Kevin L Ladd
Biographic Data
| ID | 331827 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kevin L Ladd |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kevin L |
| FAMILY NAME | Ladd |
| SIGNATURE | LADD K L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Indiana University South Bend |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2079-2167 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 31 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Open Science of Religion Project @ the IJPR
Science often starts with serendipity. Penicillin was discovered when Alexander Fleming accidentally left some petri dishes uncovered and detected that the mold that had formed destroyed the bacter
The Open Science of Religion Initiative in the psychology of religion and spirituality
Bernard Spilka (1926–2025)
Bernard "Bernie" Spilka died on Friday, May 23, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. Bernie was born Thursday, August 12, 1926, in New York City, New York. After World War II service in the Army Air Force Medical Corps, he attained a psychology BA (1949) from New York University. Graduate education at Purdue University included both MA (1950; group influence on individual judgment) and PhD (1952; delayed speech feedback) degrees. In 1953, while working for…
Sixty years of studying the sacred
For those 1,802 articles, we coded article features, citation counts, and utilized open science practices.Results: Collectively, 63% were empirical articles (37% nonempirical).The median sample size (average N-pact factor) was 263 and median citation count was 1 in PsycINFO and 11 in Google Scholar.Among the 1,509 empirical studies, 90% used a quantitative-only analytic method (6% qualitative-only, 4% mixed-methods), 76% utilized a cross-sectiona…
Medication Assisted Recovery
Stigma is a well-documented barrier to effective individual and community response to mental illness and, in recent years, is a recognized impediment to prevention and treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). This study uses focus group data to explore stigmatizing views of medication assisted recovery (MAR) among those in recovery and the people, organizations, and communities that surround them, with attention to implications for long-term …
It’s OK
Spoken at many critical life and death moments, the phrase “it’s ok” often belies the actual situational reality. Conceptualizing “it’s ok” as a form of prayer, the present paper considers how to understand the paradox of claiming that things are “ok” or “acceptable” when they clearly are not. The conclusion is reached that “it’s ok” as a prayer intends to tell a story of hope that recognizes and points beyond the frailty of the human condition
Faits, valeurs, normes
Cet article est consacré à la critique, par Hilary Putnam, de la dichotomie entre fait et valeur, défendue par les positivistes, et entre valeur et norme, défendue par Habermas. Critiquer ces dichotomies permet de dénoncer comme faux problèmes certaines implications juridiques du relativisme culturel. Mais cela rend aussi possible une interprétation de l’ordre juridique en tant que description vraie ou fausse de la réalité sociale
Bodily feedback
Most emotion theories recognise the importance of the body in expressing and constructing emotions. Focusing beyond the face, the present research adds needed empirical data on the effect of static full body postures on positive/negative affect. In Studies 1 (N = 110) and 2 (N = 79), using a bodily feedback paradigm, we manipulated postures to test causal effects on affective and physiological responses to emotionally ambiguous music. Across both…
Fundamentalism as dogmatic belief, moral rigorism, and strong groupness across cultures
Is fundamentalism universal across religious cultures? We investigated this issue by focusing on three questions: (1) the dimensionality of fundamentalism, as measured by the Religious Fundamentalism Scale (Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 2004); (2) the very nature of fundamentalism as denoting dogmatic belief, moral rigorism, or strong groupness; and (3) interreligious prejudice as predicted uniquely, additively, or interactively by religiousness and so…
A Psychology of Religion via Thick Phenomenology in Thin Places
Prof. Ralph Hood’s career can be approached from many angles. One such perspective is that his work has consistently engaged in-depth interactions with people to understand the thick, rich, details of their individual stories. The context for these investigations has been predominately one of mystical or ineffable experiences that occur in “thin spaces” involving decisive moments with regard to identity and behavior. In this paper, we explore the…
Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging
Based on theorization on the four basic dimensions of religiousness, Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging, and corresponding cognitive, emotional, moral, and social motives and functions of religion, we developed a measure and investigated cross-cultural consistency of the four dimensions as well interindividual and cross-cultural variability. Data were collected from 14 countries varying in religious heritage: Catholicism, Protestantism, …
The Archive for the Psychology of Religion
As the Archive for the Psychology of Religion transitions to the SAGE publishing house, this editorial outlines the current vision and principles guiding the way forward. This includes a strong emphasis on publishing work that demonstrates transparency, precision, breadth, and depth in areas of theory, research, and pedagogy. The primary article types are described and the submission practicalities are addressed
A Web-based Database for Drawings of Gods
