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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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[2020]
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| In: |
Religion, brain & behavior
Year: 2020, Volume: 10, Issue: 4, Pages: 365-378 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Supernatural being
/ Control
/ Punishment
/ Prayer
/ Moral act
/ Fraud
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AE Psychology of religion AG Religious life; material religion NCB Personal ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Cheating
B divine attributions B supernatural monitoring and punishment B Prayer |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 2153-5981 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2019.1574881 |