Psychology Can someone help me with my mental health homework?

What Is Religion?

• Religion – belief and ritual concerned with

supernatural beings, powers, and forces

(Wallace)

– Religion a cultural universal

Religion in the World

• Christianity:

– With over 2.5 billion followers, Christianity is the

largest religion globally, representing around 31% of

the world's population.

• Islam:

– Islam is the second-largest religion, with around 1.9

billion followers, making up about 24% of the global

population.

• Hinduism:

• A major religion originating in the Indian subcontinent,

Hinduism has approximately 1.2 billion followers,

representing roughly 15% of the world's population.

Religion in the World

• Judaism:

– Judaism, with around 16 million followers, is

considered a major religion due to its historical

significance and influence on Christianity and Islam.

• Folk religions:

– These traditional, often tribal or ethnic, religions are

widely practiced, particularly in Africa and Asia, and

account for around 5.7% of the global population.

• Other religions:

– This category includes a variety of smaller religious

groups and spiritual traditions.

Religion in the World

• Non-Religious Populations:

– A significant portion of the world's population,

around 16%, identifies as non-religious.

– This includes those who self-identify as

spiritual but not religious, agnostics, and

atheists.

Religion in the United States

• Protestant (40%)

• Catholic (19%)

• Christian (Other) (4%)

• Other religions (7%)

• Religiously unaffiliated (29%)

Overview of Religion

and Religious

Behavior

• Tylor first studied religion

anthropologically and developed a

taxonomy of religions

Animism

– Animism is seen as most primitive

– Belief in souls that derives from the first

attempt to explain dreams and like

phenomena

• Influenced by the theory of evolution

– Animism

– Polytheism

– Monotheism

– Science

E.B. Tylor: ANIMISM

ANIMATISM

• Animatism – Force found in various

places, objects, people, etc.

– “vibes”, “energies”, “karma”, “luck”

Mana and Taboo

– Polynesian mana and related concept of

taboo related to the more hierarchical

nature of Polynesian society

– Melanesian mana defined as sacred

impersonal force that is much like the

Western concept of luck

• Mana – belief in immanent supernatural

domain or life-force, potentially subject

to human manipulation

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5O1R

VWB8MQ

Bronislaw Malinowki

• Magic and Religion: The Case of the

Trobriand Islands

– Fishing in the ocean vs. fishing inland in the

lagoons

Magic and Religion

– May be imitative (as with voodoo dolls) or

contagious (accomplished through contact)

• Magic refers to supernatural techniques

intended to accomplish specific aims

Anxiety, Control, Solace

– Malinowski saw tribal religions as being

focused on life crises

• Magic an instrument of control, but

religion serves to provide stability when

no control or understanding is possible

Rituals

– Rituals convey information about culture of

participants and, hence, participants

themselves

– Rituals inherently social, and participation

in them necessarily implies social

commitment

• Formal social acts, performed in sacred

contexts

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaDVg

dIaDY8

Rites of Passage

• Religious rituals that mark and facilitate

person’s movement from one (social) state

of being to another

– Separation –withdraws from group and begins

moving from one place to another

– Liminality – period during which participant(s)

has left one place but not yet entered the next

– Incorporation – participant(s) reenters society

with a new status having completed the rite

Social Control

• Religion can be used to mobilize large

segments of society through systems of

real and perceived rewards and

punishments

• The power of religion affects action

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaDVg

dIaDY8

Protestant Values and the Rise of Capitalism

– Independent

– Entrepreneurial

– Hard working

– Future-oriented

– Free thinking

• Weber linked spread of capitalism to

values central to the Protestant faith:

Religion and Change

• Religious leaders also may seek to alter

or revitalize their society

• Nativistic or Revitalization Movements

– Social moments that occur in times of

change

– The colonial-era Iroquois reformation led

by Handsome Lake is example of

revitalization movement

• Religion helps maintain social order

Functions of Religion Among

Minorities in the USA • Group Affiliation

– Group solidarity

• Psychological and Identity Affirmation

– Acculturation stress; Roles adjustment

• Conflict Resolution

– Interpersonal Conflict

– Etc.