This original web-based database was developed at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) as part of the international research project “Drawings of gods”, which explores children's representations of supernatural agents. Its primary purpose is to store and organize data and metadata to be easily accessible to all affiliated researchers. However, anyone interested in the matter can view the drawings, as they were made publicly available. At pres…
Conceptualizing “Prayer” for an East–West Dialogue and Beyond
Neuroimaging of prayer
Studies investigating the brain in relation to religious experiences via neuroimaging tools have increased considerably. Most assume without verification that religious experience (e.g., prayer) while inside an imaging machine is the same as in normal settings. Addressing the validity of this assumption, we utilized a mock fMRI to compare self-reported typical prayer experience and 3 experimental conditions (silent room, initial fMRI, and acclima…
“I Heard the Voice. I Felt the Presence”
Research concerning the relation between physical health and prayer typically employs an outcome oriented paradigm and results are inconsistent. This is not surprising since prayer per se is not governed by physiological principles. More revealing and logically compelling, but more rare, is literature examining health and prayer from the perspective of the participants. The present study examines the health–prayer experience of 104 Christians in …
Oração e Saúde
A pesquisa quantitativa tem sido predominante nos estudos sobre oração. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa baseada na análise de conteúdo, este estudo examina as relações entre oração e saúde. Os dados são provenientes de 104 vídeos com entrevistas gravadas com participantes de igrejas Católicas, Protestantes e Pentecostais. A análise levantou quatro categorias descritivas do uso da oração: 1. Como estratégia de coping (enfrentamento) (62,5%);…
Introduction to Special Issue in Honor of Bernard Spilka
Metaphysical Chauvinism and Perceptions of Deviance in Religion, Atheism, and Alien Realms
Metaphysical chauvinism suggests that prejudicial attitudes extend beyond earthly concerns. Two studies examined this notion with attention to potential preferential treatment accorded religious belief systems. In Study 1, participants (N = 169) were randomly assigned to rate 1 of 6 target groups (people with mental illness, atheists, people claiming alien visitations, people reporting angelic visitations, religious people, or “people like me”) r…
Religious / Spiritual
Enquanto estudiosos debatem os termos “espiritualizado/a” e “religioso/a”, surgem no cenário pessoas que prontamente se auto-identificam como sendo “espiritualizadas mas não religiosos/as” (SNR) ou “religiosas mas não espiritualizadas” (RNS) ou ainda como sendo, simultaneamente, “espiritualizadas e religiosas” (BSR), ou então, “nem espiritualizadas nem religiosas (NONE). Este estudo investigou como estas categorias auto identificatórias relaciona…
International Association for the Psychology of Religion Meeting
How God Changes Your Brain
New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. xii + 348 pp. $27.00 hardcover, $16.00 paperback. Tigons, and ligers, and God—Oh my! As with the crossbreeding of big cats, efforts to combine neuroscience and the
Meaning, God, and prayer
This paper highlights unique aspects of social support in a religious context, with an emphasis on the practice of prayer. We first discus presuppositions that drive work in the area including (1) adoption of a “medical model” of evaluation and (2) the corollary influence of existential chauvinism. We next outline how religious groups differ from others with respect to the provision of meaning, the position of a deity, and the practice of prayer.…
Religiosity, the need for structure, death attitudes, and funeral preferences
Study one (N = 309) verified the common assumption that religious beliefs provide a sense of structure. Religion and structure indices contributed both shared and unique variance to the prediction of hope, affect, and life satisfaction. In a second study, 368 participants self-reported death attitudes, desire for structure, and answered questions concerning their own death (e.g., disposition of body, style of memorial). Strongly held religious be…
Inward, Outward, Upward Prayer and Big Five Personality Traits
Personality and prayer are both conceptualized as focusing on issues of connectivity with the self and beyond. Individual participants each recruited a peer to join the study (total N = 140). Participants (n = 70) rated themselves according to multi-item scales that detail five personality factors (extraversion, intellect, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability; Abridged Big Five Circumplex). They also responded to an instrumen…
Inward, Outward, and Upward
Recent investigations concerning ways people employ prayer typically suffer from either a fundamentally atheoretical approach or an indiscriminant mixing of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. The present study examines the theory that a general concept of prayer-as-connection contains prayers of inward (connection with oneself), outward (human-human connection), or upward (human-divine connection) foci. Participants rated words or p…
Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging
Based on theorization on the four basic dimensions of religiousness, Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging, and corresponding cognitive, emotional, moral, and social motives and functions of religion, we developed a measure and investigated cross-cultural consistency of the four dimensions as well interindividual and cross-cultural variability. Data were collected from 14 countries varying in religious heritage: Catholicism, Protestantism, …
