The divergent effects of prayer on cheating

Some research suggests that reminders of religious beliefs and concepts can decrease immoral behavior, such as cheating, via fear of supernatural punishment among other mechanisms. However, one of the most common natural religious primes, petitionary prayer, could in theory have the opposite effect,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Alogna, Victoria K. (Autor) ; Halberstadt, Jamin (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
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Publicado: Routledge [2020]
En: Religion, brain & behavior
Año: 2020, Volumen: 10, Número: 4, Páginas: 365-378
(Cadenas de) Palabra clave estándar:B Ser supernatural / Control / Pena / Oración / Acción moral / Fraude
Clasificaciones IxTheo:AD Sociología de la religión
AE Psicología de la religión
AG Vida religiosa
NCB Ética individual
Otras palabras clave:B Cheating
B divine attributions
B supernatural monitoring and punishment
B Prayer
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Descripción
Sumario:Some research suggests that reminders of religious beliefs and concepts can decrease immoral behavior, such as cheating, via fear of supernatural punishment among other mechanisms. However, one of the most common natural religious primes, petitionary prayer, could in theory have the opposite effect, as it implies and asserts external attributions for behavior. We tested whether petitionary prayer, despite its association with religiosity, might nevertheless increase cheating and whether such effects would differ as a function of participants’ religious beliefs. American participants (N = 251) completed an online “Swahili translation” task that afforded cheating; half were asked to compose a prayer to improve their performance. Results showed that religiosity (measured as supernatural beliefs) was associated with a greater probability of cheating, as well as more extensive cheating among those that did cheat; prayer decreased the likelihood of cheating (but not its extent) among religious people only. Mediational analyses suggested that, counterintuitively, it was believers’ beliefs about God’s control, rather than about God’s capacity for punishment, that explained the effects.
ISSN:2153-5981
Obras secundarias:Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2019.1574881