Neuroticism and Intensity of Religious Affect among Practising British Pagans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v11i2.223Keywords:
Paganism, Personality TheoryAbstract
The Williams Scale of Attitude toward Paganism (as a particularised measure of the affective dimension of religion) was completed by seventy-five participants at a Pagan camp in celebration of the Midsummer Festival, together with the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (including a recognised measure of neuroticism). The data demonstrated that, after controlling for sex differences (routinely found in indices of neuroticism), more positive religious affect was significantly associated with higher neuroticism scores, but was not significantly associated with extraversion scores, psychoticism scores, or lie scale scores. These findings from research conducted in a (specific) Pagan context are contrasted with the consensus from studies (employing a comparable measure of religious affect) that have tended to find that more positive religious affect was associated with lower neuroticism scores in a Christian context.References
Allport, Gordon W. The Individual and His Religion. New York: Macmillan, 1950.
Batson, C. Daniel, Patricia Schoenrade, and W. Larry Ventis. Religion and the Individual: A Social Psychological Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Carter, Marian, William K. Kay. and Leslie J. Francis. “Personality and Attitude toward Christianity among Committed Adult Christians.” Personality and Individual Differences 20 (1996): 265-66.
Cronbach, Lee, J. “Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests.” Psychometrika 16 (1951): 297-334.
Cutting, Marsha, and Michelle Walsh. “Religiosity scales: What are We Measuring in Whom?” Archive for the Psychology of Religion 30 (2008): 137-53.
Eysenck, Hans, J. You and Neurosis. Glasgow: Collins, 1978.
Eysenck, Hans, J., and Sybil B.G. Eysenck. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: University of London Press, 1964.
———. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Adult and Junior). London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975.
———. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Scales. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1991.
Eysenck, Hans. J., and Gisli H. Gudjonsson. Causes and Cures of Criminality. New York: Plenum Press,1989.
Fearn, Michael, Christopher A. Lewis, and Leslie J. Francis. “Religion and Personality among Religious Studies Students: A Replication.” Psychological Reports 93 (2003): 819-822.
Fishbein, Martin, and Ieck Ajzen. Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behaviour: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975.
Fowler, James W. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest For Meaning. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981.
Francis, Leslie, J. “Attitude and Longitude: A Study in Measurement.” Character Potential 8 (1978): 119-30.
———. “Comparative Empirical Research in Religion: Conceptual and Operational Challenges within Empirical Theology.” In Empirical Theology in Texts and Tables, edited by Leslie J. Francis, Mandy Robbins, and Jeff Astley, 127-152. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
———. “The Dual Nature of the Eysenckian Neuroticism Scales: A Question of Sex Differences?” Personality and Individual Differences 15 (1993): 43-59.
———. “Is Psychoticism Really a Dimension of Personality Fundamental to Religiosity?” Personality and Individual Differences 13 (1992): 645-52.
———. “Measurement Reapplied: Research into the Child’s Attitude towards Religion.” British Journal of Religious Education 1 (1978): 45-51.
———. “Measuring Attitude towards Christianity during Childhood and Adolescence.” Personality and Individual Differences 10 (1989): 695-98.
———. “Neuroticism and Intensity of Religious Attitudes among Clergy in England.” Journal of Social Psychology 132 (1992): 577-80.
———. “Personality and Attitude towards Religion among Adult Churchgoers in England.” Psychological Reports 69 (1991): 791-94.
Francis, Leslie J., Laurence B. Brown, and Ronald Philipchalk. “The Development of an Abbreviated Form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-A): Its Use among Students in England, Canada, the USA and Australia.” Personality and Individual Differences 13 (1992): 443-49.
Francis, Leslie J. and Chris A.M. Hermans. “Psychological Health and Attitude toward Christianity: A Study among Pupils Attending Catholic Schools in the Netherlands.” Journal of Religious Education (in press).
Francis, Leslie J., and Yaacov Katz. “Measuring Attitude toward Judaism: The Internal Consistency Reliability of the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism. ” Mental Health, Religion and Culture 10 (2007): 309-24.
