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Social Behaviour and Religion

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Recent headlines have focused on sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. ... Religion and politics ... the interconnections between religion and politics. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Social Behaviour and Religion


1
Social Behaviour and Religion
2
Religion as social
  • Religion can be defined as an inherently social
    phenomenon.
  • In the Christian tradition, the social nature of
    the teachings is quite striking, e.g., Jesus
    promises his presence when two or three have
    gathered (Mathew 1820).
  • Prominent theories in personality-social
    psychology have been employed in the analysis of
    religious behaviours, including dissonance theory
    (Brock, 1962), attribution theory (Bulman
    Wortman, 1977), and theories of altruism (Batson
    et al., 2001).

3
Different ways of being religious intrinsic and
extrinsic
  • The extrinsically motivated person uses his/her
    religion while the intrinsically motivated person
    lives his/her religion (Allport Ross, 1967).
  • Intrinsic (I) and extrinsic (E) religiosity have
    been conceptualized as two independent variables.

4
Quest
  • The quest (Q) scale was intended to focus on
    growth or seekership quality in religious
    development (Batson et al., 1993).
  • Many researchers have opted to use all three
    scales (I, E, and Q).

5
Prejudice
  • Research suggested that religion and prejudice
    had a curvilinear relationship the marginal
    church member manifested more prejudice than
    either the non-active or the most active members
    (Gorsuch Aleshire, 1974).
  • Fulton et al. (1999) found that attitudes towards
    gay men, of those scoring high on I, were no more
    negative than attitudes to others who violated
    their moral code.
  • In general, a religion of social convention (as
    measured by E) is more likely to be related to
    prejudice against members of an outgroup.

6
Prosocial behaviour and helping
  • The nobel peace prize frequently goes to
    individuals motivated by strong religious
    beliefs.
  • Those who were spirituality highly committed were
    more than twice as likely to be currently working
    in giving service to the needy as those who were
    highly uncommitted (Gallup, 1984).
  • The help religious people extend to the needy has
    its limits, particularly when the needy exhibit
    behaviour that violates a religious standard
    (Thurston, 2000).
  • Americans donate about 1 of their incomes to
    religious charities and about 1 to other causes
    (Myers, 1992).
  • Time donated to religious organisations is
    estimated to be equivalent to 40 of the value of
    monetary contributions (Hoge et al., 1998).






























































7
Honesty
  • Very few studies assessing the impact of
    religiosity on lying.
  • Religiosity appears to be the best predictor of
    attitudes about honesty (Katz et al., 1994).
  • Religious respondents are sometimes, but not
    consistently, less likely to cheat than their
    non-religious peers.

8
Sexuality
  • Many beliefs about Christianitys vicious and
    violent hostility to sex are modern day
    stereotypes (Gardella, 1985).
  • Cochran and Begley (1981) reported a strong
    correlation between religious commitment and
    belief that extramarital sex is wrong.
  • Religious people less likely to report have
    extramarital affairs (Janus Janus, 1993).
  • It is generally found that religious orthodoxy or
    conservatism is associated with greater prejudice
    toward homosexuals (Morrison Morrison, 2002).

9
Key Paper
  • Lewis, C.A., Maltby, J.(2000). Conservatism and
    attitude towards Christianity.   Personality and
    Individual Differences, 29, 793-798.

10
Sexuality
  • One small scale study suggests that spiritual
    conflicts affects two-thirds of all gays and
    lesbians (Schuck Liddle, 2001).
  • Such studies have not adequately addressed the
    extent to which cognitive dissonance, social
    identity theory, or other frameworks might best
    account for peoples sexual orientation.

11
Religion related abuse
  • Recent headlines have focused on sexual abuse of
    children by Catholic priests.
  • One of the most striking findings of the National
    Review Board for the Protection of Children and
    Young People (2004), established to examine the
    scandal, was the lack of research into relevant
    questions.

12
Religion related abuse
  • In terms of physical abuse fundamentalist
    religious beliefs are associated with a greater
    likelihood of violence among Jewish (Shor, 1998)
    and Christian (Ellison et al., 1996) families.
  • Compared to victims whose abuse did not involve
    religion, victims of religious related physical
    abuse showed greater levels of depression,
    anxiety, hostility, psychoticism and other
    psychological problems years later (Bottoms et
    al., 2004).

