For example, researchers like G. Stanley Hall and William James conducted studies on such topics as religious conversion.[14][15] In contrast, the public perspective on religion began to shift two decades later.[15] Instead of religion being seen as an integral part of an individual's life and development and thus a necessary topic to research, scientists and scholars alike viewed religion as a hindrance to the progression of science and as a topic no longer applicable to the current times.[15][16][17]