Abstract:
The article, Why Are Religious Individuals More Obsessional? The Role of Mental Control Beliefs and Guilt in Muslims and Christians, presents the data results from a study comparing Canadian Christian and Turkish Muslim students’ measures of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and beliefs, guilt, religiosity, and negative affect. It is a unique study, as there have been few studies directly exploring this topic and even fewer using a non-Western Muslim sample.
Thesis
Cognitive-behavioral theory recognizes that obsessions are linked to particular cultural experiences, such as following strict religious beliefs about controlling one’s intrusive thoughts. Firstly, the authors hypothesized that the higher the religiosity in a student, the
…show more content…
Seventy-six percent of them reported their religious affiliation as Christian. The Turkish sample was composed of 243 male and 177 female students with a mean age of 21.73 years who were lifetime citizens of Turkey. Seventy-seven percent of them reported that they were Muslim. Ninety-three point seven percent of the sampled individuals identified their ethnicity as Turkish, while six point three percent identified as Kurdish.
Both screening samples were given the same battery of questionnaires. These included a demographic sheet assessing age, sex, relationship status, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and five Likert ratings on religious beliefs and behavior. Likert ratings determine religious beliefs and behaviors by assessing the frequency of worship attendance, prayer, religious text reading (Bible, Koran), volunteerism, giving money, as well as the importance religion plays in guiding the decisions and behaviors, i.e. 1 = not at all important, to 5 = extremely important). The final rating determined the high and low religious groups. “Low religious” group participants identified that religion did not bear influence on their decisions and behaviors (1). “High religious” group participants indicated that religion was either very important (4) or extremely important (5) in guiding their decisions and behavior. All of the students gave
Searching back to its beginnings, religion has a profound impact on cultural identity through the presence of deep and ancient roots that connect a people to their glorious, memorable and often idealized histories. By equating a given religion with the success of a society often times national pride and religious pride become intertwined. Though this manifests itself differently in each country, throughout all four surveyed this attribute seemed to be present.
With little training, Traig was unfamiliar with most of the practices of her religion that she insisted upon being converted to, to officially identify with the system of faith where she felt she most belonged. This led to behavior that constitutes as more odd and obsessive that religious, as in the minds of Traig’s loved ones and observers, as well as herself. Obsessive Compulsive Disorders often leave the one with the mental illness feeling helpless, because they are very aware of the irrationality of their decisions and behaviors, but feel so distressed by not appeasing their compulsions that they are left with little control over their own lives. Jennifer Traig found herself in this boat that many sufferers face, in which reaching out to ask for help feels nearly impossible because it means that others will have to understand and not offer judgement, the obsessive compulsive has to admit to her behaviors that often
Catherine L. and Caldwell-Harris’s research was to find the personality differences between the religious and the nonreligious and how
While the majority of Americans (almost 80%) identify themselves as Christians, religion in the United States is characterized by both a large diversity of believers and variable attendance and adherence levels (Eck, 2002). However, an August 2010 poll showed that almost 70% of Americans believed that religion was losing influence in everyday life, yet most feel that is a negative thing even though politicians continue to discuss religion while campaigning (Religion Losing, 2012). In light of these statistics, many religious scholars have turned to more quantitative methods to establish ways to both improve service attendance, solidify the financial health of churches, and establish a faith-based understanding of current psychographic trends. One of the predominant ways this is happening is through people like George Barna.
Religious belief can be defined generally as the acceptance of a spiritual super power. Such is this belief that it usually influences and impacts a person’s life in many different ways; this can be from what they eat such as halal meet for Muslims to the location of the family home. A Jewish family for example may consider buying a house near a Synagogue so it is easy for them to attend services on the Sabbath day, when they are not supposed to do any work. The healthcare choices of people may also be affected by their religious beliefs, which may not be considered to be the norm or what doctors think is best. These decisions can come
Eighteen options were offered as choices for this question, excluding the categories of atheist and agnostic. The responses to each category have not been captured in the survey results, owing to certain privacy concerns. However, the percentage of none as a choice was calculated from the annual survey results. Moreover, the sample for this question excluded the Californians after 1997.
