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Worldview, The Concept of

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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

Introduction

Worldview is the outlook one has about life. It is a paradigm by which the individual or the group interprets reality and acts upon life. It is how we normally view and conceptualize the world. Worldview can be a personal-subjective endeavor or a communal-collective enterprise, depending on the social context and particular subculture – whether it is predominantly individualistic or collectivistic. Worldviews represent our pragmatic framework on existence and shapes our beliefs, attitudes, actions, and philosophies. Basically, the term worldview is used in a broad sense to entail a collection of impressions, perceptions, and phenomena and has roots in anthropology, psychology, sociology, morality, spirituality, mortality, and cosmology.

The scope and nature of worldviews can be general or specific, reflecting a global perspective (transnational-multicultural) or local heritage (indigenous-monocultural). Worldviews can be informed by religious thoughts, teachings, and...

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Correspondence to Naji Abi-Hashem .

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Abi-Hashem, N. (2017). Worldview, The Concept of. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_9357-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_9357-6

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