I recently subscribed to Scientific American MIND, simply because I miss having free access to scholarly articles through the university, and this seemed the best way to keep up with new research in my favorite field without breaking the bank.
In a recent edition, there is a fascinating article on the biological basis of religion. I'm particularly intrigued because I can easily use myself a case study within the context of the article. What factors influence one's religious and spiritual leanings? Let's explore!
I was brought up Catholic. I attended Catholic school for 15 years and went to weekly mass with my family throughout my entire life. It was what was expected, yet I always struggled with religion. I could never grasp the abstract concept of God, mass was tortuously boring, and I never felt that mystic connection to community. I didn't like the unyielding doctrines, nor people's blind faith. Though I was the most honest, obedient, and outwardly religious child there, I thought there must be something terribly wrong with me because I didn't feel connected to my religion or God. Though immersed in an environment in which religion was essential, it never felt right to me.
People tend to follow the religion of their parents until around the age of 18, and then pursue whatever feels right for them.
When I left for college and church became an option, the situation worsened. I attended church out of guilt for a few weeks before giving up. Though I knew my parents would be disappointed, organized religion was not for me. I found it to be draining, rather than renewing. I continued to pray on my own, took up mediation, practiced gratitude, read up on others' spiritual and scientific views on life, developed my own opinions, and discussed spirituality in its intellectual sense whenever possible. Though I'm still open-minded and malleable when it comes to the subject, I would consider myself to be a secular humanist. I essentially believe that belief systems are personal and subjective, based on critical analysis and philosophical reflection, with the ultimate goal of individual and human progress through the development of tolerance and compassion. Rather than droning, “Catholic,” in response to the question of religion, I could spend hours thoroughly delineating my views.
The more distance one gets from their early influences, the more idiosyncratic factors hold sway over their beliefs.
Across different belief systems, the underlying theme is generally that being a good person is the key to a fulfilling life and access to the afterlife. I've a
lways felt that the core of all religious beliefs is to treat others with kindness and fairness; I'm confident that I will continue to feel that indefinitely, regardless of my future religious or spiritual affiliations.
Many people change their religious affiliation during the course of their lifetime, though one's overall attitude towards belief is generally stable throughout adulthood.
Throughout my childhood, Catholic beliefs and practices permeated my life in every context, from home, to school and community. As I grew up and was allowed the freedom to chose my environment and shape my influences, I wandered away from the religious beliefs I was brought up in, and towards more appealing intellectual communities, philosophy, and more modern views of spirituality.
Although environmental influences play a large role in determining a person's religious beliefs during adolescence, genetic factors emerge as more important in adulthood.
I would rate myself highly on both agreeableness and conscientious, and I would also rate myself as moderate to highly open-minded.
Specific clusters of personality traits correlate highly with particular kinds of religious belief. Those who would classify themselves as both agreeable and conscientious tend to be drawn to religion; however, those who are open-minded tend to gravitate towards modern forms of faith, whereas those who are who are less open-minded opt for fundamentalist groups.
So does personality lead to religiosity, or is the opposite true?
Rather than religion shaping people to be more agreeable and conscientious, these personality traits actually lead to religiosity.
I know many people who have no religious affiliation. Some believe in connectedness, a non-Christian God, the universe, divine intelligence, the merits of science, or some brilliantly obscure combination of the above. I have friends who associate themselves more closely with a particular group – be it a fraternity, entrepreneurial meetup, a girls night book club, Comic Con, or a yoga class – than any religious organization. Their favorite groups seem to serve as a pivotal piece of their identity, just as many feel that their faith is a key element of who they are.
Belongingness can be almost as compelling as food; like-minded people offer the same benefits as organized religions
Religion is a such a prominent, controversial, and continually misunderstood topics. I always find it interesting to see topics generally depicted as non-scientific (such as religious beliefs) placed with the context of scientific inquiry and facts. I think that's why I'm so intrigued by Psychology.
