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In this study, it was aimed to increase the gratitude levels of secondary school students through awareness training on the theme of blessings. In addition, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between the feeling of gratitude and trait, state anxiety and psychological well-being. In the study, the experimental research method with pre-test post-test measurement and experimental and control group design was preferred. The sample of the study was determined by the maximum diversity sampling method. Students studying at a secondary education institution in Artvin constitute the sample of the study. In the study “Gratitude Scale”, “EPOCH Scale” and “State and Trait Anxiety Scale” were used as data collection tools. Awareness training, which will last 8 lessons in total for 4 weeks, consisting of 2 weekly lessons, one activity in each lesson, was prepared and applied to the experimental group. According to the findings of the study, it is seen that there is a significant increase in the gratitude levels of the students who participated in the awareness training in their post-test scores compared to their pre-test scores. According to the pre-test data, there is a negative significant relationship between gratitude and trait and state anxiety, and a positive significant relationship with psychological well-being. According to the post-test data, there is a negative significant relationship between gratitude and state anxiety, a positive significant relationship between psychological well-being, while there is no significant relationship between trait anxiety. As a result, the awareness training prepared achieves its purpose and increases students' gratitude levels. Considering that people who are grateful are happier and healthier, it is important to raise awareness about gratitude in order to build a healthy society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern age, many people live a life centered around home, work and consumption. This situation has many negative effects on people. As a way of escape from the negative effects, people have turned to different ways of thinking and living. One of these lifestyles is minimalism. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between minimalism and spirituality. Qualitative research method was adopted in the study. In this direction, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants in November-December 2022 in order to learn the practices, emotional and spiritual changes experienced by people who have adopted a minimalist lifestyle. The participants were asked about their ideas about the concept of minimalism, the changes they have experienced and its effects on their lives. In addition, questions were asked about the participants' definitions of spirituality, their spiritual experiences and the relationship between minimalism and spirituality. Purposive sampling and snowball technique were used to reach the sample group. Descriptive and content analysis methods were used to evaluate the data obtained. Many emotions and changes experienced by the participants who adopted a minimalist life were identified, along with their thoughts on the concept of minimalism and the organization of their relationships with matter. Peace, cooperation, search for a meaningful life, love for animals, environmental sensitivity are among the emotions and changes experienced by the participants. In addition, the participants' views on the concept of spirituality and the relationship between minimalism and spirituality were also identified. Participants also explained the concept of spirituality by associating it with religion. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the participants' spirituality was strengthened through the changes and emotions they experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence is a period in which individuals face significant physical, emotional, social and cognitive changes. The fact that young people are in a positive state in areas such as emotional balance, self-confidence, identity development, social relationships and coping with stress is related to their psychological well-being. Adolescence is often a period of intense search for identity. Adolescents can search for their religious identities and understand themselves better in this process. In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and religiosity in a sample of adolescents from a descriptive and relational perspective. In order to achieve this goal, an introductory section on the concepts of psychological well-being and religiosity was prepared by first reviewing the literature. Then, the psychological wellbeing and religiosity scales determined for data collection were applied to 1356 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 and data were collected. The collected data were subjected to analysis. As a result of the analysis, it was found that adolescents' psychological well-being and religiosity averages were high. In terms of psychological well-being level, 7th grade students had the highest mean scores and 8th grade students had the lowest mean scores; in terms of religiosity level, 7th grade students had the highest mean scores and 10th, 11th and 12th grade students had the lowest mean scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to investigate the postgraduate theses on “religiosity” prepared between 1995 and 2022 in the field of Psychology of Religion in Turkey with the bibliometric analysis technique and to contribute to guiding future researchers. The study was designed in the bibliometric analysis fashion, which is one of the qualitative study designs. The data of the study were collected with the document review technique and analyzed with bibliometric analysis and content analysis techniques according to the determined criteria. In the detailed analysis of the studies conducted on “religiosity” in the field of Psychology of Religion according to the criteria, it was found that a total of 219 studies were conducted according to thesis types, 37 of which were doctoral and 182 were master’s degrees. It was found that thesis studies on the subject were mostly conducted in the Marmara Region (n=83 studies), Istanbul (n=42 studies) and Marmara University (n=30 studies). Regarding the years the theses were completed, the most studies belonged to 2019, with 47 studies, and the studies conducted in the last 4 years were more than half of all studies. When the analyzes that were made according to the titles of the academicians who supervised the studies were evaluated, 112 of them were professors, 86 of them were associate professors and 21 of them were doctoral lecturers. It can be argued that it is possible to obtain clues about the subject trends, methods, and sample selection of studies on religiosity from the analyzes made on keywords, subject headings, and indices of the studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruminative thinking, which is characterized as continuously thinking about the feelings and possible causes and consequences of the problem(s) without taking any action to solve the problem(s) faced by the individual, is a mental state that prevents the mind from working in a healthy way and thus affects the flow of daily life. Spiritual wellness, on the other hand, refers to the expansion of the individual’s sense of meaning and purpose in life, including moral and ethical values. In this respect, spiritual wellness is considered to be the essence of a healthy life. In this study, the relationship between these two concepts, which are thought to be related to each other, is examined on a sample of 472 students studying at Erciyes University Faculty of Theology in 2022-2023. In the study, the Spiritual Wellness Inventory developed by Ingersoll (1995) and translated into Turkish by Duyan et al. (2021), the Ruminative Thought Style Scale developed by Brinker and Dozois (2009) and adapted into Turkish by Karatepe (2010), and a personal information form were used to determine demographic variables such as age, gender, and class of the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the factors affecting the decision-making behavior of social workers based on their professional experience. Based on this purpose, qualitative research method was preferred. In addition, among the research designs, the case study design was used and face-to-face interviews were conducted with twenty participants. Another data collection method is observation. Eight key factors that influenced the decision-making process of the participants were identified and consisted of: social workers' opinions (clients, poverty, socio-economic support services), the evaluation process in practice, their subjective experiences, their worldview. and ideologies, professional training, professional experience in the workplace, consultation with colleagues, and expectations from institutional and non-institutional organizations. The identified factors point to the complexity of decision-making behavior when social workers are expected to reach reasonable and reasoned decisions. There are also subjective evaluations in their decisions. Therefore, it raises the possibility of different decisions about the same case. Therefore, social workers must be able to distinguish between their own values and professional boundaries. Thus, social workers will be able to distinguish between their own values and professional boundaries. Particular attention should be paid to the maintenance of professional standards. As a result of the research, implications for further research are discussed. And it is aimed to provide guidance on decision-making methods of social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the role of the hifz ritual, a valued attribute Muslim-Turkish culture for centuries, in the lives of individuals. Qualitative research method, specifically the case study technique, was used to try and reveal the reasons for becoming a hafiz, the meaning being a hafiz adds one’s life, what happens during the training process and the effects of being a hafiz in one’s life. Face-to-face or online semi-structured interviews were conducted at home, workplace, or public places with 20 people who were entitled to become a hafiz. Content analysis was applied to the data collected. The findings were categorized under 7 main themes. These themes are the factors influencing the tendency to become a hafiz, the meaning of being a hafiz, the difficulties experienced, the relationship between being a hafiz and coping, the role being a hafiz plays in shaping lifestyle, the concept of God and the effects of being a hafiz on the individual. In conclusion, hifz training and being a hafiz have a multidimensional impact on people’s lives. It is a source of reference for setting goals and giving meaning to one’s life. In addition, it has the function of shaping people’s lives and affects the formation of their conception of God. Moreover, hifz training is a process that involves various difficulties and is closely related to coping. In later stages, memorization can turn into a coping strategy in and of itself. Another important finding is that hifz training leads to some effects and changes in the attitudes and behaviors of the individual. It is our opinion that further qualitative and quantitative research on hafiz and hifz should lead to more notable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramadan is one of the sacred periods having a significant meaning for Muslims. Ramadan is a period when the frequency of worshipping increases generally, but the main emphasis is on the worship of fasting. In this holy month, Muslim individuals are open to the impact of religious stimuli. The purpose of the research was to investigate the effect of Ramadan fasting on the levels of individuals’ self-control and psychological well-being using the “experimental design with pre-test-post-test control group” method. The sample group chosen through the random sampling method was sent an online questionnaire form including scales of self-control and psychological well-being. The pre-test was applied a week before Ramadan while the post-test was responded a week after Ramadan. A total of 63 participants fasting during Ramadan were placed in the experimental group, and 16 participants who did not fast were assigned to the control group. In data analysis, it was concluded that there was not a meaningful difference, but a decrease was detected in post-test scores of self-control in comparison with the pre-test in the experimental group and that the decrease in post-test scores of self-control of the control group was higher than the scores of the experimental group. Based on these results, it was thought that the research findings supported the strength/energy model of self-control. Moreover, it was detected that there was not an intergroup difference in pre-test scores of selfcontrol of the participants who were grouped as “fasting the whole”, “fasting with intervals”, and “not fasting” according to their fasting status. There was a significant difference on behalf of the group that fasted the whole Ramadan in the post-test scores. On the other hand, no significant difference was found between the experimental group’s pre-test and post-test scores of psychological well-being and between the control and experimental group’s psychological well-being levels. The correlation analysis was conducted to determine whether there was a relationship between subjective perception of religiousness, selfcontrol, and psychological well-being. It was detected that there was a significant positive relationship only between subjective perception of religiousness and self-control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In human life, bio-psycho-socio-cultural and theological explanatory factors for the sexuality are determinative factors and have an effect on sexual feelings, thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. Religion is still seen as an important predictor of thoughts and attitudes about human sexuality. The aim of this research is to assess the perceptions of believers in different religions and faith groups and non-believers who different nationalities around the world, about sexuality which is based on qualitative data. The data have been analyzed by using interpretative phenomenological analysis as a qualitative research technique. Participants' views about sexuality were collected by both face-to-face and webbased surveys with an open-ended questionnaire created by the researcher as a qualitative data collection methodology and strategy. In this exploratory qualitative study, open-ended responses of the participants, have different nationalities such as Japanese, Scottish, Indian, Pakistani, Caucasian, Irish, Arabic Asia, Dutch, Portuguese and French, 13 (72%) male and 5 (28%) female, (n=18) regarding their thoughts and attitudes about sexuality such as dating, marriage, pre-marital and extra-marital sex, virginity, pornography, homosexuality have been analyzed. In conclusion, this qualitative study provides information about the personal perceptions of the participants in small-sample of different types of believers and non-believers regarding the relationship between religion and sexuality. The results indicate that (a) personal religious beliefs have a great effect on thoughts and attitudes about sexuality in different belief systems; (b) Muslim participants have more conservative orientations about sexuality than other covered religious groups and non-believers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the names that has left the deepest traces on the religious/spiritual lives of Western people in recent times is undoubtedly M. Scott Peck. Having graduated from both literature and medicine faculties, Peck, on the one hand, wanted to confront people with the fact that life is difficult, on the other hand, he tried to express the need for self-discipline and trusting a higher power through his experiences in both fields. In his works, which he wrote based on the experiences he gained in both his fictional stories and therapy sessions, he t ried t o s how t hat s cience a nd r eligion, w hich a re p resented a s alternatives/rivals to each other in the Western tradition, can come together. Like Tournier, Peck uses the “psychology of the unconscious” to assist people in their search for love, traditional values, and spiritual growth. He tries to integrate psychology and religion while seeking the spiritual meaning of individual identity by attributing a religious meaning to the unconscious. Thanks to his work on this subject, he is considered among the most important architects of Western mysticism. Especially his best-selling work, The Road Less Traveled, is considered an important touchstone at this point. This study has aimed to introduce M. Scott Peck, who has sold more than 15 copies thanks to the works he published and has been on million the New York Times bestseller l ist f or more than thirteen years a nd t o explain the Stages of Spiritual Growth theory, which he developed it based on clinical observations in an academical perspective. According to this theory, people begin their spiritual growth at a completely self-centered stage, and then, with the influence of culture and traditions, people turn to institutional organizations and submit to the directives of these organizations without a question. Afterward, due to the fact that the organizations in question do not meet the expectations and the development of mental reasoning, people make some inquiries and as a result, they shift towards a kind of agnosticism or atheism. At this point, the effect of science-religion dualism, which is very strong in the West, on individual lives is clearly seen. In this tradition, when people start to have a scientific perspective, religion begins to lose its influence. Highly educated people usually take part in this stage, but a very small minority of them enter a mystical stage when they begin to realize that life is a whole, that there is no contradiction in the universe, and that some questions have no answers. The most