Lecture 7: Religion, Spirituality and Well-Being Flashcards
What is religion?
A fixed system of ideas or ideological commitments in an institutional, formal, outward, doctrinal form
What is spirituality?
A personal, subjective side of religious experience that is individual, subjective, emotional, inward, unsystematic and freeing expression
What are the problems with traditional distinction of religion and spirituality?
- Implicit is idea that religion is bad and spirituality os good especially in cultures that value autonomy and individualism
- Ignores that all forms of spiritual expression unfold in social context and virtually > all organized faith traditions are interested in subjective experience
- Ignore that both involve transcendence > the need to relate to something greater than oneself and self-transcendence (vertical (High power) and horizontal (bigger/nature/people)
Types of Religiosity
- motivational extrinsic (means to an end) vs.i intrinsic (pursued for its own sake) religiosity
- institutional religiosity> focus on social & behavioural aspects (what you do to express it)
- ideological religiosity> focus on religious beliefs (cognitive aspect/moral values)
- personal devotion> focus on personal, internalized devotion (captures subjective experience)
5 components of spirituality + alternate definition
- Process through which people seek to discover, hold on to, and, when necessary, transform whatever they hold sacred in their lives
- search takes place in a larger religious context, traditional or non-traditional
5 components
* cognitive orientation towards spirituality
* experiential/phenomenological dimension
* existential well-being
* paranormal beliefs
* religiousness
Empirical evidence across nations, SWB (Ls, Pa, Na) and religiosity
- life satisfaction: national religiosity *SWB negatively and moderately correlated with religiosity with national religiosity
- positive feelings: national religiosity
*nations religiosity didn’t matter for PA - negative feelings: national religiosity
*nation L.S religiosity is negatively correlated > more religiosity more N.A
Empirical evidence across individual > relationships being crrelations
At individual-level:
* Life satisfaction: weak negative correlations (more religiosity with lower life satisfaction)
* Positive feelings: weak positive correlations (higher levels of religiosity and higher positive affect = weak relationship)
* Negative feelings: weak positive
correlation (high levels of religiosity with higher levels of negative affect)
Individual-level results in relation to across-nation results > high vs low nations + what does it suggest
In highly religious nations > Highly religious individuals have higher LS & PA
and lower NA
In low religious nations: > Religious individuals have similar LS, but higher PA and NA
* Suggests it may be person-environment fit that matters for SWB > benefits of well-being are if you are in an environment that fits high religiosity due to support and norms
Individual-level results to understand role of difficult country circumstances
Living in difficult circumstances:
* Have lower SWB
* Religious individuals had
higher LS & PA and lower NA
Living in good circumstances:
* Have higher SWB
* Religious individuals had
slightly lower LS and higher PA and NA
Societal circumstances and personal circumstances > what did it matter more then/less than
individual level
* L.S: religiosity mattered less than gender & personal circumstances, but more than age
- PA: religiosity mattered less than personal circumstances, but more than age and gender
- NA: religiosity mattered less than personal circumstances, age and gender
*when it comes to well-being what seems to matter more is circumstances
Individual-level results to understand role of influence of spirituality > religious socialization
Living in a high religious socialization country:
* Individuals who engaged in spiritual practice had higher LS & happiness than those who did not
Living in low religious socialization country:
* Individuals who did not engage in spiritual practice had higher LS & happiness than those who did
*person-environment fit seems to matter (support for level of spirituality)
Social support
- Social support positively impacts well-being (cope with stressors)
religion provides social support
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being - empirical evidence: dinner et al.(2011):
- religiosity was positively related to support
- but, societal circumstances influenced the relationship between religion & support
- support mediated relationship between religiosity & swb
Religiosity and respect
Respect positively impacts well-being
religion provides respect
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* empirical evidence: dinner et al.(2011):
* religiosity was positively related to respect
* but, societal circumstances influenced relationship between religion & respect
* respect mediated the relationship between religiosity & swb
Religiosity and meaning/purpose in life
Having a sense of meaning & purpose in life positively impacts well-being religion provides meaning/purpose in life
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* empirical evidence: dinner et al.(2011):
* religiosity was positively related to meaning/purpose in life
* but, societal circumstances influenced relationship between religion & meaning/purpose in life
* meaning/purpose in life mediated relationship between religiosity & swb
Religiosity and durable self-esteem
Self-esteem positively impacts well-being
religion may provide messages that one is loved just as one is, which forms a basis for a durable, nondefensive self-worth
* ex.“God loves you just as you are”
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* little empirical study
* some studies show that religion may also be associated with guilt and self-blame
* belief in a supportive God mediated relation between religion & self-esteem, especially when that belief was strong (ex. schieman et al. 2017
Religion and terror management
Mortality salience results in anxiety, but finding a way to cope with that existential anxiety positively impacts well-being
religion may provide messages that one (or something meaningful that one is a part of) will survive our death, or messages of hope, vision and courage > *religion proectects you from N.A
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* little empirical study
* ex.hackney & sanders (2013): institutional religiosity weakly and negatively related to
lower anxiety
* may need to strongly believe (i.e., internalize religious beliefs to buffer against existential anxiety)
Religiosity and promoting positive virtues
character virtues, such as gratitude, humility, forgiveness and compassion, positively impact well-being, many religious doctrines encapsulate these character virtues (prohibitions)
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
- some empirical support for the relationship between using character strengths & well-being
- but it may be that religion increases the experience of positive emotions that contribute to well-being
Religiosity and positive emotions
Specific positive emotions positively impact well-being, participation in religious/spiritual activities fosters these experiences therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* empirical support for: gratitude,hope,humility,compassion (&self-compassion),empathy,awe,elation
Religiosity and morality
having a sense of morality positively impact well-being religion provides a sense of morality
* ex.can help individuals resists immoral temptations therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being * some empirical support (ex. alcoholics anonymous)
- self-efficacy through resisting temptation
Religiosity and attachment to God
Having a sense of attachment to a God that one perceives will be there for you positively impact well-being, religion provides a sense of attachment to a caring god
therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* some empirical support
* ex. bradshaw & kent (2018) found that the relationship between prayer & psychological
well-being was mediated by the perception that one’s god will be there for you
* ex. numinous experiences associated with higher well-being
Religiosity and the power of prayer
Different types of prayer may have different benefits to well-being
* positive associations with swb
* adoration (focus on worship of god)
* thanksgiving (expressions of gratitude toward god)
* reception (openness to divine guidance/wisdom)
- negative (o rno) associations with swb
- petitionary/supplication (request for divine intervention)
- confession (admission of negative behaviour & request for god’s forgiveness)
- obligatory (ritualistic & repeated at fixed times)
Religiosity, health practices and behaviors
Healthy behaviours & practices positively impact well-being religion promotes healthy practices (calling you to abstain from certain foods) & behaviours therefore, religion is positively associated with well-being
* empirical evidence is mixed
* ex. health-oriented, vegetarian seventh day adventists have longer-than-usual life expectancy (berkel & de waard, 1983)
* ex. but 75% of longevity difference remains after controlling for unhealthy behaviours (kark et al., 1996)
- Meditation positively associated
with both spirituality and SWB
