Religious Activities, Religious Orientation, and Aggressive Behavior

Abstract

Theorists and clinicians have long believed that religious practice may reduce aggression and other destructive behaviors. To date, most evidence for a relationship between religiosity and aggression comes from nonexperimental studies. The purpose of this exploratory study was twofold. First, to examine experimentally whether two religious practices reduce aggressive behavior; second, to determine if specific aspects of religious orientation and spiritual transcendence are related to level of aggression, expressed under controlled laboratory conditions. Sixty-two participants assigned to one of three experimental groups (memorize Bible passages, prayer/meditation, or control group) completed a laboratory task of aggression. Participants also completed religious and spirituality instruments, along with self-ratings of aggressive disposition. Results indicated that neither memorization of biblical passages nor meditation reduced aggression. Intrinsic-oriented religiosity participants self-reported lower aggression than extrinsic-oriented participants, but no differences were found on the laboratory task of aggression. Spiritual transcendence showed no behavioral aggression differences.It is difficult to peruse the media and not become aware that there has been an increase in religious, ethnic, and national conflicts over the past two decades. Surprisingly, little is known about the empirical relationship between religious identification and aggression. Religion has been used to justify aggressive behaviors over the course of history, yet little is known about the relationship between religious practices and aggression. The major religions espouse peace and nonaggression, yet the practical utility of these religious teachings has received only minimal attention. In other words, do religious practices and spiritual attitudes decrease aggressive behaviors?Since Allport and Ross's (1967) seminal article in which they proposed the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation (I/E), there has been a significant amount of research, revision, and debate surrounding the construct. Simplified, self-reported intrinsically oriented individuals live their faith (e.g., I try to live my life by what God wants) whereas extrinsically oriented individuals use their faith for personal gain (e.g., I feel good when I go to church). There has been recent reconsideration of the concept (Laythe, Finkel, and Kirkpatrick 2001) but it continues as one of the more popular means of distinguishing types of religious orientation in the psychology of religion literature. When related to aggression, because intrinsic individuals purport to live their faith, it would be expected that they would be less likely to respond vengefully than extrinsic individuals if placed in a potentially aggressive behavioral situation. This reduced vengeance should be particularly salient if people recently engaged in religious rituals designed to cue their faith (e.g., recent reading of a religious text or meditation). Conversely, given that extrinsic in...

Multi‐level risk factors and developmental assets associated with aggressive behavior in disadvantaged adolescents

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“…Thus, high religious orientation may serve as a form of social capital that enhances adolescent development. Indeed, researchers have reported that participation in religious activities and a belief in the importance of religion were associated with increased self-esteem (Le, Tov, & Taylor, 2007) and decreased aggression (Hollister-Wagner, Foshee, & Jackson, 2001;Leach, Berman, & Eubanks, 2008). Support from parents represents a positive proximal process in the family microsystem that also serves as an important source of social capital for youth.…”

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Appetitive Aggression in Rwandan Genocide Perpetrators

“…Hence, adherence to religious principles might be expected to be negatively related to aggression and violent behavior. A large number of studies have found that religiosity might inhibit aggressive behavior (Hardy, Walker, Rackham, & Olsen, 2012;Landau, Björkqvist, Lagerspetz, Österman, & Gideon, 2002;Leach, Berman, & Eubanks, 2008). However, the association between appetitive aggression and religiosity has received no attention to date.…”

Actitudes religiosas, valores y razonamiento moral prosocial en una muestra adolescente

“…En este sentido, es preciso distinguir entre la tendencia de las AR a incrementar la preferencia por las actitudes prosociales y el hecho de que la religiosidad aumente la conducta prosocial. La no correspondencia entre actitudes y conducta en el ámbito religioso ha sido explorada en varias investigaciones, documentando casos en los cuales los participantes reportan ser más prosociales cuando su conducta no respalda dicho reporte (Chaves, 2010;Leach, Berman, & Eubanks, 2008). De hecho, una debilidad importante de los estudios en la relación entre religiosidad y prosocialidad es el hecho de que, por lo general, se basan en reportes hipotéticos en lugar de respuestas conductuales, una problemática que también acosa a otras líneas de investigación en psicología moral.…”