The Integration of Religion and Spirituality Psychology with Positive Psychology
Religious psychologists conducting research on the future vision of the psychology of religion and spirituality have highlighted the similarity and compatibility between the topics of the field and those of positive psychology, and have argued that the integration of the two fields will contribute to the development of the psychology of religion. In this context, the study aims to examine research conducted in both fields to determine the current state of integration in Turkey. To this end, the method employed in the study is “systematic literature review and meta-analysis.” In the first chapter of the book, after providing information on the historical development of religious psychology and positive psychology, the possibility of integrating the two fields is discussed, and the obstacles to integration, as well as research topics that could facilitate integration, are addressed from a theoretical perspective. In the second chapter, information is provided on the systematic literature review, meta-analysis, and the research methodology, and the findings are discussed in light of the literature. The research is limited to articles published in journals indexed in the Web of Science and TR Dizin databases. “Psychology of Religion,” “Psychology of Religion and Spirituality,” “Religiosity,” “Spirituality,” “Spiritual Well-being,” “Positive Psychology,” “Psychological Well-being,” “Subjective Well-being,” “Character Strengths,” “Hope,” “Forgiveness,” “Meaning of Life,” “Humility,” “Patience,” and “Gratitude” were identified as key concepts. Findings from systematic data analysis have shown that positive psychology has attracted significant interest from researchers in Turkey and that topics related to positive psychology are being studied in most fields of the social sciences associated with psychology. On the other hand, it has been observed that researchers from various fields have shown increasing interest in the core concepts of “religiosity and spirituality” within the psychology of religion and spirituality in recent years. It was noted that researchers’ interest in character strengths other than hope and forgiveness is low, and that the most frequently studied topic in the field of positive psychology in Turkey is “well-being.” To facilitate the integration of these two fields, the common ix research topics in the literature—“meaning of life,” “character strengths,” and “well-being”—have been identified as themes for the meta-analysis. In the meta-analysis, the effect size of the relationship between “meaning of life” and “religion and spirituality” was calculated, revealing a positive and strong relationship between them. The effect size calculated for the relationship between “character strengths,” “well-being,” and “religiosity and spirituality” indicated a positive but small-scale relationship between them.
Keywords: Psychology of Religion and Spirituality; Positive Psychology; Character Strengths; Meaning of Life; Well-being; Systematic Data Analysis; Meta-analysis