An Examination of the Effects of Religious Orientation on Personality (Part 5)

An Examination of the Effects of Religious Orientation on Personality (Part 5)

Ok so I wrote this really good research paper that expands on the ideas I presented in an earlier paper which is posted here and titled A Critque of Allport's Mature Religion. For ease of reading I am breaking the paper into multiple sections and here is the conclusion.

If you want the bibliography, I'd be more than happy to share it, just let me know!

Discussion and Conclusion

The purpose of this paper was to examine the current and past body of research on the field of religion and personality in order to demonstrate three basic premises. The first premise that correlations between religious orientation and personality exist and that the quest orientation should be excluded from future studies has been supported by the research as it has been shown that there are distinct correlations between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation and personality traits (Allport 1950, 1967; Egan 2004; Hills 2004, 2005; Kay 1981; White 1995; Cohen 2001). Quest orientation has been shown to be irrelevant and a con contaminant to the overall validity and reliability scores (Egan 2004; Hills 2004, 2005; Kay 1981; White 1995).

The second premise was to demonstrate a causal effect of religious orientation on personality. The research presented here does indeed show predictive quality of personality on religion orientation as well as the inverse (Allport 1950, 1967; Egan 2004; Hills 2004, 2005; Kay 1981; White 1995), however, predictive traits and correlation do not denote causation. If it can be concluded that the predictive qualities and correlations between religious orientation and personality can go both ways then it is reasonable to also conclude that there is a causal effect of religious orientation on personality traits that can be demonstrated when the bias of a belief in hardwired personality is removed from the research. The research presented here, as well as the larger body of research not addressed, focuses primarily on the currently established elements of personality and religious orientation. To date there have been no longitudinal studies or test-retest studies conducted to examine the long term (from early childhood to later adulthood) effects and changes in personality that may occur due to religious orientation.

The final premise was to suggest that the development of an intrinsic religious orientation in youth would lead to a better psychological development and a lower occurrence of psychological traits deemed as negative by the general populace. This was supported by the research provided, however not as thoroughly as would be preferred do to the inability to prove the second premise addressed by this research. It can be concluded that a focus on individual spiritual development and the fostering of intrinsic ideologies and internalized beliefs leads to a better developed psychological self (Allport 1950, 1967; Cohen 2001; Templeton 2005; Kneezel 2005). This is further supported by the evidence presented for the correlational and predictive nature of religious orientation and negative personality traits as well as the consistent negative correlation between religious belief, extrinsic, intrinsic or quest and scores in the subscales of psychoticism (Allport 1950, 1967; Egan 2004; Hills 2004, 2005; Kay 1981; White 1995; Cohen 2001).

It is the recommendation of this researcher that future studies include longitudinal analyses emphasizing the causal effects of religious orientation on personality traits. A more complete understanding of this subject can play a large role in how people perceive the world and may provide insight into better understanding our society and the roles certain individuals play. A better understanding of the concepts presented in this paper should represent a better understanding of why certain people believe the way they do and why they exhibit the personality traits that they do. These findings will also be of use in understanding the misuse of religion and the propensity to approach religion for personal/political gain or exploitation rather than an honest desire for spiritual well being. Given that personality and religion are both such large influences in the daily lives of everyone, it is surprising that this aspect of research is so under developed. In recent years there has been a large surge in the attention that this field has received by the academic community. The field has also been examined by multiple disciplines within the social sciences and there has been a new emphasis placed on the spiritual development of adolescents and youth in order to provide them with better psychological development.