Papers by Leslie J. Francis
Rural theology journal, May 1, 2014
The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wi... more The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP url' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.
Implicit Religion, May 25, 2011
A range of theoretical perspectives postulate that religion, in both its implicit and explicit ma... more A range of theoretical perspectives postulate that religion, in both its implicit and explicit manifestations, is associated with the quest for meaning and purpose in life. This theoretical perspective is examined by the administration of the Purpose in Life Test (developedby Crumbaugh iäMaholick) to a sample of 139 undergraduate students from Northern Ireland and Wales, alongside measures concerned with contrasting views of transcendence: the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (developed by Tobacyk) and the Scale of Attitude towards Christianity (developed by Francis). The data demonstrate that purpose in life is significantly related to conceptualizations of transcendence. The implications of these fascinating findings for nuancing the construct of implicit religion are discussed.
Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Sep 14, 2015
The Australian National Church Life Survey draws on psychological type theory to facilitate insig... more The Australian National Church Life Survey draws on psychological type theory to facilitate insight into the connection between individual psychological profiles and preferences for different religious expressions. Drawing on data provided by 2,355 participants in the 2006 congregation survey, this analysis profiles those members of church congregations who are drawn to participation in small prayer, discussion or Bible study groups, or to participation in fellowship and social groups. The key findings are that extraverts and feeling types are overrepresented in the fellowship and social groups and that intuitive types are over-represented in small prayer, discussion or Bible study groups.
Research in education, Nov 1, 2008
This study draws together two research traditions: John Greer's pioneering research among pupils ... more This study draws together two research traditions: John Greer's pioneering research among pupils in Protestant and Catholic schools in Northern Ireland and Leslie J. Francis' research concerning teenage religion and values in England and Wales. A sample of 1,585 13-to 15-year-old male pupils attending Catholic schools (N=712) and Protestant schools (N=873) completed the Teenage Religion and Values Survey. The present analyses highlight the significant differences in worldviews between the Catholic and Protestant adolescents across eight domains defined as: religious beliefs, paranormal beliefs, churchrelated attitudes, attitudes toward sex and family life, law-related attitudes, school-related attitudes, locality-related attitudes, and personal anxiety and depression. These data confirm that in many key ways young people growing up in these two religious communities are still living worlds apart.
Religion and Theology, 2006
A sample of 258 secondary school pupils attending year 8, 9, 10, and 11 classes in South Africa c... more A sample of 258 secondary school pupils attending year 8, 9, 10, and 11 classes in South Africa completed the empathy scale of the Eysenck Junior Impulsiveness Questionnaire, a semantic differential index of God images, and the short-form Revised Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrate a small but statistically significant correlation between positive God images and greater empathic capacity, after controlling for sex and for individual differences in personality.
Theological Studies/Teologiese Studies, Nov 5, 2018
Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2015
This chapter draws on the insights of Francis’s notion of the theology of individual differences ... more This chapter draws on the insights of Francis’s notion of the theology of individual differences and the insights of Jungian psychological type theory to examine the psychological profile of those who access cathedrals as visitors. Building on two smaller studies of cathedral visitors, the chapter draws on a database of 2,412 visitors to St Davids Cathedral in west Wales (1,058 men and 1,354 women). The cathedral attracts more introverts than extraverts, more sensers than intuitives, more judgers than perceivers, and slightly more thinkers than feelers. The data demonstrate that the psychological type profile of cathedral visitors is significantly different from the wider population from which they are drawn and that this is the case for both men and women. Comparisons with the population norms demonstrate that extraverts and perceivers are significantly underrepresented among cathedral visitors. The implications of these findings are discussed both for maximizing the visitor experiences of those already attracted to attend the cathedral and for discovering ways of attracting more extraverts and perceivers to explore this particular aspect of their cultural and religious heritage.
Pastoral Psychology, Feb 23, 2014
ABSTRACT This study addresses two research questions concerning the level and the correlates of m... more ABSTRACT This study addresses two research questions concerning the level and the correlates of mystical experience among adolescents in Germany. The first question concerns the extent to which mystical experience is reported by religiously unaffiliated young people compared with Christian affiliates and Muslim affiliates. The second question concerns the connection between reported mystical experience and psychopathology among these three groups of young people. Data provided by 578 Christians, 311 Muslims, and 248 religiously unaffiliated students between the ages of 15 and 19 years found levels of reported mystical experience only slightly lower among the religiously unaffiliated young people and found no evidence to connect reported mystical experience with psychopathology among any of the three groups.