In a third world country, 100 randomly selected people were surveyed about their socioeconomic class and religious affiliation. The results and an excerpt from the results section of this fictional study follow.
Religion is a fundamental element of human society. It is what binds a country, society or group of individuals together. However, in some instances it destroys unity amoungst these. Religion is a belief in a superhuman entity(s) which control(s) the universe. Every religion has its differences but most strive for a just life and the right morals. The three major groups are the primal regions which consist of African, Aboriginal and Native American religions, Asian which consist of South Eastern Asian religions and Abrahamic religions which consist of Middle Eastern religions. The foci of this essay are the differences between the Abrahamic religion, Christianity, and the Asian region Buddhism as well as making reference to the Islamic
Religion impacts every society and is impacted by many factors. Over time, religion has both gained and lost power over the choices of people. One person may act one way because of their religious upbringing and a different person another way. This is due to the fact that everyone has a different relationship with their faith. Differences in one’s faith are attributed to a variety circumstances, for example, culture, time period, and access to technology. Nevertheless, faith has the ability to strengthen one’s relationship with God.
Religion, whether we realize it or not, is a major element of American society (and also worldwide history). For many, religion is a significant part of their cultural identity. Religion plays a part in all levels of politics and is often an aspect of community events and organizations. Everyday, we all interact with people who have different religious backgrounds and personal beliefs. Children born into religious families are very connected with their religions from birth and this affects the way they will see the world for the rest of their lives. Even those who later explore other faiths or convert to other religious ideas will be affected in
Donahue, M. J. & Benson, P. L. (1995). “Religion and the Well-being of Adolescents” in
Religion can be defined as a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. It contains a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices that allow its followers to live their life a certain way. The world consists of 19 major religions, which are further subdivided into 270 larger groups. According to David Barrett et al, editor of the “World Christian Encyclopedia,” there are 34,000 separate Christian groups around the world. Just from those numbers alone, we can conclude that religion has a prevalent effect on people and society. Religion is viewed as a positive influence on an individual both psychologically and physically. Throughout history we can study the various effects that religion has on society. Studies generally provide great evidence in favor of religion having a positive effect on individuals and society as a whole.
In addition to the areas of ambiguity, there is the problem of religious ignorance (Giess, 2012; Haynes, 2011). There is a marked and dramatic ignorance among Americans about religious traditions including their own (Giess, 2012). Ignorance is no virtue and especially so when the opportunity to harm one’s students through intolerance and ignorance is more prevalent than ever before. The US, the predominance of the Christian religion notwithstanding, is becoming more and more diverse religiously (Gunther & Purinton, 2011). This type of ignorance is a contributor to the escalation of religious intolerance that has manifested itself in increasing numbers of hate crimes (Haynes, 2011).
Religious faith is important to most Americans, with approximately 95% of Americans reporting belief in God and about 50% being active in church organizations (Gallup & Castelli, 1989). Despite the widespread prevalence of religious beliefs in society, some researchers have maintained that religion and religious beliefs are often neglected in psychological research (Jones, 1994; Plante, 1996). This neglect stems from a couple of different factors. First, it is difficult for psychologists to overcome the fact that believers in many religions claim to have unique access to the truth. Secondly, truly theological questions such as the existence of God or the nature of an afterlife are often ignored by scientists. This may be in part a
Research studies have shown efforts to distinguish differences between religious and nonreligious individuals in areas of physiological studies. In an article called The Neural Correlates of Religious and Nonreligious Belief (Harris, Kaplan, Curiel, Bookheimer, Lacoboni, and Cohen 2009), the topic of physiological studies attempts to discover differences between religious believers and the non- religious is expanded. The researchers intend to discover the difference in brain activity of religious believers and non-religious believers when presented with questions of fact and questions of fiction. This critique will present the researchers main questions, the methods used, the results of the experiments, and conclusions. The study’s strengths, validity, consistency and weaknesses will also be assessed throughout this critique.