Ralph W. Hood, Jr. | University of Tennessee Chattanooga (original) (raw)

Papers by Ralph W. Hood, Jr.

Review of General Psychology, 2017

Various forms of self-loss have been described as aspects of mental illness (e.g., depersonalizat... more Various forms of self-loss have been described as aspects of mental illness (e.g., depersonalization disorder), but might self-loss also be related to mental health? In this integrative review and proposed organizational framework, we focus on self-transcendent experiences (STEs)—transient mental states marked by decreased self-salience and increased feelings of connectedness. We first identify common psychological constructs that contain a self-transcendent aspect, including mindfulness, flow, peak experiences, mystical-type experiences, and certain positive emotions (e.g., love, awe). We then propose psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that may mediate the effects of STEs based on a review of the extant literature from social psychology, clinical psychology, and affective neuroscience. We conclude with future directions for further empirical research on these experiences.

Experiences of profound existential or spiritual significance can be triggered reliably through p... more Experiences of profound existential or spiritual significance can be triggered reliably through psychopharmacological means using psychedelic substances. However, little is known about the benefits of religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences (RSMEs) prompted by psychedelic substances, as compared with those that occur through other means. In this study, 739 self-selected participants reported the psychological impact of their RSMEs and indicated whether they were induced by a psychedelic substance. Experiences induced by psychedelic substances were rated as more intensely mystical (d = .75, p < .001), resulted in a reduced fear of death (d = .21, p < .01), increased 1University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 2University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA 3University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia 4New York University, New York, NY, USA 5Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA 6University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, U...

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verz... more Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht eBooks, Jan 21, 2009

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, May 1, 2023

Faith, as a way of how people understand God and the world and make or discover meaning in their ... more Faith, as a way of how people understand God and the world and make or discover meaning in their life, is characterized by individual differences and changes over the lifetime. Our research investigates these changes over the lifespan in terms of hierarchically ordered types that are the elements in our developmental model, which is a critical advancement and modification of Fowler's theory of faith development. This study is the first to investigate whether there is development in faith over the adult lifespan and to identify predictors of developmental change. Our mixed-method design used three-wave longitudinal data (mean lag time 10.47 years from Wave 1 to Wave 3). A sample of N = 75 participants were interviewed with the faith development interview three times and each time answered comprehensive questionnaires. Results evidenced faith development over the lifespan: a majority in our data moved to a higher type, while change to a lower type did occur. Openness to experience and the religious schema truth of text and teachings were potential antecedents for faith development.

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Aug 1, 2018

This book examines what people mean when they say they are "spiritual". It looks at the... more This book examines what people mean when they say they are "spiritual". It looks at the semantics of "spirituality", the visibility of reasons for "spiritual" preference in biographies, in psychological dispositions, in cultural differences between Germany and the US, and in gender differences. It also examines the kind of biographical consequences that are associated with "spirituality". The book reports the results of an online-questionnaire filled out by 773 respondents in Germany and 1113 in the US, personal interviews with a selected group of more than 100 persons, and an experiment. Based on the data collected, it reports results that are relevant for a number of scientific and practical disciplines. It makes a contribution to the semantics of everyday religious language and to the cross-cultural study of religion and to many related fields as well, because "spirituality" is evaluated in relation to personality, mysticism, well-being, religious styles, generativity, attachment, biography and atheism. The book draws attention to the – new and ever changing – ways in which people give names to their ultimate concern and symbolize their experiences of transcendence.

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Oct 8, 2019

This article presents an empirical complement to Streib's (2001) model of religious styles that w... more This article presents an empirical complement to Streib's (2001) model of religious styles that was published in this journal. Now, after our research teams in Bielefeld and Chattanooga were able to conduct and evaluate more than 700 faith development interviews (FDI), which was made possible by generous grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG; Grants STR570/5-3; STR570/15-1; STR570/17-1; STR570/20-1) and from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant#55249), we could move forward to the typological modeling of FDI results of three subsamples.

