Proposals for Research on ‘Primal’ World Beliefs

With the aim of promoting empirical research that explores how primal world beliefs ("primals") are formed, maintained, change, or influence non-trivial outcomes or psychological processes, the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center, with support from the Templeton Religion Trust, has announced the Primals Research Awards. Through the program, the center will awar a single grant of $250,000 and two grants of $125,000, to be administered over twenty-four months (July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024) to principal investigators interested in examining primals through the lens of any of eight disciplinary ("topic") perspectives: clinical, positive, health, organizational, political, personality, social, or developmental psychology.

To be eligible for an award, principal investigators must have a PhD and be in a contracted faculty position at an accredited college or university (exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis). The competition is international. Only one proposal will be accepted per principal investigator.

Letters of Intent (two pages maximum) are due September 26. For the formal announcement, evaluation criteria, and background information on primals and the eight topic areas, see the Penn Positive Psychology Center website.