In this article we review previous work on religious conversions, relate this work to attachment system dynamics, and present a meta-analysis of results from 11 cross-national questionnaire studies (N = 1465) that have investigated links between religious conversions and perceivedchildhoodattachmenthistorywithparents.Twogeneralhypothesesderived from attachment theory were tested. Based on the c...

Empirical research on fundamentalist biographies—presented are three case studies and a summary of research results—demonstrate the complex biographical-motivational factors for fundamentalist turns, but also a transformational potential. Explaining fundamentalist conversion and deconversion within a theoretical framework of fundamentalism as “modern anti-modernism” and as “dislocation of relig...

Abstract Inspired by recent Bayesian interpretations about the psychology underlying religion, paper introduces a theory proposing that religious conversion is shaped three factors: (i) novel relevant information, experienced in perceptual or social form (e.g., following interaction with missionaries); (ii) changes utility expressed an opportunity to raise rank) associated accepting new creed; ...

On 22 February 2011, Christchurch New Zealand (population 367,700) experienced a devastating earthquake, causing extensive damage and killing one hundred and eighty-five people. The earthquake and aftershocks occurred between the 2009 and 2011 waves of a longitudinal probability sample conducted in New Zealand, enabling us to examine how a natural disaster of this magnitude affected deeply held...

Why did conversion to Christianity take place in some Asian areas and not others? What happened when sacred and religious texts from Abrahamic traditions, especially Christianity, were translated into Chinese? What were the effects when the secular and the religious were asserted to be separate realms? What were the consequences for ideas about the private, the public, and the state? How did re...

OBJECTIVE Historical and contemporary research has posited links between eating disorders and religious asceticism. This study aimed to examine relationships between eating disorders, religion, and treatment. METHOD Qualitative study using purposeful sampling, applying audiotaped and transcribed depth interview, subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. RESULTS Participants wer...

The religiosity of the epileptic has been recognized since the time of Esquirol [12] and Morel [35]. These, and later French workers (including [34]), have sought to explain the epileptic s religiosity as being the result of his disability, social isolation and his enhanced need for the consolation of religion. A specific conversion experience after a fit was reported by Howden [22]. The patien...

Revered in some cultures but persecuted by most others, epilepsy patients have, throughout history, been linked with the divine, demonic, and supernatural. Clinical observations during the past 150 years support an association between religious experiences during (ictal), after (postictal), and in between (interictal) seizures. In addition, epileptic seizures may increase, alter, or decrease re...