Religion and Cognitive Style: an Exploration of Jung's Typology Among A.R.E. Study Group Members (Research, Enlightenment, Are).

Abstract

Though Carl Jung's theory of psychological types could help integrate many different cognitive style constructs, the inadequacy of previous measures has contributed to a dearth of theoretically important research on his typology. and though differences in cognitive style should help to explain differences in the interpretation of religious beliefs and values, little relevant research exists. Therefore, a new measure of Jung's typology, the Singer-Loomis Inventory of Personality, was given to 107 Association for Research and Enlightenment study group members, along with a short form of Rokeach's dogmatism scale and a questionnaire investigating how group members integrated the spiritual values of the A.R.E. into their lives. When results were analyzed, introverted sensation, extraverted thinking, and introverted thinking were the most prominent cognitive styles among group members. This fits in with the emphasis on perceiving the Oneness of God and judging on a basis of Truth found in the psychic readings of Edgar Cayce on which the A.R.E. is based. Several statistically significant results supported the validity of Jung's typology and the SLIP as a measure of it, particularly the extraverted feeling, extraverted thinking, and introverted feeling subscales. The IF subscale showed an especially strong association with a benevolent but critical neutrality toward values and beliefs of the group. There were 18 statistically significant findings bearing on the relationship between religion and cognitive style. The most interesting involved differences in the personal meaning of reincarnation. Those with high ranks on introverted sensation were less likely to make negative comments about reincarnation. High rank on extraverted thinking was associated with using reincarnation as an explanation for one's traits or circumstances, while high ranks on extraverted feeling and extraverted intuition were associated with using reincarnation to increase one's sense of personal responsibility. Also, as predicted, those who chose Truth over Goodness as their spiritual ideal had higher ranks on extraverted thinking, and persons in groups with rotating leadership were less dogmatic than those with fixed leaders.