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Personal Ideology: The Intersection of Personality and Religious Beliefs
Author(s) -
De St. Aubin Ed
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6494.00084
Subject(s) - ideology , psychology , personality , social psychology , value (mathematics) , epistemology , politics , philosophy , political science , computer science , law , machine learning
Individual religious beliefs are conceptualized as a component of personal ideology,which is one’s value‐laden philosophy of how life should be lived and of what forces impact human living. Extending Silvan Tomkins’ (1911–1991) writings concerning ideology polarity and his script theory of personality, I suggest that personal ideology theory may be employed to elucidate the content, structure, and development of religious beliefs. This theory examines religiousness as a biologically motivated interpretive structure that is situated within the sociohistorical, age‐relevant, and idiosyncratic conditions of the ontogenetic matrix.