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Religiosity and the value of being moral: Understanding the meaning of morality through a personal values perspective
Author(s) -
Sverdlik Noga,
Rechter Eyal
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2627
Subject(s) - religiosity , morality , psychology , social psychology , openness to experience , perspective (graphical) , value (mathematics) , meaning (existential) , epistemology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , machine learning , computer science , psychotherapist
We demonstrate how religiosity predicts relationships between personal values and perceptions of morality in four studies across two cultures (Jews in Israel and mainly Christians in the US). In Studies 1A ( N = 337) and 1B ( N = 200), we explored the commonalities and differences between religious and non‐religious participants in the association between values and the importance of being moral. In Studies 2A ( N = 131) and 2B ( N = 250), we tested the role of religiosity in the association between values and evaluations of others’ morality. Power (negatively) and Benevolence (positively) were associated with morality across levels of religiosity. The associations with Conservation were more positive for more religious participants; the associations with Universalism were more positive for less religious participants. Finally, the associations with at least one of the Openness‐to‐change values were more negative if a person was more religious. Studies 2A and 2B showed these associations existed over and above differences in personal values.