I have referred to Pehr Granqvist many times. Currently professor at Stockholm University. He was very helpful and provided inspiration when I was doing mine degree job several years ago.
Pehr has just been to the US to collect The William James Award. Not bad.
"We talk about the evolutionary function of attachment, what characterizes secure and insecure attachment, about organized and disorganized attachment, about avoidant and ambivalent attachment, about being able to move from insecure to secure attachment as an adult, about spirituality as the experience of standing in contact with something greater than oneself, about spirituality as something that one can, but does not have to, give religious interpretations, about that a spiritual awakening means waking up from the dream world of thoughts..."
“Can no one be in Safer? religious psychologist Pehr Granqvist maps the connections between our need for security, connection and spiritual thirst. By applying attachment theory to religion, Granqvist shows how religiosity and spirituality can be important ingredients for experiencing security."
Sounds exciting. Released March 2023.
And once we get to where we are (and the stations along the way) you often have the feeling that it was "meant" to turn out exactly as it did... Maybe there is such a plan with one's life, in advance? Or it's mostly a function of our human, grand, creative tendency to automatically try to make wholes out of fragments… magical thinking.
Well, I guess I'm on the brakes here... We seem to "have it in us", to want to see reasons behind what happens to us. Some more than others, too, that have been researched... Have referred to this article before, I know... Here is an abstract with a summary of what they thought they found in their experiments on various groups.
Farias, M., Claridge, G., & Lalljee, M. (2005). Personality and cognitive predictors of New Age practices and beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(5), 979-989.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-12590-013
What they did (free from memory) was put people in front of a computer screen where 100 dots appeared in random combinations & asked the subjects to say when they saw a motif (I think the instruction was that intended motifs could appear?)… And “newage- are” saw significantly more such… animals, angels, etc.
It was thus found that people who embraced certain holistic?, "neo-spiritual", conceptions of existence also had a tendency to see "meaning, order" even where there is none. Now how to understand it? Is closely related to superstition, one might think. As enlightenment, positivism, "taken out of us" to some degree. Made us more skeptical, scientific, sane. On guard against ourselves. Against our human tendency to want to see connections, for example? And sometimes become too skeptical, "sensible", maybe... But anyway...
Buxant and colleagues (Buxant, et al, 2007, 2008, 2010) believe that even if the followers show a greater sensitivity, a greater fragility, which can possibly be understood against the background of their attachment experiences, this does not necessarily mean greater mental illness
Magical Ideation Scale (Eckblad&Chapman, 1983) which, among other things, measures "magical and paranormal ideas and experiences".. High results on this test have also been correlated with the fact that the test subjects find it easy to make connections between words that really have nothing to do with each other .
Such an attitude is characterized by precisely a holistic worldview where "entities and events are connected in a way that defies modern rationalistic notions of causality" (Farias & Lalljee, 2008)
Farias and Lalljee (2008) point out that such a disposition for magical thinking can also be something that is emphasized and encouraged within a certain culture, eg new age, and that this can also explain results.
In a study by Farias and Lalljee (2008), test subjects were asked to give twenty descriptions of themselves based on the question "Who am I?". New age followers then described themselves in an extremely individualistic and abstract way (eg "I am a bridge", "I am united", "I am an illusion"). The authors summarize this part of the study:
QUOTE!
(From the same study? Individuals with a collectivist orientation usually, when asked to describe themselves, do so with judgments that are concretely connected to their social reality (e.g. "I am a daughter", "I am a baker", etc.), while those with a more individualistic orientation use more abstract judgments about themselves (e.g. "I am cheerful"). )
A meta-analysis (by Saroglou, Delpierre, & Dernelle, 2004, cited in Farias & Lalljee, 2008) brought together studies from 15 countries, which included more than 8000 test subjects, from various religious backgrounds, and the results showed that traditional religiosity correlates positively with various measures of collectivism. However, no relationship was found between religiosity and universalism, which may seem strange given that this may seem to be close to religious ideals. The authors try to explain this by saying that a collectivist orientation may limit itself to the well-being of one's own in-group in the first place (Farias & Lalljee, 2008).
