ABSTRACT
Understanding religion psychologically means being able to deal with and answer three kinds of question. First, what are the psychological—cognitive, emotional, moral, and social—functions of religion in contemporary Individuals' lives? Second, provided that at least some of these functions may be universal, why are there important inter-individual differences in attitudes regarding religion? Finally, can the historical presence of religion in the human species be explained as having served some basic adaptive needs and the corresponding psychological mechanisms? The first question is typically a matter of social psychology; the second, of personality psychology; and the third, of evolutionary psychology.
