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Psychology of religion and spirituality
Studies religious and spiritual belief, experience and practice with psychological methods.
- Type of entry
- Interdisciplinary fieldAn area that draws on psychology together with other disciplines. Types are editorial labels, not an official classification.
- Cluster
- Social life and culturePeople in groups, cultures, communities and politics.
- Sources opened
- 5 of 52 read as a full page, 3 as selected text or an abstract, 0 not verified.
- Independent review
- Admitted after correctionsClaude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. 8 claims checked against 5 sources opened by the reviewer.
What it studies
The psychology of religion studies religious and spiritual belief, experience and practice with psychological methods. The International Association for the Psychology of Religion says it promotes scientific research and exchange in the field and favors no particular trend. Members of the American division need not share any religious identification.
History and people
William James delivered twenty lectures on religious experience at the 1901 to 1902 Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh, and a historical summary names him and G. Stanley Hall as early figures. Institutions followed. The International Association for the Psychology of Religion dates itself to 1914 in Nuremberg, together with its journal, and the American division gained divisional status in August 1975 after earlier forms as a Catholic and then ecumenical group.
People and documented roles
- William James. Author of the Varieties of Religious Experience lectures; named as an early figure by Nielsen
- G. Stanley Hall. Early figure who studied religion, per Nielsen
- Named in a historical summary as an early figure who studied religion. [3]
- Wilhelm Stählin. Publisher of the first volume of the Archiv für Religionspsychologie
- Published the first volume of the Archiv, the journal of the association founded in 1914. [1]
- Virginia Sexton. First president of Division 36 per the encyclopedia entry
- Served as first president of the American Psychological Association division on the psychology of religion. [2]
- Gordon Allport. Credited by Nielsen with a 1950 work that began his lasting influence on the area
- Nielsen credits his 1950 work with beginning a lasting influence on the psychology of religion. [3]
Early contributors such as Edwin Starbuck and other founders of questionnaire research appeared only in search snippets and Wikipedia-derived summaries, so they are not listed. No contributors outside Europe and North America are documented in the sources opened.
Dated milestones
- 1901-1902Event. Year.William James's Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh on religious experience; the library page gives the span 1901-1902. [5]
- June 10, 1914Society or organization formed. Exact date.Informal founding of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion per van Belzen; the association itself gives 1914 and Nuremberg. A society event, not the start of the field. [4]
- 1971Society or organization formed. Year.American Catholic Psychological Association reorganized as the ecumenical Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues. [2]
- August 1975Recognition decision. Month and year.Division status in the American Psychological Association; a US organizational recognition, not the start of the field. [2]
- 1993Name adopted. Year.Division 36 renamed Psychology of Religion. [2]
- 2001Society or organization formed. Year.International Association for the Psychology of Religion re-founded at Soesterberg. [1]
Methods
The sources opened say the American division accepts quantitative and qualitative work. The International Association says its journal is peer reviewed and that it aims to provide a platform for the entire spectrum of the scientific-psychological study of religion. The sources opened do not list specific instruments or study designs.
Training and applications
The sources opened document meetings and journals more than training or practice. The American division meets during the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, and the International Association publishes a journal and holds conferences. In the United States, psychology titles and licenses are set by regulators, not by this guide, and no source opened shows a credential specific to this area.
Boundaries and limits
The sources opened document religion much more than spirituality; none treats spirituality as a distinct subject. One account says the area has often been told as rise, fall and resurgence, while a recent view holds that religion was never particularly welcomed by mainstream psychology. Society dates mark organizations, not the origin of the area, and the sources opened are mainly European and American.
Evidence behind the claims
The International Association for the Psychology of Religion states that it aims at promoting scientific research and exchange in the psychology of religion, is not partial to any particular trend, and aims to provide a platform for the entire spectrum of the scientific-psychological study of religion; it publishes a peer-reviewed journal in English, which has been the case since 2009.
The International Association for the Psychology of Religion says it was founded in 1914 in Nuremberg, Germany, and that Wilhelm Stählin published the first volume of its Archiv in 1914.
J. A. van Belzen's 2014 article describes the informal founding of the association on June 10, 1914, and says World War I halted its start, with the next volume appearing in 1921.
The International Association says it was reconstituted in the early 1960s and re-founded in 2001 at a conference in Soesterberg.
According to Ralph W. Hood, Jr., APA Division 36 grew from the American Catholic Psychological Association, which was disbanded in 1968 and reorganized in 1971 as the ecumenical Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues; it gained divisional status in August 1975 with Virginia Sexton as first president, and was renamed Psychology of Religion in 1993.
The entry says Division 36 members need not share any religious identification, that it meets during the American Psychological Association's annual meeting, and that it accepts quantitative and qualitative work.
Nielsen (2000) names William James and G. Stanley Hall as early psychologists who studied religion, says American psychology's push toward behaviorism led to neglect of spiritual matters, says interest resumed in the 1950s and credits Gordon Allport's 1950 work with lasting influence, and notes that the common rise-fall-resurgence account has been challenged by the view that religion was never particularly welcomed by mainstream psychology.
The library page presents William James's Varieties of Religious Experience as 20 lectures given at the 1901-1902 Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh that examine the psychological underpinnings of religious experience.
In the Psy101 course
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 1.2: History of PsychologyChapter 1, Introduction to Psychology. History reading. Nearest related reading; direct coverage of this field has not been verified.History of Psychology is the nearest reading on early psychologists such as James.
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 4.6: Other States of ConsciousnessChapter 4, States of Consciousness. Topic reading. Nearest related reading; direct coverage of this field has not been verified.Other states of consciousness is a loose neighbor for religious experience; no section covers religion directly.
This is course relevance only. It is not evidence for the historical or practice claims on this page.See the full course map.
Sources and inspection
5 of 5 sources were opened and read at the level shown. A source marked as not verified supports no claim on this page by itself.
- [1]About usInternational Association for the Psychology of Religion, undated. Society history. Supports the history.Full page readRead the history, aims, journal and conference text; claims about 1914 come from the association's own account.
- [2]American Psychological Association (APA), Division On The Psychology Of Religion (Division 36)Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, Hartford Institute for Religion Research, undated. Reference work. Supports the history.Full page readRead the entry by Ralph W. Hood, Jr.; the page shows no publication year, only a 2026 site footer.
- [3]Psychology of Religion in the USAMichael E. Nielsen, Georgia Southern University (psywww.com), 2000. Reference work. Supports the history.Selected text readRead the history and organizations passages of this personal web overview; the page is dated February 2000 and attributed to Nielsen.
- [4]Der Anfang, der ein Ende war: Die Gründung der Internationalen Gesellschaft für ReligionspsychologieArchiv für Religionspsychologie (repository record, University of Amsterdam), 2014. Review article. Supports the history.Abstract onlyRead a shortened abstract on the repository record by J. A. van Belzen; the full article was not opened. The abstract puts 'founding' in quotation marks and calls it informal.
- [5]Varieties of Religious ExperienceChristian Classics Ethereal Library, undated. Original publication. Supports the history.Selected text readRead the library's page description and author details; the text of the lectures was not opened.
Independent source review: Claude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. Verdict: Admitted after corrections. Of 8 claims checked, 7 were supported as written, 1 were reworded and 0 were removed.