A General Attribution Theory for the Psychology of Religion

Spilka, Bernard; Shaver, Phillip R.; Kirkpatrick, Lee A.

doi:10.2307/1386272

Cited by 287 publications

(169 citation statements)

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“…Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 1985) proposed that the availability of thoughts of God would inXuence whether believers would make either secular or religious attributions for events. This hypothesis resembles the attention theory of attribution, in that it suggests that the salience of thoughts of God should inXuence attributions of agency.…”

Section: Self Versus Other Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of subliminal priming of self and God on self-attribution of authorship for events

Dijksterhuis

Preston

Wegner

et al. 2008

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

102

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Three studies investigated how subliminally primed thoughts of an agent prior to action can affect ascriptions of authorship for that action. Participants competed against a computer program to remove words from a computer screen. Participants reported greater feelings of authorship when primed with first person singular pronouns, and lower feelings of authorship when primed with “computer.” We also investigated whether authorship feelings could be affected by priming subjects with a supernatural agent (i.e., God). Feelings of authorship decreased when participants were primed with God, but only among believers

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Section: Self Versus Other Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of subliminal priming of self and God on self-attribution of authorship for events

Dijksterhuis

Preston

Wegner

et al. 2008

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In relation to spirituality, control of this type can be Godmediated, as evidenced by the participants in this study. Because both religion and sense of control can shape the appraisal of many types of stressful life events and the assessment of capacities to cope successfully (Spilka et al, 1985), an analysis of the association between perceived control and an individual's relationship with God can be extremely important in understanding outcomes for psychological health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wong-McDonald and Gorsuch (2000) found that spiritual surrender was negatively related to self-directing coping and positively associated with the collaborative and deferring coping approaches and that surrender correlated positively with religious importance, intrinsic religiousness, spiritual well-being, and locus of control in God. Hypotheses based on a more specific attribution theory than the more general theory developed by Spilka et al (1985) mentioned above, also seem to support the positive benefits of surrender (Proudfoot & Shaver, 1976). Proudfoot and Shaver focused on individuals' interpretations of personal experiences and behavior.…”

Section: Spiritual and Religious Copingmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Interpretive control, according to Thompson and Collins (1995), is a form of secondary control that refers to reinterpreting an event to make it more acceptable. This is also related to the importance of attributions and meaning-making as stressed by some psychologists of religion (e.g., Proudfoot & Shaver, 1975;Spilka et al, 1985). For instance, John, upon the loss of his sister in a school bus accident, said:…”

Section: Regained Perceived Controlmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Spiritual Turning Points and Perceived Control over the Life Course

Fiori

Hays

Meador

2004

Int J Aging Hum Dev

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Recent evidence indicates that spirituality and religion are associated with both physical and psychological health. Because a belief that rewards are largely determined by external forces tends to be detrimental to mental health, the idea that God can be equated with such an external force seems contradictory to the proven benefits of religion and spirituality. The purpose of this article is to examine changes in perceived control in the context of spiritual turning points as uncovered in the narrative histories of 30 elderly people. We propose that for many people who derive benefits from religion or spirituality, God may act as a mediator, in the sense that trusting in God provides personal control. In addition to creating a model of God-mediated control, the study's findings suggest a relationship between recall for type of control during a spiritual turning point and the interpretation of that turning point in late life.

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“…Various other studies indicate that someone's involvement in religious, congregational and church-related activities has positive value for the psychological functioning of an individual because the church as a community of believers offers a source of hope, stability, intimacy and support in life crises (Cowart et al, 1995;Maton & Pargament, 1987;McAdoo & Crawford, 1991;Pargament, 1997;Pretorius et al, 1990;Spilka et al, 1985). It seems as if little research has been done with regard to the effect of programmes utilising the involvement of the church community in people's wellbeing (Cowart et al, 1995;Pargament et al, 1991;Rissmeyer, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%