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William James (1842-1910) is considered by many theorists in the discipline of the
psychology of religion to be the father of the field, and many of his ideas are influencing
research to this day. This essay will attempt to outline two psychological explanations for
religious behaviour, and assess how successful these approaches have been in accounting
for such behaviour. There are many differing psychological theories that attempt to explain
religiosity, but the following assessment will primarily focus on developmental, social and
evolutionary explanations for religious behaviours. Religious behaviour is a relatively
broad term encompassing everything from evangelical, fundamentalist behaviours to
individuals who simply hold a belief in a *ƒ²*ƒ"€š?higher power but do not partake in
ritual acts (such as regular church visits). For the purposes of this paper, religious
behaviour is defined according to James (cited in Kirkpatrick, 2005) who referred to
religion as belief in the existence of an unseen or supernatural force which may explain the
creation of life and the universe.
One of the main approaches to the progress of religious thought from the developmental
perspective is based on the notion of n