distinctive feature of this model is that the capacity for love increases and fear gradually decreases as people evolve spiritually. Compassion comes from pain to some extent. Those who defeat their own personal demons gain a special empathy for those who suffer similar pains (Carroll, 2013, p. 190). Peck states that as people's dependence decreases, they become more independent and eventually become active members of a community of interdependent spirits (p. 288). Although three of his works have been translated into Turkish, the lack of sufficient information in the local literature about Peck’s other works and the Stages of Spiritual Growth theory is the main motivation for this study. The document/text analysis technique, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. In the analysis, the 15 books written by Peck were examined in detail and tried to evaluate his thoughts on spiritual growth. His Books: 1978: The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth 1983: People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil 1985: What Return Can I Make? Dimensions of the Christian Experience 1987: The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace 1990: A Bed by the Window: A Novel of Mystery and Redemption 1992: The Friendly Snowflake: A Fable of Faith, Love and Family 1993: A World Waiting to be Born: Civility Rediscovered 1993: Meditations from the Road 1993: Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey toward Spiritual Growth 1995: In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason and Discovery 1995: Gifts for the Journey: Treasures of the Christian Life 1996: In Heaven as on Earth: A Vision of the Afterlife 1997: The R oad Less T raveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in a n Age of Anxiety 1997: Denial of the Soul: Spiritual and Medical Perspectives in Euthanasia and Mortality 1999: Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey 2005: Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist’s Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption. Finally, P eck, w ho stated that h e w as a lso i nterested i n S ufism for m any years, seems to have reflections of the Islamic perspective in some of his thoughts. For example, his definition of the collective unconscious as the part of God in man is in parallel with the verses “we are closer to man than [their] jugular vein” (Quran, 50:16). In this regard, Peck unequivocally states that “our unconscious is God. God within us. We were part of God all the time. God has been with us all along, is now, and always will be” (Peck, 1978, p. 281). Peck, with an idea that coincides with the understanding of evil in Sufism regarding the goal and endpoint, states the ultimate goal of spiritual development is “man's oneness with God”. This is possible by knowing and comprehending God with the conscious mind of man. According to him, since the unconscious is a gift given by God to man as a part of himself, the goal of spiritual development can also be defined as the conscious self's reaching God (Peck, 1978, p. 283). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pandemics severely affect the course of life, paving the way for the emergence of new problem areas. Although each individual is affected, healthcare professionals experience much more specific difficulties in connection with their professional duties. In addition, they face existential questions and reconsider their perspectives on life. The aim of the research is to determine the reactions of health workers during the pandemic, their meaning mechanisms, the problems they experience and their coping styles while also taking a look at the role of religion and spirituality in these processes. This is accomplished via a case study using qualitative methods. Interviews were conducted with 25 participants in a hospital or office setting. Results have been classified under 9 main themes: reactions when the pandemic was seen in world news, reactions when COVID-19 came to the country, problems experienced, the cause of the outbreak, the meaning attributed to the pandemic, sources of motivation for continuing the profession, sources of coping, evaluations on death, and changes in perspective on life. It has been determined that religious references play a role in the processes of attributing a meaning to the pandemic, motivating the continuance of the profession, coping strategies and evaluation of death. These findings inform that health workers can be studied in the context of identifying, analyzing and, if necessary, restructuring the sources of meaning during pandemic periods. In addition, a more optimistic view of the future can be achieved with an understanding that supports inner peace. In addition, support can be obtained from religious and spiritual resources in increasing their professional motivation and strengthening their ability to cope with problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of the research; the aim of this study is to determine the feelings of families with special needs children when they first learned about their children's situation and afterwards, and to determine whether the parents use religious ways of coping by revealing the place of guilt among these feelings. The main purpose of the research is to determine the positive or negative effects of this process in the lives of families, and to determine the moral support needs in this respect. Semi structured interview technique which is one of the qualitative data collection method was used. Interviews were hold with 10 parents whose children receive special education from Sakarya Serdivan Rehabilitation Centre and Private Sakarya Gelişim Special Education and Rehabilitation Center. The interviews took almost an hour. After the interviews, the tape recordings were turned into text and transferred to the computer. Data was evaluated based on the predetermined themes and concepts that were confirmed at the end of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to explain what istikhara means for those who experience it and to determine the effects of this experience on their religious and psychological lives. In this regard the relationship of istikhara with religious experience, psychological well-being, religious coping and the imagination of God is discussed. In this context, the effects of istikhara on practical life have been examined. In a qualitative field study prepared in the case design, semistructured interviews were made with a total of 20 people, 16 females and 4 males, between the ages of 21-68 (mean 44.5) selected by criteria and snowball sampling. Muslim individuals over the age of 18, who have experienced through istikhara more than once, and who have placed it in their lives as a way of life, were preferred. In the research using descriptive analysis, the findings were presented in two meta-themes and six sub-themes. According to the findings obtained here, although it is seen that istikhara, which has many forms of practice, is experienced as waiting for a sign from Allah through dreams, it has been determined that the most important element of istikhara experience is taking refuge in Allah through prayer. It has been found that istikhara (ı) emerges as a religious experience that deeply affects people, (ıı) has a positive relationship with psychological well-being and religious coping. In addition, it has been determined that (ııı) people with a positive imagination of Allah tend towards istikhara and that it further strengthens this imagination and (ıv) has an effect on their approaches of tawakkul, acquiescency, acceptance, and destiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period of pre-adolescence, called the era of Puberty, is a period of rapid change in the lives of individuals in biological and psychological terms. In this period, approaches to religious phenomena could be different. In addition, the individual's view of life is changing; it creates new fears and concerns against its changing body and social position. When there is a particular object in fears, concerns are generally objectively free. Fear and anxiety are feelings that exist in people's jokes and protect them from various dangers or negatives. These feelings increase with the mental development process and different fears and anxieties emerge with the first adolescence period. This study aims to examine the relations between the fear and anxiety and religion that were enduring the period of plumbing. The purpose of the study was to study literature on the general characteristics of the period of puberty, fear and anxiety, and approaches to religion. Structured interview questions were used in the research carried out in the hybrid pattern. As quantitative data collection tools, a personal information form has been created, including child anxiety sensitivity, fear scanning scale, and the question of subjective religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the research, the impact of the gender on religiosity with reference to graduate thesis conducted in Turkey has been tried to put forward by the meta-analysis. For this purpose, the database of the Council of Higher Education National Thesis Center was first scanned. The screening was performed using the key words "dindarlık", "dini inanç", "dini yönelim", "dini motivasyon", "dini tutum" "religiosity", "religious belief", "religios oriention", "religional motivations" and "religious attitudes". As a result of the last screening process carried out on February 24, 2020, 1790 graduate theses containing keywords were reached. Subsequently, the studies were handled according to the criteria determined by the researchers. It was seen that 168 studies had appropriate data for metaanalysis. However, since 9 of the studies included two different data, each data was included in the study as a different study. Thus, the number of studies included in the study was 177. 131 of the studies are master's thesis, 36 of them are doctoral thesis and one is specialty thesis in medicine. The research sample consists of a total of 83460 people, 42494 women (50.9%), 40966 men (49.1%). The effect size (Cohen d,) in the study was calculated using the publication bias and heterogeneity test The Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software V.2 (CMA V.2) package program. As a result of the meta-analysis made in the random effects model; according to the classification of Thalheimer and Cook (2002), it has been observed that gender has an insignificant level significant effect on religiousness in favor of women (d= .064, p<.05). The research results were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature and recommendations were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The young mass, which is the guarantee of the future of nations and societies, is undoubtedly very important for every society. Because if one wants to have a prediction about the future of a society, it will be sufficient to look at how future generations are educated and what kind of behavior patterns they have. Especially in recent times, youth's attitudes towards violence have an important place in Turkish society. Therefore, the tendency of young people towards violence and violence is one of the most important issues that started to be discussed in the society. So much so that it is normal to encounter situations related to violence in all segments and levels of society. Especially in youth individuals, this phenomenon of violence manifests itself more clearly. It is an important issue to determine the underlying factors of violence, which is more common among young people, especially in the community. It is known that important studies have been carried out in the context of state policies and researchers in order to reveal the reasons for this important issue. In this study, the moderator (regulatory) role of early maladaptive schemas in the relationship between spirituality and violent tendencies was investigated. The sample of the study consists of 446 individuals studying at 5 different high schools in the Anatolian side of Istanbul. The data of the study were obtained with the Attitude towards Violence Scale, Spiritual Orientation Scale and Young Schema Scale Short Form-3. The analysis of the data was carried out with SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. Moderator (regulatory) variable analysis was applied to the research data, and according to the analysis results, it was found that the early period maladaptive schemes of addiction (addiction / inadequacy schemes and intimacy / undeveloped self) and punishment schemes had a moderator (regulator) role in the relationship between spirituality and violence tendency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to develop a measurement tool that facilitate the determination of religious human perception in individuals. Firstly, an item pool of 145 items was formed by asking open-ended questions in the study; a pilot study was carried out after taking expert opinions. The pilot study was conducted with the participation of 98 people, and in the exploratory factor analysis which started with 41 items, a four-dimensional scale with 35 items was obtained. After the survey (N=426) had been carried out, a four-dimensional and 35 point scale was confirmed by both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with the SPSS program. Factor load values for items of each size change between 0.48 and 0.85. It can be seen that the total variance that the four dimensions can explain is 57.03%. Then, a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out (x2/sd= 1.89, RMSEA=0.046, NFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.99, GFI = 0.84) and it was observed that the obtained values fit with the four-dimensional scale. Ok (2011) when looking at the relationship between the Religious Attitude Scale, a significant relation was found between the scale obtained with each subdimension. At the end of the study, KMO that shows the reliability of the internal consistency of the four-dimensional measurement tool which can measure religious human perception was obtained as 0.957. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, it is aimed to conduct meta-analysis in terms of general religiosity, religious belief and religious worship by gender. This meta-analysis study was conducted on theses (master and doctorate) that have been made in Turkey. In the research, keywords were determined and theses were investigated from YÖK National Thesis Center. Theses related to religiousness have been adjusted according to the criteria for included studies. A total of 84 theses,18 doctoral and 66 master's theses, which meet the inclusion criteria, were included in the meta-analysis. The sample size of the study in general religiosity has consisted of 18295 men and 20529 women, in religious belief dimension has consisted of 4979 men and 5886 women, in religious worship dimension has consisted of 5635 men and 6429 women. In the current meta-analysis, standard mean difference (mean difference in religious belief dimension), random effect model, forest plot and funnel plot tests were used. In the study, the data were analyzed with Revman 5 (Review Manager 5) program. It is determined that there is a situation in favor of women in terms of general religiosity, religious belief dimension, and religious worship according to gender. In all three dimensions, women were found to be more religious than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious symbols have been an integral part of human life since the first civilizations. However, its impact on the individual and social lifes of today's people has not been clearly revealed in scientific studies yet. In this respect, the aim of the study is to develop an attitude scale towards religious symbols, to make validity and reliability analysis and to make comparisons according to some personal variables. The draft scale developed was first applied to 410 students studying at various faculties of Kastamonu University. With the data obtained from this sample, the factor structure of the scale was determined by exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis were conducted. A scale with three sub-factors including 38 items in total was obtained. That scale was determined factor structure was applied to a second sample. The second sample's age range is between 18 and 65 years. The three-factor structure was confirmed as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis applied to the data obtained from this sample. The fit indices obtained are RMSEA = 0.081, NFI = 0.96, NNFI = 0.98, PNFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.98, IFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.87, AGFI = 0.89. Cronbach Alpha coefficient; 0.97 for the 1st dimension, 0.89 for the second dimension, and .84 for the third dimension. In addition, average variance extracted (AVE) value and composite reliability (CR) value were calculated for each factor. AVE values for factors are 0.62, 0.54 and 0.58, respectively, while CR value is 0.97, 0.89 and 0.87, respectively. These results showed that the validity and reliability of the measurement made by the scale in the second sample was high. In addition, attitudes towards religious symbols were compared according to demographic variables. According to the results, while attitudes towards religious symbols did not differ according to gender and education variables, significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of the level of recognition of religious symbols, subjective perception of religion, age and income variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this study is the relationship of acculturation processes and religion among Syrians who have come to Kayseri as a result of forced migration. In the study, in which phenomenological research technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods, is used, maximum diversity sampling and snowball sampling, which are sub-strategies of the purposeful sampling, have been adopted and in-depth interviews have been conducted to get richer data. For the purposes of the research, interviews have been conducted with 23 people, the youngest of whom are 14 and the largest is 52 years old in Kayseri, and the interviews have continued until the data richness required for the research was considered. In the interviews, semi-structured interview forms were used. It is thought that Syrians have more knowledge and experience in daily life in terms of cultural adaptation and are in a more suitable age range in terms of conveying their lives and interviews were made with this age group. The main research problem is “what is the relationship between acculturation and religion in Syrian refugees?” In this study, the issue of Syrian refugees was tried to be positioned in the focus of cultural adaptation psychology in terms of migration psychology, on the other hand, the situation was tried to be evaluated from the perspective of psychology of religion. In addition to the interviews, observations were made in places such as temporary education center, home visits, Syrian-intensive neighborhoods… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between high school students' dream motifs and religious attitudes according to some variables. Thus, in addition to testing the relationship between dreams and psychological symptoms, it will be revealed whether religious attitude has an effect on dream motifs. The study group consists of 316 students from different high schools in the city center of Çorum. Data was collected via the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher, "Dream Motifs Scale" (Yılmaz, 2018) and "Religious Attitude Scale" (Ok, 2011). In the study, the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the Dream Motifs Scale was calculated as .78, and the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the Religious Attitude Scale was .85. The data of the study was analyzed with SPSS 16.0 package program. Pearson Moments Correlation Analysis, t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. According to the findings of the study, the sample obtained a sub-average score from the overall of the dream motifs scale with all its sub-dimensions (Overall dream motifs scale: X=2.05, actual exception: X=1.79, blown self: X=2.23, satisfaction of evil: X=1.89 and dissatisfaction: X=2.29). Low scores give positive clues regarding the mental health of the sample. The total religious attitude level of the sample was calculated above the average (X=3.95). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Together with the positive psychology movement, the virtues that represent the strong side of the human being have been investigated intensively in the field of psychology. Although the virtue of humility has been thought over for many years, it is a new topic in empirical research. Factors such as the fact that humility is related to religion and values, as well as the lack of a clear definition of humility and lack of a well-established measure of this construct, are the reasons for the heavy progress of the field. But recently, significant progress has been made in the conceptualization and measurement of humility. On the other hand, humility has been a central subject of religious thought for centuries. The religious perspective on humility often portrays it as a virtue. Indeed, most world religions promote humility as a virtue. In this study, which develops within the framework of positive psychology approach and focuses on the virtue of humility, the relationship and interaction between modesty and psychological well-being and life satisfaction, which are indicative of subjective well-being, are investigated. The study also examines whether there is a significant relationship between humility levels and some demographic characteristics. The participants of the study consisted of 2404 university students selected by random sampling method. As a result of the research, although there is a positive meaningful relationship between humility and psychological well-being and subjective wellbeing, it is seen that the relationship between humility and psychological wellbeing is more positive and stronger than its relationship with subjective wellbeing. In addition to these findings, there was a positive relationship between humility level and general physical health status. However, data showing the relationship between humility and physical health show that this relationship is weaker and indirect than the relationship between mental health and humility. In terms of demographic characteristic, it was found that women also tended to be more humble than men. However, it has been found that the level of humility decreases as the level of education increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imam-hatip high schools, which are opened for educating the qualified religious officials required by the society, are the institutions where religious education, which is a privileged area within the general education system, is offered at the level of secondary education. As in all schools in the general education system, different types of problems are encountered in imam-hatip high schools that have a religion based education concept. The task of the school managers is to find permanent and acceptable solutions to the problems in school. School managers who apply a wide variety of methods for this purpose can bring unique solutions to problems. The problems faced by the managers of Imam Hatip High School covered by the major responsibilities of any school manager. Imam-hatip high school managers are mostly responsible for (1) religious education curricula, (2) students, (3) teachers and other staff, (4) financial resources and (5) other services provided by the school. While this broad area of responsibility seems to be somewhat unfavorable, the desire to hold the power inherent in the management task, or to serve religious education as part of the case, is more dominant in school managers to choose school management than to teach. The managers of Imam Hatip High School evaluated with different success criteria. At this point, the success of the manager related to the policies of religious education and the efforts in the application of both written and traditional rules and principles and with effective management or leadership characteristics. Imam-hatip high schools are dynamic institutions that affected positively and negatively by social, economic, cultural, political, scientific and technological developments and changes. In order to be able to manage imam-hatip high schools in a way to adapt to these changes, the school manager must have the ability to make critical administrative decisions and to solve the various problems encountered during the day. This research carried out to determine the problem sources and solution proposals faced by imam-hatip high school managers. For this purpose, the following questions sought 1. What are the problems faced by the managers of Imam Hatip High School? 2. Which solutions do the Imam-hatip high school managers recommend? In the study, which designed as a descriptive survey model, it has been reached all school managers (principals and assistants) in the universe with the help of full counting method. The study conducted in 2173 school managers working in official imam-hatip high schools of Ministry of National Educatin (MoNE) in the central districts of Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Coram. Erzurum, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmir, Kayseri, Konya, Samsun, and Trabzon. Of the 2173 participants in the study, 90.06% were male and 86.33% were undergraduate. In addition, 39,76% of the participants have a seniority level exceeding 11 years and 52,60% is a graduate of the Faculty of Theology. In order to collect the study' data, the related literature has been examined and a data collection tool has been developed by researcher with the Nominal Group Technique, based on die opinions of 143 imam-hatip high school managers working in Kirjehir, Manisa, Mardin and Tokat provinces. Twenty focus groups formed for 6-8 people while creating Nominal Groups; these focus groups asked to express their problems in imam-hatip high schools. For this purpose, each focus group prepared various lists of problems, and then these lists distributed to all groups and they asked to score in order of importance. Then, the researcher formed a basic draft scale. The scale used in the study consists of 30 items in six dimensions and evaluated with 5-point Likert-type scoring. According to the study' findings, imam-hatip managers encounter a variety of problem areas such as general education and religious education, students, staff, managerial, business and out of school problems. The first three problem areas encountered by Imam-hatip high school managers determined as problems related to students, problems out of school and problems related to personnel. The most important problem area faced by Imam Hatip high school managers is student problems. The student who is the cause of the school's natural existence, is also the main problem and the main problem area in the school. According to the findings of this research, the basic problem of the students of imam-hatip high school is the future expectation or the lack of hope for the future. It can be said that a generation who has lost hope for the future will not be willing to acquire the competencies required by age. In addition, one of the important problems caused by students is student absenteeism. Schools cannot attract students' attention, and students to be bored or lectured in many classes. One of the main problems faced by the managers of Imam Hatip High School is the financial and resource problems. Although there is an increasing interest in Imam-hatip high schools in recent years, resource shortage is also seen in religious education institutions as a chronic education problem. Among the findings of this research, the remarkable teacher-specific problems are an important problem area in improving the academic quality and success of imam-hatip high schools. In addition, the shortcomings of teachers in many areas with undisciplined, inconsistent or unqualified teachers lead to low academic achievement of students attending imam-hatip high schools, and violence, substance use and disciplinary problems in these schools. As a result, Students' lack of expectations from the future, absenteeism, and indifference to the lessons; teachers 'lack of interest, insufficient and unwillingness, lack of financial resources provided to schools, lack of parents' interest, and inadequacy of religious education programs are among the major problems. In addition, strict bureaucracy, unpredictable administrators, school security problems, building and equipment deficiencies, and Syrian students are among the important problems. Ensuring the functioning of democratic decision processes, increasing financial resources and following a fair policy in resource allocation are among the solutions proposed by school managerss. The results of the inefficiency of the imam-hatip school manager working in a problematic environment affect teachers, students and parents, in particular, the society. By focusing on the problems experienced by the school managers, it may be possible to identify which factors cause problems in schools and to take measures to facilitate these problems. It thought that the research will reveal the sources of problems of imam-hatip high school managers and will make a significant contribution to the religious education policies and the literature of religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this field study, self-confidence levels of imam hatip high school students are examined. The aim of the research is to determine whether IHHS students' level of self-confidence differ or not according to variables such as gender, class level, parental education level, family's economic level, family attitude towards the students, intra-family communication level, student's allowance, success levels of the students in the previous school year and students' interests in social activities outside school. The fact that this issue has not been addressed in the literature is among the reasons for this study. Another reason for the research is that it will give an idea about the quality of education offered in these schools and the measures to be taken if there is any need. This and similar studies can also shed light on policies to improve education and new approaches to stakeholders. The research was conducted in accordance with the "comparative relational screening" model. The population of the study consists of 2698 students studying at six imam hatip high schools in the city center of forum in the 2018-2019 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 276 individuals taken from the sub-universes according to different class level and gender and it is assumed to represent the universe. The sample was determined using the "Stratified Sampling" method. Data were collected by using "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher and "Self-Confidence Scale". SPSS 16.0 package program was used to evaluate the collected data. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the 33-item Self-confidence Scale was found as .90. As a result of the research, it has been determined that students' self-confidence levels are high. It is also possible to summarize the results obtained in die research and the suggestions presented in this respect as follows: 52.5% of the participants are female and 47.5% are male. Although the mean score of self-confidence is higher in male students than female students, there is no statistical difference between the scores. Students' self-confidence levels do not differ according to the class level variable. The research findings have revealed that students have the same level of self-confidence according to the class level. However, self-confidence level of the students in 10"*, 11* and 12th classes gradually increases. Parental educational level does not have a significant effect on students' self-confidence: however, it has been determined that students whose fathers have postgraduate degree also have the highest self-confidence mean score. There is no statistically significant relationship between the self-confidence levels of the students according to the economic status of the family. However: it has been found that students having a family with high income level have high level of self-confidence and students having a family with low income level also have low self-confidence level. There is no significant relationship between the attitude of the family towards the students and their self-confidence. However, the lowest mean self-confidence score has been found in the group who thinks that his/her family is indifferent to him/her. On the external self-confidence scale, the lowest mean has been identified in their children of overprotective families. A significant relationship has been determined between self-confidence and infra-family communication. The group with the highest level of self-confidence in the self-confidence scale and subscales was found to be the group that stated "very good" communication with the family. This shows that family communication has a significant impact on student self-confidence. In another saying; as the level of communication with family strengthens, the level of self-confidence of the student can be said to increase as well There is no significant relationship between the amount of allowance students get and their self-confidence levels. Even so, it has been revealed that students stating their allowance is enough to meet their needs have higher self-confidence levels in both the self-confidence scale and the subscales. A significant relationship has been determined between the success level of the previous school year and the self-confidence levels of the students. The findings show that as the student's success increases, the level of self-confidence increases, too. There are statistically significant relationships between the sample's participation in various activities outside school and the level of self-confidence. It has been found that students who do not participate in any activity other than school have the lowest self-confidence levels at all scales. Based on the findings of the research, the following suggestions can be proposed: Awareness-raising studies about intra-family communication should be carried out in the imam hatip high school students and their parents through professional studies. In the context of 2023 Education Vision, cooperation with universities should be increased and the expert staff of universities should be utilized during the processes. The allowance is to be considered as a tool for the student to gain positive financial behaviour and attitude. It is important to provide guidance to parents on this issue. Precautions should be taken to increase the level of academic achievement. Issues such as student and teaching staff selection to these schools, other staff needs, elective courses, and student's weekly course load should be reviewed. Motivating each student to social, artistic or sporting at least one activity at school or outside school should be a clear goal of education. Students should be encouraged to do this. A university settlement system should be put into practice in which the student's participation and achievements in social, artistic and sporting fields during secondary education will be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating emotions, thoughts, and behaviors of human being, psychology studies pro-social behavior from various perspectives. Since altruism is related to sociality and morality it is discussed mostly in social psychology and psychology of religion. But recently, altruism has attracted attention in general psychology with the development of positive psychology. This has led to be published many studies on altruism in the literature. These studies include different approaches to definition and scope of altruism. Altruism, generally, defined as helping without expectation of personal benefit, takes an important place in the literature. Altruism is used synonymous with some concepts like helping, self-sacrifice, and