Religion, Personality, and Social Behavior

441 Pages·2013·2.663 MB·English

by  Vassilis Saroglou

Religion, Personality, and
Social Behavior
Psychological interest in religion, in terms of both theory and empirical
research, has been constant since the beginning of psychology. However,
since the beginning of the 21st century, partially due to important social
and political events and developments, interest in religion within person-
ality and social psychology has increased.
This volume reviews the accumulated research and theory on the major
aspects of personality and social psychology as applied to religion. It
provides a high-quality integrative, systematic, and rigorous review of
that work, with a focus on topics that both are central in personality and
social psychology and have allowed for the accumulation of solid and
replicated and not impressionist knowledge on religion. The contribu-
tors are renowned researchers in the fi eld who offer an international per-
spective that is both illuminating, yet neutral, with respect to religion.
The volume’s primary audience are academics, researchers, and advanced
students in social psychology, but it will also interest those in sociology,
political sciences, and anthropology.
Vassilis Saroglou is Professor of Psychology at the University of Lou-
vain (UCL) and has been a visiting professor at Arizona State University
and Fulbright scholar at the College of William and Mary. He has an
extensive record of publications in personality, social, and cross-cultural
psychology of religion, fundamentalism, and spirituality. He currently
serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal for the Psychol-
ogy of Religion. He is a recipient of the Early Career Award (2005) and
the Mentoring Award (2013) of APA-Division 36, and the Quinquennial
Godin Prize (2006) of the International Association for the Psychology
of Religion.
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Religion, Personality, and
Social Behavior
Edited by Vassilis Saroglou
First published 2014
by Psychology Press
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Psychology Press
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Psychology Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editor to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial material, and
of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent
to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN: 978-1-84872-984-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-84872-665-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-12535-9 (ebk)
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Contents
List of Contributors vii
Preface ix
1 Introduction: Studying Religion in Personality and
Social Psychology 1
VASSILIS SAROGLOU
PART I
Personality, Cognition, and Emotions 29
2 Personality and Religiousness 31
MICHAEL C. ASHTON AND KIBEOM LEE
3 Religion and the Self 46
CONSTANTINE SEDIKIDES AND JOCHEN E. GEBAUER
4 Religious Cognition 71
WILL M. GERVAIS
5 Religion, Negative Emotions, and Regulation 96
CHRISTOPHER T. BURRIS AND RALUCA PETRICAN
6 Positive Emotions and Self-Transcendence 123
PATTY VAN CAPPELLEN AND BERNARD RIMÉ
PART II
Social Behavior, Morality, and Intergroup Relations 147
7 Religious Prosociality: Personal, Cognitive, and Social
Factors 149
JESSE LEE PRESTON, ERIKA SALOMON, AND RYAN S. RITTER
vi Contents
8 Religion, Prejudice, and Intergroup Relations 170
WADE C. ROWATT, TOM CARPENTER, AND MEGAN HAGGARD
9 Values and Religiosity 193
SONIA ROCCAS AND ANDREY ELSTER
10 Religion, Sexuality, and Family 213
YEXIN JESSICA LI AND ADAM B. COHEN
11 Religion and Domestic Political Attitudes around the
World 230
ARIEL MALKA
12 Religion, Mental Health, and Well-Being: Social Aspects 255
R. DAVID HAYWARD AND NEAL KRAUSE
PART III
Religion in Context: Age, Gender, and Culture 281
13 Religion and Cognitive, Emotional, and Social
Development 283
PEHR GRANQVIST
14 Gender Differences in Religion 313
LESLIE J. FRANCIS AND GEMMA PENNY
15 Religious and National Cultures 338
KATHRYN A. JOHNSON AND ADAM B. COHEN
16 Conclusion: Understanding Religion and Irreligion 361
VASSILIS SAROGLOU
Author Index 393
Subject Index 415
List of Contributors
Michael C. Ashton, Brock University
Christopher T. Burris, St. Jerome’s University
Tom Carpenter, Baylor University
Adam B. Cohen, Arizona State University
Andrey Elster, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Leslie J. Francis, University of Warwick
Jochen E. Gebauer, Humboldt University of Berlin
Will M. Gervais, University of Kentucky
Pehr Granqvist, Stockholm University
Megan Haggard, Baylor University
R. David Hayward, University of Michigan
Kathryn A. Johnson, Arizona State University
Neal Krause, University of Michigan
Kibeom Lee, University of Calgary
Yexin Jessica Li, University of Kansas
Ariel Malka, Yeshiva University
Gemma Penny, University of Warwick
Raluca Petrican, Rotman Research Institute
Jesse Lee Preston, University of Illinois
Bernard Rimé, University of Louvain
Ryan S. Ritter, University of Illinois
Sonia Roccas, The Open University of Israel
viii List of Contributors
Wade C. Rowatt, Baylor University
Erika Salomon, University of Illinois
Vassilis Saroglou, University of Louvain
Constantine Sedikides, University of Southampton
Patty Van Cappellen, University of North Carolina
Preface
Understanding psychologically religion, spirituality, and irreligion (for
brevity, “religion”) as a domain of human life involving personality,
cognition, emotions, and leading to social consequences is certainly a
legitimate and important task for personality and social psychology.
Research on this domain, innovative in both theory and methodology,
has importantly developed in the last 15 years. A volume focusing spe-
cifi cally on personality and social psychology of religion and synthesiz-
ing the fascinating accumulated evidence of the last years was missing.
I have been fortunate and honored to get the collaboration of highly
dynamic and creative authors who contributed with chapters that offer
each the best possible picture on the respective subject. The authors
mostly belong to the younger generation of established experts with
strong publication experience in excellent journals in personality, cog-
nition, emotion, social psychology, cultural, political, developmental,
and health psychology, as well psychology of religion and evolutionary
psychology. Many of the authors have also signifi cant expertise as edi-
tors or associate editors in journals of their respective fi elds. My warm-
est thanks go fi rst to these colleagues who got enthusiastic about the
idea and contributed happily and timely with substantial and original
chapters.
It would also be a shame not to mention and thank for their ongoing
contribution to my own work, research, and teaching, in psychology
of religion, my students, PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers,
as well as colleagues and collaborators from many places in the world,
including my own department. Moreover, my early steps on this domain
of research have benefi ted from insights, advice, and encouragement by
several, today really senior, colleagues, from both Europe and the US. I
also thank warmly the team in Psychology Press, and in particular Paul
Dukes, who welcomed warmly the idea for this volume, and, together
with Lee Transue, managed successfully and timely the whole process,
from the proposal’s submission, through reviewing, till publication.
The publication of this volume marks a happy coincidence. It was
in 1993 that Dan Batson and colleagues published Religion and the