In the survey by Farias and Lalljee (2008), the New Age adherents scored higher than the two other groups on "Universialism". This concept emphasizes such things as harmony and equality (Farias & Lalljee, 2008)
Collectivism, ind, universalism: Farias and Lalljee (2008)
Individuals with a collectivist orientation usually, when asked to describe themselves, do so with judgments that are concretely connected to their social reality (e.g. "I am a daughter", "I am a baker", etc.), while those with a more individualistic orientation uses more abstract judgments about themselves (eg "I am cheerful").
In a study by Farias and Lalljee (2008), 159 people who were either Catholic, New Age adherents, or agnostic/atheist (53 from each group) were tested. The aim was to investigate whether the new age was really about an interest in self-transcendence or whether it is more a reinforcement of common individualistic and secular values and behaviours.
The New Age adherents, like the non-religious, were found to be both more individualistic and egocentric in their choices and motives compared to the religious, while those with a New Age orientation simultaneously had a universalist orientation. They shared some character traits with the traditionally religious, and some with the non-religious in the survey (Farias & Lalljee, 2008).
Why then is it individualism and not collectivism that is associated with such radical equality, as Farias and Lalljee ask themselves in this survey of, among others, Catholics and New Age adherents? (2008).
Granqvist and Farias focus on social psychology, personality psychology and developmental psychology aspects of new age (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007). They describe how they both began their research with the hypothesis that this group of spiritual would differ from traditional religiosity.
Farias and Granqvist (2007) point out that even if some of the personality traits that followers show can also be adaptive, e.g. absorption, schizotypy, etc.
Give abstract answers
"Holistic individualism"
Research that Farias has done in the past has shown that in some respects new ageers have more in common with atheists, in a test group, than practicing Catholics. Eg degree of individualistic orientation. Most striking were the answers that emerged when doing a social-cognitive analysis of how the followers described themselves. They were asked to give twenty descriptions of themselves based on the question "Who am I?" The answers were analyzed according to how abstract or concrete they were, on the concrete side things that had physical and social descriptions. On the abstract side, one that had to do with psychic qualities. New ageare gave many more abstract answers than the other two groups. To the extent that they described themselves as a process, a metaphor or as part of a universal force. The term "holistic individualism" was coined as a term for this. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Förf refers to a lot of interesting research with relevance to the subject. But overall it can be said that it is about a kind of flexible psyche, creativity, which in some respects can be understood as along a scale from normality to psychosis. (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007). That a psyche that functions in this way can also be linked to a tendency towards or openness to magical or paranormal experiences.
Different models have been presented to try to explain these results. "Translimity" which is about thoughts and feelings being able to travel between what is pre-conscious or sub-conscious, to being noticed by the conscious. A high degree of this has been shown to be correlated with psychic experiences and a belief in paranormal experiences. Different concepts that more or less seem to address the same thing: translimity, skinlessness, and walliness (thin and thick).. the latter Hartmann-91. A consequence of this type of sensitivity is summarized by the authors as: "This sense of connectedness is of a cognitive and emotive kind but does not extend into the interpersonal domain, as people with thin boundaries typically find it difficult to feel part of a group" p. 131 (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007) This agrees with the individualistic feature of the new age spirituality, according to Prof.
Everyday stories/"Same energies"
"The association between New Age practices and thin boundaries is particularly interesting, as this latter scale taps into a sense of social alienation, of not belonging to any particular group, a particularly associative thinking style, but also an emotional vulnerability or hypersensitivity" (Farias & Granqvist, 2007). Page?
In a study by Farias and Lalljee (2006, cited in Farias & Granqvist, 2007), test participants were asked to comment on some stories with everyday events based on the question: "How would you interpret this situation?" The stories could, for example, describe a meeting with a person who felt very familiar. Instead of suggesting that it was someone the test subject might run into at the store someday, or even that "God wanted us to meet," people with a New Age orientation explained situations like this using paranormal or supernatural arguments: " Our souls have probably met before”, or “We have the same energies that make us feel drawn to each other”.
"This sense of connectedness is of a cognitive and emotive kind but does not extend into the interpersonal domain, as people with thin boundaries typically find it difficult to feel part of a group" (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
"Leakage from the preconscious" or reduced barriers against things coming into consciousness, has been called "cognitive looseness" (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
The same researchers have done research with words instead of dots and new age followers have then shown stronger semantic connections (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee?, yyyy?, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Förf has also been able to confirm these findings in its own research. An interesting test concerns the degree to which the person perceives patterns and figures on a screen where a hundred points are projected in random order. New Age enthusiasts perceive more complex figures, simply. People with a more traditional religious orientation did not excel in this regard. (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007). The results indicate "presence of underlying structures which may dispose the individual to experience unusual perceptions and magical/paranormal beliefs and experiences" (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007).
Research that Farias has done in the past has shown that in some respects new ageers have more in common with atheists, in a test group, than practicing Catholics. Eg degree of individualistic orientation. Most striking were the answers that emerged when doing a social-cognitive analysis of how the followers described themselves. They were asked to give twenty descriptions of themselves based on the question "Who am I?" The answers were analyzed according to how abstract or concrete they were, on the concrete side things that had physical and social descriptions. On the abstract side, one that had to do with psychic qualities. New ageare gave many more abstract answers than the other two groups. To the extent that they described themselves as a process, a metaphor or as part of a universal force. The term "holistic individualism" was coined as a term for this. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Granqvist and Farias (2007) have focused on social psychology, personality psychology and developmental psychology aspects of new age. They describe how they each began their research with the hypothesis that New Age adherents differ from adherents of more traditional religiosity or spirituality
They experienced themselves as connected to "a larger universe of being" and yet this connection was very private and abstract, rather than "socially embedded". Another part of the survey then allowed the test subjects to describe a "highlight" in their lives, which was interpreted as either as an independent individual, or socially in cooperation. The New Ageer then reported twice as many "agency" as collaboration narratives. Furthermore, more of these stories were "ideas and feelings of being magically or paranormally empowered by a non-material force or entity". (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
In a survey (Farias, 2004; ref in Farias & Gr, 2007) they examined collectivist and individualist ideals in Catholics, atheists and new age-interested people. It turned out that New Age adherents emphasized individualism as highly as atheists, distinguishing themselves from Catholics in the survey. The former emphasized such things as independence and hedonism. The New Age followers also emphasized a universalism, which can be interpreted as tolerance, a concern for humanity and nature, p125 (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
The new age has a "their concern with the existence of an intimate connectedness between all things, visible and invisible." Karma and synchronicity, according to Jung, create “a virtually unending network of connections. In this way, every small trivial detail seems to be filled with meaning. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
The statement "there is no coincidence" causes the new ageer to look for magical connections between many things in their everyday life. New age adherents not only share certain beliefs, they seem to share a special cognitive trait and personality disposition that prompts them to seek meaningful connections between seemingly distant and unrelated things and events" (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
"Schizotypy" - characterized by magical thinking and unusual experiences. But how should schizotypy be understood? As a diagnosis, or as a spectrum from normal to pathology? Förf seems to have found the latter model most fruitful for his own research. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Spiritual experiences. Fore ref to Claridge 2001 who developed thoughts about healthy psychotism. Like creativity... "spiritual experience which, like creativity, are an example of 'healthy psychotism', ie form of schizotypal personality which lies on the healthy side of the psychotic spectrum" (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007)
Light schizotypy and a lighter form of dissociation called "absorption", being able to be absorbed. (Far & Granqv, 2007)
Farias and Granqvist (2007) see a connection between the special cognitive features of the NA follower, and the fact that many change groups and activities without becoming attached or tying ties with a close network, as in traditional religious contexts (Farias & Granqvist, 2007 ).
Faced with a story, a hypothetical situation to take a stand on, for example if they met a stranger who nevertheless felt familiar, the new ageer gave more magical answers than the atheist, but also than the Christian. The hypothesis was that the new ageer would give several magical answers ("Our souls have probably met before", "we have similar energies"), and it was true. The new ageer gave twice as many magical answers as everyday, natural answers ("We've probably met in town before") This leads the authors to formulate that the new ageer often has a
"highly associative cognitive style, which made them perceive events in their life in a tightly connected way (via supernatural forces or entities). (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Kaplan (ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007) has found that infants who are classified with disorganized attachment, at the age of six, talk about child-parent separations with elements of "invisible agents". Mothers with disorganized attachment tend to attribute to their children such things as "psychic powers" and the possibility of being in contact with those who have died (George & Solomon, 1999, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Mothers with disorganized attachment tend to attribute to their children such things as "psychic powers" and the possibility of being in contact with those who have died (George & Solomon, 1999, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Researchers have also found that so-called "disorganized speech" in AAI interviews correlates with the interviewee reporting a variety of experiences and beliefs that are also found within the New Age, such as astrology, omens, contact with the dead, possession, telepathy and reincarnation (Hesse, 1999, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Farias & Granqvist (2007) refer to phenomena which can all be linked to a readiness to enter different degrees of dissociative states, namely disorganized attachment in infancy, disorganized talk in adulthood, and high values on the NAOS scale (see above) .
Research on 6-year-olds with ambivalent attachment (Main, 1991, referenced in Farias & Granqvist, 2007) has shown that these have difficulty understanding "privacy of thought", as well as they had a heightened belief in paranormal phenomena and contexts.
In a Belgian study (NN??, 2003 ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007), the researchers concluded that individuals with an ambivalence/preoccupied attachment style enjoy reading spiritual esoteric literature more.
The authors caution against thinking that the underlying factors for different types of spirituality are the same. This does not seem to be the case, but even the opposite. (Far&Gran, 2007) (comp vs corr, for example)
The authors note that the research done on New Age and its connection up to that time (Farias & Granqvist, 2007) has "uniformly and strongly supported the compensation hypothesis. Individuals who, according to self-reports or independent judges, have experienced parental insensitivity while growing up are particularly inclined to endorse the New Age".
It is a world of thought that exhibits certain characteristics that are assumed to be familiar to those exposed to mental and/or physical abuse, neglect, etc., during the formative years of childhood.
A person with a disposition for magical thinking does not need to be interested in new age, although the probability is greater (Farias & Granqvist, 2007). Personality traits and cognitive dispositions are largely genetic, so this seems to come into play as well. When people say that their spiritual search began in adulthood, it is probably not true, but is based on a certain cognitive predisposition that was there before (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Although things like personality traits have a genetic component, the authors do not want to rule out that the findings they made could also arise as an effect of being interested in and involved in the New Age (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Förf reserves that, due to the lack of longitudinal studies, it cannot be ruled out that it is the new age interest itself that shapes the individual, rather than that it is a certain disposition that causes her or him to be drawn to this type of phenomenon . (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007)
Förf points out that even if the New Age follower himself often talks about a search that began in his late teens, for example, it is based on formative experiences made much earlier in life.
Farias & Granqvist (2007) suggest that it is a combination of biology and attachment experiences that leads to a commitment in the new age: "[B]asic underlying processes of cognition and emotion, related to a particular pattern of personality traits and attachment organization, which may make some individual more likely to report such unusual experiences and participate in the New Age” (p124).
Suggests that it is a combination of biology (cognitive and personality factors, constitution, cognitive style) together with early experiences of parents etc that lies behind the new age interest, p124 (Farias & Granqvist, 2007)
Farias and Granqvist (2007) write that the time has now come to search for the biological correlates of the new age interest.
Supposed to be attracted by the popular psychological view that is common within the New Age, with talk of "toxic parenting" (Far & Gr, 2007?)
Farias, Claridge & Lalljee (2005) recruited 99 people to a survey to measure tendency towards magical thinking, as well as thin and thick “walls. The subjects were to have no history of psychiatric illness. The participants were tested with a battery of instruments, partly to determine the type of spiritual or religious orientation, partly to test the personality dimensions above. People with a new age orientation scored high on both of these scales, while those with a traditional religious orientation did not excel in either of these respects.
"The thin boundaries construct accounts for some characteristics of the New Age religiosity, such as the sense of 'connectedness' and 'holism', as well as a particularly associative thinking style, and an emotional vulnerability or hypersensitivity" (Hartmann, 1991; ref in Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
In several studies, people with borderline personality disorder, as well as those with schizotyp ditto, have distinguished themselves for having particularly thin walls (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005)
A person with "thin walls" is characterized by such things as feelings and thoughts being mixed up, that she or he more often reports or believes in things such as clairvoyance (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005)
The holism within the new age can perhaps also be explained by an inclination towards "magical thinking" that research has been able to demonstrate (Farias, Claridge and Lalljee, 2005). Such an attitude is characterized by precisely a holistic worldview where "entities and events are connected in a way that defies modern rationalistic notions of causality" (Farias & Lalljee, 2008).
A laboratory experiment where the test subject had to sit in front of a computer screen in a dimly lit room. 100 dots changing at high speed in a random manner were shown to the subject for ten minutes. The instruction was that motifs would alternate with random images, and that they would say when something recognizable came along. Newage followers saw significantly more motifs (eg animal motifs, dancing people, angels etc). People with a traditional religious orientation did not see more than average (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
One sees schizotypy more as a delimited illness or problem, or something close to schizophrenia and psychosis, while the other views schizotypy as something that exists along a spectrum from adaptive or harmless, to potentially problematic. It is even conceivable that an increased value of this variable can be for the joy of the individual, for imagination and spirituality. Here, schizotypy is seen as a personality dimension and not as pathology (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
An experiment showed that people with a new age orientation scored higher on schizotypal personality traits, magical thinking, cognitive looseness, and great sensitivity ("emotional hypersensitivity"). These characteristics were not found in those in the group with a traditional religious orientation (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
A separate group also psychologically
At the group level, newage adherents stand out for certain cognitive traits. Looking at certain cognitive and personality traits, there are significant differences between conventional religious individuals and those who are engaged in the new age (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
Granqvist and colleagues (2007) have also used the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). In one survey, a group of adults (n=84) recruited from various religious contexts were asked to answer the NAOS and were interviewed with the AAI. The results showed, among other things, that those who answered high on the NAOS were also judged to have had a considerably less loving upbringing, with more things like rejection and role reversals ("role reversals") than those who received low scores.
Granqvist (2004) writes that followers of the new age risk having to live with "an underdiagnosed suffering" and that it is urgent to increase knowledge about this area.
Mainly it has then been about disorganized and preoccupied/ambivalent attachment style which is generally associated with a great deal of suffering and problems in the normal population, such as borderline personality disorder, disassociation and anxiety (Granqvist & Hagekull, 2001? Check!)
From AAI interviews with New Age adherents, where he demonstrated similarities to people with disorganized affiliation. People with high scores on the NAOS scale also scored high on so-called "romantic attachment disorganization", which includes things like the individual withdrawing from closeness (more def!) (Granqvist & Hagekull, 2001).
A question that can be asked is whether people who embrace or take an interest in this newer spirituality also share certain personality traits? There has been research on followers of the new age, above all from a cognitive psychology and attachment theory point of view, which indicates this.
