. between columns and =2 in. at the margins. For those who find the pages claustrophobic or the font too small, a temporary workaround is available: accessing and then enlarging the text online. The publisher includes a code for six months of free personal access; after that period the online version is available through library subscriptions. The first section, on traditions, covers all of the “usual suspects” of the world’s major religions. On the whole, the authors do a fine job of reminding readers that these traditions are not monolithic, by paying attention to the major constituent subgroups. In addition, separate chapters consider orientations less commonly addressed in the context of spirituality, including humanism, secularism, indigenous spiritualities, “new age” spirituality, and philosophical spirituality. The editors have made sure that each contributor considers essential and more nuanced elements of the chapter’s topic while also linking the tradition to the healthcare system. The second group of chapters addresses broad concepts—personhood, belief, hope, meaning, compassion, dignity, cure/healing, suffering, ritual, culture—that are often rife with unexamined assumptions. Although the authors by and large do a commendable job of identifying and clarifying these presuppositions, the connections to healthcare are not always apparent. Given that the topics addressed in this series of chapters also appear, if more briefly, in the tradition

Introduction to Special Issue in Honor of Bernard Spilka

Bernard Spilka needs little introduction to many readers of the psychology of religion. Part of his influence comes from being a key contributor to the field’s revitalization in the 1960s and 1970s. It is so difficult to do a literature search without finding that Bernie has already explored the territory that Ken Pargament (personal communication, 2013), an author in this issue, wrote, “In the beginning, there was Bernie Spilka: : : : ” (Bernie’s work on the history of the psychology of religion clarifies that he knows his contributions did not start so early, but he has indicated that he taught his first course somewhere between the Jurassic and Paleolithic eras.) Many readers, however, may be surprised at the breadth of his influence. Bernie’s work came to pivotal importance in 1985. In that year Spilka, Hood, and Gorsuch (1985) masterfully summarized the scientific literature. Now in its fourth edition (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009), this volume, and the empirical approach it declared, has stood the test of time. It is hard to tell how many careers have been launched by the research ideas these authors inserted into each edition. As Ralph Hood (2013, p. 294) writes in this issue, “Bernie has long championed the need for strong theory and has always been clear that theory must have empirical consequences.” This perspective was emphasized by his later edited volume describing useful theories in the field (Spilka & McIntosh, 1996). In his mid-80s at this writing, Bernie’s influence on the scientific