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2021

The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion, 2021

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2020

Negative attitudes toward the nonreligious persist in America. This may compel some nonreligious ... more Negative attitudes toward the nonreligious persist in America. This may compel some nonreligious individuals to conceal their identity to manage feelings of social identity threat. In one correlational study and one experiment, we found evidence of social identity threat and concealment behavior among nonreligious Americans. Our first study showed that Southern nonreligious individuals reported higher levels of stigma consciousness and self-reported concealment of nonreligious identity, which in turn predicted lower likelihood of self-identifying as “atheist” in public settings than in private settings. Our second study successfully manipulated feelings of social identity threat by showing that atheists who read an article about negative stereotypes of their group subsequently exhibited higher concealment scores than did atheists who read one of two control articles. Implications for how nonreligious individuals negotiate social identity threat and future directions for nonreligion ...

In accordance with Terror Management Theory research, secular beliefs can serve an important role... more In accordance with Terror Management Theory research, secular beliefs can serve an important role for mitigating existential concerns by providing atheists with a method to attain personal meaning and bolster self-esteem. Although much research has suggested that religious beliefs are powerful defense mechanisms, these effects are limited or reveal more nuanced effects when attempting to explain atheists’ (non)belief structures. The possibility of nonbelief that provides meaning in the “here and now” is reinforced by the importance placed on scientific discovery, education, and social activism by many atheists. Thus, these values and ideologies can, and do, allow for empirically testable claims within a Terror Management framework. Although religious individuals can and largely do use religion as a defense strategy against existential concerns, purely secular ideologies are more effective for atheists providing evidence for a hierarchical approach and individual differences within w...

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2018

Research in psychology of religion has roots stretching back into the 19th century; however, only... more Research in psychology of religion has roots stretching back into the 19th century; however, only recently has it begun to give sustained focus on atheists, agnostics, and types of nonreligious worldviews (Coleman, Hood, & Shook, 2015; Streib & Klein, 2013). This development is important for at least two reasons. Nonreligion and nonbelievers in gods comprise a substantive and perhaps growing population that cannot be ignored. Also, the psychology of religion is incomplete without a consideration of those who are variously nonreligious and nonbelievers in gods. Before introducing the collection of nine articles for this special issue of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, "Atheism, Agnosticism, and Nonreligious Worldviews," we reflect on estimated prevalence of atheist and nonreligious individuals, discuss misconceptions associated with nonreligion, note how investigating secular worldviews is critical for the psychology of religion, and provide a brief overview of the diversity of nonreligion. Atheism and formations of nonreligion have been a continually underestimated phenomenon in American psychology, which has primarily focused on American Protestantism (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2018). Social scientists rarely seek to investigate or acknowledge their existence across historical settings (cf., Brown, 2017), and whereas it is only recently that such positions have become discussed, "atheists have always been with us" (Rossano, 2012, p. 82). However, Keysar and Navarro-Rivera (2013) place estimates at between 450 million and 500 million individuals, or about 7% of the global population. Also nonreligious (self-)identification is increasing throughout the world (Keysar, 2017), and some researchers now consider places like Norway, Sweden, and East Germany to be overwhelmingly secular (Schmidt & Wohlrab-Sahr, 2003; Zuckerman, 2009). A recent analysis of the 2014-2016 European Social Survey found that nonreligious individuals were a majority population in greater than half of the 22 countries surveyed (Bullivant, 2018). Stinespring and Cragun (2015) provide an empirically grounded model suggesting the number of nonreligious could reach almost half of the United States population in the next 25 years, and research suggests that children are much less religious than their parents (Cragun, Hammer, Nielsen, & Autz, 2018; Twenge, Exline, Grubbs, Sastry, & Campbell, 2015). Research indicates there are hidden atheists in religiously sanctioned positions-pastors of congregations and Rabbinical leaders who hide their nonbelief from their faithful adherents (Dennett & LaScola, 2010; Shrell-Fox, 2015; The Clergy Project, 2018). In terms of First World nations, the United States stands out for its relatively low number of self-identified atheists, usually ranging between 3% and 12%, depending on the question asked. There remains a variety of limitations to consider when interpreting self-reports of religious and nonreligious identification (see Coleman & Jong, 2018). One of the most pressing issues to consider here is the perceived social undesirability of atheism worldwide (Gervais, 2014; Gervais et al., 2017; also see Cheng, Pagano, & Shariff, 2018), and the tendency of individuals to respond in socially desirable ways (Paulhus, 2002). In a recent study using the unmatched count technique used for studying socially sensitive topics (e.g., Raghavarao & Federer, 1979), Gervais and Najle (2018) found that as much as an estimated 32% of their representative American sample identified as atheist-almost tripling pre-Editor's Note. This is an introduction to the special issue "Atheism, Agnosticism, and Nonreligious Worldviews." Please see the Table of Contents here:

