Psychology of Religion Psy 481 Spring Term, 2003 Tuesday and Thursday, 1:40--2:55 Memorial 117

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1 Professor: Michael E. McCullough, Ph.D. Office: 209F Merrick Building Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 3:00-3:45 Psychology of Religion Psy 481 Spring Term, 2003 Tuesday and Thursday, 1:40--2:55 Memorial 117 Psychology of Religion, Spring Course Objectives: To demonstrate how religious phenomena are analyzed and understood from both biological and psychological perspectives, and to demonstrate how these two perspectives complement each other. To illustrate the roles that the human body and human mind play in both shaping and responding to religious belief, behavior, and experience. To illustrate the biological and psychological pathways by which religious belief and behavior lead to measurable consequences for human health, well-being, and social relationships. To demonstrate how technology from the social and biological sciences is applied to the study of cultural factors such as religion. Texts Required: 1. Argyle, M. (2000). Psychology and religion: An introduction. New York: Routledge. 2. Smith, H. (1991). The world s religions. New York: HarperSanFrancisco. 3. Packet of readings Assignment Percentage Points Date Exam I 30 February 25 Term Paper I 15 March 20 Term Paper II 15 April 22 Exam II 30 May 6 Reaction Paper January 30 Reaction Paper February 27 Reaction Paper March 25 Reaction Paper April 10 Total 100 Assessment of Performance COURSE EVALUATION: A = 90% and up

2 Psychology of Religion, Spring B = 80-89% C = 70-79% D = 60-69% ASSIGNMENTS: Exams. The exams will be composed of identification, short answer, and essay questions. The identification questions will require you to identify, define, or describe important concepts or people that are important to the psychology of religion. The short answer questions will ask you to explain a concept or idea in a few sentences. The essays will require you to demonstrate understanding of a major theory or body of research that we will cover in the class. I expect that exams will be weighted approximately 20% identification, 30% short answer, and 50% essay. The exams are not cumulative. For the exams you will also need to bring your University of Miami ID cards. Reaction Papers. Based on your readings of Houston Smith s The World s Religions, I want you to prepare four 2- page reaction papers on which you reflect on some psychological aspect of four of the world s religions that are not your own. You may choose any four chapters that you would like, except a chapter that covers your own religion. These papers will be graded on a credit/no credit basis either you everything or you get nothing. I want you to read about the world s religions, and then write about some topic that intersects with material we have been discussing in class. These materials must be turned into me at the beginning of class on the day that they are due. Term papers: This course includes two term papers, each of which should be at least 10 pages in length (doublespaced, with 1-inch margins, 12-point font), not counting references. In other words, your papers should be approximately 2500 words in length or more, in addition to your reference section. You may do your reference section in any format you choose, but I prefer APA format. Your term papers should be scholarly (that is, you should read and integrate external sources, including but not necessarily limited to readings from class). All term papers should include reference sections. For the first paper, I would like for you to integrate what you have learned about religion from the biological approaches that we covered in the first 5 weeks of class. In particular, I would like for you to take a religious belief, ritual, behavior, or experience from real life (not necessarily your own real life) and attempt to explain it in terms of the principles of behavioral genetics, behavioral neuroscience, or evolutionary theory. This may involve linking what you have learned here with other material you have explored, perhaps in other religion or psychology courses you have taken. Your papers should begin with 2-3 pages of description of the set of religious beliefs, rituals, or behaviors that you wish to analyze, and then 2-3 pages on at least 2 of the 3 biological /approaches described above (i.e., neuroscience, behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology). Conclude your papers with approximately 2 pages of your own thoughts about how adequate you belief the biological approaches to be as frameworks for explaining religious belief, behavior, and experience. For the second term paper, I would like for you to perform a religious/spiritual assessment on yourself in light of what we have learned during the semester from the scientific study of religion. This will be written in the first person as an autobiography, with references. In the course of preparing this assessment, I want you cover the following points: 1. Describe the extent and nature of your religious upbringing. Was your family religious? In what ways? Through what means did your parents, family, friends, and school affect your religious beliefs, behaviors, and experiences as you grew up. 2. What are your earliest recollections of your thoughts and beliefs about religion (prayer, God, etc.)