îsâr (which is used in Turkish literature with the meaning of helping others even the person himself in need). Yet the determination of borders and locations of concepts is necessary to build psychological theory, research, and practice on firm basis. This paper presents information about pro-social behavior and definitions of altruism. Then it mentions nuances of other pro-social concepts in order to determine the location of altruism. It presents a concept map of altruism and definition chart for pro-social behaviors as well. The term altruism in different languages has similar roots as seen in the Table 1. The usage of altruism in other languages consists of a term with the meaning of “other" (alter, gayr, özge, el) and a suffix (-ist, -ci, -sever, -kâm) with the meaning of "centered". So altruism bases on being “other centered". In Turkish literature one can find different versions of the term altruism like elsever, diğerkâm, diğergam, özgeci, altruist, and, altürist. Therefore, researchers should be careful about these terms and make a search on them On the other hand, there are some concepts like “helping" (yardım etme), “care others" (diğerlerini düşünme), and “self-giving" (özveri) used as synonymous with altruism (Güney, 2010: 139). “Self-sacrifice" (fedakârlık) is also frequently used equal to altruism (see Hablemitoğlu ve diğ. 2010). Îsâr is another term used with the meaning of altruism as well (see Sancaklı, 2006). However, there are nuances among these concepts. For instance, helping is wider than altruism and caring others may not indicate an action but altruism does. Likely, altruism is a voluntary behavior while self-sacrifice may be involuntary under the influence of some reasons like social norms (Özdoğan, 2005: 178). With the lexical meaning of “preferring someone or something to other" îsâr is defined as “using one's own means for the benefit of others even if she/he is in need" (Çağrıcı, 2000: 490). However, being in need is not a necessity for altruism (Durmuş, 2003: 19). Varieties of definitions of altruism provide us to see the common and different point o f v iews. There i s a c onsensus o f the f act that a ltruism depends on an action of a person for the benefit of others (Bedosky, 2005: 17). Namely altruism is a type of helping behavior without expecting any personal gift or benefit. Yet there is dissidence on conceptualization and scope of pro-social behavior, helping, altruism and îsâr. What this article concludes from these discussions is pro-social behavior is a broad band term. Helping is a type of pro-sociality and altruism is a type of helping. Îsâr is a specific form of altruism as shown in the diagram 1 below. After mentioning the definition and scope of altruism it is required to determine the location of altruism among other pro-social behaviors. Like altruism, there are a plenty of different definitions for other pro-social behaviors. After a detailed literature review this study detected that these definitions are made depending on the actor's intention, aim, interaction, state, target and behavior type. Here is a definition chart for pro-social behaviors. As a conclusion, this paper asserts that altruism is to help others for the benefit of her/him. It depends on being "other centered" instead of being "self-centered". Isar is a specific form of altruism that means to help others even the actor herself/himself is in need. This paper also presents a range of criteria to define pro-social behaviors. It is expected that this definition chart will contribute to eliminating the confusion of concepts in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From past to present humankind's search for God or ascribing divinity to various beings becomes one of the fundamental realities which shapes the individual and social lives. People have had a faith in a deity one way or the other from the most primitive ones to the Absolute One, and social systems have become prominent as the product of this faith. Islam which offers a way of life for all beings places the term Allah to the root of its life system. In this system, people who are disposed to establish relationships cultivate their own meaning and self-worth through their relationship with Allah. Therefore, the relationship between humankind and Allah have a prior significance for people who define themselves as Muslims. The term Allah identified by the revelation is reconceived on the individual ground by humans who have the ability of symbolic thinking. Humans bear the term Allah in accordance with their own experiences to their world of emotion, memory and image. Even though autobiographical memory may present a rich area to study the God image which is defined as "memory traces of individuals' primary experiences with the God" in Psychology of Religion (Mehmedoglu, 2011: 30), it has not been studied in the related fields. Also, as a reflextion of positivist paradigm, it has been observed that the term autobiographical memory is generally researched on the cognitive or behavioral ground, and isn't related with the topics like religion or God.Thus, in this research it is aimed at studying what kind of God image people have through their autobiographical memories. Many studies have highlighthed die influences of early childhood experinces and parents on the formation and development of God image (Hayta. 2017: Yildiz, 2013; Subasi, 2012), because children form a specific image by starting with their own parents. As the studies approaching the term God image within the scope of Attachment Theory have demonstrated that the relationship with God is affected by how people attach their parents (Hayta. 2017: Homan, Boyatis, 2010; Kirkpatrick. 1998). Because protective and reliable parents provide a basis for the healthy relationship with the God, it has been wondered how people having lost their parents form and develop the relationship with the God. It is thought that losing a parent as a traumatic experience has negatively or positively affected individuals'God image, who try to make sense of the life in their early adulthood; because losing a loved one leads people to think metaphysical issues like death, life, existence, and enables people to experience the God more closely. Also it was predicted people securely attachted with their lost parent would establish a similar relationship with the God by imaging the God as protective and reliable, or would develop a conflicting image of the God due to their parental lost. Thus, within this research, it was studied how Muslim collage students losing their parent represent the God through their autobiographical memories about the God; whether they use their own God image to cope with difficult life situations; and the reason for recalling the autobiographical memories about the God regarding the functions of autobiographical memory. Primarily, the terms God image, autobiographical memory and parental loss were clarified with the help of Turkish and foreign literature; then deficiencies and problems of the related fields were revealed. Comparing with quantitative research methods, it was thought that interview technique as a qualitative research method which prioritizes meaning and uniqueness would be more feasible for the topic and goal of this study. Because this technique helps with understanding individuals' feeUngs, thoughts, behaviours, wills and attitudes regarding the research topics (Yildinm, Jimjek, 2016: 129-147). Therefore, 12 college students losing their fathers and 8 college studens losing their mothers, total of 20 college students were interviewed by using a semi-structured interview form which might be changed by the researcher for the purpose of clarifying and detailing what the participants have narrated. Also participants were specified throughcriterion, snowball, maximum variation sampling from purposive sampling methods according to the research topic. Recorded interviews were evaluated by content analysis providing multiple interpretation of similer cases. As a result properties of the God like Close, Merciful Protectee Creator-All Mighty, Rule Maker-Just, Giving Patience became prominent, respectively. Also it was reveled that participants had an comforting God image functioning as a religious coping activity at the hard times Regarding the functions of shared autobiographical memories, it was identified participants mostly recalled the memories about the God with the purpose of directing their behavior or advising other people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal disturbance and civil war that have started in 2011 in Syria caused the people to suffer important problems. One of these problems is the destruction or threatening of the relatives and the environment in which they live. Therefore, most of the people had to take refuge in neighbor countries to overcome these problems. However, this asylum brings many difficulties. The problems experienced by asylum-seekers can be categorized under three headings as the ones that caused compulsory immigration, the problems encountered during the asylum process, and the problems experienced in the settled areas. Psychological dramatic events such as physical injury, witnessing the death or injury of relatives, rape, torture, arrest, genocide (Nicholl & Thompson, 2004, p. 353) during internal disturbance are often the causes of forced migration; disruptions of geographical and cultural ties with the society, uncertainty at the end of migration, unemployment and employment difficulties, concerns about reunion with the remaining family members, language barriers, difficulties in cultural adaptation (Kirmayer et al„ 2011, p. 961) are among the problems encountered. All these problems become sources of stress on asylum-seekers and require them to resort to various coping methods continually. Otherwise, they may experience important mental disorders such as suffocation, depression, psychosomatic symptoms, sleep disorder, attention deficit, suicide, and post-traumatic stress disorder.Some coping models have been developed based on the findings obtained from studies conducted to determine which methods people use to deal with their problems. The most widely accepted models are those that deal with coping under two headings: problem-oriented and emotion-oriented coping methods. The problem-oriented coping method focuses more on stress-causing resources and their elimination or mitigation, with strategies such as self-control, taking responsibility, establishing plans to solve the problem, and thinking aboutthe positive sides of the problem. In the emotion-oriented coping method, the effect of the stress source is tried to be reduced by focusing on stress-containing emotions instead of direct stress sources (Carver et al., 1989, p. 267). Denial of distress, trying to stay away from it chatting with other people, seeking support are accepted as emotion-oriented coping strategies, and thus, it is aimed to manage the distress emotionally. One or more coping methods may be used against one or more difficulties. It is seen that in situations where stress solutions exist or are known, problem-oriented coping methods, in situations where it is not possible to control or prevent it mostly emotion-oriented methods are used (Carver etal., 1989, p. 268). In this study, the effect of asylum seekers' religiosity on coping methods was investigated. A more scientific study of the relationship between religiosity and psychology and its publication in the most important journals in the fields of medicine and psychology took place only in the last quarter-century. Recently, studies in this area have increased significantly. The majority of researchers argue that religiosity has a positive effect on mental health and the treatment of illnesses, while only a few have a negative effect (Roger & Hatala, 2018, s. 34). Although some studies are defending the negative effects of religiosity on patients, this trend is weakening day by day. When the last 15 years are taken into consideration, studies that defend the negative effects of religiosity have decreased considerably. On the other hand, it is understood from the researches examining the relationship between happiness and religiosity that happiness has an increasing positive relationship with religiosity and that religiosity positively affects happiness. Islam provides important guidance for asylum-seekers to cope with the problems they face. The relations between asylum-seekers and local people have been given great importance since the early years of Islam. Because the Prophet Mohammad himself had to emigrate, he left Mecca where he was born and raised and took refuge in Medina with his friends. Therefore, many verses and hadiths regulate the relations between native people (Ansar) and immigrants (Muhajir) after this forced migration, which is called Hijra, encouraging the appropriate behaviors, prohibiting negative behaviors and praising the good relations of both sides. Through these verses and hadiths, the integration between asylum-seekers and native people was encouraged and they were ensured to obey each other's law. Therefore, although not under the same conditions, relations that could serve as an example for coping with the problems that will emigrate and host Muslim communities in later periods have been put forward. Considering the guidance provided by Islam, it is assumed that there is a significant relationship between religiosity and functional coping methods, and with the increase in religiosity, that Syrian asylum-seekers will use more effective coping methods. It is predicted that coping methods will differ significantly with religiosity levels, and those with high religiosity will use functional coping methods and those with low religiosity levels will use nonfunctional coping methods. The questionnaire technique, w*hich is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study, and the questionnaire containing personal information, religiosity and coping scales were prepared by the purpose of the research. Since the study will be applied to Syrian asylum-seekers, it ensures that the language of the questionnaire is Arabic completely. All information, which may vary by country, such as educational status in the personal information section, is regulated by Syrian researchers. The form of the religiosity scale used in the study, which was developed by the authors and which was in Arabic, was used. The version of the coping scale used was used after the control of some Syrian researchers. The data obtained from 269 of the Syrian refugees who participated in the study were evaluated. It was understood that the asylum-seekers who were asked to participate in the research were concerned about the use of the information they would provide for political or intelligence purposes. However, they were told that they could leave questions that they did not want to answer. Syrian asylum-seekers, who are fluent in Turkish, w*ho had been assisted in the field study, had important contributions to this uneasiness. Thus, the data were reliably collected only from willing participants. As a result of the increase in worship, it was seen that asylum-seekers used problem and emotion-oriented coping methods such as effective coping, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, using emotional, social support, and instrumental social support and mentally disabling attention. Increased beliefs, on the other hand, have reduced the use of substance and denial, which are dysfunctional coping methods. Therefore, there is a significant relationship between religiosity and functional coping methods. With the increasing religiosity, the hypothesis confirms that Syrian asylum-seekers use more effective coping methods. Those with high religiosity use functional coping methods, and those with low religiosity use non-functional coping methods. The coping methods using by asylum-seekers intensely are effective coping and planning with approaching to religion indicates that asylum seekers are not only praying more at the moment of distress but are actually struggling to eliminate the distress, that they do not give up the struggle by looking at the positive sides of die problems with the thought that there is wisdom in everything that comes to the fore, that therefore they have rarely used an avoidant coping method, such as substance use. It is also important to note that turning to religion as a method of coping does not adequately explain the worship dimension of religiosity. In other words, when religiosity increases, the problem and emotion-oriented coping methods are used by asylum-seekers to cope with the problems, not only to religion and to pray more. That is, the fact that asylum-seekers or people, in general, are members of a religion does not mean that they use only religious coping methods. Therefore, it is considered that it is more appropriate to use general coping dimensions instead of religious coping scales to measure the coping methods of Muslim asylum-seekers. On the other hand, it was seen that increasing belief also increased the use of denial coping methods. In other words, asylum-seekers think that the world is a place of examinations, that the problems are not real that life is temporary and the problems will not always continue. Under normal circumstances, denial of distress is a non-functional coping method, whereas denial is a functional coping method since it is used by asylum-seekers with functional coping methods and can provide patience and patience to asylum-seekers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion and health are subjects that are in interaction with each other for centuries within human behaviors. Radical changes about the information production especially in the last century profoundly affect the knowledge of health. Orthodox medicine, in other words Western medicine, shaped in modern times also with die effect of positivism, aims a universal, tangible and evidence based information. Traditional medicine, being dominant prior to 19th century and continue its activities under the counter together with modern medicine, known also as folk medicine, takes care of psycho-social factors