Psychological type and reported religious experience : an empirical enquiry among Anglican clergy and laity

Abstract

This study employs psychological type theory and tests the hypothesis that some psychological types are more likely to experience and to report religious experience than others. A total of 4,421 practising Anglican clergy and laity (2,586 men and 1,835 women) responded to the question, “Have you ever had something you would describe as a ‘religious experience’?” on a four-point scale, and completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales that distinguish between two orientations (introversion and extraversion), two perceiving functions (sensing and intuition), two judging functions (thinking and feeling), and two attitudes toward the outer world (judging and perceiving). The data confirmed that the perceiving process is fundamental to individual differences in openness to religious experiences. Among practising Anglican clergy and laity intuitive types were more likely than sensing types to report religious experiences.