Psychological Analysis of Religious Experience: The Construction of the Intensity of Religious Experience Scale (IRES).

A new psychometric tool, the Intensity of Religious Experience Scale (IRES), measures subjective feelings of God's presence and absence among Catholics. Developed across three studies, the scale showed reliable and valid two-factor structure: experiencing God's presence and experiencing God's absence, both influencing aspects of life. The first study generated items from Catholic religious experience concepts. The second study, with 217 participants, used exploratory factor analysis and established three-week test-retest reliability. The third study, with 368 participants, confirmed the two-factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis and concurrent validation. The findings indicate that religious experience has a distinct structure that can be reliably measured.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the issues of religious experience, and the associated experience of God's presence and God's absence, and then its operationalization, as well as to construct the Intensity of Religious Experience Scale, IRES (Skala Intensywności Doświadczenia Religijnego, SIDR). The value of psychometric tool, the reliability and validity, were assessed. The study was conducted in three steps. Study 1 concerned the generalization of statements related to conception of Catholic religious experience; i.e., the subjective feeling whether one experiences God's presence and God's absence, and how such beliefs affect certain aspects of a person's life. Study 2 was carried out on the sample of 217 people and was designed to perform Exploratory Factor Analysis and to assess three-week test-retest reliability of the IRES. Study 3 was based on the sample of 368 people and was aimed to perform Confirmatory Factor Analysis and concurrent validation of the IRES. The analysis of the religious experience showed that this kind of human experience has its own structure. The explication of the subject has confirmed the existence of two positive factors of religious experience; i.e., a subjective sense of experience of God's presence and God's absence that can influence on life of people living in the Catholic religion environment.