East versus West: psychology of religion in East Asian cultures

Abstract

Despite advancements in psychology of religion, most of what we know is derived from studies in Western Christian cultures. We review recent research investigating the impact of religion on various outcomes in East Asian cultural and religious contexts (versus Western Christian) including: religiosity components and measurement, health, personality, cognition and emotion, morality and values, and intergroup attitudes and behavior. While religion sometimes has similar effects across contexts (e.g. increased health, prosociality, and traditional values), the associations observed in Western contexts are often weaker or inexistent, especially in the moral domain. In some occasions, opposite effects of religion in East Asian contexts are observed (e.g. decreased prejudice). These observations suggest an interaction between religious and cultural factors.