Spirituality, interconnectedness, environmentalism, and peace: Roles for clinical psychologists

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine, both theoretically and empirically, beliefs, attitudes, and values that are related to the acceptance of peace. It was proposed that the concepts of Humanistic Spirituality, Interconnectedness, and Environmentalism would be a part of those beliefs and attitudes within our value system which are related to peace. These concepts have been theoretically linked to peace in psychology, theology, and in related fields, but have never been examined empirically together in one study. Thus, one purpose of this dissertation was to gain a greater understanding of the concepts and the values contained within them, and another purpose was to examine these concepts together empirically for the first time.;Two studies in consecutive years were conducted (183 subjects for Study 1 and 132 subjects for Study 2) in Southern California. Although a random sample was not used, an attempt was made to obtain a diverse and representative sample for both studies. Similar scales were used across studies, however some scales were changed from Study 1 to Study 2 in order to improve reliability and validity.;Analysis of the data indicated that Humanistic Spirituality, Interconnectedness, and Environmentalism are indeed correlated and interrelated concepts. Additionally, these concepts are highly related to acceptance of peace, and rejection of war. Humanistic Spirituality and Interconnectedness were the best predictors of acceptance of peace, whereas Environmentalism was the best predictor for rejection of War.;Another important finding was the significant correlation of Hierarchical Spirituality to Religiosity, and the fact that Humanistic Spirituality was not correlated with Religiosity at all. Finally, Hierarchical Spirituality was highly correlated with rejection of Peace, while Humanistic Spirituality was highly correlated with acceptance of peace. This supports prior theoretical work which proposes that any type of hierarchy, or dominance such as that contained in Hierarchical Spirituality, would be negatively related with peace, while the qualities of interrelation, and empathy, which are contained in Humanistic Spirituality would be positively related to peace. Suggestions of roles for clinical psychologists, both on an individual and societal level, are given in relation to the results. Further implications of these findings and proposals for future research are presented in the Discussion.