Moral self-regulation, moral identity, and religiosity

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Sarah J Ward, Laura A King

Abstract

The association between religiosity and morality identified in self-reports has received limited support from studies of actual behavior. We propose that religiosity variables are likely to contribute to moral behavior in the context of moral self-regulation. Five studies examined the prediction that people who strongly endorse the items "I try hard to live all my life according to my religious beliefs" and "My whole approach to life is based on my religion" and people who report strong God belief would exhibit heightened moral emotions and prosocial behaviors after moral self-image (MSI) threats. Study 1 (N = 169) demonstrated that considering a recent moral transgression (the manipulation used in Studies 2-5) resulted in lower MSI, regardless of participants' levels of endorsement of religion-related items. Study 2 (N = 207) showed that following a threat to MSI, religiosity variables predicted heightened negative affect and self-conscious moral emotions. Studies 3 through 5 (combined N = 616) showed that following MSI threats, individuals endorsing intrinsic religiosity and God belief items showed increased prosocial task completion (Studies 3 and 5) and decreased cheating on a word-solving task (Study 4). Study 5 demonstrat...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 25, 2020·Journal of Religion and Health·Jhanghiz Syahrivar
Oct 15, 2020·Current Opinion in Psychology·Samantha AbramsKurt Gray
Oct 26, 2021·PloS One·Brodie C DakinBrock Bastian
Feb 4, 2022·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Sarah WardLaura King

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