Religion & Morality Flashcards

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1
Q

Why are atheists distrusted?

A

That they are viewed being untrustworthy because they lack
guiding moral rules from God

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2
Q

What is the cognitive science of religion (CSR)?

A

Religious belief and behavior are fundamentally reducible to
misfires of various cognitive modules = adaptive to
our survival

Cognitive modules are thought as “if then” statements

Importantly, some of these cognitive modules are tuned to
be oversensitive to maximize survival
• Agency detection (detecting potential agentic threats)
• “Hyper-active” agency detection (we are super-social mammals)
The cognitive byproduct theory of religion: When the cause of som

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3
Q

What is the cognitive byproduct theory of religion?

A

When the cause of something cannot be easily determined, we tend to assume that something invisible was behind the event

Through shared experiences and interpersonal communication, we come to agree on the existence of the same invisible agents (ancestral spirits, ghosts, gods)

Over time and across several generations, beliefs about these agents become ritualized and formalized into cultural belief systems and religions.

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4
Q

Are watched people good people?

What is the supernatural monitoring hypothesis?

A

Yes people’s prosociality is impacted by
face-related stimuli → Ex) eyes pasted on communal drinks
————————————————————————————
Believing there is an all seeing, all-knowing God out there judging you and deciding whether to send you to heaven or hell, leads to more moral actions, even when nobody is around

Children cheat less when there is a supernatural agent is said to be in the room ex) princess alice

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5
Q

Are religious people more pro social?

A

Religious (compared to non-religious) people report donating more money and time to both religious and non-religious causes

Behaviour and census data suggest that religious people actually behave more prosocially (smaller effect than self-reported prosociality)

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6
Q

What is religious priming?

A

Situationist approach

The “Sunday effect”: if you approach someone just after a visit to church on Sundays, they are more likely to agree to donate their time and money

Meta-analyses show that these experimental God priming effects are quite reliable

***THIS IS EVEN SEEN IN NON RELIGOUS PEOPLE

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7
Q

The relationship b/w religion and “_______” tends to be “______” to moderate

Why is this?

A

Crime; small

Methodological difficulties:
- predominate correlational studies
- relationship reduced when considering other factors
- relationship is most apparent in victimless activities (drug use)

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8
Q

True or false. Religion does not predict less non-marital sex

A

False

Frequent church goers reported less extramarital activities than non-attenders

Difference is highest for “very happy” married individuals, religion had no effect for “pretty happy” or “not too happy” people

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9
Q

What is the relationship b/w religion and abuse?

A

Understandings of what constitutes ’abuse’ makes studying the
relationship between religion and abuse difficult

Church attendance does predict less violence against one’s partner (similar with child abuse)

Some doctrines may dictate punishment, which may now be understood as abuse

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10
Q

What are the 3 deeds of the big gods?

A

Supernatural watchers that…

(a) demand passionate commitment,

(b) meddle in people’s affairs

(c) reward/punish good/bad deeds

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11
Q

How is anonymity a threat to large groups?

A

Free loader problem

Social monitoring —> social order

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12
Q

What are the 8 principles of the big gods?

A
  1. Watched people
    are nice people
  2. Religion is more
    in the situation
    than in the person
  3. Hell is stronger
    than heaven
  4. Trust people
    who trust in God
  5. Religious actions
    speak louder than
    words
  6. Unworshipped
    Gods are impotent
    Gods
  7. Big Gods for big
    groups
  8. Religious groups
    cooperate in order
    to compete
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13
Q

How is religion more in the situation than in the person?

A

Religion is generally more impactful situationally vs. dispositionally

Ex) Good Samaritan study
- when our priorities are at need we will be more selfish
- time, not type of talk mattered

Self-report vs. Behavioral

Primes

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14
Q

What do Buddhist primes tend to do?

A

Tend to increase compassion for a variety of outgroups

Buddhists and non-Buddhists as participants

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15
Q

How is hell stronger than heaven?

A

Supernatural punishment hypothesis:
Punishing aspects of supernatural agents and the threats of
divine punishment keep believers from acting immorally in
anonymous situations, not the loving/compassionate traits associated with the agent

Data from an international database also supports this idea

***NEED THIS FEAR TO ACT MORALLY

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16
Q

Religious “______” speak louder than “______”

A

Actions; words

17
Q

I worshipped gods are “_________” gods

A

Impotent

Ex) the Zeus problem

18
Q

“_____” gods, for big “______”

A

Big; groups

19
Q

Religious groups “_________” in order to compete

A

Cooperate

Win out (colonization) big god groups

20
Q

Is religion a multifaceted concept?

A

Yes

Intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects
• Not quite the same as the differentiation of
religiosity and spirituality (but often related)

21
Q

What are Glocks 5 dimensions of religion?

A

• Belief (Ideology)
• Practice (Ritual)
• Feelings (Experience)
• Knowledge (Understanding)
• Effect (Consequences)

***Important to make these distinctions and consider
them in research methods

22
Q

Religious primes have been found to increase “_____ & _____” social outcomes

A

Pro; anti

23
Q

Does religion lead to war?

A

Of the 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 121, or 6.87%, had religion as their primary cause

Other sources indicate religion is the primary cause of only ~10%
of the world’s 100 deadliest atrocities

24
Q

Loving your fellow human is a common, core principle in many religions, however…

Earlier studies found consistent positive relationships between religion and “________”

A

Prejudice

Religious orientation as a predictor ^^^

25
Q

What are the 4 types of religious orientation?

A
  1. Intrinsic orientation:
    - form of religiosity that serves as the main motivation and organizing principle for an individual’s life
    - attends church to be closer to God and practice their religion
  2. Extrinsic orientation:
    - form of religiosity used to enable selfish goals
    - attends church to make business/political connections, be with friends, feel safe
  3. Quest orientation:
    - religion not as a means or an end, but a search for truth
    - “recognizes that he or she does not know, and probably never will know, the final truth about such matters”
  4. Religious fundamentalism:
    - religion and religious text as as absolute truth and the belief that religious truth should be used in all social and moral domains
    - In contrast to Quest, these individuals are very rigid in their beliefs and think of their religion as the undeniable truth
26
Q

People high in quest orientation tend to be (found in a study) “_________” to “___________”

A

Intolerant; intolerance

27
Q

True or false. Behavioural measures are weaker than self-report in terms of studying religion & morality

A

True

Some evidence religion is connected to helping but the relationship is complex and has many qualifications

May be due to religious- contexts

28
Q

Like religion, the relationship b/w politics and morality is “_________ ___________”

A

Strongly intertwined

29
Q

In MFT, liberals tend to prioritize “_____&______” and conservatives tend to prioritize “____” 5 foundations

A

Harm & fairness

All

30
Q

What are some critics against Haidt liberal morality conceptualization?

A

Jost (2012)…
• Inconsistencies in Haidt’s framing and conclusions
• Conservative bias to replace liberal bias?
• Primary understanding of morality may consider
immoral behaviors as moral

31
Q

What are Hunters thoughts on the enduring culture war?

What was & is the current topic for culture war?

A

Traditionalists vs. Progressivists as the drivers of the
culture wars (knocking down statues)

Those in between traditionalists and progressivists
• Conventionalists
• Pragmatists
• Communitarian
—————————————————————————————
Abortion as the previous primary culture war; Race as
the current primary culture war

32
Q

What is Lakoffs moral politics?

A

Why do most of the people that have a certain opinion in one domain, share an opinion in a completely different domain?

Politics based on the nation-as-family metaphor
➢ Object Relations Theory

Nurturing Parent vs. Strict Father