This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The purpose of this module is to examine some of the most significant trends in the dialogue between psychology and religion from the 19th century to the present.. The module begins by exploring the foundations of the discipline of psychology and the early explorations of psychology. It will seek to understand the relationship between the fields of psychology and religion and the different methodological approaches, mapping both introspective and experimental perspectives. It will examine some of the key theoretical thinkers, including the work of Pierre Janet, William James, Theodore Flournoy, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It will also examine more recent developments in developmental psychology, humanistic psychology, transpersonal psychology, object relations theory, and neuroscientific theories and their engagements with religion and religious experience. The module will seek to provide critical tools to analyse and understand the social and philosophical questions that shape the relationship between psychology and religion.
Private Study: 260
Contact Hours: 40
Total: 300 hours
Main assessment methods
Essay 1 (2,500 words) – 40%
Essay 2 (3,000 words) – 50%
Seminar Performance – 10%
Reassessment methods
100% coursework
The University is committed to ensuring that core reading materials are in accessible electronic format in line with the Kent Inclusive Practices. The most up to date reading list for each module can be found on the university's reading list pages: https://kent.rl.talis.com/index.html
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of a wide range of materials lying at the interface between psychology and religion;
2. Demonstrate competence in handling the terms and concepts in psychological theory
3. Demonstrate skills necessary for a critical reading of texts either describing or interpreting religious experience;
4. Discuss the themes of the module in an informed way and relate them to wider issues in the field of religious studies;
5. Outline and show understanding through clear expression of key thinkers in the psychology of religion, including James, Freud, Jung, Piaget, Maslow and Erikson, ;
6. Outline and show understanding through clear expression of the different methods and approaches in the psychology of religion.
7. Demonstrate a critical knowledge of psychological theories of religion in terms of cultural diversity, gender, race and power.;
8. Demonstrate an awareness of the history of the discipline of psychology and how different theories represent and understand different religious traditions..
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Develop skills necessary for sensitive and informed hermeneutical engagement with any text;
2. Show critical understanding of the key thinkers in the fields of psychology and religion;
3. Construct cogent arguments in the evaluation of the interdisciplinary relationship between the disciplines and methods ;
4. Write lucid, carefully constructed essays supported by textual evidence, endnotes and bibliographic sources, using the full range of library, computing and IT resources;
5. Undertake independent research, using library and IT resources.
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