The Psychology of Religion
The Psychology of Religion (PREL) is a CTY course offered at New Haven.
Course Description
From the CTY Course Catalog (2018):
The human species has always had a sense of the mystical. Even as our beliefs about what is sacred differ and fluctuate, the presence of these beliefs remains constant: the human psyche is hardwired for religion, myth, and ritual. This course will explore the psychology behind humanity’s affinity for the divine, examining religious experiences, doctrines, and institutions through scholars like Freud, Jung, and Maslow. It will also investigate what happens when the scale tips from belief to fanaticism—when and how a prosocial paradigm mutates into a cult, for instance—using examples from history, politics, and literature as case studies.
