The ideal religious experience

Abstract

In previous studies, participating in religious experiences has correlated with better coping with loss, cancer, and alcoholism. This experiment is attempting to help researchers discover the best type and place for a person to achieve a religious experience and whether religiosity is useful for people. Participants were asked to answer a number of different surveys and open-ended questions. The different surveys used were the Allport and Ross Religious Orientation Scale, Batson's Quest Scale, the NEO-FFI Scale, and a religiosity scale designed by Laura B. Koenig, Matt McGue, and William G. Iacono. These surveys were used to categorize the participants into groups relating to their personalities, religiosity, and background information. The open-ended questions asked the participants what happened during their ideal religious experience and where they would most likely achieve it. The participants’ answers to these questions were then grouped together based on common language used in the essays. The study found that people who truly believe in their religion (have intrinsic personalities on the Religious Orientation Scale) tend to have higher levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion. Also, there was a correlation between people with certain types of personalities and the religious experiences they will most likely achieve. People who have intrinsic religious personalities are more likely to have religious experiences where they feel secure, and people who are more extraverted and not neurotic are more likely statistically to have their ideal religious experiences when they are alone.