Francis, Leslie J., and Shirley Kerr. “Personality and Religion among Secondary School Pupils in South Africa in the early 1990s.” Religion and Theology 10 (2003): 224-36.
Francis, Leslie, J., Shirley Kerr, and Christopher A. Lewis. “Assessing Attitude toward Christianity among Adolescents in South Africa: The Francis Scale.” South African Journal of Psychology 35 (2005):147-55.
Francis, Leslie, J., and Christopher A. Lewis. “Personality and Religion among Female University Students in France.” Irish Journal of Psychology (in press).
Francis, Leslie J., Christopher A. Lewis, and Peter Ng. “Psychological Health and Attitude toward Christianity among Secondary School Pupils in Hong Kong.” Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies 4 (2003): 231-45.
Francis, Leslie J., John M. Lewis, Ronald Philipchalk, Laurence B. Brown, and David Lester. “The Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Adult) among Undergraduate Students in the UK, USA, Australia and Canada.” Personality and Individual Differences 19 (1995): 949-53.
———. “Personality and Religion among Undergraduate Students in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity 14 (1995): 250-62.
Francis, Leslie J., and Paul R. Pearson. “Extraversion and Religiosity.” Journal of Social Psychology 125 (1985): 269-70.
———. “Psychoticism and Religiosity among 15-Year-Olds.” Personality and Individual Differences 6 (1985): 397-98.
———. “Religiosity, Gender and the Two Faces of Neuroticism.” Irish Journal of Psychology 12 (1991): 60-68.
Francis, Leslie J., Paul R. Pearson, Marian Carter, and William K. Kay. “Are Introverts More Religious?” British Journal of Social Psychology 20 (1981b): 101-104.
———. “The Relationship between Neuroticism and Religiosity among English 15- and 16-Year-Olds.” Journal of Social Psychology 114 (1981a): 99-102.
Francis, Leslie J., Paul R. Pearson, and William K. Kay. “Are Introverts Still More Religious?” Personality and Individual Differences 4 (1983): 211-12.
———. “Neuroticism and Religiosity among English School Children.” Journal of Social Psychology 121 (1983): 149-50.
Francis, Leslie J., Mike Quesnell, and Christopher A. Lewis. “Assessing Attitude toward Christianity among adolescents in the Czech Republic: The Francis Scale.” Irish Journal of Psychology (in press).
———. “Personality and Religion among Secondary School Pupils in the Czech Republic.” Irish Journal of Psychology (in press).
Francis, Leslie J., Mandy Robbins, Tania ap Sion, Christopher A. Lewis, and L. Philip Barnes. “Psychological Health and Attitude toward Christianity Among Protestant and Catholic Sixth-Form Pupils in Northern Ireland.” Pastoral Psychology 56 (2007): 157-64.
Francis, Leslie J., Romil Santosh, Mandy Robbins, and Savita Vij. “Assessing attitude toward Hinduism: The Santosh-Francis Scale.” Mental Health, Religion and Culture 11 (2008): 609-21.
Francis, Leslie J., and Michael T. Stubbs. “Measuring Attitudes Towards Christianity: From Childhood to Adulthood.” Personality and Individual Differences 8 (1987): 741-43.
Francis, Leslie J., Hans-Georg Ziebertz, and Christopher A. Lewis. “The Relationship between Personality and Religion among Undergraduate Students in Germany.” Archiv für Religionspsychologie 24 (2003): 121-27.
Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950.
Harvey, Graham. Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism.London: C. Hurst, 1997.
Harvey, Graham. “Paganism.” In Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, edited by Linda Woodhead, Hiroko Kawanami, and Chris Partridge, 357-377. London: Routledge, 2009.
Heelas, Paul, and Linda Woodhead The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
Hill, Paul C., and Ralph, W. Hood, eds. Measures of Religiosity. Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press, 1999.