Mental Health, Religion & Culture, May 27, 2016
The Santosh-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Hinduism was originally developed and tested among H... more The Santosh-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Hinduism was originally developed and tested among Hindus in the UK as part of a programme designed to assess religious affect across faith traditions. The present study tests the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the instrument among 149 students in Karnatak University Dharwad (74 males and 75 females).The data demonstrated an alpha coefficient of .90, suggesting a high level of internal consistency reliability and commending the instrument for further application within Hindu communities.
Rural theology journal, May 1, 2015
The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wi... more The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP url' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.
Contact, 2000
In recent years several different models of personality have been applied in studies among Anglic... more In recent years several different models of personality have been applied in studies among Anglican cler§y in England and Wales. For example, Robbins, Francis and Rutledge reported on the responses of 373 male clergy and 560 female clergy to the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.2 This model of personality operates in terms of three higher order dimensions of personality defined as extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. Musson3 reported on the responses of 441 male clergy to the 16PF. This model of personality operates in terms of sixteen lower order personality factors, defining high scorers as outgoing, intelligent, emotionally stable, assertive, happy-go-lucky, conscientious, venturesome, tender-minded, suspicious, imaginative, shrewd, apprehensive, experimenting, self-sufficient, controlled and tense. Francis, Payne and Jones5 reported on the responses of 427 male clergy to the Myers-Briggs Type lndicator. This model of personality operates in terms of four contrasting types defined as introversion and extraversion, sensing and intuition, thinking and feeling, judging and perceiving. Francis, Jones, Jackson and Robbins reported on the responses of 1,148 male clergy to the Eysenck Personality Profiler.8 This model of personality disaggregates each of the three major dimensions of personality into seven constituent personality traits. The seven traits which constitute the dimension concerned with introversion-extraversion are defined as activity, sociability, expressiveness, assertiveness, achievement orientation, dogmatism and aggressiveness. The seven traits which constitute the dimension concerned with stability-neuroticism are defined as low self-esteem, unhappiness, anxiety, dependency, hypochondriasis, guilt and obsessiveness. The seven traits which constitute the dimension concerned with tender mindedness toughmindedness (psychoticism) are defined as risktaking, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, manipulation, sensation seeking, masculinity and unreflectiveness. Presented within the psychological literature, these studies concerned with the personality of Anglican clergy have tended to concentrate on the psychological interpretation of the personality profile of the clergy. Particular attention has been given, for example, to
BRILL eBooks, 2012
This study is concerned with the Cathedrals of England and Wales as both emblems of national heri... more This study is concerned with the Cathedrals of England and Wales as both emblems of national heritage and as windows on spiritual awareness. The hypothesis is tested that the psychological type profile of visitors can predict levels of spiritual awareness. Data were provided by 2,327 visitors to St Davids Cathedral in West Wales who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales and a Likert-type question concerning the sense of God's presence. The data demonstrated that 42% of the visitors reported that they feel a sense of God's presence during their visit to the Cathedral. Moreover, the likelihood of having this spiritual awareness was significantly higher among feeling types than among thinking types. The theological implications of these findings are discussed.
Theological Studies/Teologiese Studies, Sep 2, 2009
A sample of 389 experienced preachers completed a measure of psychological type. They then read M... more A sample of 389 experienced preachers completed a measure of psychological type. They then read Mark 1:29-39 and recorded their evaluations of the four refl ections on this passage proposed by Francis (1997) and which were derived from the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching. Three main conclusions are drawn from these data. First, compared with the United Kingdom population norms, preachers within this sample were signifi cantly more likely to prefer introversion, intuition, feeling and judging. Second, preachers were four times more likely to prefer a sensing interpretation of the text rather than a thinking interpretation, emphasising the richness of the narrative rather than facing the theological questions posed by it. Third, there was little evidence to suggest that preachers were less likely to appreciate interpretations consonant with their less preferred or inferior function than those consonant with their most preferred or dominant function. In this sense, the richness of the SIFT method should be accessible to preachers of all psychological types.
Contact, 1996
SummaryThis study compares the personality of 556 stipendiary and 321 non-stipendiary female Angl... more SummaryThis study compares the personality of 556 stipendiary and 321 non-stipendiary female Anglican parochial clergy in Britain and Ireland according to Eysenck's dimensional model of individual differences. The findings suggest that the selection procedures tend to look for the same qualities in non-stipendiary and stipendiary clergy according to some dimensions of personality, but different qualities in non-stipendiary and stipendiary clergy according to other dimensions of personality.
