malinowski

• Malinowski


  Anthropologist who conducted research into the Trobriand Islanders in the South Pacific
• Malinowski's research


  • Analyzed the stress and anxieties brought about by the crises from different stages in the life cycle
• Religion


  Performed a psychological function at specific life stages: birth of a child, puberty, marriage, and death
• How religion functions


  1. Provides support in times of emotional stress linked to life events

  2. Develops social cohesion by preventing disruption to social order
• Life events marked by ceremonies

  • Birth of a child (e.g. baptism, bar/bat mitzvah)
  • Marriage
  • Death
• Functions of religious ceremonies

  • Remove anxieties and uncertainty of life events
  • Allow friends and family to come together to celebrate or grieve
  • Rationalize deaths as the will of the gods
• Trobriand Islander rituals


  • Performed before dangerous tasks like ocean fishing to alleviate stress and provide comfort
• Decline in religious belief in the West


  Religion fails to fulfill the psychological functions required, with other methods like science and psychology providing better understanding of emotional stress
• Religion does not necessarily need to fulfill psychological functions in contemporary Western society