The relationship between religiosity and personality, a comparative analysis of Allport and Fromm

Religiosity and personality are analyzed from different perspectives and, several theoretical and applied researches are conducted both in Turkey and the West. Scientists who carry out these researches introduce different definitions and typologies of religiosity and personality according to their personal and professional views. So, there is not only one approach when considering the relationship between these two concepts. For the analysis of religiosity and personality, and the relationship between them, it will be useful to explain the approaches of Allport and Fromm that have different understanding in terms of their starting points and the results that they get. As a matter of fact, in Turkey, there is no study considering the views of Allport and Fromm comparatively. While Allport advocates that personality affects the religiosity, Fromm emphasizes that religiosity affects the personality. In this study, the relationship between personality and religiosity is examined in the context of Allport?s and Fromm?s ideas. As a result, personality and religiosity affect each other, but the effect of religiosity on personality is higher than the effect of personality on religiosity.