Luke Galen is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Grand Valley State University, USA.

This is essential reading for any person who wishes to claim that religious or spiritual phenomena are other than misattributions of purely psychological mechanisms uncovered by psychological science. For persons of faith, religious and spiritual phenomena remain embedded in world views that Luke Galen has persuasively argued are mirrors of deception. This remarkable book cannot be ignored. For those who study people of faith or who are themselves people of faith, the gauntlet has been clearly thrown.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgements Introduction: The Psychology of Religious Belief from a Social Cognition Perspective.Part I: Mechanisms of Social Cognition and Religious Manifestations1. Cognition, Dual Process Models, and Introspective Opacity.2. Social Cognition and Attribution theory3. Functional and Compensatory Mechanisms of Religion4. Influence of the Social and Group Context. Part II: Misattribution of the Effects of Religion5. Exceptional Religious and Spiritual Experiences 6. Mental Health7. Morality and ProsocialityConclusionNotes BibliographyIndex

Luke Galen is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Grand Valley State University, USA.

This is essential reading for any person who wishes to claim that religious or spiritual phenomena are other than misattributions of purely psychological mechanisms uncovered by psychological science. For persons of faith, religious and spiritual phenomena remain embedded in world views that Luke Galen has persuasively argued are mirrors of deception. This remarkable book cannot be ignored. For those who study people of faith or who are themselves people of faith, the gauntlet has been clearly thrown.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgements Introduction: The Psychology of Religious Belief from a Social Cognition Perspective.Part I: Mechanisms of Social Cognition and Religious Manifestations1. Cognition, Dual Process Models, and Introspective Opacity.2. Social Cognition and Attribution theory3. Functional and Compensatory Mechanisms of Religion4. Influence of the Social and Group Context. Part II: Misattribution of the Effects of Religion5. Exceptional Religious and Spiritual Experiences 6. Mental Health7. Morality and ProsocialityConclusionNotes BibliographyIndex

Luke Galen is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Grand Valley State University, USA.

This is essential reading for any person who wishes to claim that religious or spiritual phenomena are other than misattributions of purely psychological mechanisms uncovered by psychological science. For persons of faith, religious and spiritual phenomena remain embedded in world views that Luke Galen has persuasively argued are mirrors of deception. This remarkable book cannot be ignored. For those who study people of faith or who are themselves people of faith, the gauntlet has been clearly thrown.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgements Introduction: The Psychology of Religious Belief from a Social Cognition Perspective.Part I: Mechanisms of Social Cognition and Religious Manifestations1. Cognition, Dual Process Models, and Introspective Opacity.2. Social Cognition and Attribution theory3. Functional and Compensatory Mechanisms of Religion4. Influence of the Social and Group Context. Part II: Misattribution of the Effects of Religion5. Exceptional Religious and Spiritual Experiences 6. Mental Health7. Morality and ProsocialityConclusionNotes BibliographyIndex