Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The present research examined differences between religiousness and spirituality by looking at their respective relationships to daydreaming and “boundaries of mind.” Having “thick” boundaries implies a degree of separateness among aspects of mind or between a person and the outside world, whereas “thin” boundaries signify fluidity. In order to observe these personality traits in conjunction with a person's religious practices, 113 undergraduate participants received a series of questionnaires. Although religiousness and spirituality were highly related to each other, religiousness showed stronger relationships to thicker boundaries. Relationships between boundary structure and daydreaming style were also investigated, revealing that thin boundaries may have more of a negative connotation than previously thought. Limitations and possibilities for further research are discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Eidenmuller

M. E.

Honeycutt

J. M.

(2010). Characteristics and functions of imagined interactions compared with interpersonal prayer. In Honeycutt

J. M.

(Ed.), Imagine that: Studies in imagined interaction (pp. 83–95). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.

Greenwald

D. F.

Harder

D. W.

(1995). Sustaining fantasies, daydreams, and psychopathology. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51(6), 719–726.

Harrison

R. H.

Hartmann

Bevis

(2006). The Boundary Questionnaire: Its preliminary reliability and validity. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 25(4), 355–382.

Hartmann

(1991). Boundaries in the mind: A new psychology of personality. New York: Basic Books.

Hartmann

Elkin

Garg

(1991). Personality and dreaming: The dreams of people with very thick or very thin boundaries. Dreaming, 1(4), 311–326.

Hartmann

Kunzendorf

Rosen

Grace

N. G.

(2001). Contextualizing images in dreams and daydreams, Dreaming, 11, 97–104.

Huba

G. J.

Aneshensel

C. S.

Singer

J. L.

(1981). Development of scales for three second-order factors of inner experience. Multivariate Behavior, 16(2), 181–206.

Kunzendorf

Hartmann

Cohen

Cutler

(1997). Bizarreness of the dreams and daydreams reported by individuals with thin and thick boundaries. Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams, 7(4), 265–271.

Macleod

R. B.

(1952). Experimental psychology. In Fairchild

H. N.

(Eds.), Religious perspectives in college teaching (pp. 262–285). New York: Ronald Press.

10.

Piedmont

R. L.

(2004). Spiritual transcendence as a predictor of psychosocial outcome from an outpatient substance abuse program. Psychology of Addicted Behaviors, 18, 213–222.

11.

Rawlings

(2002). An exploratory factor analysis of Hartmann's Boundary Questionnaire and an empirically-derived short version. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 21(2), 131–143.

12.

Saroglou

Munoz-Garcia

(2008). Individual differences in religion and spirituality: An issue of personality traits and/or values. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47(1), 83–101.

13.

Saucier

Skrzypinska

(2006). Spiritual but not religious? Evidence for two independent dispositions. Journal of Personality, 74(5), 1257–1292.

14.

Singer

J. L.

Antrobus

J. S.

(1970). Imaginal processes inventory. Culver City, CA: The Measurement Group.

15.

Tartz

R. S.

Baker

R. C.

Krippner

(2006). Cognitive differences in dream content and boundary structure between Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and European Americans using quantitative content analysis. Dreaming, 16(2), 111–128.

16.

Thalbourne

M. A.

(2007). Potential psychological predictors of religiosity. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 17(4), 333–336.

17.

Wulff

D. M.

(1997). Psychology of religion: Classic and contemporary (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

18.

Zinnbauer

B. J.

Pargament

K. I.

(2005). Religiousness and spirituality. In Paloutzian

R. F.

Park

C. L.

(Eds.), The handbook of religion and spirituality (pp. 21–42). New York: Guilford Press.

19.

Zinnbauer

B. J.

Pargament

K. I.

Cole

Rye

M. S.

Butter

E. M.

Belavich

T. G.

(1997). Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzying the fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36(4), 549–556.

Differentiating Religiousness and Spirituality through Boundaries of the Mind and Daydreaming Styles

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References