Religion, Personality, and Social Behavior

Psychological interest in religion, in terms of both theory and empirical research, has been constant since the beginning of psychology. However, since the beginning of the 21st Century, partially due to important social and political events and developments, interest in religion within personality and social psychology has increased.

This volume reviews the accumulated research and theory on the major aspects of personality and social psychology as applied to religion. It provides a high quality integrative, systematic, and rigorous review of that work, with a focus on topics that are both central in personality and social psychology and have allowed for the accumulation of solid and replicated and not impressionist knowledge on religion. The contributors are renowned researchers in the field who offer an international perspective that is both illuminating, yet neutral, with respect to religion.

The volume?s primary audience are academics, researchers, and advanced students in social psychology, but it will also interest those in sociology, political sciences, and anthropology.

V. Saroglou, Studying Religion in Personality and Social Psychology. Part I: Personality, Cognition, and Emotions. M.C. Ashton, K. Lee, Personality and Religiousness. C. Sedikides, J. Gebauer, Religion and the Self. W.M., Gervais, Religious Cognition. C.T. Burris, R. Petrican, Religion, Negative Emotions, and Regulation. P. Van Cappellen, B. Rimé, Positive Emotions and Self-transcendence. Part II: Social Behavior, Morality, and Intergroup Relations.J.L. Preston, E. Salomon, R.S. Ritter, Religious Prosociality: Personal, Cognitive, and Social Factors. W.C. Rowatt, T. Carpenter, M. Haggard, Religion, Prejudice and Intergroup Relations. S. Roccas, A. Elster, Values and Religiosity. Y.J. Li, A.B. Cohen, Religion, Sexuality, and Family. A. Malka, Religion and Domestic Political Attitudes around the World. R.D. Hayward, N. Krause, Religion, Mental Health, and Well-Being: Social Aspects. Part III: Religion in Context: Age, Gender, and Culture. P. Granqvist, Religion and Cognitive, Emotional, and Social Development. L.J. Francis, G. Penny, Gender Difference in Religion. K.A. Johnson, A.B. Cohen, Religious and National Cultures. Conclusion.V. Saroglou, Understanding Religion and Irreligion.

Vassilis Saroglou is Professor of Psychology at the University of Louvain (UCL) and has been a visiting professor at Arizona State University and Fulbright scholar at the College of William and Mary. He has an extensive record of publications in personality, social, and cross-cultural psychology of religion, fundamentalism, and spirituality. He currently serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. He is a recipient of the Early Career Award (2005) and the Mentoring Award (2013) of APA-Division 36, and the Quinquennial Godin Prize (2006) of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion.