The Personal and Normative Image of God: The Role of Religious Culture and Mental Health

Jonker, Hanneke Schaap; Eurelings-Bontekoe, Elisabeth H.M.; Zock, Hetty; Jonker, Evert

doi:10.1163/008467207x188883

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Research has shown that people may simultaneously have different types of knowledge (e.g., Barrett, 1999) and experiences (e.g., Whitehouse, 2002) regarding religion that roughly correspond to dual-process models of cognition, and this extends to knowledge about supernatural others in particular. Different ways of understanding God include “god images” versus “god concepts” (Davis, Moriarty, & Mauch, 2013; Rizzuto, 1979), “head” versus “heart” knowledge (Zahl, Sharp, & Gibson, 2013), “normative” versus “personal” images (Jonker, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Zock, & Jonker, 2007), and “propositional” knowledge (theological or doctrinal understanding) versus “experiential” knowledge (understanding based on personal experience; Zahl & Gibson, 2012; Zahl, Sharp, & Gibson, 2013). For example, a Christian might theologically “know” that God loves her (propositional knowledge), but might not actually experience God’s love in her life (experiential knowledge).…”

Section: The Complexity Of Religious Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

One God but three concepts: Complexity in Christians’ representations of God.

Sharp

Rentfrow

Gibson

2017

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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Research exploring God representations has tended to assume that these constructs are unitary in nature. However, a considerable research literature has illustrated ways in which people's representations of self and others are complex. Given that Christians believe in 1 God but also the 3 distinct members of the Trinity, the present research used this theological construct to test whether religious believers can have structurally complex God representations, examining within-subject differences in Christian participants' understandings of God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Study 1 compared descriptions of the Trinity using adjective checklists, self/other overlap, and target-directed emotions; Study 2 compared personality judgments of the Trinity; and Study 3 investigated the relative salience of each way of thinking about God using a reaction time (RT) paradigm. Results demonstrated that, consistent with believers having cognitively complex God representations, participants had differentiated ways of thinking about and relating to each member of the Trinity.

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Section: The Complexity Of Religious Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

One God but three concepts: Complexity in Christians’ representations of God.

Sharp

Rentfrow

Gibson

2017

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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“…In this way, God representations, like all representations, are dynamic, context-sensitive reconstructions in a connectionist memory system (Smith & Conrey, 2007). Thus, distinct aspects of God representations may be dominant or latent within psychic experience depending on psychological and contextual factors (Rizzuto, 1979;Rizzuto & Shafranske, 2013;Schaap-Jonker, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Zock, & Jonker, 2007;Zahl & Gibson, 2012;cf. Smith & Conrey, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Types of God Representations and Mental Health: A Person-Oriented Approach

Schaap‐Jonker¹,

Velde²,

Eurelings-Bontekoe

et al. 2017

The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion

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As God representations are multi-facetted psychological processes regarding the personal meaning of God/the divine to the individual, this study examines how multiple aspects of God representations are configured within individuals belonging to a sample of psychiatric patients or a nonpatient sample, and how these configurations are associated with mental health. By means of cluster analyses, three types of God representations were found: a Positive-Authoritative one, a Passive-Unemotional one, and, only among psychiatric patients, a Negative-Authoritarian one. Types of God representations were significantly related to affective state, as well as religious saliency and religious background. Patients with the negative type of God representation were more distressed and depressed, and Orthodox-Reformed patients reported significantly more negative types of God representations. This study demonstrates the value of a person-oriented approach, by showing that scale scores became especially meaningful in the context of the types, which enables more nuanced distinctions regarding subgroups. God representations as multidimensional processes God representations are mental representations of the individuals' perceived relationship to God or the divine. They reflect both subjective experiences of God/the divine (e.g., experiences that are characterized by trust, thankfulness, fear or disappointment) and religious beliefs concerning God/ the divine (e.g., God as the ground of being, a judge, a helping ultimate power) in a highly personal way. Psychological factors (such as attachment style and personality) and religio-cultural factors affect the content and structure of God representations. As core aspects of religiousness, God representations-both traditional, personal, and theistic ones, and impersonal, abstract ones-give a unique insight into the meaning of religious life and religious behavior (

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“…Like all representations, they are dynamic, context-sensitive reconstructions in a connectionist memory system (Smith & Conrey, 2007). Consequently, through psychological and contextual factors, distinct aspects of God representations may be dominant or latent within psychic experience (Rizzuto, 1979;Rizzuto & Shafranske, 2013;Schaap Jonker et al, 2007;Zahl & Gibson, 2012;cf. Smith & Conrey, 2007).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Questionnaire God Representations for clinical and scientific use in the context of mental health care (QGR-17).

Schaap‐Jonker¹,

Vrijmoeth²

2024

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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In this article, we present a new version of the Questionnaire God Representations (QGR), the QGR-17. This version is particularly aimed for use in scientific studies among psychiatric patients and applications in a clinical context, such as routine outcome measurement and the monitoring of existential recovery during treatment. We calculated norm scores and examined psychometric properties of the QGR-17, for both a general population and a population of people who receive mental health care. We calculated norm scores (based on stanine scores) and analyzed internal consistency, comparative and structural validity (Study 1, N = 1,788). Convergent and divergent validity were examined with correlation analyses with psychopathology, vitality and hope/meaning in life, and identity as existential factors (Study 2, N = 1,366). The results show that internal consistencies of the QGR-17 scales are adequate to good and that it has structural validity. The average item scores of each QGR-17 scale resemble the scales of the total QGR. We found that the positively valenced aspects of God representations were predominantly related to higher levels of vitality and the existential constructs of identity and hope/meaning in life, while the negatively valenced aspects were related to higher levels of psychopathology, less hope/meaning in life, and more negative identity scores. Taken together, these findings provide support for the QGR-17 as a relatively brief measure of God representations and its potential to address the positive or negative relationships of religion/spirituality with mental health in treatment. Implications for clinical work are discussed.

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The Personal and Normative Image of God: The Role of Religious Culture and Mental Health

Cited by 16 publications

References 6 publications

One God but three concepts: Complexity in Christians’ representations of God.

One God but three concepts: Complexity in Christians’ representations of God.

Types of God Representations and Mental Health: A Person-Oriented Approach

The Questionnaire God Representations for clinical and scientific use in the context of mental health care (QGR-17).

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