Attribution to Supernatural Causation: An Important Component of Religious Commitment?

1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 286-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Ritzema
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Christian College ◽  
Divine Intervention ◽  
Attributional Processes ◽  
Supernatural Explanations

Most religious belief systems maintain that some natural events are caused by divine intervention. Exploration of the manner in which believers attribute events to supernatural causes is thus one fruitful way of studying the psychology of religion. The attributional processes of evangelical Christian college students were explored by means of a questionnaire containing several brief descriptions of incidents, each followed by rating scales on which subjects attributed causality for that event. Individual differences in the tendency to invoke supernatural explanations were found, and the tendency to invoke such explanations was positively correlated with other measures of religious belief and practice. Attribution to God was unrelated to locus of control. Differences in the nature of the incidents to be explained affected attribution to God.

Measures of RSA Suppression, Attentional Control, and Negative Affect Predict Self-Ratings of Executive Functions

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 164-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Healy ◽  
Aaron Treadwell ◽  
Mandy Reagan
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Low Levels

The current study was an attempt to determine the degree to which the suppression of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and attentional control were influential in the ability to engage various executive processes under high and low levels of negative affect. Ninety-four college students completed the Stroop Test while heart rate was being recorded. Estimates of the suppression of RSA were calculated from each participant in response to this test. The participants then completed self-ratings of attentional control, negative affect, and executive functioning. Regression analysis indicated that individual differences in estimates of the suppression of RSA, and ratings of attentional control were associated with the ability to employ executive processes but only when self-ratings of negative affect were low. An increase in negative affect compromised the ability to employ these strategies in the majority of participants. The data also suggest that high attentional control in conjunction with attenuated estimates of RSA suppression may increase the ability to use executive processes as negative affect increases.

Exploration of Individual Differences in Preferences for Humor

1974 ◽  
Vol 34 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1031-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger L. Terry ◽  
Sarah L. Ertel
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Factor ◽  
General Intelligence ◽  
Factor Scores ◽  
Male College ◽  
Male College Students

Liking scores for hostile, sexual, and nontendentious cartoons were correlated with personality factor scores of 20 female and 19 male college students. Sexual cartoons were liked more by males, especially by those tending to be tough or group-dependent, than by females, especially by those with higher general intelligence. Nonsense cartoons were liked more by females, especially by those with lower general intelligence.

Individual Differences in Valuing Mates' Physical Attractiveness

2006 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 502-511
Author(s):  
Eugene W. Mathes ◽  
Abby Bielser ◽  
Ticcarra Cassell ◽  
Sarah Summers ◽  
Aggie Witowski
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Physical Attractiveness ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Women College Students

To investigate correlates of valuing physical attractiveness in a mate, it was hypothesized that valuing physical attractiveness in a mate would correlate with sex and valuing promiscuous sex, status, personal physical attractiveness, beauty, and order. Men and women college students completed measures of the extent to which they valued physical attractiveness in a mate and other variables. Valuing physical attractiveness in a mate was correlated with sex (men valued physical attractiveness in a mate more than did women) and valuing promiscuous sex and status, and, for women, valuing personal physical attractiveness. The results were explained in terms of evolutionary theory.

A Study on College Students’ Motivation and Individual Differences in Using Dating Apps

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1477-1483
Author(s):  
Wei Wei ◽  
Liu Manman ◽  
Lai Yan ◽  
Wang Lei ◽  
Hu Liwei
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Dating Apps

Doro Rekufa and Tsvitsa: Beer, Animals and Death Rituals among the Ndau of South Eastern Zimbabwe

Utafiti ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Death Rituals ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Attitudes Towards Death ◽  
Death Signals

Despite Westernization and particularly the advent of Christianity and its widespread entrenchment on the African continent, traditional indigenous rituals continue to constitute an integral part of African religious belief systems and practices. This article presents the results of an ethnoarchaeological study of two death rituals that are conducted by the Ndau people of south eastern Zimbabwe. The rituals are a demonstration of attitudes towards death and beliefs about the role of the dead among the living. The Ndau do not believe that death signals and represents the end of life. In the same vein and perhaps more importantly, the Ndau do not believe that death just happens. It is caused by human agency out of jealousies, hatred and conflict among the living. These beliefs are central to the two rituals presented and discussed here: the first ritual is conducted to ascertain cause of death and the second to bring back the spirit of the deceased from a temporary state of limbo immediately after death. Meat and beer are central to these rituals, firstly as offerings to the deceased and secondly as an important part of the living celebration of the rituals. The paper then explores some interpretive implications of the rituals from an archaeological perspective.

Individual Differences in Color-Name Connotations as Related to Measures of Racial Attitude

1969 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Williams
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Racial Attitudes ◽  
Semantic Differential ◽  
Racial Attitude ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Color Name

Caucasian college students made semantic differential ratings of color names concurrent with their participation in studies of racial attitudes. The evaluative meanings assigned to the color names Black and Brown were positively correlated with four measures of attitude toward Negro persons, a result consistent with the hypothesis that the designation of racial groups by color names is one determinant of attitudes toward the racial groups.

Playing for God’s Team: The Influence of Belief in the Supernatural on Perceptions of Religious, Spiritual, and Natural Cues

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 215-244
Author(s):  
Virginia A. Periss ◽  
David F. Bjorklund
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Bias ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Supernatural Beliefs ◽  
Supernatural Explanations

Adherence to religious belief may serve to promote group cohesion and cooperation by decreasing the costs associated with social exchange. Consistent with this, organized religious ideologies, unlike secular or spiritual based ideologies, have been argued to facilitate cooperation among individuals living in large-scale societies. In the current study, we examined whether hypothetical adults’ explanations of natural events focused on religious ideologies were more effective at eliciting positive-affect compared to spiritual or natural explanations. Results revealed that religious cues were more effective than spiritual cues in eliciting perceptions of positive-affect, but only when participant religiosity was taken into account. Participants high in religiosity favored the religious cues over the spiritual and natural cues, whereas participants high in spirituality showed no preferences. Conversely, participants low in religious belief demonstrated not only a positive bias towards the natural explanations, but also rated the adults expressing the supernatural explanations, in particular the religious explanations, as having greater negative-affect. From an evolutionary perspective, we interpreted the results as providing support that some forms of supernatural thinking, typical of organized religion, are more effective at eliciting feelings of positive and negative affect compared to supernatural beliefs not rooted in organized religion.

Paranormal Beliefs, Alienation and Anomie in College Students

1985 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 844-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Tobacyk
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Paranormal Belief ◽  
Paranormal Beliefs ◽  
Belief Scale

The Paranormal Belief Scale, Alienation Scale, and Anomie Scale were given to 168 college students. Significant hypothesized relationships linked belief in Superstition with greater alienation and anomie and greater belief in Spiritualism with greater alienation. No evidence was found that greater Traditional Religious Belief was associated with significantly less alienation or anomie.

Paranormal Beliefs, Interpersonal Trust, and Social Interest

1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Tobacyk
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Social Interest ◽  
Paranormal Belief ◽  
Paranormal Beliefs ◽  
Belief Scale ◽  
Trust Scale

The Paranormal Belief Scale, Interpersonal Trust Scale, and Social Interest Scale were administered to 60 college students. No significant correlations were obtained between interpersonal trust and paranormal beliefs. Social Interest, as hypothesized, showed a significant direct correlation with Traditional Religious Belief as well as significant inverse correlations with both Psi Belief and Spiritualism.

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