DIMENSIONS OF SPIRITUALITY AND A SENSE OF SACRED
Michal STRÍ%7Å„ENEC
Institute of Experimental Psychology
Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava
[e-mail]
In regard to our previous articles on spirituality issues, spirituality s relation to
religiosity, on spirituality scales and verification of a few selected ones (Strí~
enec 2001a, b,
2002, 2004, 2007) we help to clarify the contents of spirituality.
We used the familiar PSQ questionnaire for this matter (P. X
í%0Å„an), which describes (its
new version has 30 items and a 5 grade scale) five dimensions of spirituality (viz. Fig. 1).
More information on the dimensions see X
í%0Å„an, Jánoa
ová, 2005.
We used the Feeling of Sacredness Scale (FSS3) to determine a detailed content of
spiritual experience, whose author is P. Socha (2006). The research subjects read the
following instruction:  A sense of sacred, sacrum (full with sacredness, sanctification of
something) is the realization that the particular phenomenon, object (object, being, idea, or
concept  not necessarily religious) contains something unusual,  something more ,
 something different , even divine or transcending the common meaning of material
 normal reality. Please name at least 10 objects (phenomena) that evoke a sense of sacred in
you . Afterwards they should have written 10 objects (phenomena) that evoke the sense of
sacred in them. On the reverse side of the questionnaire the subject was asked to evaluate the
mentioned objects on a 1  5 scale (where 1 means low sacredness and 5 means the highest
sacredness). According to the author, a qualitative analysis of results creates a frequency order
of objects, evaluation order as well as a combined indicator of both orders.
OUR RESULTS
Our probe of 47 university students (mostly women) provided following results for the
PSQ (Fig. 1).
PSQ  average scores
Dimenzie Strí~
enec X
í%0Å„an Cohen´s d
Mysticism 18,55Ä…5,13 16,38Ä…5,70 0,40
Eco-spirituality 18,68Ä…4,62 19,73Ä…4,90 -0,22
Togetherness 23,04Ä…4,06 21,96Ä…4,34 0,25
Transcendental- 18,87Ä…5,28 17,01Ä…5,81 0,33
monotheistic
Moral involvement 20,10Ä…4,17 21,16Ä…4,64 -0,24
The results of P. X
í%0Å„an s research on the group of 408 subjects (personal notification)
are given for comparison. Comparison of our results in the individual dimensions (by Cohen s
d  see Fig. 1) with those of P. X
í%0Å„an shows that our values are higher mainly in the
dimensions Mysticism (d=0,40), Transcendental-monotheistic (d=0,33) but also in
Togetherness (d=0,25). They are lower in Eco-spirituality (d=0,22), Moral involment
(d=0,24). Our research displays also some significant correlations between the given
dimensions: Togetherness  Eco-spirituality 0.503 (xxx), Togetherness  Transcendence
0.535 (xxx), Mysticism  Transcendence 0.668 (xxx) and Mysticism  Moral involvement
0.440 (xxx). Significantly (sig in t-test .000) the average score is different in Togetherness
compared to other dimensions.
Results from the FSS3 scale submitted by 26 subjects (who at the same time
completed the PSQ questionnaire) show, that the highest frequency of all statements occurred
with objects categorized as religious field  24.6% (i.e. cross, angel, the Bible, Jesus Christ).
Following was the field of nature (18.46% - i.e. sunset, sea, the universe). Next categories
were love (4.64%), life (2.69%), mother (2.3%) and others (family, death, art).
A certain indicator is also the frequency of objects listed on 1st to 10th place. The first
three places were dominated by religion and nature.
Regarding the evaluation of the objects of sacred, the highest values on the 5 grade
scale belonged to the mysterious beings or phenomena (4.15), life (4.00), various emotions
(3.88  mainly love), religious field (3.78), sciences (3.75), nature (3.00) and others.
At the same time, we tried to calculate the average value of objects listed in the
individual places  it was about 3.80 points. There exists no clear trend, but the values
increased towards the end of the scale and on the 10th place it was 4.11 points.
Our attempt was to compare the PSQ and FSS3 results.