Hood, Ralph W. Jr., Paul C. Hill, and Bernard Spilka. The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach. New York: The Guilford Press, 2009.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Jung, Carl. G. Psychology and Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938.
Kay, William, K. “Psychoticism and Attitude to Religion.” Personality and Individual Differences 2 (1981): 249-52.
Lewis, Christopher A., and John Maltby. “Reliability and validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Adult) among Northern Irish university students.” Irish Journal of Psychology 18 (1997): 349-354.
———. “The Reliability and Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity among US Adults.” Psychological Reports 76 (1995): 1243-47.
———. “Religiosity and Personality among US Adults.” Personality and Individual Differences 18 (1995): 293-95.
Maltby, John. “The Reliability and Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity among Republic of Ireland Adults.” Irish Journal of Psychology 15 (1994): 595-98.
Maltby, John, and Christopher A. Lewis. “The Reliability and Validity of a Short Scale of Attitude toward Christianity among USA, English, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Adults.” Personality and Individual Differences 22 (1997): 649-54.
Orchard, Adrian, and Leslie J. Francis. “Neuroticism and Strength of Religious Attitudes among Churchgoers in England.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 19 (1998): 231-36.
Partridge, Chris. The Re-enchantment of the West. London: T and T Clark, 2004.
Pike, Sarah, M. Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Rocklin, Thomas, and William Revelle. “The Measurement of Extraversion: A Comparison of the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.” British Journal of Social Psychology 20 (1981): 279-84.
Sahin, Abdullah, and Leslie J. Francis. “Assessing Attitude toward Islam among Muslim Adolescents: The Psychometric Properties of the Sahin-Francis Scale.” Muslim Education Quarterly 19 (2002): 35-47.
Vine, I. “Facts and Values in the Psychology of Religion.” Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 31 (1978): 414-17.
Williams, Emyr, and Leslie J. Francis. “Personality and Attitude toward Christianity among Churchgoers: A Replication.” Psychological Reports 99 (2006): 292-94.
Williams, Emyr, Leslie J. Francis, and Ursula Billington. “The Williams Scale of Attitude toward Paganism: Development and Application among British Pagans.” Archive for the Psychology of Religion (in press).
Youtika, Athena, Stephen Joseph, and Deborah Diduca. “Personality and Religiosity in a Greek Christian Orthodox Sample.” Mental Health, Religion and Culture 2 (1999): 71-74.
Batson, C. Daniel, Patricia Schoenrade, and W. Larry Ventis. Religion and the Individual: A Social Psychological Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Carter, Marian, William K. Kay. and Leslie J. Francis. “Personality and Attitude toward Christianity among Committed Adult Christians.” Personality and Individual Differences 20 (1996): 265-66.
Cronbach, Lee, J. “Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests.” Psychometrika 16 (1951): 297-334.
Cutting, Marsha, and Michelle Walsh. “Religiosity scales: What are We Measuring in Whom?” Archive for the Psychology of Religion 30 (2008): 137-53.
Eysenck, Hans, J. You and Neurosis. Glasgow: Collins, 1978.
Eysenck, Hans, J., and Sybil B.G. Eysenck. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: University of London Press, 1964.
———. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Adult and Junior). London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975.
———. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Scales. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1991.
Eysenck, Hans. J., and Gisli H. Gudjonsson. Causes and Cures of Criminality. New York: Plenum Press,1989.
Fearn, Michael, Christopher A. Lewis, and Leslie J. Francis. “Religion and Personality among Religious Studies Students: A Replication.” Psychological Reports 93 (2003): 819-822.
Fishbein, Martin, and Ieck Ajzen. Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behaviour: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975.
Fowler, James W. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest For Meaning. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981.
Francis, Leslie, J. “Attitude and Longitude: A Study in Measurement.” Character Potential 8 (1978): 119-30.
———. “Comparative Empirical Research in Religion: Conceptual and Operational Challenges within Empirical Theology.” In Empirical Theology in Texts and Tables, edited by Leslie J. Francis, Mandy Robbins, and Jeff Astley, 127-152. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
———. “The Dual Nature of the Eysenckian Neuroticism Scales: A Question of Sex Differences?” Personality and Individual Differences 15 (1993): 43-59.
