Religiosity and Perceived Control of Life Events

Abstract

Seventy-four British adults, 37 religious and 37 nonreligious, assigned causes to each of 38 hypothetical events. The possible causes were G-d, powerful others, luck, and self. Subjects were free to ascribe as many causes to each event as they felt appropriate. Religious subjects did perceive G-d as a causal agent much more frequently than did the nonreligious subjects, but this effect was basically due to religious subjects' perception of G-d as a causal agent in health-related life-and-death events rather than in occupational/financial and relationships events. There were no striking differences between religious and nonreligious subjects in the ascription of other causes. The findings show the advantages of looking at causal analyses for specific events and types of events rather than confining research to general measures of attributional style or perceived control. This approach will increase understanding of the ways in which religiosity and nonreligiosity affect causal analysis.