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Inward, Outward, and Upward: Cognitive Aspects of Prayer
Author(s) -
Ladd Kevin L.,
Spilka Bernard
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5906.00131
Subject(s) - prayer , connection (principal bundle) , psychology , cognition , order (exchange) , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , philosophy , mathematics , theology , communication , geometry , neuroscience , finance , economics
Recent investigations concerning ways people employ prayer typically suffer from either a fundamentally atheoretical approach or an indiscriminant mixing of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. The present study examines the theory that a general concept of prayer–as–connection contains prayers of inward (connection with oneself), outward (human–human connection), or upward (human–divine connection) foci. Participants rated words or phrases according to what they “thought about” while praying. Factor analysis revealed eight primary factors: two inward, four outward, and two upward. Three second–order factors emerged (two outward and one upward). However, no general factor appeared.