13
Crime and punishment
  • Religious behaviour and beliefs exert a
    significant, moderate deterrent effect on
    individuals criminal behaviour (Baier Wright,
    2001).
  • 75 of Americans in general favour the death
    penalty, but among those who say religion is
    important to them the figure increases to 84
    (Gallup Lindsay, 1999).

14
Crime and punishment
  • Many different theoretical viewpoints are
    available for application to these issues (e.g.,
    cognitive dissonance theory, social identity
    theory, rational choice theory).
  • These approaches could be examined jointly to
    gain an understanding of the way individual-level
    and social-level influences combine to account
    for behaviour .

15
Religion and politics
  • Psychological theories can be helpful in
    understanding the interconnections between
    religion and politics.
  • Political leaders use religion to garner and
    maintain power (Eposito, 1987 Rozell, 2003).
  • Religious belief expresses itself as engagement
    with society and with political structures
    (Smith, 2004 Green, 2004).
  • However, this effect is moderated by the degree
    to which an individuals religion is accepted by
    society (Wuthnow Hackett, 2004).

16
Religion and politics
  • By integrating broad macro analyses, such as
    political science and sociology, with more
    micro psychological theories we will better
    understand the ways in which religion and other
    social institutions affect people.

17
Religion, peace, conflict, and war
  • Direct violence entails actions that are
    intentional, dramatic and can kill people
    outright (Christie et al., 2001).
  • Structural violence is more indirect and chronic
    and results in long-term adverse effects that
    decrease ones lifespan (Christie et al., 2001).
  • Recent history offers examples of religious
    bodies and individuals advocating direct violence
    for religious reasons (Juergensmeyer, 2003).
  • To the extent that societys resources are being
    allocated inequitably, structural violence is
    being done (Christie et al., 2001).

18
Key Books
  • Lewis, C.A., Rogers, M.B., Loewenthal, K.M.,
    Amlot, R., Cinnirella, M., Ansari H. (Eds.)
    (In prep). Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom
    Volume 3. Wales, UK Edwin Mellen Press.
  • Lewis, C.A., Rogers, M.B., Loewenthal, K.M.,
    Amlot, R., Cinnirella, M., Ansari H. (Eds.)
    (In prep). Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom
    Volume 2. Wales, UK Edwin Mellen Press.
  • Lewis, C.A., Rogers, M.B., Loewenthal, K.M.,
    Amlot, R., Cinnirella, M., Ansari H. (Eds.)
    (In prep). Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom
    Volume 1. Wales, UK Edwin Mellen Press

19
Religion, peace, conflict, and war
  • Efforts to reduce direct violence are known as
    peacemaking.
  • Religion can play an important role in
    understanding the peaceful resolution of conflict
    e.g., issue statement, hold vigils.
  • Actions to address structural violence are known
    as peace building.
  • Examples of peace building include pastoral
    letters calling for the fair distribution of
    resources, equal access to political power,
    social justice (Pennock, 2000).

20
Religion, peace, conflict, and war
  • On an individual level, religious peace building
    is exemplified by Gandhis promotion of peace
    drawing on ecumenism.
  • Potentially useful theoretical perspectives for
    research include, moral judgement, social
    exchange theory, conflict resolution.
  • For example, stereotyping research could examine
    the effect on peoples beliefs of learning that
    Palestinian suicide bombers are often educated,
    middle-class, and without deep religious
    commitment (Pettigrew, 2003).

21
Key Paper
  • Lewis, C.A., Mullan, M. Quigley, C.F. (2002).
    Martyrdom, terrorism and September 11th Beliefs
    in Northern Ireland. Aspects of Terrorism and
    Martyrdom Seminar 1 - What roles are played by
    religious beliefs and identity in supporting
    views of violent activists as terrorists or
    martyrs? Royal Holloway College, University of
    London, London, England, 1st May 2002.

22
Possible theoretical frameworks
  • Some of the classic studies relevant to the
    psychology of religion, such as When Prophecy
    Fails (Festinger et al., 1956) have been based
    on relevant theories, such as cognitive
    dissonance theory.
  • Social identity theory is adopted by many
    involved in peace psychology (e.g., Christie et
    al., 2001).
  • Sociology of religion has devoted a great deal of
    attention to the theory of secularization that
    religious adherence declines as societies become
    more technologically advanced.

23
Implications
  • One the one hand, religion can promote prejudice,
    intolerance and war.
  • On the other hand, religion can promote
    understanding, tolerance, and peace.
  • Because religion represents an intersection of
    many interests, examining its social implications
    necessarily requires a willingness to consider
    divergent theoretical and disciplinary
    perspectives.
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