Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging: The Big Four Religious Dimensions and Cultural Variation

When approaching religion from a cross-cultural psychological perspective, one faces questions regarding the universals and the specifics of religions across cultural contexts. On the basis of previous theorization and research, the author proposes a model that posits four basic dimensions of religi...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Saroglou, Vassilis (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Sage 2011
In: Journal of cross-cultural psychology
Year: 2011, Volume: 42, Issue: 8, Pages: 1320-1340
Further subjects:B religious dimensions
B Spirituality
B Cultural influences
B religious universals
B RELIGIOUS differences
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:When approaching religion from a cross-cultural psychological perspective, one faces questions regarding the universals and the specifics of religions across cultural contexts. On the basis of previous theorization and research, the author proposes a model that posits four basic dimensions of religion and individual religiosity that are partially distinct although interconnected: believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging. These dimensions are presumably universally present across religions and cultural contexts and delimitate religion from other similar constructs. They reflect distinct psychological processes (cognitive, emotional, moral, and social), respective goals, conversion motives, types of self-transcendence, and mechanisms explaining the religion-health links. However, across cultural and religious groups, these dimensions may differ in content, salience, and ways in which they are interconnected or emphasized, leading to various forms of religiosity, including functional and dysfunctional ones. Within each dimension, there is additional universality (in structure) and cultural variability (in salience) regarding the way religious cognitions, emotions, morality, and identity are processed. This Big Four religious dimensions model may be a powerful tool for studying universals and cultural specifics of the psychological dimensions of religion.
ISSN:1552-5422
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of cross-cultural psychology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0022022111412267