———. “Is Psychoticism Really a Dimension of Personality Fundamental to Religiosity?” Personality and Individual Differences 13 (1992): 645-52.
———. “Measurement Reapplied: Research into the Child’s Attitude towards Religion.” British Journal of Religious Education 1 (1978): 45-51.
———. “Measuring Attitude towards Christianity during Childhood and Adolescence.” Personality and Individual Differences 10 (1989): 695-98.
———. “Neuroticism and Intensity of Religious Attitudes among Clergy in England.” Journal of Social Psychology 132 (1992): 577-80.
———. “Personality and Attitude towards Religion among Adult Churchgoers in England.” Psychological Reports 69 (1991): 791-94.
Francis, Leslie J., Laurence B. Brown, and Ronald Philipchalk. “The Development of an Abbreviated Form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-A): Its Use among Students in England, Canada, the USA and Australia.” Personality and Individual Differences 13 (1992): 443-49.
Francis, Leslie J. and Chris A.M. Hermans. “Psychological Health and Attitude toward Christianity: A Study among Pupils Attending Catholic Schools in the Netherlands.” Journal of Religious Education (in press).
Francis, Leslie J., and Yaacov Katz. “Measuring Attitude toward Judaism: The Internal Consistency Reliability of the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism. ” Mental Health, Religion and Culture 10 (2007): 309-24.
Francis, Leslie J., and Shirley Kerr. “Personality and Religion among Secondary School Pupils in South Africa in the early 1990s.” Religion and Theology 10 (2003): 224-36.
Francis, Leslie, J., Shirley Kerr, and Christopher A. Lewis. “Assessing Attitude toward Christianity among Adolescents in South Africa: The Francis Scale.” South African Journal of Psychology 35 (2005):147-55.
Francis, Leslie, J., and Christopher A. Lewis. “Personality and Religion among Female University Students in France.” Irish Journal of Psychology (in press).
Francis, Leslie J., Christopher A. Lewis, and Peter Ng. “Psychological Health and Attitude toward Christianity among Secondary School Pupils in Hong Kong.” Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies 4 (2003): 231-45.
Francis, Leslie J., John M. Lewis, Ronald Philipchalk, Laurence B. Brown, and David Lester. “The Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Adult) among Undergraduate Students in the UK, USA, Australia and Canada.” Personality and Individual Differences 19 (1995): 949-53.
———. “Personality and Religion among Undergraduate Students in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity 14 (1995): 250-62.
Francis, Leslie J., and Paul R. Pearson. “Extraversion and Religiosity.” Journal of Social Psychology 125 (1985): 269-70.
———. “Psychoticism and Religiosity among 15-Year-Olds.” Personality and Individual Differences 6 (1985): 397-98.
———. “Religiosity, Gender and the Two Faces of Neuroticism.” Irish Journal of Psychology 12 (1991): 60-68.
Francis, Leslie J., Paul R. Pearson, Marian Carter, and William K. Kay. “Are Introverts More Religious?” British Journal of Social Psychology 20 (1981b): 101-104.
———. “The Relationship between Neuroticism and Religiosity among English 15- and 16-Year-Olds.” Journal of Social Psychology 114 (1981a): 99-102.
Francis, Leslie J., Paul R. Pearson, and William K. Kay. “Are Introverts Still More Religious?” Personality and Individual Differences 4 (1983): 211-12.
———. “Neuroticism and Religiosity among English School Children.” Journal of Social Psychology 121 (1983): 149-50.
Francis, Leslie J., Mike Quesnell, and Christopher A. Lewis. “Assessing Attitude toward Christianity among adolescents in the Czech Republic: The Francis Scale.” Irish Journal of Psychology (in press).
———. “Personality and Religion among Secondary School Pupils in the Czech Republic.” Irish Journal of Psychology (in press).