Inward, Outward, Upward Prayer
This study provides support for a model that conceptualizes prayers as the means to establish cognitive connections in three directions: inward (self-connection); outward (human-human connection); and upward (human-divine connections). A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates a single general prayer factor divisible into three subfactors that are in turn comprised of eight discrete scales. Measures of general religiosity, the need for structur…
The Content of Religious Experience
This study assessed the degree to which the contents of religious experiences agree with the expectations and rated desirability of various experiential contents. The respondents were 178 people who reported having had religious experiences, 57 without such encounters comprised an expectation group, and 112 persons who constituted a desirability rating group. Thirty-seven elements reported by those who had religious experiences and five factor sc…
Children's God Concepts
Children (N = 968, ages 3-18) from eight Christian groups drew pictures of God. Analyses investigated their use of symbols and deity gender. Age-related results indi- cate a linear increase in the use of symbols with age. Also, youngest and oldest partici- pants drew more neuter figures in contrast to the masculine images of the middle children. Group membership was not found to directly influence symbolism. Explora- tory analyses suggest denomin…
The life course of psychological resilience
The Content of Religious Experience
This study assessed the degree to which the contents of religious experiences agree with the expectations and rated desirability of various experiential contents. The respondents were 178 people who reported having had religious experiences, 57 without such encounters comprised an expectation group, and 112 persons who constituted a desirability rating group. Thirty-seven elements reported by those who had religious experiences and five factor sc…
The Human Core of Spirituality
Children's God Concepts
Children (N = 968, ages 3-18) from eight Christian groups drew pictures of God. Analyses investigated their use of symbols and deity gender. Age-related results indi- cate a linear increase in the use of symbols with age. Also, youngest and oldest partici- pants drew more neuter figures in contrast to the masculine images of the middle children. Group membership was not found to directly influence symbolism. Explora- tory analyses suggest denomin…
Inward, Outward, and Upward
Recent investigations concerning ways people employ prayer typically suffer from either a fundamentally atheoretical approach or an indiscriminant mixing of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. The present study examines the theory that a general concept of prayer-as-connection contains prayers of inward (connection with oneself), outward (human-human connection), or upward (human-divine connection) foci. Participants rated words or p…
Inward, Outward, Upward Prayer
This study provides support for a model that conceptualizes prayers as the means to establish cognitive connections in three directions: inward (self-connection); outward (human-human connection); and upward (human-divine connections). A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates a single general prayer factor divisible into three subfactors that are in turn comprised of eight discrete scales. Measures of general religiosity, the need for structur…
Religiosity, the need for structure, death attitudes, and funeral preferences
Study one (N = 309) verified the common assumption that religious beliefs provide a sense of structure. Religion and structure indices contributed both shared and unique variance to the prediction of hope, affect, and life satisfaction. In a second study, 368 participants self-reported death attitudes, desire for structure, and answered questions concerning their own death (e.g., disposition of body, style of memorial). Strongly held religious be…
Inward, Outward, Upward Prayer and Big Five Personality Traits
Personality and prayer are both conceptualized as focusing on issues of connectivity with the self and beyond. Individual participants each recruited a peer to join the study (total N = 140). Participants (n = 70) rated themselves according to multi-item scales that detail five personality factors (extraversion, intellect, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability; Abridged Big Five Circumplex). They also responded to an instrumen…
Meaning, God, and prayer
This paper highlights unique aspects of social support in a religious context, with an emphasis on the practice of prayer. We first discus presuppositions that drive work in the area including (1) adoption of a “medical model” of evaluation and (2) the corollary influence of existential chauvinism. We next outline how religious groups differ from others with respect to the provision of meaning, the position of a deity, and the practice of prayer.…
How God Changes Your Brain
New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. xii + 348 pp. $27.00 hardcover, $16.00 paperback. Tigons, and ligers, and God—Oh my! As with the crossbreeding of big cats, efforts to combine neuroscience and the
International Association for the Psychology of Religion Meeting
Religious / Spiritual
Enquanto estudiosos debatem os termos “espiritualizado/a” e “religioso/a”, surgem no cenário pessoas que prontamente se auto-identificam como sendo “espiritualizadas mas não religiosos/as” (SNR) ou “religiosas mas não espiritualizadas” (RNS) ou ainda como sendo, simultaneamente, “espiritualizadas e religiosas” (BSR), ou então, “nem espiritualizadas nem religiosas (NONE). Este estudo investigou como estas categorias auto identificatórias relaciona…
Oração e Saúde