How do you feel about the relationship between personality and religious beliefs? Do these findings seem plausible? Though only a few personality traits were mentioned in the study, do you think others have have any strong connection? (Having performed my own personality research, failure to mention generally means no correlation was found, but for the sake of discussion, I'm curious what you think.)
Reblogged this on leighcannon.
Well written and thought provoking. Semantics is in the mix too. Defining what you or I believe in to another may not be their perspective or take on the words we are using. Always interesting but hard to get a clear view for all of the reasons you mentioned. I enjoyed this post very much!
It definitely is a complex topic, but interesting nonetheless. Thanks,and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Great post! Really has my mind wheels churning. I completely think the correlation between personality and religious views is plausible. Especially in the explanation of your childhood forming your early faith, and your personality (mine: open-minded) establishing an adult faith. While reading your post, I could completely following my own upbringing, then evolution of my beliefs. Loved this!
Religion and peoples devotion to it have interested me most of my life. I also was brought up Catholic by my Mother. My Father made us a big breakfast while we were gone. I asked him one day if he was Catholic, he laughed and said “Only in the universal sense.” He had agreed to never speak of his beliefs when he married a Catholic girl. The community aspect of church also needs separated from the deep belief in whatever the doctrine happens to be. Certainly my views have evolved over the years and my belief now is far from my childhood experience.
Insightful article! Personally, I don’t think there is a straightforward or linear relationship between personality traits (Big Five) and religiosity. Perhaps there could be a relationship between the need-for-closure personality and propensity towards religion?
I read a few articles on New Scientist several months ago on the emergence of religion. Not sure whether you’ll find it interesting, but it appears that many scientists and thinkers believe that religion is a cultural mechanism that allowed society to develop and progress! As an agnostic myself, I find that quite difficult to swallow, but I eventually realised that is a really plausible explanation for its origins! It also appears that we are born to be religious—infants and young children spontaneously choose supernatural, rather than scientific answers to many questions. Our religiosity weans off gradually as we learn the laws of nature through science. What do you make of this?
Lately, I have also reviewed an article on how religious thoughts can boost self-control, even for non-believers! Even though many would hate to believe this, but it just seems that religion has some sort of power over our lives, whether consciously or unconsciously.
I think it’s definitely possible that a certain personality trait could lend to need for closure, and thus drive towards religion.
Yes, I love reading on the topic! Have you read The Evolution of God by Robert Wright? It discusses religion as a social mechanism throughout history, and it’s fascinating. I’m curious and open-minded, so I just like taking everything in and putting it together. I would agree with your observations, though.
http://analyfe.com/2012/03/06/the-evolution-of-god/
That’s very interesting that religious thoughts can boost self-control, although I just graduated with a degree in Psychology so I’m familiar with several studies, so it doesn’t surprise me. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
From studying archaeology with its broad-scale view, it has been clear that religious beliefs (of some sort or other) were a key component of all cultural changes over all continents and all eras. New ways of life came with and brought about new ways of displaying religious belief seen through changes in funeral rites. For example, with the onset of farming in Europe people started to bury their dead under their houses. This indicates that new attitudes towards territority and belonging meant that the religious rites also changed in order to proclaim ownership of land and home through the presence of ancestors.
For me, looking at people’s personalities and their religious tendencies places too much emphasis on the modern day individual, which is too small a scale. We should be looking at how are attitudes are changing as a society. I think that what we are seeing is not that people choose one religious belief or disbelief influenced by their personality traits, but that we now have big changes in Western society (through digital revolution perhaps and gender equality certainly) to be allowed, even encouraged, to display our dis/beliefs in new ways that suit us.
Personality and religion are linked, but surely whatever religion your parents are and thus how you’re brought up affects your personality. Rather than personality leading to a particular religious view. Even if you don’t follow your parents religion into adulthood your upbringing would still affect your general view on life. Also who you associate with affects your religion and personality has a lot to do with who you choose to make friends with as some personalities will clash.
There is what we think – certainly influenced by genetics, personality, upbringing, culture, even food. Your post delves into this with good, thought provoking, ideas.
