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Religion Replenishes Self-Control

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Religion Replenishes Self-Control Research Article Psychological Science 23(6) 635 –642 Religion Replenishes Self-Control © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0956797611431987 http://pss.sagepub.com Kevin Rounding, Albert Lee, Jill A. Jacobson, and Li-Jun Ji Queen’s University Abstract Researchers have proposed that the emergence of religion was a cultural adaptation necessary for promoting self-control. Self-control, in turn, may serve as a psychological pillar supporting a myriad of adaptive psychological and behavioral tendencies. If this proposal is true, then subtle reminders of religious concepts should result in higher levels of self-control. In a series of four experiments, we consistently found that when religious themes were made implicitly salient, people exercised greater self-control, which, in turn, augmented their ability to make decisions in a number of behavioral domains that are theoretically relevant to both major religions and humans’ evolutionary success. Furthermore, when self-control resources were minimized, making it difficult for people to exercise restraint on future unrelated self-control tasks, we found that implicit reminders of religious concepts refueled people’s ability to exercise self-control. Moreover, compared with morality- or death-related concepts, religion had a unique influence on self-control. Keywords self-control, religion Received 7/4/11; Revision accepted 11/5/11 Most mainstream religious doctrines emphasize self-control Several accounts have been offered to explain the possible through the idea that people must suppress certain thoughts origins of religion. For example, some authors have argued that and behaviors to align themselves with a particular set of reli- human beings invented religion out of an innate desire to make gious standards (Baumeister & Exline, 1999, 2000; Geyer & sense of random or natural phenomena (Barrett, 2004). Citing a Baumeister, 2005; McCullough & Willoughby, 2009). Indeed, lack of evidence for this anthropomorphic view, others have it has been proposed that religion is a cultural adaptation that offered more testable social-cognitive explanations for religion has enhanced group and individual fitness in the course of (Culotta, 2009). For example, in a study supporting the similar human evolution by promoting a myriad of socially beneficial idea that religious concepts, such as the concept that God exists, behaviors (Baumeister, Bauer, & Lloyd, 2010; Henrich & can serve basic psychological needs to perceive the social world Henrich, 2006; Norenzayan & Shariff, 2008). Although this as an orderly and predictable place, Kay, Moscovitch, and hypothesis is insightful, it has yet to receive direct experimen- Laurin (2010) found that exposure to random or uncertain tal support. If religion does function as a means of cultivating events increases religious conviction. Other authors have self-control, then even subtle reminders of religious concepts focused on the prosocial aspect of religion, arguing that religion should result in higher levels of self-control. In this article, we facilitates prosocial attitudes and actions that help lubricate the report a series of experiments in which we directly tested this bonds of society (Norenzayan & Shariff, 2008). That is, as a hypothesis. result of transitioning from small hunter-gatherer cultures to large-scale agrarian ones (Bar-Yosef, 1998), modern humans’ ancestors had to become more concerned with how to encour- Emergence of Religion age cooperation and tolerance among anonymous strangers, Religion is typically associated with a belief in supernatural prevent freeloading, and restrain community members from, for agents, such as gods and spirits, who presumably play an example, looting reserves of grain between harvests important role in coordinating worldly events (McCullough & (McCullough & Carter, 2011). Religion and the belief in a mor- Willoughby, 2009; Norenzayan & Shariff, 2008). In addition, alizing God appear to be an adaptation to these evolutionary religion has been described as a moralizing compass that regu- challenges. lates psychological and behavioral tendencies by rewarding actions that benefit the group and punishing those that are con- Corresponding Author: trary to the common good (Baumeister et al., 2010). Thus, reli- Kevin Rounding, Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, 62 Arch St., gion encompasses concepts of morality, but also conjures Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada thoughts of the supernatural. E-mail: [email protected] 636 Rounding et al. Thus, societies with larger populations, which likely expe- relationship was the cause of the asymmetrical effects they rience greater threat of freeloading because of greater ano- found, they did not attempt to empirically rule it out or pit nymity among community members, have a greater prevalence it against an explanation based on self-control. Indeed, self- of moralizing and omniscient gods (Roes & Raymond, 2003). control was not measured or manipulated directly, and thus This relationship is likely due to religions’ ability to make that study provides only indirect and inconclusive evidence reputational concerns salient; in turn, this salience may result for a link between religion and self-control. in increased trust and decreased freeloading among like- Second, Inzlicht and Tullett (2010) reported mixed evi- minded, but not necessarily related, people in larger, more dence for a relationship between religious beliefs and execu- anonymous groups. In a study supporting a relationship tive control. These researchers found no difference in response between religiosity and social cooperation, Shariff and Noren- latencies on incongruent Stroop trials between participants zayan (2007) found that after being implicitly primed with who had reaffirmed their religious beliefs and those who had religious beliefs, participants were more likely to share money not, although the affirmation group did make fewer errors with an anonymous partner even though they had the opportu- (Study 1). In sum, the research supporting a link between reli- nity to keep it all. Whereas Shariff and Norenzayan argued that gion and self-control has failed to provide consistent experi- there is a direct link between religious beliefs and prosocial mental evidence for a causal link between these two constructs. behavior, we believe that their data actually support a different The goal of the present research was to test the hypothesis that hypothesis: Religion enhances self-control, which, in turn, these two constructs are causally related. promotes prosocial behavior. Overview of the Present Research Religion and Self-Control In four experiments, we experimentally investigated the causal Self-control is the capacity to suppress personally desirable role of religion in promoting self-control, by systematically behaviors (e.g., taking a nap) or impulses (e.g., lashing out in testing the effect of implicit religious primes on self-control. anger at other people) to bring behaviors in line with more Following well-established paradigms in the self-control lit- socially acceptable goals and standards (e.g., helping with the erature (see Ryan & Deci, 2008, and Vohs & Baumeister, harvest). Baumeister and Exline (2000) argued that religion is 2011), we examined behaviors that are theoretically relevant a culturally evolved mechanism that promotes self-control. to evolutionary success and that, at the same time, require sub- More specifically, religion can “provide a solution to the self- stantial self-control: enduring discomfort, delaying gratifica- regulation dilemmas inherent in cultural life; it helps people tion, exerting patience, and refraining from impulsive to control selfish impulses that might harm group interests, to responses. If religiosity increases self-control, as suggested by subordinate short-term temptations to long-term goals, to Baumeister and his colleagues (e.g., Baumeister & Exline, strengthen inner restraints” (Baumeister et al., 2010, p. 67). 2000; Geyer & Baumeister, 2005), then making religious con- Consequently, religion may facilitate self-control, and self- cepts salient in people’s minds should temporarily activate control, in turn, may play a crucial role in supporting behav- their inclination toward exercising self-control (Bargh & iors and tendencies that confer evolutionary fitness to Chartrand, 1999). individuals or groups. In other words, self-control subsumes To activate god-related concepts in participants without prosocial behavior, such as that demonstrated by the partici- their conscious awareness, in all four studies we used an pants in Shariff and Norenzayan’s (2007) study, because act- implicit-priming procedure previously employed by Shariff ing unselfishly or in a socially cooperative manner necessitates and Norenzayan (2007). This task required participants to exerting self-control. unscramble each of 10 five-word sentences by dropping To date, work in this area has largely been theoretical or an irrelevant word. Half of the sentences contained neutral involved correlational designs, so that the important issue of words only, whereas the remaining sentences contained one causality has been unaddressed. For example, McCullough religious-prime word. and Willoughby (2009) found that five of six longitudinal Results for suspicion probes that we used after each study studies demonstrated positive, albeit weak, associations affirmed the findings of previous research, which has sug- between personality
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