This volume on close relationships in adulthood discusses the central issues in the field and points the way towards the construction of an integrated body of knowledge about human relationships. The self, interactions, relationships and grops are treated as dynaimc proceses in dialectical relations with each other and with the socio-cultural structure of norms, values, beliefs and institutions.; Early chpaters introduce aspecs of the slef relevant to the dynaimcs of intercayions and relat...

Recent cognitive approaches to the study of religion have yielded much understanding by focusing on common psychological processes that all humans share. One leading theory, Harvey WhitehouseOs modes of religiosity theory, demonstrates how two distinct modes of organizing and transmitting religious traditions emerge from different ways of activating universal memory systems. In Mind and Religion, top scholars from biology to religious studies question, test, evaluate and challenge Whitehou...

Where do our moral beliefs come from? Theologians and scientists provide often conflicting answers. Robert Hinde resolves these conflicts to offer a groundbreaking, multidisciplinary response, drawing on psychology, philosophy, evolutionary biology and social anthropology. Hinde argues that understanding the origins of our morality can clarify the debates surrounding contemporary ethical dilemmas such as genetic modification, increasing consumerism and globalisation. Well-chosen examples a...

What is it about religion that appeals to people? Why do religions and religious beliefs persist in the face of increasing secularisation, harsh criticism and even political persecution? Robert Hinde argues that it is not enough simply to criticize religion, we must understand it - not only how it causes so much conflict, but also how it brings comfort to many.Hinde, a distinguished scientist, draws on a wide range of psychological, developmental and evolutionary research to explor...

This ambitious, interdisciplinary book seeks to explain the origins of religion using our knowledge of the evolution of cognition. A cognitive anthropologist and psychologist, Scott Atran argues that religion is a by-product of human evolution just as the cognitive intervention, cultural selection, and historical survival of religion is an accommodation of certain existential and moral elements that have evolved in the human condition.

How the sciences of the mind can advance the study of religionThe essence of religion was once widely thought to be a unique form of experience that could not be explained in neurological, psychological, or sociological terms. In recent decades scholars have questioned the privileging of the idea of religious experience in the study of religion, an approach that effectively isolated the study of religion from the social and natural sciences. Religious Experienc...

All counsellors are compelled to take account of the diverse society in which they practice and to inform themselves of best practice with all client groups. This book provides a contemporary psychodynamic perspective on difference and diversity to bring practitioners up to date with current thinking when faced with a client who is in some way 'different'. References to race, culture or disability in classical psychoanalytic literature are few. In a society that embraces diversity and seek...

Religion in Personality Theory makes clear the link between theory and research and personality and religion. Presently, most personality texts have a limited discussion of religion and reference few theorists other than Freud and Maslow in relation to the subject. This book reviews the theory and the empirical literature on the writings of 14 theorists. Every chapter concludes with a summation of the current research on the theorist's proposals. Reviews: "Frederick Walborn has written an ...

What are the implications of a client’s image of God?Improve your confidenceand your practice skillsby enhancing your knowledge of how individuals are likely to perceive God, and of how those perceptions impact the way they function as human beings. Theologians have long speculated and theorized about how humans imagine God to be. This book merges theology with science, presenting empirical research focused on perceptions of God in a variety of populations living in community and m...

What is multicultural psychotherapy?How do we integrate issues of gender, class and sexual orientation in multicultural psychotherapy?Race, Culture and Psychotherapy provides a thorough critical examination of contemporary multiculturalism and culturalism, including discussion of the full range of issues, debates and controversies that are emerging in the field of multicultural psychotherapy.Beginning with a general critique of race, culture and ethnicity, ...

This introduction to psychology has been devised for those training for and working in the clergy. Ideal both as a professional handbook and a textbook, it covers social, developmental, educational, occupational and counselling psychology, as well as the psychology of religion. It carefully considers the processes of personal change and growth central to religion.

This timely book aims to change the way we think about religion by putting emotion back onto the agenda. It challenges a tendency to over-emphasise rational aspects of religion, and rehabilitates its embodied, visceral and affective dimensions. Against the view that religious emotion is a purely private matter, it offers a new framework which shows how religious emotions arise in the varied interactions between human agents and religious communities, human agents and objects of devotion, a...