Researcher Bias & Materialist Methodology: Kant, Sherif, and McGilChrist state real-world context is required. The Maxim that spirituality is "intangible and beyond the senses" (Miller & Thorensen) is wrong on several levels 1. That is a Definist fallacy" 2. There are tangible spiritualitiesno  proper categorize types  "rigid adherence" to quantification (McGilChrist) & laboratory experiments (K Deaux).
Creators: name: Peck Jr, Charles E.
Publisher: name: Knowledge Commons
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: United States. General Accounting Office. Program Evaluation and Methodology Division
subject: Science and Public Policy Studies Group
subject: Australian Association for the Study of Religions
subject: Council on Religion and International Affairs
subject: Action research--Methodology
subject: Aesthetics--Methodology
subject: Philippine Normal College
subject: Philippine literature
subject: Central Philippine University
subject: Philippine Normal University
subject: Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
subject: Spiritual Council of Churches
subject: National Spiritual Science Center
subject: Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth
subject: Fellowship for Spiritual Understanding

description: I.	Peer Reviewed Critique of Materialist Methodology 
Endorsed by Dr. Harold Koenig, Dr. Paul Wong, Dr. Stephen Farra, and Stefan Schindler 
A.	The psychologists, William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen, state in their article, 
"Spirituality, religion and health: an emerging field of research": "A philosophical basis for this perspective is materialism, the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses." That the pivotal part of that argument is a fallacy – specifically the "Definist fallacy" because it uses "loaded" terms which prevents any real dialogue or communication. "The Definist Fallacy occurs when someone unfairly defines a term so that a controversial position is made easier to defend. Same as the Persuasive Definition." (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) 

The critique – dating from 2017-2018 has had well over 10,000 views and zero criticisms 
1. Dr. Paul Wong, Professor Emeritus of Trent University edited two large volumes of The Human Quest for Meaning 
2. Dr. Harold Koenig, a medical doctor-psychiatrist, a well published and very well-known author and researcher stated about this article: "Charlie – makes perfect sense to me, 
3. Dr. Stephen Farra: Columbia International University Emeritus "Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all
4. Stefan Schindler, an award-winning author, and retired psychology-philosophy professor 

A.	Death is a Figment of your imagination - Narrative Illustration: 
Not too long ago, I happened to be talking with a Filipina college student at a street restaurant in General Santos, Philippines. I went over the materialist argument as explained by Miller & Thompson in the NIH article as "the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses." Since Filipinas have a reputation for being spiritual, I was a bit surprised when the Filipina college student/graduate emphatically agreed with the argument that spirituality is unreal and nonexistent because you can't measure it. So, I asked her to consider – for a moment - the concept of "death!" I pointed out that - of all things - "death" is "intangible and beyond the senses" and way beyond quantification. I emphasized that if you then follow the logic and reasoning of the materialist argument "Death is then a "figment of her imagination and superstitious nonsense." She paused for a second then agreed with my reasoning – which is a major success for me. 

As John Bargh, the Unconscious researcher observes, most people just really don't want to believe that any unconscious factors could influence their thinking - without their knowledge -likely because "control" or the belief od being ion control – is a prevalent factor in human consciousness. Unconscious researchers agree that the unconscious is the work horse of human consciousness. Modern unconscious research demonstrates that the "Unconscious processes" process 11 million bits of data per second vs 40 bits of data per second processed by cognitive processes, (From: Forbes: Your Brain Sees Even When You Don't June 24, 2013) John Bargh highlights "The idea that social perception is a largely automated psychological phenomenon is now widely accepted."

