Beth Rooney

Annotated Bibliography

Azar, B. (2010). A reason to believe. Monitor on Psychology, 41(11), 52.

This article delves into the evolution and neuroscience behind belief in God. It addresses
the reason that we are predisposed to believe is through our biases for supernatural, our
cognitions, and our tendencies to seek order from chaos. Through a part of the brain
along with our neurological and evolutionary advantages, probable reasons for the belief
in God and spiritual practice is discussed. Additionally, the article reveals various
researchers along with their work that could be used as separate sources when going into
the depth of neuroscience, evolution, and social influences on religion and belief in a
supernatural. Another topic it discusses is religion's pro-social implications and benefits.
This was quite interesting and it might be another aspect that can be included with
religion and belief in God's benefits. Overall, the sources used in this article along with
its basic elements will add to the psychological perspectives behind belief in the areas of
neurology, evolution, and cognition.

Bering, J. (2006). The Cognitive Psychology of Belief in the Supernatural Belief in a deity or an

afterlife could be an evolutionarily advantageous by-product of people's ability to reason

about the minds of others. American Scientist, 94(2), 142-149.

Adding to the cognitive perspective of the belief in God, this article addresses the specific
cognitive reasons and evolutionary advantages for believing in the afterlife and a
supernatural. Specifically, with the evolutionary perspective behind belief in God would
add great depth to my paper because it discusses that the societal advantages that the idea
of supernatural observation may serve to counteract dangerous risk miscalculations in our
environment. Additionally, this article gives another side of the cognitive perspective of
giving the notion that believing in afterlife is a default state of consciousness. This
enables a further discussion about how about believing in God is innate instead of
culturally determined. The terms and definitions of psychological basis in the
evolutionary and cognitive perspectives will be useful in discussing the reasons for belief.

Cronbach, A. (1922). Psychoanalysis and Religion. The Journal of Religion, 2(6), 588-599.

This article speaks to philosophical and psychoanalytic reasoning behind religion and
belief in God. Even though it does not include a study, it brings about viable points for
psychoanalytic reasoning that is discussed as providing topics for future research by
psychoanalysts. It gives a new area of research that can be delved into, especially with
the notion of dreams and unconscious in reasons for belief. The most important aspect of
this article is that it provides a call for ongoing research on religious beliefs in addressing
 the complexity of the issue, especially in that it could bring able valid reasoning from
psychoanalysis.

Gebauer, J. E., & Maio, G. R. (2012). The need to belong can motivate belief in God. Journal of

personality, 80(2), 465-501.

This article discussed four plausible studies that gave evidence to the notion that the need
to belong does in fact motivate the belief in God. It goes through accepting vs. rejecting
images of God and how it provides belief based on those images. It was found that an
image of an accepting God increases belief and only an accepting God motivates the need
to belong, while a rejecting God threatens it. The third study was quite fascinating in
looking at chronic faith and belief in God, as it provided evidence that even those
individuals who chronically believe in God, pray frequently, and attend church regularly
do, in part, because of a desire for a close relationship with an accepting, but not
rejecting, God. This article will give tangible data and numbers to include in order to
provide concrete evidence for this behavioral aspect of belief in God.

Kenworthy, J. (2003). Explaining the Belief in God for Self, In-Group, and Out-Group Targets.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42(1), 137-146.

This study and analyzation of other studies with the attribution theory in attitudes gives
further insight into the cognitive and social psychological perspectives. The study
included belief questions about self, in-group, and out-group beliefs in whether they were
based on rationality, externality, internality, and emotionality. It was found that the
position of belief in God is perceived as one characterized by a relatively high degree of
emotionality and a relatively low degree of rationality. This article also addresses
practical implications of this study and in future research in giving that understanding the
basis for belief because how we perceive others' beliefs could adversely affect our
interactions with others. These findings could be used for religious tolerance models in
understanding the perceptions of belief based on self, in-group, and out-group models, as
well as within denominations and congregations. The social, along with cognitive,
perspective is seen in this study and further extends my research to another domain in
psychological bases for belief in God.

