University of Groningen
Experiencing God in a foreign land Counted, Victor
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Publication date: 2019
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
Counted, V. (2019). Experiencing God in a foreign land: Theoretical and empirical explorations on the psychological links between religion and place among dispersed people. University of Groningen.
Copyright
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).
Take-down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.
Propositions belonging to the PhD thesis Experiencing God in a Foreign Land
Theoretical and empirical explorations of the psychological links between religion and place among dispersed people.
Victor Counted
1. The study of the relationship between religion and place should have received more
attention by scholars in the field of psychology of religion because the psychological aspect of place spirituality is not just a contemporary practice but an ancient phenomenon among dispersed people/migrants.
2. Place is not just a physical space, but involves beliefs, emotions, and commitments that predict religious behaviour. Thus, the study of space belongs in the field of psychology of religion. 3. Individuals are drawn both to place and religion as objects of attachment. Hence,
combining psychology of religion and environmental psychology is a useful interdisciplinary strategy in the study of religion and place.
4. Attachment affiliation and exploration curiosity are the two main motivational drives responsible for the link between religious attachment on the one hand and place attachment on the other hand.
5. African migrants in Dutch society are likely to turn to God as an object of attachment depending on their place experiences and a wide-range of socio-cultural inequities (e.g., racial discrimination, anxiety about the future, feelings of insecurity, etc.). This relationship experience helps them cope with the realities of their migration experience.
6. Religious attachment enhances the sense of place of African migrants despite their exposure to negative experiences in the Netherlands (e.g., racial discrimination, feelings of insecurity, etc).
7. The need for religious attachment dispels over time: newly-arrived (below 5 years) migrants with a religious background are more likely to seek and maintain attachment to God compared to long-term (above 5 years) migrants.
8. Geographical differences predict individual differences in attachment behaviour: African migrants in the Western region of the Netherlands are more likely to seek attachment to God than those in the Northern part of the country. This is due to the nature of their internal working models which allow them to model their current secure attachment experiences in new relationship experiences.
9. There is need for continued research that clarifies the psychological links between religion and place, and studies the efficacy of therapies on attachment difficulties among migrants and dispersed people: such as feelings of displacement in a new place, feelings of insecurity, and psychopathology related to attachment disruptions.
