http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud -

• Perhaps the most significant contribution Freud made to Western thought was his argument for the existence of an unconscious mind. However this was not his own discovery. In 1890, when psychoanalysis was still unheard of, William James, in his monumental treatise on psychology, examined the way Schopenhauer, von Hartmann, Janet, Binet and others had used the term 'unconscious' and 'subconscious'.
• The unconscious was for Freud both a cause and effect of repression.
• Freud's oedipus theory was based on his own interpretations of his youth - which may or may not have occurred in actuality, as he came up with this theory in his 40s.
• To Freud, desire is always defined in the negative term of lack - you always desire what you don't have or what you are not, and it is very unlikely that you will fulfill this desire. Thus his psychoanalysis treatment is meant to teach the patient to cope with his or her insatiable desires.
• Freud believed that humans were driven by two conflicting central desires: the life drive (libido) (survival, propagation, hunger, thirst, and sex) and the death drive (Thanatos). The death drive represented an urge inherent in all living things to return to a state of calm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James -

• William James defined true beliefs as those that prove useful to the believer. Truth, he said, is that which works in the way of belief. This is known as Pragmatism.
• Additional tenets of James's pragmatism include the view that the world is a mosaic of diverse experiences that can only be properly understood through an application of "radical empiricism." Radical empiricism presumes that nature and experience can never be frozen for absolutely objective analysis, that, at the very least, the mind of the observer will affect the outcome of any empirical approach to truth since, empirically, the mind and nature are inseparable.
• William James's emphasis on diversity as the default human condition has maintained a strong influence in American culture, especially among liberals and his radical empiricism lies in the background of contemporary relativism.
• James's description of the mind-world connection, which he described in terms of a "stream of consciousness," had a direct and significant impact on avant-garde and modernist literature and art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung -

• Carl Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that modern humans rely too heavily on science and logic and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm.
• Jung's work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a spiritual purpose beyond material goals. Our main task, he believed, is to discover and fulfill our deep innate potential.
  
• Jung perceived that this journey of transformation is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine.
• Jung thought spiritual experience was essential to our well-being.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Batson - Daniel Batson thinks that pure altruism is possible. He also mentions Quest, a form of being religious where questions are seen as important as answers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Leuba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Personality_and_Social_Psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Experimental_Social_Psychology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience - William James believes that the study of the origin of an object or an idea does not play a role in the study of its value. He asserts that existential judgment, or the scientific examination of an object's origin, is a separate matter from that object's value. One must not consider an object's physical derivation when making a proposition of value.
William James described two types of spiritual health:

• The healthy mind. The healthy-minded have a naturally positive outlook on life. James assumed that some people simply are happy. "We find such persons in every age, passionately flinging themselves upon their sense of the goodness of life, in spite of the hardships of their own condition, and in spite of the sinister theologies in which they may be born. From the outset, their religion is one of union with the divine".
• The sick soul. Those people having a sick soul are those who are depressed and see the evil in all things. James believed that the only way for a sick soul to cure itself is to undergo a powerful mystical experience, or religious conversion. He argues these so-called "twice born" souls turn out to be the most healthy in the end, since they have seen life from both perspectives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology_of_religion

I'm finally going to do the studying my way. This journal will be employed for the sole purpose of keeping tabs on this. The first part of this study will revolve around the following line:
"Evolution can be seen as God's way of carrying out his job of creation, so there is no need to assume it is in conflict with religion." (source: Psychology and Religion: An Introduction by Michael Argyle, page 3)
On a personal level as well as on that of religious belief, I disagree with this statement. The task I have set myself is to write an informed piece of argumentative/ persuasive writing on the subject, using this statement as a title. The first draft is due by April 11th and the final draft by May 16th. For research, I will be reading a minimum of three tomes on the subject, as well as various pages online. These pages will all be noted here.
Ta-da.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Argyle_%28psychologist%29

• Research the writings of Keith Ward (Regius Professor of Theology, Oxford University Church c.1996)
• "Evolution has not been able to explain human consciousness or our concern with rationality, beauty or morals." (source: Psychology and Religion: An Introduction by Michael Argyle) - find additional sources and expand.
• Examine Freud's theory of religious ritual being purely obsessional neurosis. Are there other psychologists who agree with this at all? What do others say? Is it totally unfounded, as Argyle says?
• Remember: non-ontological approach, on some levels.