Psychology of culture and religion: Introduction to the JCCP special issue

In introducing this Special Issue we first consider six ways of thinking about how culture and religion relate to each other: Religion may be part of culture, constitute culture, include and transcend culture, be influenced by culture, shape culture, or interact with culture in influencing cognitions, emotions, and actions. Second, we present the major current trends of relevant research from cross-cultural psychology, social and cultural psychology, and comparative psychology of religion. Although diverging in methodologies, theoretical traditions, and research focus, these approaches complement each other in increasing our psychological understanding of the inter-relations between culture and religion. Finally, we present the papers of this special issue that offer theoretical advances, test new research hypotheses, and provide empirical evidence showing how cultural-level dimensions (from ecology and biology to ethnicity, family practices, and socio-economic factors) shape religion's functioning at the individual and/or collective level with regard to key life domains.