Spiritual barriers to humility: a multidimensional study

Abstract

Many spiritual and religious traditions view spiritual pride as contrary to humility; however, the rising empirical research on spirituality and humility has involved limited investigation of the variety of spiritual barriers that inhibit a humble disposition. The present study investigated three distinct spiritual barriers (spiritual grandiosity, insecure attachment to God, and hunger for idealisation) as independent predictors of dispositional humility among graduate trainees in the helping professions (N = 162) from a Protestant-affiliated university in the USA. Results indicated that each construct of interest predicted lower levels of humility when controlling for both spiritual impression management and the other spiritual barriers. These findings supported theoretical assertions of the discriminant validity of each independent variable in predicting lower levels of humility and supported construct validity of the humility measure. Conceptual considerations and suggestions for future research and graduate training are discussed.

A mixed-method intervention study on relational spirituality and humility among religious leaders.

“…Specifically, we found that changes in differentiation and humility were conditional upon lower initial levels of their respective scores, and conditional upon lower initial levels of insecure God attachment. These findings suggest that greater felt insecurity may inhibit change, consistent with prior findings of associations between greater insecure God attachment and (a) lower humility (e.g., Jankowski et al, 2019; Jankowski & Sandage, 2014a; Sandage et al, 2015) and (b) lower differentiation (Jankowski et al, 2019; Jankowski & Sandage, 2014a). These findings are also consistent with the secure base function of attachment, that is, less felt security can inhibit exploration and growth (Bell, 2009).…”

Recent work on intellectual humility: A philosopher’s perspective

“…For example, Hill et al (2016) note that humility 'requires a sense of security and enduring personal worth' (p. 119). Sandage et al (2015) note some earlier research on 'healthy attachment' shows that attachment can 'prepare a person to transcend the ego' (p. 209). Interestingly, general humility is also thought to be a basis for security and meaning: humility has been called a 'quiet virtue' (Lavelock et al, 2014), in the sense that it provides a foundation for selfacceptance as well as freedom from harmful social comparison and concern for status.…”

“…La Rochefoucauld thought people live with considerable ignorance and obscurity about their actual motives and intentions, meaning that actors may be oblivious to the artifice of their own humble pretense. Recently, Sandage et al (2015) pointed out that religious practices can induce 'delusional humility,' where arrogant people believe they are humble (p. 214). That phenomenon is not confined exclusively to religious believers, of course.…”

“…In a similar vein, research by Van Tongeren, Davis et al (2016) examines what they call 'growth-focused' and 'security-focused' orientations toward religious belief. (These constructs come out of the 'quest religiousness' paradigm and are related to 'dwelling' and 'seeking' religious belief noted by Sandage et al, 2015). On one hand, religious believers who are growthfocused aim to 'span ideological differences' and engage in 'questioning, doubt, and tentativeness' about their own ideas (Van Tongeren, Davis et al 2016, p. 78).…”

Humility in family relationships: Exploring how humility influences relationships in religious families.

“…As a foundational virtue and tenet in many religions, humility is often associated with religious processes. On the intrapersonal level, humility is associated with lower levels of psychological struggle with God (Grubbs & Exline, 2014), lower levels of spiritual grandiosity, and lower rates of insecure attachment (Sandage et al, 2015). On the interpersonal level, humility is associated with religiosity, generosity (Exline & Hill, 2012), compassion (Krause & Hayward, 2014), and spiritual support (Krause, 2012).…”