Journal of Research on Christian Education, Mar 1, 2005
Data are provided from a sample of 2,670 young people aged between 13 and 15 years from Northern ... more Data are provided from a sample of 2,670 young people aged between 13 and 15 years from Northern Ireland. This article compares the replies of 1,206 young people who attend a Catholic school and 1,464 young people who attend a Protestant school. The data examine the relationship between frequency of personal prayer, perceived purpose in life, sex, age, church attendance, and personality (extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism). These data demonstrate a clear relationship between frequency of prayer and perceived purpose in life among the young people from the Protestant and Catholic communities. A growing number of studies are exploring the construct of purpose in life as an important psychological variable in predicting a range of key individual differences. Early research in this area, as reviewed by Yalom (1980), focused largely on the relation between purpose in life and psychopathology. Some studies during the past 2 decades have maintained this focus. For example, Newcomb (1986) found a negative rela-36, 127-141.
Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Nov 1, 2010
Employing the New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO), this study examines the theory that di... more Employing the New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO), this study examines the theory that different religious orientations are related to individual differences in psychological type as developed by Carl Jung and operationalised by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Data provided by 481 weekly churchgoing Christians who completed the MBTI and the NIRO demonstrated that quest religious orientation scores were higher among intuitives than among sensers, but were unrelated to introversion and extraversion, thinking and feeling, or judging and perceiving; that intrinsic religious orientation scores were higher among extraverts than introverts, higher among sensers than intuitives and higher among feelers than thinkers, but unrelated to judging and perceiving; and that extrinsic religious orientation scores were unrelated to any of the four components of psychological type. The findings relating to Jungian psychological type differences are applied in order to elucidate the psychological significance of extrinsic, intrinsic and quest orientations to religion. Religious orientation and psychological type 3 The relationship of intrinsic, extrinsic and quest religious orientations to Jungian psychological type among churchgoers in England and Wales The social scientific study of religion is a highly complex activity presenting challenges to exact conceptualisation and to precise measurement. Three methodological stages seem required for scales and instruments to become useful in empirical studies of religion. The first stage concerns identifying the various aspects of religiosity. The second stage concerns specifying the dimensions of these aspects. The third stage concerns establishing the empirical correlation of these aspects and clarifying the operational form of the construct. The first stage might distinguish, for example, between the two aspects of religious belief and religious practice. While belief and practice are likely to go hand in hand, it is neither conceptually nor empirically inevitable that they should do so. An individual might believe in the Christian God, but never attend church. The second stage might distinguish, for example, between different dimensions of practice, say the private practice of personal prayer and the public practice of church attendance. The third stage might explore, for example, whether individual differences in personal prayer and public church attendance are related in the same way or in different ways to specified personality factors, say introversion and extraversion. It is against this kind of background that the notion of religious orientation was introduced to the social scientific study of religion by the pioneering work of Gordon Allport (Allport, 1966; Allport & Ross, 1967). In the subsequent decades, the notion of religious orientation played an important part in empirically-based research, but the notion also became problematic. In their influential review of the notion of religious orientation, Kirkpatrick and Hood (1990) question whether this has in fact been the "boon or bane" in the psychology of religion. In many ways the jury may still be out in formulating a verdict.
Implicit Religion, Apr 1, 2004
Data from a survey of nearly 34,000 13–15 year-olds were analysed to examine the social signi fi ... more Data from a survey of nearly 34,000 13–15 year-olds were analysed to examine the social signi fi cance of self-identi fi ed religious af fi liation (belonging) unaccompanied by faith in God (believing). The data support the social signi fi cance of‘belonging without believing’. This signi fi cance is discussed in light of the concept of implicit religion.
Pastoral Psychology, May 1, 2005
A sample of 422 female undergraduate students, attending a university-sector college in Wales spe... more A sample of 422 female undergraduate students, attending a university-sector college in Wales specialising in teacher education and liberal arts subjects, completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator together with the Troldahl-Powell Dogmatism Scale. The data demonstrated that higher dogmatism scores are most clearly associated with sensing rather than intuition. Higher dogmatism scores are also associated with extraversion rather than introversion, and with judging rather than perceiving. No significant difference in dogmatism scores were found between thinking and feeling.
Journal of prevention & intervention in the community, Jul 1, 2012
The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wi... more The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP url' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.
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Papers by Leslie J. Francis