In discussing the frequent rejection that unconscious factors could be an influence, John Bargh states, "Imagine for a moment that you are a psychology professor who does experiments on conscious awareness. You keep finding that your subtle manipulations of people's judgments and even behavior are successful—causing your experimental participants to like someone or to dislike that same person, to feel happy or sad, to behave rudely or with infinite patience. However, none of your participants have a clue as to what caused them to feel or behave in these ways. In fact, they don't believe you, and sometimes even argue with you, when you try to explain your experiment to them and how they were caused to feel or behave. Now, let's say you are home with your family for the holidays or on vacation. Your aunt or brother-in-law asks politely what your job is like. You attempt to explain your research and even some of your more interesting findings. Once again you are met with incredulity. "This can't be so," says your brother-in-law. "I can't remember this ever happening to me, even once."

B.	"It is not true if the major premise is not true" – Justice Rehnquist
Of course, the idea that "death is a figment of your imagination" is absurd. But, then again, the idea that all spirituality is unreal" is equally absurd on several levels. Besides being a fallacy – an unscientific and meaningless label – there are several types of spirituality which are "tangible" and measurable. Below is a limited selection
•	A large amount of research has been done on the correlation between spirituality and compassion (Sprecher & Fehr, Saslow). 
•	Then there is the spirituality of music (C Hall), 
•	autistic spirituality (Dr I Visuri) 
•	A large number of studies of spirituality in grieving have been done:  Easterling (et al); Julie Parker; Gabriella Kilianova; Adams and Hyde: 
But as Brain Josephson emphasizes, much of academia is fixated on the supernatural.

C.	"severely restricted and limited in the analyses that can be performed" 
As Claudia Nielsen pointed out, the psychiatrist McGilChrist stated unequivocally that "The scope of inquiry and understanding of the Materialist Doctrine with its rigid adherence to the actually arbitrary principle of quantification and over-emphasis on physiological characteristics is severely restricted and limited in the analyses that can be performed." She goes on to ask as to whether the materialist "pendulum" has swung too far.

It is clear that in the case of the materialist maxim/Definist fallacy that materialist methodology and the "rigid adherence to quantification" did in fact "limit and restrict" analyses.  

D.	Real World Context-Evidence (Kant, McGilChrist, Sherif) vs the "Supernatural"
The "supernatural" or "supernatural beings" is a widespread maladaptive stereotype! By definition, it is beyond or outside the scope of scientific inquiry – which makes it a loaded term - categorizing that as a "Definist" -fallacy and worthless, meaningless word.  The definition of supernatural in Dictionary: "of a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature." The supernatural concept is widespread and frequently found in definitions of myths or prophecy. 
I asked my Filipina partner – who is Catholic – if God is "supernatural." She said, "Yes!" I then pointed out that Jesus Christ never once used the world "supernatural" in the Gospels and describes the Holy spirit as "Spirit and Truth" (John 4:23-24), guidance (Luke), "Spirit is Truth" (John 5:6) She then agreed with my argument that "supernatural" did not unequivocally equate to the "Biblical God" 
On top of that, the idea of the "supernatural comes with baggage: powers, the supernatural-unreal, crystal ball vision, all-knowing – all seeing, etc. If spirituality is about something it would be about "people."
 

E.	Mannheim Model: Value Laden Ideology
Willard A. Mullins observes, "Nevertheless, with these few exceptions, Mannheim holds that historical and political thought is determined by the socio-historical location of the thinker and the political aspirations and material ambitions of the group or groups to which he belongs. Such thought is inherently value-laden, one-sided, distorted, and therefore false." 
Materialists claim objectivity because they focus entirely on quantifiable data. However, as McGilChrist points out materialist methodology is a very value laden ideology -  which "severely restricts and limits analyses."
 Christina Maimone observes, "Ideology is, as Mannheim uses the term, a mode of thought that obscures the real condition of society to the group holding the thought, thereby stabilizing the shared social reality of the mode of thought.  Groups are simply unable to see particular facts that would undermine their conception of the world, that would show their collective perception of the social situation to be a misapplication of thought to experience."
Ideologies excluding information is consistent with research into selective attention: "Selective attention," also called "selectivity bias"—the tendency to orient oneself toward and process information from only one part of our environment to the exclusion of other parts, no matter how obvious those parts may be."  David DiSalvo