Kirkpatrick, L. A. (1999). Toward an evolutionary psychology of religion and personality.

Journal of personality, 67(6), 921-952.

This article delves into the deeper criticisms and reasons in the evolutionary perspective
of religion while addressing the belief in God. Kirkpatrick proposes a new evolutionary
perspective for religious thought as it is grounded in evolutionary biology including
fitness and kin selection, as well as theories of reciprocal altruism. His perspective defies
all previous notions of evolutionary psychology with religion in that he believes that
belief in supernatural beings, deities, and religious thought as well as practice are
 byproducts of adaptive mechanisms used for survival. It also gives insight into the brain
regions specifically with mechanisms in that "functions" such as detecting lines and
figures can help with "Functions" such as reading, which can be translated to the
mechanisms that create the byproduct of belief in religion and God. At the end of the
article, it provides differences in culture, sex, and individual that give ideas for future
research which will in turn help guide my overarching search for the answer behind belief
in God.

Reiss, S. (2004). The sixteen strivings for God. Zygon, 39, 303-320.

This article addresses the theories behind the motivation in human behaviors that
surround the belief in God and religiosity. The sensitivity theory along with the sixteen
basic desires will help elaborate on personality and cognitive aspects of the desire to
believe in a higher power. The trends on which values and desires parallel to those with
self-reported religiosity will be used in determining which personality traits and desires in
motivation are required for those who seek to believe in God. The Reiss Profile
questionnaire was used which could be a basis for empirical evidence throughout the rest
of my research. Overall, the theory on religion and the evaluation on spirituality within
the values expressed speaks to the innate and non-cultural bias of belief.

Shenhav, A., Rand, D. G., & Greene, J. D. (2012). Divine intuition: cognitive style influences

belief in God. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3), 423.

This article will provide one of many possible explanations in the psychology behind
believing in God. In particular, this article related the belief in God to cognitive style
through three different studies. All of the studies were surrounded about the hypothesis
that belief in God is intuitive rather than reflective. The first study examined the
differences in cognitive style and belief in God through CRT responses, finding that
intuition does indeed influence the confidence in believing in God. The second study
tested the same thing, intuition v. reflection while controlling personality and cognitive
ability (IQ). Finally, the third study tested for a causal relationship between cognitive
style and belief in God. All of the studies found that intuition was strongly correlated
with belief in God and with the notion that change in belief happened since childhood,
which was uncorrelated with familial religiosity. This article will give depth and insight
to the cognition behind believing, coming from one of the psychological perspectives.

Shermer, M. (2000). Why People Believe in God. Public Perspective, 18-20.

Through the explanation of the attribution theory and the qualification of a neurological
theory behind the belief in God, this source will provide another glimpse and insight into
the cognitive perspective. Through the explanation of the attribution theory, the article
distinguishes that there is a disparity for how we reason for our personal beliefs to how
we think others reason their beliefs. We attribute rational thoughts behind our own
beliefs, but emotional reasons behind others beliefs. Additionally, the article denotes
biological and evolutionary reasons for cultish and fanatic beliefs in God as seen through
 temporal lobe transients. The article also addresses the strongest predictors for those who
do and don't believe in God, and this can be used to compare with other psychological
predictors as well.

Williams, J. (1992). Belief-in and Belief in God. Religious Studies, 28(3), 401-406.

In this article, Williams includes the philosophical and cognitive reasoning behind belief-
in's and belief-thats. He also details the belief in God, defining what it truly means to
have that belief in God. This definition is mainly two-fold in that in order to believe in
God, you must first believe that God exists, and second, believe that this God is good.
This article will give vital explanations in defining belief in the context of psychology.
The information gathered will be a great introductory to my more complex evolutionary,
behavioral, and cognitive reasons for belief. It will display the differences in actual belief
versus knowledge of existence of God or a supernatural. If one does not understand the
definition of believing in God, how will one understand the reasons for this belief?