Francis, Leslie J., Mandy Robbins, Tania ap Sion, Christopher A. Lewis, and L. Philip Barnes. “Psychological Health and Attitude toward Christianity Among Protestant and Catholic Sixth-Form Pupils in Northern Ireland.” Pastoral Psychology 56 (2007): 157-64.
Francis, Leslie J., Romil Santosh, Mandy Robbins, and Savita Vij. “Assessing attitude toward Hinduism: The Santosh-Francis Scale.” Mental Health, Religion and Culture 11 (2008): 609-21.
Francis, Leslie J., and Michael T. Stubbs. “Measuring Attitudes Towards Christianity: From Childhood to Adulthood.” Personality and Individual Differences 8 (1987): 741-43.
Francis, Leslie J., Hans-Georg Ziebertz, and Christopher A. Lewis. “The Relationship between Personality and Religion among Undergraduate Students in Germany.” Archiv für Religionspsychologie 24 (2003): 121-27.
Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950.
Harvey, Graham. Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism.London: C. Hurst, 1997.
Harvey, Graham. “Paganism.” In Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, edited by Linda Woodhead, Hiroko Kawanami, and Chris Partridge, 357-377. London: Routledge, 2009.
Heelas, Paul, and Linda Woodhead The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
Hill, Paul C., and Ralph, W. Hood, eds. Measures of Religiosity. Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press, 1999.
Hood, Ralph W. Jr., Paul C. Hill, and Bernard Spilka. The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach. New York: The Guilford Press, 2009.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Jung, Carl. G. Psychology and Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938.
Kay, William, K. “Psychoticism and Attitude to Religion.” Personality and Individual Differences 2 (1981): 249-52.
Lewis, Christopher A., and John Maltby. “Reliability and validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Adult) among Northern Irish university students.” Irish Journal of Psychology 18 (1997): 349-354.
———. “The Reliability and Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity among US Adults.” Psychological Reports 76 (1995): 1243-47.
———. “Religiosity and Personality among US Adults.” Personality and Individual Differences 18 (1995): 293-95.
Maltby, John. “The Reliability and Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity among Republic of Ireland Adults.” Irish Journal of Psychology 15 (1994): 595-98.
Maltby, John, and Christopher A. Lewis. “The Reliability and Validity of a Short Scale of Attitude toward Christianity among USA, English, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Adults.” Personality and Individual Differences 22 (1997): 649-54.
Orchard, Adrian, and Leslie J. Francis. “Neuroticism and Strength of Religious Attitudes among Churchgoers in England.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 19 (1998): 231-36.
Partridge, Chris. The Re-enchantment of the West. London: T and T Clark, 2004.
Pike, Sarah, M. Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Rocklin, Thomas, and William Revelle. “The Measurement of Extraversion: A Comparison of the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.” British Journal of Social Psychology 20 (1981): 279-84.
Sahin, Abdullah, and Leslie J. Francis. “Assessing Attitude toward Islam among Muslim Adolescents: The Psychometric Properties of the Sahin-Francis Scale.” Muslim Education Quarterly 19 (2002): 35-47.
Vine, I. “Facts and Values in the Psychology of Religion.” Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 31 (1978): 414-17.
Williams, Emyr, and Leslie J. Francis. “Personality and Attitude toward Christianity among Churchgoers: A Replication.” Psychological Reports 99 (2006): 292-94.
Williams, Emyr, Leslie J. Francis, and Ursula Billington. “The Williams Scale of Attitude toward Paganism: Development and Application among British Pagans.” Archive for the Psychology of Religion (in press).
Youtika, Athena, Stephen Joseph, and Deborah Diduca. “Personality and Religiosity in a Greek Christian Orthodox Sample.” Mental Health, Religion and Culture 2 (1999): 71-74.
Published
2010-03-25
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Francis, L. J., Williams, E., & Billington, U. (2010). Neuroticism and Intensity of Religious Affect among Practising British Pagans. Pomegranate, 11(2), 223-239. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v11i2.223