as well as local health knowledge during the treatment process. Traditional medicine, also named as medicine based on belief, gain currency again with its forms accepted by distinct circles as alternative, complementary and holistic medicine. Here, how the "traditional" statement is filled with, is an important point. The content of belief is quite extensive whether it is religious or moral, it involves the system of values that shapes human thought, feeling and behavior. Health experience based on belief is one of the widely spoken subjects because individuals' belief in recovery and religious belief that feeds recovery in different kinds of ways contributes positively to the process of coping with the present situation. Conducted studies show that positive or negative coping manners of patients during the treatment period affect the recovery period. Within the frame of traditional medicine definitions used in our society, it is possible to witness this situation. Traditional medicine that is intensely internalized with life within Turkish culture with the holistic effect of Islam, sometimes feed on religious fact and experiences (mostlywith the effect of culture). In our opinion, if we look at printed, visual and social media, some GETAT practices in our country can be related with a religious reason, result or period in the eye of society with the intense effect of religion prevalent in its own tradition. Any GETAT practice can be presented in a religious health experience by being correlated with a religious interaction directly or indirectly. It can be said that one of the factors that give rise to the association of them is the fragmentary approach in current health definitions. Academic and individual interest in spiritual support and care service is revealed in many studies made in psychology of religion field. The results of this research that deals with the relationship between religion and health show that spiritual health needs to be supported by emphasizing the effective position of religious beliefs in coping with hardship, despair and hopelessness or in gaining physical health with a holistic health manner. Objective: From this point of view, the aim of this article is to identify how the healthcare professionals (doctor, medical student and pharmacist), patients and SCC specialists a) make die definition of traditional and complementary medicine, b) how they view the attitude of individuals towards eating and drinking habits prescribed by traditional treatment in order to recover their health, c) what they perceive as effective in the preference of this practices, d) whether they associate GETAT practices and religious belief and lastly how they deal with the connection between belief and health. Method: In this article that is built in qualitative research pattern as a case study, the data has been collected with semi-structured interview form. As the subject area of GETAT practices are quite extensive, in order to limit the content and deal with the field study within the frame of article, we focus on herbal orientations of eating-drinking habits which are mostly preferred within GETAT practices. The usage of herbal products and nutrition support is the most common GETAT practice in our country as it is all over the world. The study group of this research is comprised of twenty-three person (age between seventeen and fifty-nine, thirteen female and ten male); patients, healthcare professionals (doctors, pharmacists, medical students) and SCC specialists. In order to comprise this group, maximum variety sampling is used within purposeful sampling. Researcher may want to obtain more qualitative information by bringing some criterions in order to analyze the subject more deeply while determining the groups. This measure belongs to sampling method. As a result of this, participants in patients group are subjected to the condition of receiving a treatment for a long time and having applied to GETAT practices. On the condition that main frame remains same while collecting data, with the regulations made according to the qualities of groups, three different kinds of semi-structured interview form has been designed. While preparing the forms, sources about GETAT and news on social media are searched and then pre-interviews have been made in order to take healthcare professionals' distinct opinions about the subject Designed questionnaire forms undergo from the investigation of two specialists, needed additions and corrections have been made and then the form has been put into its final form. Data was collected in September and October 2018. Each interview took thirty minutes in average, face to face or telephone interviews are recorded. Records are decoded after the completion of interviews, data are analyzed with descriptive analysis and four main themes are composed. Findings: It is found that healthcare professionals comprised of doctor, pharmacist and medical students define GETAT as; traditional medicine, complementary medicine, folk medicine, alternative medicine, old or cultural treatment, protective medicine, practices other than positive medicine, holistic medicine and medicine that regulates cuisine culture, practices based on populist approach. As a result it can be said that healthcare professionals are usually against the use of the "alternative medicine" term and partly against the term of "complementary medicine"; they see "holistic medicine" and "traditional medicine" concepts more reasonable. The most common usage between patients is the use of the term "alternative medicine" so it suggests that they see this approach not as a conceptual tiling but more as a discussion of paradigm. The most serious and rigid criticism of healthcare professionals against GETAT is; its (can) not being built upon proof, not appropriate for scientific criteria, its way of the coming to the result circumstantially with morale/motivation/belief, so being built upon placebo, its being frivolous due to the unrepeatable drug result/distinct from ethics of science, being open to abuse due to its non-radical and informal education. It is observed that SCC specialists do not have enough information about GETAT other than its daily life practices. They do not want to present their opinion about the subject because they have not provided legitimacy yet in health field. They are on the side of religious and spiritual well-being. As a result they do not want to be seen biased by healthcare professionals who see traditional medicine as a religious based medicine. While patients associate belief and health relation more with their religious beliefs, healthcare professionals perceive this relation more as a belief in treatment and doctor. Consequently, it is observed that while patients and SCC specialists evaluate GETAT as immanent with religious life, healthcare professionals perceive GETAT as a health tendency open to be abused by religious circles. In general, doctors and pharmacists support GETAT trainings because knowledge that belongs to tradition cannot be ignored but they also think that reconciliation in education and inspection of the field is necessary. Result: It is possible to say that health behavior is in relation with belief both in evidence based and belief based medicine. Apart from this, it is found that there are some points in which religious life contacts with health and dynamism in health paradigm turns to religious life relation. It must be analyzed with detailed field studies enriched with quantitative and qualitative researches about what are these points and what kind of an interaction is present between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining, understanding, explaining the phenomenon of religiosity, and its revealing the effects on the individual with its different dimensions is one of the basic study topics of the psychology of religion. However, the multidimensional and complex structure of religiosity brings with it several difficulties in the definition and conceptualization. In order to understand the phenomenon of religiosity from past to present, many definitions and conceptions have been made. Especially theology, philosophy, social sciences etc. many different areas have shown interest in the subject within the framework of their perspectives. In the definition of religiosity, in addition to the sociological contexts such as religion, tradition, and culture, there is also the psychological context that has been considered concerning the perception of religion on the individual level and how religion is experienced. Therefore, there are many definitions of religiosity in the literature, which are made by different disciplines according to different dimensions and different contexts. As in the definition of religiosity, important problems arise in measuring. These problems have been continuing since the 1940s when the first religiousness surveys in the field of psychology of religion began. One of the main problems in the psychology of religion research is to try to determine the degree, direction, tendency, and dimensions of religiousness according to the scales. Each researcher tries to identify and understand religiosity from the perspective of the measurement tool. However, the creation or selection of the relevant measurement tool is closely related to the theoryand perception of the religiosity of the researcher. The main focus of criticism in the psychology of religion is to see complex phenomena such as religious experience, religious attitudes, and beliefs as an object that can be measured with a reductionist approach. For example, it can be seen that religious experience has a very complex structure when it is taken into consideration in terms of beliefs, religious practices, social religious activities, transcendental feelings, or the connection with the supernatural. Therefore, it is possible to encounter many problems in the measurement of religious experiences and religious attitudes and experimental analysis of religiosity. While the measurement paradigm in the psychology of religion is the focus of many debates, scales for correlational studies in religiosity studies are considered to be the most reliable data collection tools. However, it is important to determine the most appropriate scale for the case and to apply it to a sample group with the ability to represent the universe. In any study, the relevant case is evaluated according to the data obtained from the scale. Thus, a phenomenon is defined from the scale. Each researcher tries to understand and evaluate the phenomenon within the boundary presented by the measurement tool. Another problem arises from the fact that the first religiosity surveys were Western-centered and these studies were attempted to be adopted by other beliefs, cultures, and traditions over time. This situation led to the discussion of some important problems in the context of locality. In our country, these problems have been taken into consideration by psychologists of religion and researchers from other fields and there has been a limited accumulation of methods, techniques and tools in die measurement of religiousness. As a result of these studies, both the adaptation and specific instruments of religiosity were developed in the context of the Turkish-Islamic tradition. Another problem in the measurement of religiosity is the existence of a large number of similar religiosity measurement tools in the field. This situation led to criticism of religiousness scales and some criteria related to scales. On the other hand, it is important to examine the effects of current developments in the measurement of religiosity. It can be said that change and differentiation are inevitable in the way and perception of religion, along with the developments in many areas ranging from technology to politics, from politics to economy, from education to law. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the effects of important social events and current developments on the individual and society in the measurement of religiousness. For new researchers in the field, the fundamental problems mentioned above about the religiosity measurement are "what kind of religious scales should be used in what kind of studies?" many questions such as brings. For this reason, the main purpose of our study is to reveal a literature about "religiousness scales" used in master's and doctoral theses in the field of psychology of religion in our country. Thus, researchers who work in this area or in other areas related to the field will be provided more easily to reach the religiousness scales and general information about these scales. For the intended purpose, the bibliographic method was used to classify the theses according to the religiosity scales. In order to reach the theses in the field of psychology of religion, the database of the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education (Yok Tez) was used. In the relevant database, the terms "'religion psychology", "religiousness", "religious belief, "religious attitude" were entered into the scanning term without specifying a date range limit. As a result of the screening, 70 master and doctorate theses between 1997-2018 were included in the study. It is hoped that this study will be useful in terms of showing an accumulation of 20 years of knowledge about measurement instruments and studies in our country's psychology of religion and putting an important literature for the new researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atebetü'l-Hakâyık, which is one of the most important pieces after Kutadgu Bilig within Turkish Literature in the Islamic period, is written by Edip Ahmed in the first part of the 12th century. In addition to being advice and propriety book, this piece strongly addresses the disappointment and protest of the poet towards his age. Atebetü'l-Hakâyık discusses the approved and unapproved characteristics of the individual ideal, it additionally makes a moral criticism on the religious life of his society by mentioning about all parts of the social structure: “The worship became a show, and the devout converted to a metaphor. Pub districts got developed and masjids got ruined. The scholar gave up the actions and the ascetic quitted taqwa. Wise people make sama prayer by inventing a new dance. Right people cannot find a way to defend themselves. However, wrong people have all the opportunities. Public enslave themselves to rich people by deeming them important, and however, when seeing poor people, they go another way by ignoring the poor ones…" In this regard, this piece has two essential themes as follows: (a) his recommendations towards being the individual ideal and (b) his warnings which emphasize that not having a deeply religious life comes with moral problems. Atebetü'l-Hakâyık strongly describes the social life of that period. It can be clearly seen that the advice and related feelings such as hurt, protest, hope, hopelessness, acquiescence have an influence on the content of the book and give an impression which makes us say that Edip Ahmed also lived what we lived. The poet seeks the individual ideal eveiywhere in his book. He wants to see the individual ideal; however, when pursuing this aim, he also knows that goodness can increase via the good people. Therefore, he draws attention to the subject of good friend, which is the last characteristic of the individual ideal. The poet says that whoever has a good friend becomes a good person by himself and acknowledges that people would have more favor because of having a good friend. However, he emphasizes that the most important thing in friendships is goodness: it is not about doing something wrong. No matter how careful and master the individual is, he or she might do wrong or might have shortcomings. For this reason, the poet points out the importance of realizing the difference between wrong and evil in the friendships while stating that people who leave their friends because of their faults will not find a person around. According to Edip Ahmed, being knowledgeable, keeping the language strong, considering the meaning of life: being helpful-generous, humble, and benign, and having good friends are the minimum necessary characteristics which make people reach die goal of the individual ideal. Even in a minimum level, it is not easy to reach this goal because Edip Ahmed addresses that the individual should keep himself/herself away from ignorance, having big mouth, absurdity, stinginess, arrogance, and greed. As moral life does not require a certain time, circumstance, and level, it comes with attention, concentration, and permanent dynamism. Since weakness will make the individual and the society to have problems with attention, concentration, and dynamism, it will bring with many religious and socio-psychological problems like freeloading, laziness, making a fast buck, self-seeking, and so on. The path of the individual ideal is possible to follow; however, it is also quite difficult to practice and maintain despite all as this way conflicts with the interests of the human being. Moral life is not like other parts of life because moral lifestyle initially keeps the personal interests waiting, does not reward immediately, and makes people lose in a short time. When people cannot get the rewards of their moral behaviors in the short time, they might have misgivings which are stated with the following adages: "Sickness is stemmed from the goodness," "Do good things so that you can find evil." Thereby, these people might lose the superior moral life's source, which is the belief referring to that goodness is essential and the evil is temporary. Such weakness of belief might lead both individuals and societies to a stalemate which may also be called as moral deadlock. By this stalemate, the individual loses his/her belief in justice, compassion, fidelity, and trust. In the view of Edip Ahmed, the individual ideal who finds own value within the tradition of Islamic thought is a developmental existence who is taught the names of the things by Allah, has the power of getting knowledge, has the divine support for getting knowledge, and is the responsible (Khalifa). Therefore, in the tradition of Islamic thought, the individual is a being who does not go beyond the scope of the divine, develops within its boundaries, and aims to mature. However, in the tradition of Western thought, the development of humanity occurs in the consideration of Prometheus. Nonobedience to God and stealing the knowledge, power, and freedom from the G ods a re s ymbolized w ith t he s tealing o f t he f ire. W ith t his r egard, Prometheus represents insurrection and repudiation. In the case of Christian theology, the primitive man is the symbol of the fall, sinful, and even could not atone for his sin. Even though all human beings are similar, Edip Ahmed's proposal of the human style who goes between being the individual ideal and having protested moral corruption is different in the context of the meaning and the goal than one who is offered by the tradition of Western thought. Namely, this human-style differs regarding what to do and where to get the power to do it throughout life. Human being neither is an insurgent nor an existence who is exiled to the earth as a sinful. Within the life course, his preferences will determine if he is good or bad. Consequently, the individual ideal and the moral corruption discussed in Atebetü'l-Hakâyık represent the tradition of Islamic thought. This study aims to examine Atebetü'l-Hakâyık in the context of the individual ideal and moral corruption. The main problem of the study comprises the needed characteristics of the individual ideal who is in the moral corruption deadlock. By a socio-psychological approach, this research discusses the themes of the individual ideal and the moral corruption within the consideration of value, religion, world life, and the search for meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humankind has always been curious about unknown particulars since starting day of their existence. Hence, when literature and holy texts, archaeological remains, paintings made on the cave walls, sculptures have been examined, it is seen that in almost each community there have been applications regarding witching, magic and supernatural powers. At this point determining attitudes of individuals living in today's modern community regarding witching, magic and supernatural powers bears importance for understanding continuity of these beliefs. It would be beneficial for revealing the attitudes university students constituting the young and relatively educated segment of community regarding the subject and to predict future values and tendencies of community. For this purpose article focuses on determining attitudes of university students with respect to the variables of gender, type of education faculty, academic success, family piety and subjective piety, in relation to witching, magic and supernatural powers. It has been tried to reveal the attitudes of sample group being composed of 407 people who were determined by random method among students of Faculty of Theology (N:100,24,6 %), Faculty of Literature (N:100, 24.6 %), Faculty of Business Administration and Economics (N: 103,25,3 %), Faculty of Fine Arts (N: 46, 11,3 %) and other faculties (N: 58, 14,3 %) of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University regarding witching, magic and supernatural powers by conducting a qua [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In everyday life, people may come across experiences from time to time that it is difficult to cope with the effects of internal or external stimuli. Because life is conceived and unpredictable to some obstacles, difficulties, natural and thoughtful risks. Man perceives and makes sense of the information or stimuli that reach him according to his own inner frame of reference, that is, phenomenological field. Therefore, the impact of any stimulus on different individuals may vary in the personal plan, as well as on the same individual. People can analyze their events from a religious or non-religious perspective. Both perspectives bring along specific interpretations with specific dynamics. The implications of the background of events may include religious language as well as purely non-religious (secular) references. Human beings develop various strategies to cope with the problems they face. Coping is the state of the individual's attitude or attitude towards the difficulties of life in different ways in terms of cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects. Religious coping is the struggle of the individual with his or her stance or attitude. In other words, religious coping is the use of religious-based cognitive, affective or behavioral strategies in tlije difficulties faced by the individual. It is possible to express this situation in the form of coping with stress and anxiety by getting support from faith. Patience, one of the methods of religious coping, is described in the language of psychology as the tendency to wait calmly by controlling anger in the face of frustration, distress and pain'. As it is understood from the definition, patience is considered as a process rather than an abruptly shaped attitude. In this process, the individual grieves. Mourning is the psychological response of an individual to any loss or change in his life, a compromise he enters with the 'truth' in order to achieve a balance between his inner world and his outer world. It is a long and painful process in which an individual makes sense in order to separate himself / herself from the person / object he / she loses after the loss of the other. However, a human being, defined as a bio-psycho-social entity, can react differently to the dramatic and traumatic events that he is subjected to. The individual who mourned what he loses can experience cognitive, sensory, emotional and behavioral situations in his own way. In this research, the question of how an individual takes an attitude in the process of coping with the difficulties of life is sought In this study, which has a qualitative design, the data were obtained through semi-structured interview and participatory observation within the purposeful sampling technique. In this context, individuals who were directly exposed to traumatic experiences were interviewed. In this context, the following questions were sought: How are religious people trying to cope with their difficulties? What kind of mourning process is experienced after the painful and traumatic events experienced? Do religious people react in the same patience process or do they show the same typological characteristics? Descriptive and content analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. In the descriptive analysis technique, the psychological experiences of individuals were tried to be analyzed with long quotations, and in content analysis, it was aimed to reach typologies based on common themes. In the meantime, a style of action that is appropriate to the "embedded theory-approach, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was adopted. Therefore, the relationship between cultural subjectivity and universality that came into play in the coping process, in other words, locality and universality was questioned. In this study, it has been investigated how patience in religious people has come into play in the face of undesirable events and which types of religious individuals have taken on while trying to overcome the difficulties. After the analysis of the findings, a comparison was made with Ross' model. Because Ross says that people who face the difficulties of life may be in the state of "denial", "anger", "bargaining", "depression" and "acceptance" in the mourning and coping process, and moreover, these states follow each other through a series. According to the findings, people showed "Confused", "Anxious", "Angry", "Silent" and "Submissionist" attitudes towards dramatic and traumatic events. Confused ones are in the first stage of a test of patience and endurance in the face of the endless loss experience and threat of life. Anxious ones are people who sometimes are in dilemma about human freedom and responsibility. Angry people are individuals who manifest his or her reaction with anger both to himself, to the social environment and to God. The silent man is the one who maintains his silence even if he encounters the difficulties of life that undermine his belief. Surrenders are those who submit to fate and try to accept the events that come to the fore without questioning the underlying cause. As it is understood from the research results, people do not experience these situations sequentially and gradually. What Ross calls "denial"is "confusion" in Muslim culture; it can be said that what he called "acceptance" coincided with "surrender" attitude. However, according to our research, it was concluded that these situations in which religious people live in the face of difficulties are not categorical stages that follow each other through the sequence, but are categorical types that become evident independently from each other. Essentially, each type referred to herein refers to a unique attitude. In other words, people who encounter unpredictable returns of life can pass to any of these situations without taking a certain order. These types are thought to be related to individual's awareness, perception and emotional structure. These attitudes can also be conceptualized as human types that manifest against the challenges of life. At this point, it can be said that the human types reached reflect cultural subjectivity. The qualitative studies to be conducted in different samples on the same subject can be compared with the results obtained from this research. Thus, coping patterns specific to Muslim Turkish culture can be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various situations that individual encounters in his / her daily Ufe create positive emotions while others cause stress and anxiety. In the literature, such negative moods that affect an individual's emotional, cognitive, physical, behavioral and relational aspects are defined as anxiety. The state of anxiety that affects a large part of society has become widespread today. In parallel studies on anxiety have increased in recent years. There is still a need to investigate the effects of religion on anxiety, including feelings of restlessness, anxiety, fear, irritability, and sadness, because religion and religiosity is an effective factor in many areas of an individual's life, from the world of thought to the world of emotion, from attitudes to various behaviors. One of the negative situations in social Ufe is aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior, on the other hand, includes all behaviors directed to harm another living being, although it is classified in various ways. Aggression has a very broad form of expression- In the literature, aggression is evaluated in five dimensions as physical indirect, anger, verbal and hostility. In all religions and cultures, aggressive expressions are not welcome because they harm society. Religion and religiosity bring provisions aiming to control the aggressive behaviors of the individual Abroad, religion / religiosity and although more research on the relationship between aggression investigating the relationship between these two cases in Turkey is not so prevalent in the study. The aim of this research is to examine the relationships and interactions between trait anxiety, aggression and religiosity. The purpose of this study is to examine whether religious beliefs and attitudes and continuous anxiety have an effect on the aggressive tendencies of university students. In addition, the effects of gender on religiosity, persistent anxiety and aggression tendencies were discussed in this study. Four hundred-fifteen volunteer students from different universities and faculties participated in the study in the 2017-2018 academic year. After the data set was checked, the final sample consisted of 398 participants. In addition to personal traits, STAI Form TX-2, Motivational Religiosity Scale (MMRI) and Buss-Perry Aggression Scale (BPSO) were used. After the factor analysis of the STAI FORM TX-2, 4 expressions were scattered or ambiguous and 16 expressions remained in the excluded scale. The scale was named as Continuous Anxiety Scale-16. As a result of the analysis, the KMO value of the scale was found to be 833 (p =, 000) and internal consistency was 791. Motivational Religiosity Scale (MMRI) -18: As a result of factor analysis, 18 of the 20 questions were collected under three dimensions, explaining 74% of the total variance, and the internal consistency of the KMO was 961 (p =, 000) and 964, respectively. Buss-Perry Aggression Scale (BPSO): In this study, a 5-point Likert-type scale consisting of 29 items was used. The analysis showed that 10 items were deactivated and the remaining 19 items were collected in 5 sub-dimensions. KMO value of the scale was found to be 857 and the variance explained was 58,346% (p =, 000). The alpha value, which expresses the internal consistency of the scale, was found to be 813. The participants received the highest score in the "religious belief and tendency to help" subscale (M = 4.38). In general, in the subscales where a mean score was obtained above the average of the scale (M = 2.5), finally, M = 3.86 average was obtained from the responsibility dimension in the second place. The participants were as follows in terms of their aggression orientations. The participants obtained the highest average from the "verbal aggression" subscale (5.83). Sub-scales of "scepticism and intellectual hostility" (4,95), "emotional-cognitive hostility" (3,72), "physical aggression" (3,65) and "emotional reactive anger" (3,55) follow. The mean scale obtained by the participants from the verbal aggression and skepticism-intellectual hostility was above the average (M = 4,5). According to the results of the t-test analysis conducted to determine the difference between gender groups in terms of religiosity attitudes, it was found that women's religiosity scale obtained a higher average than the relationship with God, the source of power and trust. The difference was statistically significant (p =, 014). Further, the gender variable leads to a difference from the "unhappy and dissatisfaction" and "fatigue and avoidance" dimensions of the trait anxiety scale. While the average of males was high in the unhappy and dissatisfaction subscale, the women scored high in the fatigue and avoidance subscale. The t-test analysis revealed that the gender variable caused a difference in the aggression scale. The averages obtained from "physical aggression", "emotional hostility" and "anger" subscales are in favor of men. In other words, men tend to have more aggressive thoughts and behaviors than women. According to the results of the regression analysis conducted to determine the relationships and interactions between the variables, it was understood that continuous anxiety was positively correlated with "emotional hostility", "emotional-reactive anger" and "skeptical and intellectual hostility" subscales. Explain anxiety accounts for about 37% of the change in the emotional cognitive hostility dimension of aggression. Define anxiety accounts for approximately 30% of the change in the emotional-reactive anger dimension of aggression and 14% of the change in the sceptical and intellectual hostility dimension. According to the results of regression analysis, the two dimensions of religiosity and aggression subscales have entered into relationship and interaction. The "relationship with God" subscale of religiosity entered into relationships and interactions with other dimensions of aggression except for the "skeptical and intellectual hostility" dimension, while the "religious belief and solidarity" subscale of religiosity only interacted and interacted with the "emotional-reactive anger" dimension of aggression. The negative (-) value of the relationship indicates that the increase in religiosity can lead to a decrease in aggressive behavior. According to the findings, the relationship between religiosity and God; It can be explain about 15% of the change in the physical aggression subscale, about 11% of the change in the emotional-cognitive hostility subscale, about 18% of the change in the emotional-reactive anger dimension, and about 15% of the change in the verbal aggression dimension. The religious belief and solidarity dimension of religiosity explains about 16% of the change in the emotional reactive anger dimension of aggression.The results of this study are limited to the sample group, the time of the study and the ability of the scales to measure. It is thought that the results of this paper can contribute to the literature and can shed light on the further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a negative relationship between humor and religious understanding. Although this thought includes generalizations based on prejudice, it is not completely lacking support. In the literature, it can be said that there are some incompatibilities between the structural and functional features of humor and religion. For example, while humor emphasizes uncertainty by nature and the play on the meaning of words, religion tries to provide a clear perspective to the individual. While humor is fed by mismatch and tries to entertain individuals through the context of play, religion is closer to seriousness in terms of creating a certain order in the life of the individual and society. While humor is constantly trying to achieve dynamism by producing new meanings, it can be thought that religion is more related to conservative attitude. There is a loss of control in laughter and humor, but in contrast religion emphasizes self-regulation (Saroglou, 2002b). These and similar features differentiate between religious understanding and humor, but the relations between the two are not limited to the diverging aspects. In particular, it can be said that there is a harmony between the positive potential of humor and understanding of religion in terms of common goal. The potential of humor to develop social relations is one of the first examples that can be given in this regard. Because humor