How Do Perceptions of God as Autonomy Supportive or Controlling Relate to Individuals' Social-Cognitive Processing of Religious Contents? The Role of Motives for Religious Behavior

Abstract

Using self-determination theory as a guiding framework, this study examined whether perceptions of God as autonomy supportive and controlling were related to individuals' belief in a transcendent reality and to their social-cognitive style of approaching religious contents (i.e., literal and rigid vs. symbolic and flexible). Further, we examined whether individuals' motives for religious behavior (i.e., autonomous vs. controlled) would mediate these associations. In a sample of 267 religiously active participants, we found that the two types of perceptions of God were positively related to belief in transcendence but were differentially related to a symbolic approach. Specifically, a perception of God as autonomy supportive related positively and a perception of God as controlling related negatively to a symbolic approach. Some evidence was obtained for a mediating role of motives for religious behavior in these associations. Discussion focuses on how self-determination theory can contribute to research on the psychology of religion.Correspondence should be sent to Bart Soenens,

The Mediational Role of Psychological Basic Needs in the Relation Between Conception of God and Psychological Outcomes

“…Soenens et al (2012) provided evidence for the validity and the factor structure of this scale. Subjects responded on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree), and all items began with the same stem, namely ''The God I believe in…''.…”

“…To measure the degree to which participants conceived God as autonomy-supporting or controlling, the Italian version of the Autonomy-supporting and Controlling God Scale (Soenens et al 2012) was used. Soenens et al (2012) provided evidence for the validity and the factor structure of this scale.…”

“…Rizzuto 1979). Soenens et al (2012) were the first to use self-determination theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan 2000;Vansteenkiste et al 2010) to study representations of God. SDT (Deci and Ryan 2000;Vansteenkiste et al 2010) is a broad framework encompassing human motivation, personality, and social development; it has a rich tradition in research into the quality of interpersonal relationships; there is a large body of research demonstrating the importance of the distinction between interpersonal contexts support autonomy and those which are controlling (La Guardia and Patrick 2008;Soenens and Vansteenkiste 2010).…”

“…close friendships and romantic partnerships (Bartholomew et al 2011a;Costa et al 2014b;Deci et al 2006). Soenens et al (2012) applied this theoretical work to representations of God and hypothesised that religious people can conceive God's interpersonal style as either relatively autonomy-supporting or relatively controlling. People who attributed an autonomysupporting interpersonal style to God would conceive of him as inclined to give them the opportunity to choose from various ways of being religious; they would consider God aware of human weaknesses and acknowledging of an individual's perspective (i.e.…”

“…God). Following SDT, the concept of a controlling God would represent a need-thwarting context, whilst the concept of an autonomysupporting God perception would represent a need-support context (Soenens et al 2012;Vansteenkiste and Ryan 2013). Furthermore, when examined the effects of context in relation to need-related outcomes, measures of satisfaction rather than frustration have typically been used.…”