Chapter 10- Textbook Flashcards
Define spirituality
Refers to a personal or group search for the sacred in life.
Define religion
Refers to a search for the sacred within a traditional context such as a formal religious institution
Define vertical transcendence
Involves fostering a relationship with a spiritual being who is “higher” or “greater” than oneself, such as the Judeo-Christian conception of God.
Define horizontal transcendence and give an example
Involves forming a relationship with a force that is more immanent in the
world and is less often viewed as a spiritual being.
For instance, in Taoism the force that underlies and sustains the natural order of the universe is not seen as a spiritual being but is simply called the Tao.
How did Wong define noetic happiness?
Describes well-being derived from the spiritual or existential dimension.
True or false: The ability of religion to provide a sense of meaning and purpose or a sense of coherence is possibly the most important predictor of improved health
status
True
What are the 6 types of prayer?
Prayers of adoration, prayers of thanksgiving, petitionary/ supplication prayers, prayers of confession, prayers of reception, prayers of obligation.
Within the 6 categories of prayer, it can be subdivided into what 3 categories?
Formalistic, colloquial, and meditative
What do most religions have in common?
They have some form of the “golden rule”
What are the criticisms to the term “meaning”?
It may be liable to the same
criticisms as happiness. That is, it is common for people to say that their
life is more meaningful because of their spouse, job, religion, or even a
favorite song or beloved pet. If meaning is understood merely as a
subjective feeling that helps people feel good, then one’s sense of meaning
might be limited
When a sense of meaning is derived from
elements of a person’s life that are not necessarily religious or spiritual,
such as one’s spouse or job, this is often referred to as _____ meaning or ____ meaning
Personal meaning or situational meaning
Define cosmic (also called global) meaning
This type of meaning addresses questions about whether “life in general, or at least human life, fits into some overall coherent pattern”.
Cosmic meaning is what people search for when they need to believe that some design or order exists in the universe. Park and Folkman (1997) identified such meaning as a search for enduring
beliefs, valued goals, and a sense of order and coherence to existence. In addition, cosmic meaning “centers on what is perceived to be sacred”
Define forgiveness
Forgiveness entails recognizing and acknowledging that a
transgression occurred against us and finding ways to move beyond it. True
forgiveness is about breaking free of both the wrong done to us and the
person who committed the wrong.
Enright, Freedman, and Rique (1998) proposed a four-phase model of the
steps involved in forgiving. What are the 4 phases?
The uncovering phase, decision phase, the work phase, and the deepening phase
Describe the first phase of forgiveness
The first phase is the uncovering phase. At this point, people explore how their chronic holding onto resentment, anger, or
hate is exerting a destructive impact on their own lives.
Describe the second and third phases of forgiveness
The decision phase involves making a choice to try to forgive.
In the work phase one tries to forgive by reframing an incident, accepting its hurt, and trying to find an empathic understanding of why the offender acted as he or she did
Describe the fourth phase of forgiveness
Phase four is the deepening phase, in which the person tries to gain a deeper
sense of meaning as a result of an injury. This effort can encompass a recognition of universality with others who have experienced deep hurts, that one is not alone.
Define the practice of metta
To develop compassion, Buddhist monks for many years have practiced metta or loving-kindness meditation. This practice is
designed to help generate positive emotions such as compassion, love,
generosity, and tolerance
Define the HEXACO model of personality
Honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience
Define epiphany
Derives from the Greek word
for “manifestation” and refers to moments of sudden realization or comprehension of a larger meaning.
Define transcendent experiences
Religious or spiritual experiences that are
often dramatic and leave people feeling they have entered a higher state of
consciousness.
The depth and intensity of the experience often provide an emotional confirmation that a spiritual reality is alive in this world.
Define elation
A momentary experience of joy.
A relatively common experience for most people involves witnessing
unsolicited acts of kindness, charity, or compassion. For many persons,
merely viewing these acts can produce positive emotions.
Rudolph Otto (1958) referred to awe in a religious context as what?
The “mysterium tremendum” or “the overpowering feeling of majesty and mystery in the presence of the holy
What are the 6 conditions that favor an emergence of awe in one’s emotional life?
1) time for reflection
2) a capacity to slow down
3) an ability to savor the moment
4) a focus on what one loves
5) a capacity to see the big picture
6) an ability to trust in the ultimately
unknowable.
