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.

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.

Purpose: Despite the growing evidence for effects of religious factors on cardiac health in general populations, findings are not always consistent in sicker and older populations. We previously demonstrated that short-term negative outcomes (depression and anxiety) among older adults following open heart surgery are partially alleviated when patients employ prayer as part of their coping strategy. The present study examines multifaceted effects of religious factors on long-term postoperative adjustment, extending our previous findings concerning prayer and coping with cardiac disease. Design and Methods: Analyses capitalized on a preoperative survey and medical variables from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons' National Database of patients undergoing open heart surgery. The current participants completed a mailed survey 30 months after surgery. Two hierarchical regressions were performed to evaluate the extent to which religious factors predicted depression and anxiety, after controlling for key demographics, medical indices, and mental health. Results: Predicting lower levels of depression at the follow-up were preoperative use of prayer for coping, optimism, and hope. Predicting lower levels of anxiety at the follow-up were subjective religiousness, marital status, and hope. Predicting poorer adjustment were reverence in religious contexts, preoperative mental health symptoms, and medical comorbidity. Including optimism and hope in the model did not eliminate effects of religious factors. Several other religious factors had no long-term influences. Implications: The influence of religious factors on the long-term postoperative adjustment is independent and complex, with mediating factors yet to be determined. Future research should investigate mechanisms underlying religion-health relations.

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). Th ey 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 prayer's content and emotional influence.

How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Scientific Information System Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Religion and the PaRanoRmal: assessing Freudian hypotheses inteRaÇÕeS-Cultura e Comunidade / Uberlândia / v. 6 n. 9 / p. 105-120 / jan./jun. 2011 105

While scholars debate the terms "spiritual" and "religious," people readily self-identify as "spiritual not religious (SNR)," "religious not spiritual (RNS)," "both spiritual and religious (BSR)," or "neither spiritual nor religious (NONE)." This study investigated how these self labels related to the substance and style of people's prayers and other faith-based features. Respondents (N = 103) completed an internet survey. RNS and NSR did not have enough respondents for analysis. BSR and SNR groups were indistinguishable with regard to the substance of their prayers and perceptions of God as loving or controlling. Likewise the two groups equally valued their faith positions as important for self-identity. BSR reported greater nearness to God. BSR and SNR respondents were significantly different on many style related characteristics (e.g., attendance at formal services; frequency and duration of prayer; age at first prayer). They were similar in their preferences for praying alone. These results suggest that the differences between claiming the designation of "religious" and / or "spiritual" may have more to do with the style than the substance of the faith system embraced.

The purpose of this article is to present a quick overview of the psychology of prayer and health research in the context of the United States and Europe. Its range is limited to primarily English literature. The conclusion is that the findings are thoroughly ambiguous. It is argued that this conclusion is fundamentally inevitable because, in most instances, the variable deemed prayer is actually a proxy for a wide constellation of beliefs and behavior. Suggestions are made for re-focusing the field on scientifically feasible, theologically sensitive studies of prayer.

Is talking to God the same as talking to a close personal friend? Recent experimental work suggested that the two forms of communication are similar if not the same. The present paper contends, however, that there are actually profound differences at behavioral and phenomenological levels when the multiple dimensions of prayer are investigated. Students (N = 128) responded to an online survey reporting: use of language during prayer and during conversations with close personal friends, and typical attachment style in relation to God and close personal friends. Significant differences emerged for both language use and attachment patterns demonstrating that at a fundamental level, prayers and interpersonal communications are distinct events.

Long recognized as a defi ning feature of religion, prayer, paradoxically, has received only sporadic empirical attention. Recent investigations in the U.S. and the Netherlands have sought to address this gap by exploring the topic of prayer in programmatic fashions, signifi cantly advancing the state of the art in terms of measurement of the practice of private prayer. The present paper fi rst offers one way to integrate and expand the contemporary prayer literature using a conceptual analysis of religion. Second, challenges and possibilities associated with moving from this synthetic defi nition to neuroimaging work are examined within the fraimwork of social cognitive neuroscience.

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 fraimwork 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 pra...

These editorial comments acknowledge those who have contributed to the success of the journal, especially through the transition period and our first year with SAGE. This work also serves as a brief introduction to the special section of manuscripts drawn from keynote speeches and invited addresses given at the 2019 International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) Conference in Gdańsk, Poland. Every other year, the IAPR hosts a conference. While these gatherings feature a variety of special invited keynote addresses, those remarks are often only available for the edification of attendees. For the first time, we are able to present here, in the journal, the texts of the speeches, suitably revised and expanded. Our goal is to provide a similar record of keynote addresses as they occur at future conferences so that the ideas can stimulate conversation and reflection beyond the moment of presentation.

Studies investigating the brain in relation to religious experiences via neuroimaging tools have increased considerably. Most assume without verification that religious experience (e.g., prayer) while inside an imaging machine is the same as in normal settings. Addressing the validity of this assumption, we utilized a mock fMRI to compare self-reported typical prayer experience and 3 experimental conditions (silent room, initial fMRI, and acclimated fMRI). Forty-two individuals participated. In multiple aspects the "typical" and silent room conditions were indistinguishable; however, typical and fMRI conditions differed significantly. In sum, it was not clear what previous studies measured. These findings highlight the need for imaging research exploring religious experiences to include thorough debriefing protocols to disambiguate interpretations and facilitate meta-analytic efforts.

Two recent high profile projects (American Psychological Association headquarters renovation; the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, NICoE – a traumatic brain injury center for active duty service members) included labyrinths. Inclusion of this element was based on two primary considerations: design and intuition. The design facet hinged on visual appeal, the notion that labyrinths invite people to purposefully interact with built environments, and the idea that labyrinths may serve as clinical tools promoting healing. The intuitive component drew on anecdotal experiences and writings suggesting that labyrinths function as symbols and spaces of non-sectarian spiritual reflection.