Then there is what is (the real reality within which our lives unfold) – an area that few dare venture into and many pretend to know (and/or lie about). It is what it is, regardless of what we think or how we perceive it, and ultimately it is the most influential (important) of all. It is an open secret.
M
Awesome post, really interesting, I love reading about this, and how you broke it all down.
I definitely believe that there could be a correlation between a persons personality and their inclination towards or against religion, or religious beliefs. However, I also would be under the impression that a persons personality is largely environmental, based on relationships and experiences, as well as genetics. I would be curious to know how high of a correlation their is from genes to the traits you discussed. For example, how much is open-mindedness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness related to genetics? I can think of many ways these are related to a cultural upbringing and other external factors. The books The God Delusion or The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, is a really great read if you’re looking for a book about religion and it’s connections to evolutionary biology and culture. Also, why a culture may develop a desire to create religion.
I would argue that I am fairly open minded because my parents raised me in a way that allowed me that freedom of thought. My father is Catholic and my mother is Jewish(or at least of those religious backgrounds) and I love to discuss and learn about religion, however, I would in no way consider myself religious or identify with either religion personally.
Great post! Someone just told me last night that they thought I am secular humanist and I didn’t know much about the term so thank you for the link! I completely agree that when you hit 18 you start rethinking religion and what it all means. That certainly happened for me. To me, it does seem to be based on personality and I think education also plays a role.
I’m not an expert, but my understanding is that the evidence is pretty good now that certain forms of certain genes are associated with being more or less religious. It’s pretty clear that religion is not causing the genes, so the causality must go the other way. Nonetheless, I think the public greatly underestimated the complexity of these things, and goes with the headlines: “Genes determine religion.”
From an evolutionary perspective, it is absurd to think that we’ve gone through thousands of generations tweaking genes that will make us Muslim versus Christian, but it is not absurd to think that selection has been acting on genes that affect personality traits which in turn affect level (and type) of religious belief. It is even likely that evolution has favored a mix of different propensities and personality types in populations (see my post on the evolution of homosexuality here: http://maketheworldworkbetter.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/the-evolution-of-homosexuality/).
In addition, it is likely that how the genes work depends on the environment. Genes that make people more religious in North America may have made them less religious in certain other societies, for example.
In the end, the biggest mistake would be to let this science interere with out own individual spiritual journeys. Yes, there are genes that affect things that affect religion. There is also a strong effect of family environment. But we are reflective individuals in the end, and neither our worth nor the worth of our beliefs depends on what genes may have been doing.
Very insightful. What a great post
Interesting post, it made me think about my own religious transition. At the present I believe in god but I do not go to church or attend any social or religious group. My parents were catholic but they attended mass only in specific dates (Holly week, New Year, and Christmas Eve). I used to read the bible when I was a child specially the genesis and the apocalypses. I was fascinated to learn about how everything was created and how it will end. But when I became a teenager I read about Darwin’s theory of evolution, Social theory of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Socrates, and Plato. That influenced my beliefs and turned myself in a person with not spiritual faith. Years passed and I did not believe in anything until I reached the age of thirty. Then I started reading the bible and went back to my beliefs. I think that religion have influenced my character.
Your post also made me thought about the way I raised my children and the way they became. I did not talk to them about god or took them to church except for three or four times when they were young. Neither my husband nor I educated them about religion. And this is how they are: My oldest son believes in god but does not attend any church, the middle one, my daughter is Christian and goes to church very often, and my youngest boy who is 26 does not practice any religion. Curiously the ones that practice some kind of religion were interested in god when they were in elementary and when they were teenagers. One read the bible after school with a catholic group once a week for a whole year. Then she attended a Christian group at the age of 16. The other one read the bible in home with a Jehovah Witness group for a whole year. Then he read The Book of Mormon with a Latter Day Saint group for another year. And when he was 18 he attended a catholic group. It intrigued me how they were interested in religion even though I never talked to them about it.