Research on the group of new age adherents has shown the existence of such things as "thin-walledness" (Hartmann, yyyy; NN,yyyy), magical thinking (ref), schizotypal personality traits (ref), cognitive loseness (Brugger et al, 1993, cited in Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005), emotional hypersensitivity, dissociation light/absorption, and "thin-walled".
A person with "thin walls" is characterized by such things as feelings and thoughts being mixed up, that she or he more often reports or believes in things like clairvoyance. (Hartmann, see species!).
Saroglou, Delpierre and Dernelle, 2004
"Self-transcendence" or individualism
Light schizotypy and a lighter form of dissociation called "absorption", being able to be absorbed. (Far & Granqv, 2007)
However, opinions differ as to whether these findings indicate greater ill health or ill health at the group level
Different, but no need to feel worse
"Unusual but sound minds" (Farias, 2012? See OneN!)
Farias and G also refer to research done to test correlation between New Age Spirual interest and schizotypal traits. It is not difficult to see parallels when, for example, you read DSM-4 about the diagnosis. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
David Eklind Kloo writes reflectively and personally about his Christian faith (Dagens Arena, 25 December 2019). Many references to researchers and thinkers in the field of religious psychology. You can learn something about such things in this essay, or refresh yourself if you have heard about it before. But above all, his story is a reminder that Christian faith can also look so different, feel and be experienced so differently, by different individuals.
“There are religious movements that are based on manipulation, abuse of power and control. But there are also many of us who ourselves have erected the fences around our lives. Not because someone forced us, but because we thought it was the right thing to do.”
The text becomes a reminder that the spiritual realm is a continuum, an area with many overlaps and connections. The faith Eklind Kloo tells about undoubtedly has a lot in common with parts of the new spirituality, e.g. Christian faith is not one and the same, not even within the same congregation. And new spirituality is not always "new" in all parts.
In terms of religious studies, this is easier to divide. What beliefs and practices are characteristic of one or the other spiritual direction. What it is taken from, etc. “Family Tree.” Psychologically, it is much more difficult. For that, models or instruments that go crosswise are needed. Which can distinguish similarities and differences, regardless of what is written on the label. Regardless of what is expressed in words as well, or which books you read, etc. The connection research by the researcher Pehr Granqvist et al is such an attempt. James W Fowler, the psychologist and theologian, and models of similar stage theorists, are others.
Eklind Kloo writes nicely about "transition phenomena" based on the psychoanalyst and child psychiatrist DW Winnicott:
"The teddy bear fulfills a function only when the child fills it with mental content, actively ascribes the mother's characteristics to it. God fulfills a function in our soul life only when we create inner images of him. This is not necessarily something that diminishes God. That we function in such a way that God has to take this way into us says nothing about whether God is real or not. God is not just a teddy bear. There is nothing _just_ about a child's transitional object.”
He ends the essay thus:
“My faith was based on certain assumptions. Still, I was so unsure. I didn't doubt God, but I doubted myself.
I was sure that God deals with those who surrender to him, but not that I was surrendered enough. I knew that whoever believes is saved, but I didn't know if my faith was enough.
Now I'm less sure. But also less afraid.”
“Tarot reading at the company party, a crystal in your pocket or meditation at lunch. About the spiritual wave and those who seek a greater meaning in existence.”
Professor Pehr Granqvist in Body & Soul on radio P1 on May 15, where he talks about new spirituality from a psychological perspective. That the neo-spiritual fantasy world offers a sense of "control" over an erratic or threatening reality (extra alluring to those who have experienced trauma, capriciousness or gross neglect during their upbringing) is one of the arguments he makes. David Thurfjell, religious scholar and Sanna Samuelsson, journalist, etc., also participate.
https://www.psychology.su.se/om-oss/nyheter/psykologiska-perspektiv-av-nyandlighet-1.385750
Article from Psykologtidningen no. 7 2004. By Pehr Granqvist.
"Childhood trauma can attract new age" Pehr Granqvist, researcher at Uppsala University, talks about findings to be presented in a new article (SR Vetenskapsradion, 2009-06-30)