A pesquisa quantitativa tem sido predominante nos estudos sobre oração. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa baseada na análise de conteúdo, este estudo examina as relações entre oração e saúde. Os dados são provenientes de 104 vídeos com entrevistas gravadas com participantes de igrejas Católicas, Protestantes e Pentecostais. A análise levantou quatro categorias descritivas do uso da oração: 1. Como estratégia de coping (enfrentamento) (62,5%);…
Introduction to Special Issue in Honor of Bernard Spilka
Metaphysical Chauvinism and Perceptions of Deviance in Religion, Atheism, and Alien Realms
Metaphysical chauvinism suggests that prejudicial attitudes extend beyond earthly concerns. Two studies examined this notion with attention to potential preferential treatment accorded religious belief systems. In Study 1, participants (N = 169) were randomly assigned to rate 1 of 6 target groups (people with mental illness, atheists, people claiming alien visitations, people reporting angelic visitations, religious people, or “people like me”) r…
Neuroimaging of prayer
Studies investigating the brain in relation to religious experiences via neuroimaging tools have increased considerably. Most assume without verification that religious experience (e.g., prayer) while inside an imaging machine is the same as in normal settings. Addressing the validity of this assumption, we utilized a mock fMRI to compare self-reported typical prayer experience and 3 experimental conditions (silent room, initial fMRI, and acclima…
“I Heard the Voice. I Felt the Presence”
Research concerning the relation between physical health and prayer typically employs an outcome oriented paradigm and results are inconsistent. This is not surprising since prayer per se is not governed by physiological principles. More revealing and logically compelling, but more rare, is literature examining health and prayer from the perspective of the participants. The present study examines the health–prayer experience of 104 Christians in …
A Web-based Database for Drawings of Gods
This original web-based database was developed at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) as part of the international research project “Drawings of gods”, which explores children's representations of supernatural agents. Its primary purpose is to store and organize data and metadata to be easily accessible to all affiliated researchers. However, anyone interested in the matter can view the drawings, as they were made publicly available. At pres…
Conceptualizing “Prayer” for an East–West Dialogue and Beyond
The Archive for the Psychology of Religion
As the Archive for the Psychology of Religion transitions to the SAGE publishing house, this editorial outlines the current vision and principles guiding the way forward. This includes a strong emphasis on publishing work that demonstrates transparency, precision, breadth, and depth in areas of theory, research, and pedagogy. The primary article types are described and the submission practicalities are addressed
Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging
Based on theorization on the four basic dimensions of religiousness, Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging, and corresponding cognitive, emotional, moral, and social motives and functions of religion, we developed a measure and investigated cross-cultural consistency of the four dimensions as well interindividual and cross-cultural variability. Data were collected from 14 countries varying in religious heritage: Catholicism, Protestantism, …
A Psychology of Religion via Thick Phenomenology in Thin Places
Prof. Ralph Hood’s career can be approached from many angles. One such perspective is that his work has consistently engaged in-depth interactions with people to understand the thick, rich, details of their individual stories. The context for these investigations has been predominately one of mystical or ineffable experiences that occur in “thin spaces” involving decisive moments with regard to identity and behavior. In this paper, we explore the…
It’s OK
Spoken at many critical life and death moments, the phrase “it’s ok” often belies the actual situational reality. Conceptualizing “it’s ok” as a form of prayer, the present paper considers how to understand the paradox of claiming that things are “ok” or “acceptable” when they clearly are not. The conclusion is reached that “it’s ok” as a prayer intends to tell a story of hope that recognizes and points beyond the frailty of the human condition
Faits, valeurs, normes
Cet article est consacré à la critique, par Hilary Putnam, de la dichotomie entre fait et valeur, défendue par les positivistes, et entre valeur et norme, défendue par Habermas. Critiquer ces dichotomies permet de dénoncer comme faux problèmes certaines implications juridiques du relativisme culturel. Mais cela rend aussi possible une interprétation de l’ordre juridique en tant que description vraie ou fausse de la réalité sociale
Bodily feedback
Most emotion theories recognise the importance of the body in expressing and constructing emotions. Focusing beyond the face, the present research adds needed empirical data on the effect of static full body postures on positive/negative affect. In Studies 1 (N = 110) and 2 (N = 79), using a bodily feedback paradigm, we manipulated postures to test causal effects on affective and physiological responses to emotionally ambiguous music. Across both…
Psychology (23 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (21 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Philosophy (15 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Prayer (9 works) · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs (7 works) · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion (6 works) · Psychotherapist (6 works)