Review of General Psychology, 2017

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht eBooks, Jan 21, 2009

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, May 1, 2023

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Aug 1, 2018

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Oct 8, 2019

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2021

The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion, 2021

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2020

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2018

Semantics and Psychology of "Spirituality". A Cross-cultural Analysis, Jan 1, 2016

Spirituality" has become a rather popular way of self-describing one's world view and practice in... more Spirituality" has become a rather popular way of self-describing one's world view and practice in relation to the ultimate. While for many "spirituality" is more or less identical with "religion," surveys document that a growing number of people contrast "spirituality" and "religion," self-identifying as "spiritual, but not religious" or as "more spiritual than religious." These are indications of changes in the religious field. This chapter aims at locating the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on "Spirituality" in the context of results from recent large-scale survey research (General Social Survey; Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaft; Religion Monitor). Survey results on "spirituality" will be presented to contextualize analyses that are presented in later chapters of this volume - and to profile our research design and its aims. Contextualization however also means to introduce the research design of our study - which is not another survey, but rather the attempt to answer questions that surveys leave open. Most urgent desiderata in the study of "spirituality" regard the semantics, psychology and biographical significance of spirituality. Our study has thus employed a variety of methods: quantitative self-report data, free entries in the questionnaire, semantic differentials, an experimental approach, and last but not least a large amount of personal interviews. This chapter ends with an outline of the combination and triangulation of the variety of methods and sorts of data.

The Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality

27-year-old Isabella grew up with her parents on the Eastern Coast of the United Sates. She descr... more 27-year-old Isabella grew up with her parents on the Eastern Coast of the United Sates. She describes her life as “pretty boring” and “normal”. However ‘boring’ and ‘normal’ her life may have appeared to her, it is the worldview that Isabella takes – and has always had by her count - that draws great interest. Typically, many individuals who currently identify as an ‘atheist’ also used to identify as ‘religious’ in their youth (Silver, 2013). Isabella stands out in this regard, she has never believed in a god or gods. What Coleman, Silver, and Holcombe (2013) have termed as “religio-spiritual frameworks” played no part in Isabella’s worldview. As this chapter shall demonstrate, Isabella was able to ask questions about life, make sense of her environment, and find meaning and purpose not in the confines of a religious or spiritual worldview, but, in a worldview that retained a similar sense of awe, wonder and meaning in the absence of any spiritual or religious structure – a worldview we term as ‘horizontal transcendence’. This chapter will situate the role of the Faith Development Interview in the context of the ‘faithless’ while drawing attention to the role of narrative in horizontal transcendence.

Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2013). Modeling the Religious Field: Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism ... more Streib, H. & Hood, R. W. (2013). Modeling the Religious Field: Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism and Related World Views. Implicit Religion, 16, 137-155.

Abstract: Mapping the religious field of present-day Western cultures such as America and Europe requires a synopsis of perspectives. There are, on the one hand, classical ways of defining religion in theology, sociology and psychology, and also established sociological models of the religious field; and there are, on the other hand, recent changes in how people on the street implicitly and explicitly understand themselves and behave. Many are reluctant to identify as religious persons, but self-identify as “spiritual” or “spiritual, not religious.” In this text we introduce our conceptualization of religion and of the religious field. Key concepts of religion are transcendence and ultimacy. For structuring the religious field, we attend to the distinction between vertical and horizontal symbolization of transcendence and ultimacy, and to the distinction between institutional mediation and individual immediacy.