3 Psychology of Religion, Spring How did your religious beliefs, values, and practice change as you moved from childhood to adolescence? 4. Have you had any experiences that you would call "conversion" or "apostasy?" 5. How does your college experience influence your current religious belief, values, practices, and experiences? 6. To what extent do religious/spiritual concerns influence your life goals (particularly, your goals for daily life and your long-term goals)? 7. Reflect on how do your religious beliefs (or lack thereof) influence your health and well-being currently. Also, in what ways does your religiousness (or lack thereof) influence your social orientation (how you treat others, including prosocial behavior, giving to the poor and prejudice). 8. Finally, I want you to make some predictions about how you expect (and hope) that your religious/spiritual life will unfold in the ten years, twenty years, and the rest of your life. As you write this paper, I want you to integrate what you have learned about the social bases of religious experience and its consequences for individual and societal well-being. Indicate ways in which your experience is consistent (or inconsistent) with the scientific principles we have covered in class. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional presentation of another person s work as one s own. If you copy another person s ideas word for word without citing them, that s plagiarism. If you cut-and-paste text (for example, a book review) from a web site into your term paper without indicating that you have done so, that s plagiarism. If you recycle a term paper that a friend wrote, that s plagiarism. Basically, any attempt to pass off someone else s work as your own is plagiarism. It s also cheating. If we suspect that you have plagiarized in preparing your term papers, we will refer a complaint to the UM honor council. Please take my word on this, and realize that you are much less likely to get away with this as you might think (remember that the teaching assistants and I have access to the Internet too!). Plagiarism (including Internet plagiarism) is not a substitute for hard work and original thought. Late papers. PLEASE turn this in on time. I do not accept late papers. They are due at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Any late paper will be refused, resulting in a score of 0 for the term paper. OTHER POLICIES 1. The Honor Code. Please re-familiarize yourself with the UM Honor Code. If I suspect that any honor code violation has occurred in this class, I will prepare a complaint, which I will send to the Honor Council. If the honor council finds you guilty, I will administratively assign you an F for the course. Please remember that assisting a classmate with academic dishonesty is itself an honor code violation, as is failure to report an honor code violation. Thus, I expect (and welcome) you to report any suspected honor code violations to me privately. The honor code will work to the benefit of all of us in the Miami academic community if we all work to enforce it. 2. Missed Examinations: I expect that everyone will be present for the examination promptly on examination days. If you are aware at this time that you have a conflict that will prevent you from taking an exam (e.g., summer trip to Paris with mom and dad, San Diego Marathon, whatever), please drop this course. The only legitimate reason to skip an exam is because of illness. If you indeed are too ill to take an exam, you must have a physician send me a fax ( ) on his or her letterhead indicating that you did visit him/her, and that you were too ill to take an exam. In such a case, you will be able to make up the missed examination during final exam week. 3. Inclement Weather: If, due to inclement weather, the university officially cancels school, and if an exam or project happens to be due on that day, then the exam or project will be due on the first day that our class meets

4 Psychology of Religion, Spring after classes resume. If class gets cancelled the week before an exam, the exam will still take place on the scheduled day (it will include the assigned readings for the missed day, though it won't cover the material that I intended to lecture about in class). You don't need to call to verify this. Trust me. 4. Class Attendance: Come to class. Research shows that people who attend class learn more and do better (is that really any surprise?) 5. These policies (including the provisional schedule of topics) are subject to change.

5 Psychology of Religion, Spring Provisional Schedule of Topics Date Topic Covered To Be Read Before Class Tues, Jan 14 Thursday, Jan 16 Overview and Etiquette, History Defining and Measuring Religion Argyle, Chapter 1 Tues, Jan 21 Behavioral Genetics and Religion Waller et al. (1990) article Thurs, Jan 23 Tues, Jan 28 Thurs, Jan 30 Behavioral/Comparative Approaches; Evolutionary Psychology of Religion 1 st Reaction Paper due on the 30 th Kirkpatrick (1999) Article Tues, Feb 4 Thurs, Feb 6 Tues, Feb 11 Thurs, Feb 13 Tues, Feb 18 Thurs, Feb 20 Tues, Feb 25 Thurs, Feb 27 Tues, Mar 4 Thurs, Mar 6 Tues, Mar 11 Thurs, Mar 13 No office hrs on the 30 th Neurological Correlates of Religious Experience Prayer and Meditation (Video) Socialization Processes in Religion/Children's Conceptions of Religion Review Session Exam I Film: The Mission Second Reaction Paper Due on 27 th ; No office hrs on the 27th Conversion, Apostasy, and Religious Change Spring Recess: No Class Spring Recess: No Class Saver & Rabin (1997) Article Argyle, Chapter 8 Argyle, Chapter 2 Tues, Mar 18 Thurs, Mar 20 Tues, Mar 25 Thurs, Mar 27 Tues, Apr 1 Thurs, Apr 3 Tues, Apr 8 Thurs, Apr 10 Tues, Apr 15 Thurs, Apr 17 Tues, Apr 22 Thurs, Apr 24 Tuesday, May 6 2:00-4:30PM Religion in Adulthood and Older Adulthood Term Paper I Due Religion, Gender, and Personality Argyle, Chapter 3 3 rd Reaction Paper due on the 25 th No Class or Office Hours Religion and Health (Video) Argyle, Chapter 11 Religion and Mental Health Religion and Physical Health Argyle, Chapter 11 4 th Reaction Paper due on the 10 th Religion, Prejudice, and Prosocial Behavior Hunsberger Article (1995) Argyle, Chapter 13 New Religious Movements Schwartz & Kaslow (2001) Term Paper II Due Argyle, Chapter 15 Review Session No office hrs on the 24 th Final Exam