Fig. 2
Comparison of PSQ and the categories of sacred
PSQ dimensions Religion Nature Cohen´s d
Mysticism 18,90Ä…5,52 16,28Ä…5,49 0,47
Eco-spirituality 20,50Ä…3,68 16,42Ä…3,90 0,85
Togetherness 24,10Ä…2,72 21,57Ä…2,37 0,99
Transcendental-monotheistic 19,50Ä…4,03 16,57Ä…4,27 0,70
Moral involvement 18,90Ä…2,84 19,00Ä…3,41 -0,03
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Due to a low occurrence of some categories, in the process of relation determination
between PSQ dimensions and the occurrence frequency of the specific categories of sacred,
we concentrated only on two categories: religion and nature.
As presented in Fig. 2, subjects specifying predominantly religious phenomena were
different (determined by Cohen s d) from subjects specifying natural phenomena. Differences
were in four PSQ dimensions (mainly Ecospirituality and Togetherness)  there were none in
Moral involvement.
Moreover, our research within the category of religion, or nature respectively, was
investigating whether there are differences in the PSQ categories between subjects who
mentioned and those who did not mentioned the category.
Within religion (Fig. 3) the differences were at low level. Within nature (Fig. 4) were the
differences in all PSQ dimensions clearer (at the medium level).
Fig. 3
Comparison of PSQ and the categories of sacred - religion
PSQ dimensions mentioned not Cohen´s d
mentioned
Mysticism 18,90Ä…5,52 18,56Ä…4,84 0,06
Eco-spirituality 20,50Ä…3,68 17,56Ä…4,41 0,37
Togetherness 24,10Ä…2,72 22,87Ä…4,16 0,34
Transcendental-monotheistic 19,50Ä…4,03 18,25Ä…6,03 0,24
Moral involvement 18,90Ä…2,84 19,25Ä…4,04 -0,10
Fig. 4
Comparison of PSQ and the categories of sacred - nature
PSQ dimensions mentioned not Cohen´s d
mentioned
Mysticism 16,28Ä…5,49 19,57Ä…4,65 -0,65
Eco-spirituality 16,42Ä…3,90 19,52Ä…4,26 -0,76
Togetherness 21,57Ä…2,37 24,00Ä…3,88 -0,75
Transcendental-monotheistic 16,57Ä…4,27 19,52Ä…5,52 -0,69
Moral involvement 19,00Ä…3,41 19,15Ä…3,71 -0,04
On the basis of the comparison of PSQ with the values of the objects of sacred, we
found nonsignificant correlations. There is only one remark  the average value correlated
negatively with Eco-spirituality, but positively with Mysticism and Transcendece.
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 Comparison of our FSS3 results with the results of the scale s author is difficult as the
author divides the objects of sacred into 50 categories. For the comparison s purposes we
have summed up all his categories of religion, or nature into the category religion and
category nature. The comparison of the objects occurrence revealed the predominance of
religious field in both researches (Strí~
enec  24.6%, Socha  20.61%). Whereas our research
had nature in the second place (18.46%), P. Socha had love (5.57%) and family (5.44%) and
only then nature (3.37%). The highest average value in our research had mysterious
phenomena (4.15) and life (4.00), in P. Socha s research it was God (5.00), the pope (then
John Paul II.  4.93), family (4.85) and love ( (4.41).
CONCLUSION
Although questionnaire research provides the information on the general orientation of
subjects, qualitative approaches are necessary for a deeper understanding of the individual
components of spirituality. FSS3 method type development together with half-structured
interviews will create a more detailed image of spirituality s demonstration and role in the
individual s life. Our research results are only an inspiration in this field of study and
encouragement to an intercultural approach.
REFERENCES
X
Í
AN, P., JANO`
OVÁ, P., 2005, Spirituality: its psychological operationalization via
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SOCHA, P. M., 2006, Poczucie świetości jako rezultat przemiany poznawczej. In Doktór,
T. (ed.), Doświadczenie religijne. Warszawa (v tla%0ńi).
STRÍ%7Å„ENEC, M., 2001a, SÅ›%0Å„asná psychológia nábo~
enstva. Bratislava: IRIS.
STRÍ%7Å„ENEC, M., 2001b, Psychologické aspekty spirituality. 
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45, 2, 118-126.
STRÍ%7Å„ENEC, M., 2002, Religiosity and cognitive process. Dialogue and universalism, 12,
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STRÍ%7Å„ENEC, M., 2004, Empirical approaches to spirituality. Studia psychologica, 46, 2,
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STRÍ%7Å„ENEC, M., 2007, Nova
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experimentálnej psychológie SAV.
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