Religious fundamentalism, personality, irrational thinking, and the use of immature defense mechanisms

Freud (1961) and Ellis (1980) discussed how religion is associated with psychological maladjustment. Freud claimed religious belief serves as a defense against the traumatic forces of nature, and it could be argued that the more rigid one's religious beliefs, the more likely it will positively correlate with the use immature defense mechanisms. Ellis claimed rigidly held religious beliefs are positively associated with psychopathology. Many researchers have explored the relation between religious constructs and psychological maladjustment; however, results about this relation remain relatively inconclusive. Religion itself is a multidimensional construct, contributing difficulty to forming definitive conclusions about the relation between religious constructs and psychopathology. Researchers have yet to explore this relation with religious fundamentalism as the measure of religion. Furthermore, religious fundamentalism appears to reflect Ellis' and Freud's notions of religion more than other constructs, such as religious orientation and denomination. Therefore, I explored how religious fundamentalism related to irrational beliefs and primitive defense mechanisms. Additionally, I explored how the personality factors openness to experience and neuroticism moderated this relation. Participants ( N = 120) were recruited from a Northeastern university, psychotherapy institute, and through internet advertising. Participants were of diverse racial and religious backgrounds. The results were that religious fundamentalism predicted irrationality after controlling for degree of neuroticism. Results did not support a relation with defense style or a moderational model. The results were that the degree of religious belief may be an important aspect of assessment when commencing psychotherapy because it relates to irrationality, which is the basis for psychopathology, according to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy.