ABSTRACT
With the great interest in religious and spiritual (R/S) constructs, with literally thousands of such variables available for analysis and the veritable number of related scales, multiple concerns about their uniqueness, psychometric integrity, and utility for the field have emerged (Buss, 2002; Funder, 2002; Kapuscinski & Masters, 2010; Piedmont, 2014). While there may be many legitimate technical issues surrounding measurement in this area, there is a larger question that overshadows these other concerns and represents a key, mostly overlooked, area of inquiry: “What psychological aspects of the individual do R/S scales represent?” Do such measures simply reflect the ways people adapt, or do R/S constructs reflect specific, unique psychological processes? Few measures of R/S have outlined how they relate to larger psychological models or identified the specific psychosocial processes/dynamics they represent (see Rizzuto, 1979; Rizzuto & Schafranske, 2013). This lack of a developed psychological understanding of the nature of R/S constructs makes interpretations of their linkages to psychosocial outcomes of limited value. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a useful psychological framework that outlines the mechanisms and processes that underlie R/S strivings. Most importantly, we will argue that R/S constructs reflect those aspects of our psychology that are unique to, and defining of, our own humanity.
