ABSTRACT
Essential ingredients of thinking as a psychological mechanism are outlined clearly by D. H. Russell. The raw material of thinking is sensation which is selected and then perceptualised. A percept may be defined as a personal and immediate interpretation of a sensation or sensations. Clearly religion and life in the early years are so interwoven they are indistinguishable. Moral and aesthetic development are no less important, fusing intellectual concepts of what is ‘good’ and ‘beautiful’ with feelings. The quality of percepts and concepts of any person depends upon the abilities of that person. Little application of the processes of thinking has been made to religion. Affective behaviour influences thinking and especially the formation of concepts. Emotions are dynamically related to man's deepest needs and inevitably influence the selection of particular sensations. The importance of home and parental influence upon various aspects of religious behaviour is brought out by many studies.
