Personality and religious orientation: shifting sands or firm foundations?

Abstract

SummaryBeit-Hallami and Argyle (1997) concluded that individual differences in religiosity are inversely related to psychoticism but independent of extraversion and neuroticism. The aim of the present study is to test the generalisability of that conclusion within the context of Eysenck"s dimensional model of personality by distinguishing between different conceptualisations of religiosity and by distinguishing between different overall levels of religiosity in the sample. A total of 517 undergraduate students in Wales completed the shortform of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with the New Indices of Religious Orientation. The data demonstrated that in the sample as a whole intrinsic religious orientation was associated with low psychoticism scores, but independent of extraversion scores and neuroticism scores; that extrinsic religious orientation was associated with low psychoticism scores and high neuroticism scores, but independent of extraversion scores; and that quest religious orientation was associated with high neuroticism scores and low extraversion scores, but independent of psychoticism scores. The pattern of relationships changed, however, when separate analyses were conducted among weekly churchgoers and among individuals who never attended church. These data suggest that the pattern of relationship between personality and religion may vary both according to the form of religiosity assessed and according to the samples being studied. The conclusion is drawn that Beit-Hallami and Argyle"s conclusion is misleading unless nuanced in terms of the aspects of religiosity and the populations to which it applies. Currently the largest number of studies concerned with the relationship between personality and religion has been conducted within Eysenck"s framework of the three orthogonal dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. When Beit-Hallahmi and Argyle (1997) updated their earlier review of empirical findings in the psychology of religion, they revised their earlier conclusion. They maintained that at that time the empirical evidence supported the conclusion that scores recorded on indices of religiosity were inversely related to psychoticism scores, but independent of both extraversion scores and neuroticism scores.Evidence for this conclusion can be drawn from two sets of studies. The first set of studies adopted church attendance as the indicator of religiosity. Included in this series were Ireland (Lewis, 1999(Lewis, , 2000b(Lewis, , 2001Lewis & Joseph, 1994), Republic of Ireland (Maltby, 1997;Maltby & Lewis, 1997), United Kingdom (Bourke & Francis, 2000 Francis & Bennett, 1992;Shuter-Dyson, 2000; Bourke, Francis, & Robbins, 2005), and United States (Lewis & Maltby, 1995;Roman & Lester, 1999). Personality and religious orientation 5The consistent finding that religiosity is negatively related to Eysenck"s personality dimension of psychoticism demands a theoretical explanation. One explanation is provided by Eysenck"s own wider theory relating personality and...

Implicit religion, explicit religion and purpose in life: an empirical enquiry among 13- to 15-year-old adolescents

“…A number of recent studies have demonstrated, for example, that Eysenck's three dimensional model of personality (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991) is able to predict individual differences in religiosity, including studies among school pupils (Francis & Wilcox, 1994, 1996Smith, 1996;Fearn, Lewis & Francis, 2003;Williams, Robbins, & Francis, 2005Francis, Williams, & Robbins, 2009, 2010, students (Maltby, 1995;Lewis & Maltby, 1996;Francis, 1997Francis, , 2010, school teachers (Francis & Johnson, 1999), senior citizens (Francis & Bolger, 1997), and the general adult population (Kaldor, Francis, & Fisher, 2002).…”

Protestant Millennials, Religious Doubt, & the Local Church

“…In the EPP, both Hills et al and Francis found it positively related to QRO (Hills et al 2004;Francis 2010). In the BFI, Henningsgaard and Arnau noted the same (Henningaard and Arnau 2008).…”

“…However, Francis noted quest religion was associated with low extraversion and not associated with psychoticism (Francis 2010). With the Big Five Inventory (BFI), Henningsgaard and Arnau found QRO related to high neuroticism, high openness, and low conscientiousness (John et al 1991;Henningaard and Arnau 2008).…”

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