Does religion make people more self-controlled? A review of research from the lab and life

Marcus, Zeve; McCullough, Michael E.

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.12.001

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This may explain why moralizations of piety and ritual observance tend to cluster with other puritanical values, so that "piety" is commonly listed, alongside temperance and restraint from carnal pleasures, among the core virtues of the "Purity/Sanctity" morality (Graham et al, 2013;Haidt, 2012;Haidt & Joseph, 2007). While it is arguably still unclear whether religious observance actually makes people more self-controlled (Marcus & McCullough, 2020, for a review), several lines of evidence suggest that people perceive piety as a means to facilitate moral self-control, and moralize it for this reason. First, people explicitly ascribe moral disciplining functions to ritual performance in various cultural contexts (e.g., Muslim tradition: Garden, 2014, p. 76;Rehman, 2019;Egypt: Schielke, 2009; Christian tradition: Spiegel, 2020; Japanese traditional culture: Mann, 2011; see also Table 1).…”

Section: Piety and Ritual Observance As Self-control Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral disciplining: the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

Fitouchi¹,

André²,

Baumard³

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why do many human societies condemn apparently harmless and pleasurable behaviors, such as lust, gluttony, drinking, drugs, gambling, or even music and dance? Why do they erect temperance, hedonic restraint, sobriety, decency and piety as cardinal moral virtues? While existing accounts consider this puritanical morality as an exception to the cooperative function of moral intuitions, we propose that it stems, like other moral concerns, from moral intuitions targeting cooperative challenges. Specifically, we argue that it emerges in response to a key feature of cooperation, namely that the latter is (ultimately) a long-term strategy, requiring (proximately) the self-control of appetites for immediate gratification. Puritanical moralizations condemn and praise behaviors which, although not intrinsically cooperative or uncooperative, are perceived as affecting people’s propensity to cooperate, by modifying their ability to resist short-term impulses conflicting with cooperative motivations. Drinking, drugs, unruly feasts, dances, and immodest clothing are condemned as stimulating people’s short-term impulses, thus facilitating uncooperative behaviors (e.g. adultery, violence, economic free-riding). Immoderate indulgence in harmless bodily pleasures (e.g. lust, masturbation, gluttony) is perceived as addictively reinforcing short-term impulses, thus making harder the self-control of future temptations to cheat. Moralizations of ascetic temperance, daily self-discipline, and pious ritual observance are perceived as nurturing the self-restraint consubstantial to a cooperative character, able to resist selfish temptations when the latter arise. We review psychological, historical, and ethnographic evidence supporting this account, and discuss its implications regarding the cross-cultural variations and cultural evolution of puritanical norms.

show abstract

Section: Piety and Ritual Observance As Self-control Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral disciplining: the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

Fitouchi¹,

André²,

Baumard³

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We also observed that importance of religion was not associated with individual ATOD use, was of border significance for multiple ATOD use, but was significantly inversely associated with increasing (2 or 3) ATOD behaviors, where students with lower religiosity were more likely to be associated with increasing (2 or 3) ATOD behaviors. In support, others found that rituals (most notably, prayer), along with exposure to religious environments and institutions in the real world influence self-control on the scale of weeks, months, and years [ 48 ]; and likewise, a recent review concluded that faith is a positive factor in addiction prevention and that the value of faith-oriented approaches to substance abuse prevention and recovery is indisputable [ 49 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Substance Use Behaviors: Prevalence and Correlates of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Use among University Students in Finland

Ansari

Salam

2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Virtually no studies appraised the co-use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) among Finn undergraduates. We assessed the associations between sociodemographic, health, academic, policy, and lifestyle characteristics (independent variables); and individual, multiple and increasing ATOD use (dependent variables) using regression analyses. Data were collected by online questionnaire at the University of Turku, Finland (1177 students). Roughly 22% of the sample smoked, 21% ever used illicit drug/s, 41% were high frequency drinkers, and 31.4%, 16.3%, and 6.7% reported 1, 2, or 3 ATOD behaviors respectively. Individual ATOD use was significantly positively associated with the use of the other two substances [adjusted odds ratio (Adj OR range 1.893–3.311)]. Multiple ATOD use was negatively associated with being single (p = 0.021) or agreeing with total smoking or alcohol ban policy on campus (p < 0.0001 for each); but positively associated with not living with parents (p = 0.004). Increasing ATOD behaviors were significantly less likely among those agreeing with total smoking or alcohol ban policy on campus (p range 0.024 to <0.0001). Demographics significant to either individual, multiple, or increasing ATOD use included males, being single, not living with their parents during semesters, and to some extent, religiosity. Age, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, self-rated health, health awareness, income sufficiency, and academic variables were not associated with individual, multiple, or increasing ATOD use. Education and prevention efforts need to reinforce abstinence from ATOD, highlight their harmful outcomes, and target risk groups highlighted above. University strategies should be part of the wider country-wide successful ATOD control policies.

show abstract

“…However, longitudinal studies have suggested that increases in religiosity are associated with subsequent increases in self-control. Marcus and McCullough (2021) suggest that the primary mechanism is engagement in rituals. Religion provides a variety of rituals, including prayer and church attendance, but also more extreme rituals (e.g., Xygalatas et al, 2013), which may both aid in self-control as well as in group cohesion.…”

Section: Self-controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Religion Special?

Moon

Cohen

Laurin

et al. 2022

Perspect Psychol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Religion makes unique claims (e.g., the existence of supernatural agents) not found in other belief systems, but is religion itself psychologically special? Furthermore, religion is related to many domains of psychological interest, such as morality, health and well-being, self-control, meaning, and death anxiety. Does religion act on these domains via special mechanisms that are unlike secular mechanisms? These could include mechanisms such as beliefs in supernatural agents, providing ultimate meaning, and providing literal immortality. We apply a critical eye to these questions of specialness and conclude that although it is clear that religion is psychologically important, there is not yet strong evidence that it is psychologically special, with the possible exception of its effects on health. We highlight what would be required of future research aimed at convincingly demonstrating that religion is indeed psychologically special, including careful definitions of religion and careful attention to experimental design and causal inference.

show abstract

Does religion make people more self-controlled? A review of research from the lab and life

Cited by 30 publications

References 28 publications

Moral disciplining: the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

Moral disciplining: the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

Multi-Substance Use Behaviors: Prevalence and Correlates of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Use among University Students in Finland

Is Religion Special?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About