Center for Psychology of Religion

The Centre for Psychology of Religion has as objective to study, from a psychological perspective (concepts, theories and methods), religion and religious phenomena as well as to promote interdisciplinarity between psychology and the human and social sciences of religion. The Centre was founded and directed by Antoine Vergote (1961-1987) and Jean-Marie Jaspard (1977-2001). It is currently directed by Vassilis Saroglou (2001-). Research carried out in the Centre (today and in the past) covers five main domains of psychology of religion:

personality and social psychology of religion
cross-cultural psychology of religion
psychology of religious development
clinical psychology of religion
interdisciplinarity with other sciences of religion

latest news


		> Believers and atheists: Do they know each other? What are the meta-stereotypes of believers and non-believers, i.e. how does each group think the other group perceives it? Do these groups accurately estimate the outgroup’s stereotypes? [1/09/2011 > more]


		> Religious prime increases authoritarians' non-empathetic morality What if moral integrity conflicts with interpersonal care? What is the role of religion? In a recent experiment, religious priming made authoritarians to choose attachment to abstract, impersonal deontology at the detriment of the well-being of relatives and acquaintances. [17/06/2011 > more]


		> Existential quest differs from low dogmatism or religious quest Questioning one’s own existential beliefs is an understudied epistemological tendency. Existential Quest is a specific construct that can be distinguished from search for meaning in life, religious quest, need for closure, and dogmatism. [7/03/2011 > more]


		> Religion may predict low well-being among ex-immigrants A recent study shows that religious ex-immigrants tend to be attached only to the origin and not the new, adoption culture; and in the context of perceived misperception by the majority, religiosity predicts low self-esteem and more depression among ex-immigrants. [3/03/2011 > more]


		> Fundamentalists, as religious authoritarians, can be prosocial Past research has focused on fundamentalists’ prejudice because of the underlying authoritarianism. In two new experiments we found that, because of the underlying religiosity, fundamentalism implies prosociality too, although limited to familiar and non-threatening targets. [28/09/2010 > more]


> Subliminal religious priming activates submission and conformity [ > more]


> "Born" to be religious: Universal personality predispositions? [ > more]


> Subtle prejudice/racism predicts hostility to the Islamic veil [ > more]


> Positive emotions increase religion - spirituality [ > more]

| 12/09/2011 |

don't miss

> JCCP Special Issue on Culture and Religion

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