Spirituality, naturalism, and agnosticism: investigating the principles and benefits of worldviews in psychology

Worldviews are systems of beliefs about the nature of reality. The current thesis used three studies with online surveys to develop psychometric measures for three worldviews - Spirituality, Naturalism, and Agnosticism. It tested these worldviews alongside personality traits, cognitive tendencies, and well-being variables. Findings showed that worldview beliefs could be incorporated into trait personality constructs, that they are influenced by relevant cognitive functions, and that they have diverse impacts on well-being outcomes. Implications were discussed in terms of theoretical principles of worldview psychology, and the practical and ethical issues involved with addressing and modifying worldview beliefs in clinical psychology.