Psycho-Epistemological Styles and Religious Beliefs

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between psycho- epistemological styles and three religious dimensions. The psycho-epistenological itans which were used in our study are based on the three factors (naive realism, logi- cal inquiry, and sceptical subjectivism) Wilkinson and Migotsky (1994) found in their attempt to develop a single comprehensive measuring device. The factor analysis with vari~nax rotation on the 32 epistenological items did indeed reveal three signifi- cant factors, but those could better be interpreted as dualism, relativism, and commit- ment (Perry, 1970). The religious dimensions were orthodoxy, historical relativism, and extemal criticism (Hutsebaut, 1996, 1997a, 1997b). Results showed that dualism correlates with orthodoxy and extemal criticism, and that relativism and com~nihnent correlate with historical relativism.