Keynote Speaker 1: Dr. Lynn Underwood

Sense of Spiritual Connection as Measured by The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale: A Resource

Case Western Reserve University

The 16 questions in the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) measure a sense of spiritual connection including a sense of awe, feeling thankful for blessings, feeling divine love directly or through others, feeling compassionate love towards others, a merciful attitude, transcendent joy, a sense of deep inner peace or harmony, a sense of religious/spiritual strength and comfort, a sense of divine guidance, spiritual longing, and a sense of divine presence or closeness. More frequent daily spiritual experiences (DSEs) have shown a variety of positive effects: stress buffering, diminished burnout, substance abuse, and PTSD, enhanced resilience and sense of meaning, post traumatic growth, better relationships. They also form an intrinsically valuable part of life for many people. Over 400 studies have been published using the DSES, with 40 translations and studies from countries such as France, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Hong Kong, the UK, Mainland China, Malaysia, and Nigeria, as well as many from the US. The scale was designed to address those from most religious traditions as well as those not comfortable with religion and was developed using extensive qualitative research. This wide applicability of the scale in many cultures and its predictive value makes it useful in a variety of secular as well as religious settings. The DSES has state-like qualities as well as trait qualities, and can demonstrate change over time.  For this reason, it has been used to study various interventions which can increase the frequency of DSEs. Suggestions for future work using the scale will be offered. Another part of the presentation will discuss the use of the 16 questions in the scale in an open-ended way, as a tool to enhance communication in a therapeutic setting, draw attention to these experiences which can be beneficial, and enable individuals to further explore the role of spirituality in their lives.

 

Keynote Speaker 2: Dr. Laird Edman

Rummaging Around in the Basement: Current Issues in the Cognitive Science of Religion

Northwestern College

This session will be an overview of the “current state of the art” in the Cognitive Science of Religion as well an overview of my own research program in the relationship of Theory of Mind and supernatural experiences. Participants will be able to summarize the history and primary theories of the Cognitive Science of Religion, summarize the current questions and approaches being considered within the Cognitive Science of Religion, and explain the ways in which the Cognitive Science of Religion is different from much of the research and theory commonly considered in the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.