has many functions such as increasing group harmony and eliminating potential tensions t hat m ay a rise ( Semrud-Clikeman and Glass, 2010, p. 197). In addition, humor's support to the individual in coping is another common aspect he shares with religion. Humor can reduce perceived threat and provide r elief t hrough c ognitive a nd e motional s hift o r r estructuring t he situation (Dionigi and Gremigni, 2012). Both humor and understanding of religion can emerge from the routine framework and shed new light on the problems of life. Thus, the individual can tackle the problems more effectively. As a result, it can be said that there are some discrepancies between the understanding of religion and humor, and they have common goals and objectives. Although the differences between the two phenomena are more conspicuous and shape the general perception, the relations between religious understanding and humor are too multidimensional and complex to make unilateral generalizations. In such a background the relevance of religiosity to humor becomes even more interesting. In this context, t he a im of t he study i s t o d etermine w hether there i s a ny relationship between the sense of humor of university students and the different appearences of religious life, and if so, what direction. For this purpose, the following questions were sought, and hypotheses were tested: Q1: Do the different dimensions of religiosity predict the sense of humor and subjective humor perception? H1: There is a negatively significant relationship between the students' sense of humor and their intrinsic religious motivation. H2: T here i s n o s ignificant r elationship b etween s ense o f h umor a nd perception self-religiosity, importance of religion in personal life. H3: T here i s n o relationship between subjective humor perception and perception self-religiosity, importance of religion in personal life, intrinsic religious motivation and religious dogmatism. The sample of the study consists of 577 students studying at Çukurova University. Of these, 325 (56.3%) were female and 252 (43.7%) were male. The age range of the sample is 18-38 years. The mean age was 21.40 and the standard deviation was 2.26. The faculties where the participants are educated are in the form of Faculty of Education, Faculty of Theology, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Faculty of Architecture and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Communication, School of Physical Education and Sports, Higher Vocational School, Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Fine Arts. The study conducted in the screening model was selected by simple random method. Questionnaires about socio-demographic variables, The Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (Thorson and Powell, 1993), Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale (Hoge, 1972) and Religious Dogmatism Scale (Yapıcı, 2002) were used to collect the data of the study. In addition, the participants were asked to evaluate themselves about the importance of religion in their personal life, their self-humor and self-religiosity. through 10-point Likert-type questions. Independent groups t-test, Pearson Moment correlation and multiple linear regression techniques were used to analyze the data. It is possible to express the results in this study which deals with the relationship between sense of humor and various religiosity variables: The highest correlation between the sense of humor and religiosity has emerged in terms of religious dogmatism. Secondly, the importance of religion in personal life and thirdly, the relationship with the intrinsic religious motivation variable reached the level of significance. The relationship between sense of humor and perception self-religiosity is not significant. In general, there is a negative and weak relationship between sense of humor and religiosity variables. This shows that students who give high scores to religiosity variables have some negative perceptions and attitudes about humor. According to multiple linear regression results, only religious dogmatism, one of the religiosity variables, has a low effect on predicting sense of humor. This shows that the relations between sense of humor a nd r eligiosity a re i ndirect a nd w eak, a nd i ndividuals w ho a re habitual of dogmatic and one-way thinking approach to humor from a distance. When the relationships between subjective humor perception and religiosity variables were examined, it was found that there was a weak positive relationship between perception self-religiosity and subjective humor perception. In addition, multiple linear regression results showed that only perception self-religiosity among religiosity variables had a low effect on predicting subjective humor perception. According to this, students who regard themselves as religious, even though they have some reservations about laughing and humor, also consider themselves capable of humor. To put it briefly, the negative correlations between the different appearences of religious life and the sense of humor, but reaching a significant level of significance, and the positively weak relations between the perception of subjective humor and the perception of subjective religiosity suggest that there is ambivalent attitude between humor and piety in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although psychobiography has a history of nearly a century, it has received increasing attention, especially in the last quarter century. Psychobiography is a personality analysis based on real data about the individual rather than a simple biography. In psycho-biographies, whether it is a historical personality or a living person, it is aimed to re-construct his personality based on the works he produces as much as his biographical data and to reinterpret his works by making use of this construction. By analyzing the layers of form, event and meaning used by going through the works of the person whose psychobiography is written, their conscious and unconscious motivations and defense mechanisms are analyzed through psychological and psychoanalytic concepts. Although the pioneers of psychobiography, which is a personality analysis based on real data about the individual rather than a simple biography, are psychoanalysts, psychoanalysis is not the only psychological approach applied during the process of making psychoanalysis, other psychological approaches have also been adopted. Individuals subject to psychobiography are generally personalities that have come to the forefront with various characteristics and have become historical. Rather, psycho-biographies of such people are written because they are role models to society in various ways, in addition to other people's desire to know and understand them better. Psycho-biographical studies, which began to appear in the years when the psychology of religion appeared on the stage of history, could not continue at the same speed and experienced a period of convalescence for a long time.Although psycho-biographies are partly novel, they are written by experts in accordance with psychological perspectives and facts. The main difference of the psychobiographer from the novelist is the obligation to adhere to scientific facts and the life of the person he is dealing with. In this aspect, psychobiography is a science in one aspect and an art in another. For the psychobiographer. who aims to make the spiritual analysis of the personality under consideration, die products of the individual are as important as their lives. Even analyzing personality based on work is the most commonly used method in psycho-biographies. If the subject is a historical personality, psychobiography analyzes the individual's historical actions, his rights and wrongs. If the individual whose psychobiography is written is an artist, rather than the right and wrong actions that shape history, the artist's art products (poet's poetry, painter's painting) come to the fore. There are several difficulties in writing psychobiography. The first one is the source problem when writing about historical personalities. The inability to access sufficient sources or being sentenced to second-hand sources inevitably causes the author to move away from the facts. Because, although the sources of historical personalities are the works of the individual, not being able to access some of these works makes it obligatory to use the opinions of those who have knowledge about the subject and to appeal to other works on the person concerned. This condemns psychobiography to second-hand sources and paves the way for reductionist interpretations. A second step that the psychobiographer should take is to develop empathy to protect the person from an unconscious trivialization. Building an empathic relationship with the person helps the biographer to give ear to the source through the model of the related person's personality. By constantly avoiding dogmatic personality theories, the constant shifts between hypotheses and knowledge gradually pave the way for a person's portrait to emerge. However, even if he uses this approach, no biographer can claim that he has done exactly the right description of the person he is working with. Because psychological interpretations never carry certainty. In other words, psycho-biographies, which are journeystothe inner self of the individual, are written by using various psychological theories. The first of these theories is psychoanalytic theory. Because biographers often encounter problems about these individuals that cannot be explained without resorting to psycho dynamic analysis, such as mismatches in their behavior. On this basis, the pioneer of psycho-biographical studies was Freud, the founder of the psychodynamic approach. However, psycho-biographies are not only studies from a psychodynamic perspective. The second theoretical approach proposed in this regard is the psychological approach that asserts that ideas about character types are not fixed. Because the concept of character is related to an individual who develops relatively static and systematically arranged thinking, feeUng and behavior. A psychobiographer. then, is the one who is confronted with recreating the character of that person without forgetting that the character is extremely complex. Psychobiographers should be able to access other sources of information other than individuals. He should learn how these sources of information describe situations in which a person plays a role and provide information about the individual's personality. In addition, psychobiographers should be able to examine the whole life of the person to the extent possible and evaluate the events in light of the final effects of their behavior. W. James (1902, 2017), the founder of the psychology of religioa has stated that it is not worthwhile to search for people who have acquired their fixed forms by imitating them through religious tradition and having a religious life at the habitual level: instead, the psychologists of religion should seek for the original experiences that serve as models for the emotions and imitation behaviors that are instilled in them. According to James, these experiences can be found in individuals having a religious life in extreme excitement and such personalities are "genius" in the religious field, likewise many other geniuses who perform effective actions worth mentioning in the biography pages. They have always been beings with high emotional sensitivity, and often have a dissonant inner life having been dragged into melancholia during a part of their Journey. With James' encouragement, individuals considered to have a high level of personal experience have been an important research topic in the early years of the psychology of religion as an academic discipline. In this article, the evolution of psycho-biographical movement that emerged in the history of psychology of religion in the world and in our country is discussed with some evaluations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest is strictly prohibited in the basic sources of Islamic religion. However, in today's societies, people need financial institutions to meet their daily needs, to evaluate their savings, or to realize some of their needs and expectations. In this sense, institutions that claim to offer interest-free finance services to respond to the financial needs and demands of Muslim individuals have taken their place in Muslim societies. The purpose of this study is first to investigate the attitudes of Muslim individuals on interest and Participation Banks, whether there is a cognitive dissonance among the elements of the attitude, second, to identify and illustrate what motivations to eliminate this contradiction. A structuredinterview form was used to collect the data. The form was sent via e-mail and the responses from the participants were received by the same method. A total of 51 instructors from a different degree at state universities participated in the study. The research was designed in a qualitative design and quantified when necessary. The results showed that the participants' perceptions of religiousness were high and the majority of the participants had negative attitudes towards interest. However, it was understood that the majority of the participants did not have positive attitudes towards participation banks, while they met their financial needs and turned to financial institutions working with the interest rate system. In accordance with Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, it was concluded that the participants had some motivations to overcome the discrepancies among their beliefs and behavior and to achieve inner peace again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the relationship between Machiavellism and religiosity, and to discuss these concepts in terms of demographic characteristics such as gender, age, educational attainment, income, and residency type. As a quantitative research, this study conducted on a sample consisting of 823 participants who are from seven geographical regions of Turkey and abroad. The participants were determined by a probability/random sampling strategy. The survey form comprises personal information sheet, Machiavelist Personality Scale developed by Dahling and his colleagues (2009) and adopted into Turkish by Akın, Sarıçam, Akın, Özbay, Adam Karduz ve Yıldız (2014), and Religiosity Scale developed by Ok (2011). Using SPSS software, the data were analyzed via T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation techniques. According to the findings, Machiavellism level of the participants differed by age groups, educational attainment, income, and residency type. In addition, religiosity level of the participants differed by gender, age groups, and income. However, religiosity level did not differ by residency type. Also, there was a negative association between Machiavellism and religiosity, and the main argument of the study was supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hospitalization of newborns to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a stressful situation for parents. Mothers who imagine delivering a healthy baby may experience a crisis and undergo feelings of shock, anxiety and grief after giving birth to a premature baby, baby with congenital anomalies or baby with serious diseases, and have to endure self blame in most cases. Similar to mothers in the NICU, most people use coping mechanisms in the face of stressful situations. The way in which an individual handles stress is called coping. The role of religion in the coping process has gained much importance in recent years. Religious coping is defined as the use of beliefs in the process of problem solving and dealing with stress. In this context, the main aim of this study is to explore how the mothers, who have newborns admitted to NICU for any reason, cope with the problems they encounter, to explain the religious coping strategies they use in this process, and to determine whether they need spiritual support in this situation... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divorce is a major transition and a important change in life. From a personal point of view, the end of arelationship like marriage or separation can be extremely destructive for human beings, especially when considered together with such phenomena as psychological and emotional attachment. Divorce can be a difficult and painful process for most people. In this process, individuals feel themselves under intense stress and have difficulty for adaptation. In this respect, the mental health of the individual is at great risk, because divorce and loss of wife have a traumatic effect and are at the top of the most stressful events in human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variable of religiosity has been influencing many aspects of human life. In various studies, religiosity variables are associated with different variables. The variables of this research are religiosity, ego resilience and empathy. For this reason, In this study examines the relationship among religiosity, ego stability or resilience and empathy. Human beings coincidence many positive and negative events throughout their lives. People can be happy and sad in lifespan when they are coping with these events. In both cases, there are some psychological processes that need to be taken under control (Nazlı Batan & Ayten, 2015). It is revealed in various studies that psychological processes in which a person uses coping with positive or negative events are also influenced by religiousness... