Teaching and Learning > DOCUMENTS
Interview on Psychology of Religion Teaching outside TRS departments
Andrew Cochrane
1. What do you teach and where do you teach it?
Some psychology of religion at Masters level in the psychology department at Queens College, Cambridge. I have introduced a little bit of religion in psychology topics, for instance, seminars on religious cognition.
Next year, I will be providing a taught module in psychology of religion for students studying for an MA in Social Psychology. This will comprise eighteen teaching hours.
2. The initial survey responses and web-based research surrounding psychology or religion indicates that it is taught in psychology departments at the University of Nottingham, Heythrop, Ulster, and Cambridge. Is it taught anywhere else in the U.K., outside of psychology departments?
Oxford has a Psychology of Religion course offered as a Theory of Politics/Philosophy of Religion paper, but there is little other teaching of Psychology of Religion outside Philosophy and Religious Studies departments in the U.K.
There are some psychology lecturers who have grad students doing research in psychology of religion (e.g. Peter Hampton, University of West England).
3. Are there many psychologists doing research in psychology of religion?
It is a growing research field. The four main Universities at which there is an active research climate in psychology of religion are Belfast, Oxford, Cambridge and Heythrop.
More religion is coming up at psychology conferences.
At Oxford, some members of the Anthropology department (Justin Barrett and Harvey Whitehouse) do research in the psychology of Religion.
Queens University has an Institute for Culture and Cognition, which concentrates its work around social cognition and the cognitive science of religion (Director of Institute: Jesse Bering).
4. Psychology of Religion is quite a common module to be offered in TRS departments. Why is there far less teaching of psychology of religion in psychology departments, and how would they be taught differently?
In psychology departments, there is little or no interest in historical approaches. Psychology of Religion in religious studies departments often has a lot of emphasis on Freud and Jung, but Freud and Jung are simply not taught in most psychology departments, where the emphasis is on cognitive and social psychology.
5. Does religion come up as a topic in social psychology teaching?
It does not tend to come up in social psychology. It is simply not mentioned in undergraduate social psychology textbooks.
It is difficult to get people who study religion into psychology departments: they have to market themselves as developmental/social psychologists.
However, religion can also be approached from a cognitive perspective, but there are very few people in cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience posts actually doing the teaching.
However, hopefully, as more religion is coming up at Psychology conferences, this will start to filter down into undergraduate teaching more.
6. Is research or teaching in Psychology of Religion taught more prolific outside the U.K?
The field is in a somewhat healthier state in the U.S.A. Students can take minors in psychology of religion there. The American Psychological Association (APA) has just started a new journal in this area also, which may encourage a wider recognition of psychology of religion as an area for study in psychology departments.
In Northern Europe, a number of universities have chairs in psychology of religion.
Within the U.K., there is a psychology of religion journal ('Mental Health, Religion and Culture'), whose editorial board are mostly psychologists and psychiatrists. All of the rest of the journals that publish research in psychology of religion are outside the U.K.
This page was originally on the website of The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. It was transfered here following the closure of the Subject Centre at the end of 2011.