A series of studies by Piff, Dietze,
Feinberg, Stancato, and Keltner (2015) yielded several intriguing findings about awe. What were they?
1) dispositional tendencies to experience awe predicted greater generosity
in an experimental situation; 2) an experimental induction of awe (relative
to various control conditions) increased ethical decision-making,
generosity, and prosocial behavior; and 3) a naturalistic induction of awe in
which participants stood in a grove of towering trees enhanced prosocial
behavior and decreased an attitude of entitlement.
Define wonder
An opening of the heart to joy, gratitude, and love
What are the three types of experiences involving wonder?
1) physical, involving objects, phenomena, or processes found within nature, such as visiting the Grand Canyon or seeing a dazzling sunset
2) personal, involving interactions with people or their work, such as observing one’s infant develop
3) metaphysical, involving intense
musing on the meaning of the original stimulus, such as gazing down at the earth from an airplane or thinking about the universe’s creation.
How did Maslow describe peak experiences?
Brief moments when people experience intense joy, wonder, appreciation,
or connection to a larger spiritual reality.
How did Maslow describer plateau experiences?
In the plateau experience, all aspects of the world take on a sacred quality or
are seen as manifestations of a divine presence.
Maslow referred to “a sense of restoring a feeling of the sacred to the ordinary
world” as what?
Resacralization
How did Maslow describe desacralization?
When people repressed a sense of the sacred and instead perceived the world as simply objects with no inherent meaning or value
Define numinous experiences
Those in which a person feels he or she has been granted an “awareness of a holy
other beyond nature and a sense that one is in communion with this holy
other”
Define contemplative spirituality
Religious disciplines that seek to find a
direct and personal experience of God or whatever is seen as the ultimate
force in the universe
Define transpersonal psychology
It is concerned specifically with the
empirical, scientific study of, and responsible implementation of
the findings relevant to becoming, individual and species-wide
meta-needs, ultimate values, unitive consciousness, peak
experiences
Define instances of quantum change
Moments of sudden and dramatic personality and behavior change brought on by spiritual events such as conversion or mystical experiences.
Describe centering prayer
1) At the beginning of the prayer, take a minute or two to quiet
down and then 2) move in faith to God’s presence dwelling in our
depths; 3) at the end of the prayer, take several minutes to come
out, mentally praying the “Our Father” or some other prayer. After
resting awhile in the center in faithful love, take up a single word,
such as love, that expresses this response and allow it to repeat
itself within your mind. Whenever in the course of prayer, you
become aware of any intrusion, gently return to God’s presence by
using the prayer word.
Define nirvana
To be released from all needs and desires based on greed, anger, and delusion
Someone who has experienced Nirvana is said to have had a(n) ________ experience.
enlightenment
Define arhat in Buddhism
The arhat embodies the essence of mental health in [Buddhist
psychology]. His personality traits are permanently altered; all his
motives, perceptions, and actions that he formerly engaged in
under the influence of unhealthy factors will have vanished
What are the two main styles of meditation?
Vipassana and samatha
Describe neuromysticism
It seeks a scientific understanding of extraordinary mental states by examination of their neural activity
Describe neurotheology
The use of neurological imaging techniques to study religious experiences
Define entheogens
Natural and synthetic substances used to foster religious experiences
Describe intrinsic religiosity
When religious beliefs and practices
are founded on personal and authentic motivations
Describe Fowler’s 6 stages of development
Fowler’s six stages of development move from simple and concrete to more
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complex and abstract notions of faith. During stage transitions, believers
become increasingly aware of the contradictions and paradoxes of their
faith. As they resolve contradictions, they move to more mature stages of
faith, manifested by greater tolerance and openness.
Describe model of hierarchical
complexity (MHC)
incorporates mathematical calculations to determine
how information about religious issues is organized (Day, 2017). The MHC
results in stages of religious cognition similar to Lawrence Kohlberg’s
theory of moral development, Fowler’s stages of religious faith, and the
development of wisdom. That is, as people develop and mature in how they
think about religious issues they can increasingly use abstract thought, adopt
a less egocentric perspective, embrace a more universal appreciation of
religion and spirituality, and accept ambiguity and paradox
Define collective unconscious
Contains psychological material shared by all humanity
Define archetypes
“psychological instincts,”
which are innate universal tendencies to respond emotionally to
environmental stimuli.
Meaning in life is major criterion for _______
eudaimonia