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field actor who conducts scientific research and produces academic texts in the field of psychology of religion is called academician 'psychologist of religion'. The purpose of this article is to provide the bio-bibliographic contribution to the history and literature of Turkish psychology of religion by doing a biographical study on Neda Armaner (Professor) who is working on the field of psychology of religion in Turkey as the first academic member. An academician, the first psychologist of religion, and important contributor to scientific studies on the psychology of religion in Turkey, Neda Armaner's (a) academic life, (b) special interests, (c) academic studies, (d) undergraduate and graduate courses, (e) supervised graduate theses and (f) personal thoughts on Turkish psychology of religion studies are given place in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divorce by people, it is an important turning point in terms of psycho-social. After divorce, individuals may have economic problems, child care with responsibility for the abandonment of the household, they can also experience psychological problems such as loneliness. For some, this situation leads to different decisions in their lives, such as remarriage, change of surroundings, and for some, they can remain a trauma that they can not forget until the end of their lives. These people are admitted to overcome the trauma of different coping styles. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of religious and spiritual influences in coping after divorce. Personality traits of individuals and strategies for coping after divorce; tried to examine the issue of religious achievement. Phenomenological research design from qualitative research methods; data collection tools are semi-structured interview technique and the study area of the research is composed of participants living in İstanbul province. In our study of religious and spiritual influences in the post-divorce process, we interviewed twenty divorced person, ten men and ten women. The majority of participants are middle-aged in adulthood; the level of education is high; people who have spent most of their lives in Istanbul and have certain professions. Referring to the marriage age of the participants, 9 persons between 25-30 years of age; 8 people between 19-24 years are married. Interviewees are predominantly married in the young adulthood. Especially among the female participants are those who are starting to work to make their living in the divorce process or afterwards. Participants generally mentioned that the decision to divorce was not immediate. Mostly they have told us that they made this decision two years ago. There are even participants who are waiting for the right time, such as children, to get a divorce. Participants said that they have learned most religious information from school (9 people) and their families (9 people). The majority of respondents perceive themselves as religious (13 people); they also stated that their families were religious (12 people). Those who indicate that their ex-wife is religious (9 people) and slightly religious (8 people) are the weight. Participants in the survey were asked questions about the material and spiritual problems they had experienced after the divorce. According to the results of the research, most of the participants expressed that they are mentally comfortable, they are relieved from tension and they are happier even though they have problems such as economic troubles and loneliness after divorce. In our research, women in our society if it is received until the difficulties of being a divorced woman as the most female participants without worrying about divorce decree or social prejudices surrounding people's opinions. There are a majority of women who voiced that the priority is their own life. In this, the majority of the women participating in the interview can be the profession and the influence of their ages. However, even if the majority of women are working before the divorce, they are forced both materially and spiritually because they are both working and custody of the children. Nonetheless, being free in their lifestyles and decisions makes them happy. As stated by Bayraktar (2010: 90), women who have a high education level or a profession in the post-divorce period are stronger and more positive. Participants are particularly impatient because they are hasty to get married and make mistakes. He also did not divorce earlier; there are those who regret that the old partner has tolerated it for a long time, waiting for the old partner to take too much of the bad treatment or to recover. In particular, some of the women, they think they misbehave because they get to do their jobs the top of their husbands. However, there are also those who regret not being more patient, concerned and understanding. In general, men are more positive attitude than women to get married again. Women are reluctant to remarry as they are suffering from the same problems. According to the research result, there are participants who say that their children are happier after being divorced, as well as participants who can not fully understand how their children feel. In general, children who endorse the divorce of their parents are either aged or witnessed violence in the family. There are participants who go to psychiatrists and take medication. These people have reported that medicines are useful in overcoming the processes they live in. Some of them did not go to the psychiatrist because they thought it was expensive. There have also been people who point out that there is no need for treatment among the participants and that the person who knows himself does not have to go. Especially with children of female participants has said that they have to stand strong for their children. The medicines recommended by psychiatrists did not use the heavy future because of their disruption. Because they feel they have to stand and work for their children. This shows that the most powerful factor in coping with their children's trauma of divorce. Reading a book and listening to music are participants who said that they came good in the process. Some of the participants did not fully fulfill their prayers for reasons such as increasing divorce and working hours after the divorce, depression experienced as a result of divorce; but they continue to pray. Women religious orientation but not in conjunction with the effect of divorce also been a move away against religion; they continued to pray especially. Some of them they look more religion if they are more than happy; in difficult times stated that the hypocrisy of addressing religion. Those who pointed out that they are religious / manuelized by men also mentioned the most prayer. As we have seen in our research, some participants hope that they will settle in the Hereafter with their former partner who are unfair to them. Even if the ex-spouses were religious, this situation did not lead them to move away from the religion or resort to negative religious coping methods. Among the methods of religious coping, positive coping method was used predominantly; They did not rebel against Allah; praying and asking Allah for help. But the participants did not forgive their ex-spouses; it is the belief that they have been unjust in the background. For this reason, the feelings of resentment, anger, or hatred that existed in them are believed to continue their relocation to Allah and their belief that one day they will be reconciled with their former partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death is an inevitable fact for all living beings. Differently from other living beings, human beings are aware of the reality of death. The subject of this study is examining the relationships between death anxiety and self-esteem, religious worldviews, purpose in life of college students. In this respect, it is assumed that death anxiety has negative relationships with self-esteem, religious worldviews and purpose in life. Living with the reality and inevitability of death is a source of anxiety for human beings (Solomon, et al., 1991). This is explained by Terror Management Theory of Social Psychology. According to this theory, people focus on increasing their self-esteem levels to reduce this anxiety since self-esteem acts as a buffer against possible anxiety caused by the awareness of human mortality (Rosenblatt, et al., 1989). Self -esteem is the attitude of an individual towards him- / herself that also gives information about the individual (Mruk, 2006). Religious worldviews is the belief of an individual in spirituality, supernatural, purpose in life, the existence of another life and the creator (Henze, 2006). Death takes a large part in Islamic religion. It is interpreted not as an annihilation but a transformation (Yıldız, 2014). Religion includes economic, political, social and cultural areas; ethical rules, values and practices that affects all aspects of life (Marshall & van Saanen, 2007). Religion is a worldview and creates a value system (Mehmedoğlu, 2013). The purpose in life is described as a feeling that both the present and the past have a meaning (Ryff, 1989). If an individual has no meaning in life and no specific purpose in life, this creates anxiety (Yalom, 1999). The most important goal of an individual is the search for meaning in life which is also the fundamental motivational sources of an individual (Frankl, 2000). The suppression or inhibition of the search for meaning in life creates anxiety (Burrow, et al., 2014). In total of 711 (64.1 % women and 35.9 % men) college students from different departments of a state university in Middle Anatolian region voluntarily participated in this study. Data were collected utilizing Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Religious Worldviews Scale (Goplen & Plant, 2015), Purpose of Life Scale (Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964), Death Anxiety Scale (Thorson & Powell, 1992) and personal information form which is developed by the authors of this study. Self - esteem scale was developed by Rosenberg (1965) and adapted to Turkish language by Çuhadaroğlu (1986). This scale consists of 10 items. The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient is 0,84 and split -half reliability coefficient is 0,80. The religious worldviews scale was developed by Goplen & Plant (2015) and adapted to Turkish language by Kuşat & Bulut (2016). This scale consists of 19 items. The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient is 0,88 and split -half reliability coefficient is 0,86. The purpose of life scale was developed by Crumbaugh & Maholick (1964, 1969) and adapted to Turkish language by Kıraç (2015). This scale consists of 16 items. The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient is 0,90 and split -half reliability coefficient is 0,85. The death anxiety scale was developed by Thorson & Powell (1992) and adapted to Turkish language by Karaca & Yıldız (2001). This scale consists of 25 items. The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient is 0,86 and split -half reliability coefficient is 0,83. In analyzing the data, quantitative analyses techniques were used. Means and standard deviations of descriptive statistical techniques were applied. In comparing two independent groups: t-test for independent groups, in comparing more than two groups: variance analysis, in examining the relationships between the variables: correlation analysis and in examining the explained variance in death anxiety: hierarchical regression analysis from inferential statistical techniques were used. Data were analyzed by SPSS 23 statistical package program. According to the findings of this study, in mean scores self-esteem, religious worldviews and purpose in life variables have 'high' and death anxiety has 'medium' score. Independent groups t - test results showed that women's self-esteem, religious worldviews, purpose in life and death anxiety scores are significantly higher than men's scores. ANOVA results showed that there are statistically significant differences in religious worldviews and purpose in life scores between faculties and differences in religious worldviews scores between classes. There are no statistically significant relationships between death anxiety and self-esteem, religious worldviews, purpose in life. Lastly, according to the hierarchical regression analysis results, gender explains the variance significantly in death anxiety. The findings were discussed on the basis of relevant literature and some suggestions were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of psychology of religion encompasses scientific researches on religious and non-religious individuals as well as on the topics of faith and rituals in religious traditions by using psychological methodology and interpretive approaches. Thus, the discipline attempts to define and detail the origins of religious faith and behaviours of religious individuals in a correct and proper manner. Although the Psychology of Religion only appeared as an institutionalised discipline in the late 19th century, it has a long history that goes back centuries. The discipline includes two main fields of inquiry, namely theology and psychology. It is safe to assume that, if the dialogue and interaction between psychology and theology in question continues to develop, this discipline will gradually gain a firmer position among other sciences (Koç, 2012: 327). This article aims to introduce, in brief, the postgraduate courses on the 'Psychology of Religion' (1949-2015) in Turkey in order to assist young researchers, intending to study for master degree in the Psychology of Religion and/ or obtaining an undergraduate degree mainly in theology and in the other relevant majors such as psychology and psychological counselling and guidance. This article firstly provides an overall assessment on master degree programmes on the Psychology of Religion in Turkish universities and secondly gives information about the course contents, particularly regarding to Psychology of Religion in the master programmes in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, based on the university samples (n=13). Method and Data Collection It is used qualitative design using literature survey methodology in the article. Comparing to the quantitative design, the qualitative approaches provide in-depth information, insights and understandings regarding the research topics. The sample of the study consists of only thirteen universities in Turkey which are in alphabetical order: (i)-Ankara University, (ii)-Atatürk University, (iii)-Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, (iv)-Çukurova University, (v)-Dokuz Eylül University, (vi)-Erciyes University, (vii)-Hitit University, (viii)-Marmara University, (ix)-Ondokuz Mayıs University, (x)- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, (xi)-Sakarya University, (xii)-Süleyman Demirel University, (xiii)-Uludağ University". As a source of information about the postgraduate courses on the 'Psychology of Religion' (1949-2015) in Turkey, (a) the official websites of the universities, (b) telephone interviews with religious psychologists as an academic staff, still working at these universities, and (c) e-mail correspondence are used in the article. In order to realize this purpose, a survey is performed among these universities under the basis of these master degree programmes on the Psychology of Religion in Turkey. A number of the tables related to the course contents and their credits in these universities are created by the researcher. Additionally, thirteen different tables, providing semester periods and course codes as well as course types (compulsory or elective) and including the total course period are created and finally the master degree programmes on the Psychology of Religion in Turkey covering the years between 1949 and 2015 are scanned by the researcher. The Findings It is ultimately determined that according to university samples [n=13], there are a total of one hundred and sixty-eight courses [n=168] in the postgraduate programme of Turkish state universities. Furthermore, it is emphasized that considering the academic structure of postgraduate programmes on the Psychology of Religion in Turkey, there is no particular master programme on the Psychology of Religion, depending on Institute of Social Science which is the institution of the postgraduate academic education, but it is taught under master programme on 'Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies' which is an umbrella programme. Furthermore, as major title place on the postgraduate diplomas of the students, successfully defending their theses which are prepared on the specific topic of the Psychology of Religion, "Philosophy and Religious Studies" has been determined to be written instead of "Psychology of Religion". This can be evaluated as a mandatory result of formal international accreditation. As a result of the survey findings, it is seen that state universities which provide the most detailed and proper information about education curriculum on their internet portal in Turkey are Uludağ University and Dokuz Eylül University. It has been opened approximately six [n = 6] elective courses from each branch in each semester in the umbrella master programs under the title of Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Therefore, besides the compulsory courses in the semester, there are 6 elective courses that the students can choose each semester, particularly in the branch of Psychology of Religion. Although application of 'one-year preparatory/foundational course' for the candidates who have a different bachelor's degree from Theology or Psychology is foreseen in the formal process of Turkish education system, there is no master program, applying this kind of course in practical terms under the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies as an umbrella programme in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing replication of studies find a correlation between religious belief and practice and mental and physical health and longevity. This paper discusses some of the implications of this research for the ways in which religion might understood psychologically. Most interpretations of this data focus on the presence of one or more mediating variables. This paper argues that the presence of these mediating factors helps us understand more precisely some of the ways in which religion actually does impact on human life and in what the psychological uniqueness of religion actually consists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]