Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine, in a large representative population, the association between self-reported religious beliefs, attitudes and behavior and locus of control (LOC) of reinforcement as defined by Rotter. Results of previous research have failed to clearly determine what, if any, associations existed. In this study, analyses showed individuals with an internal LOC were not only more likely to believe in a divine power, to admit a divine power helped them in the past, to ask for help from a divine power in the future, to attend places of worship more often than those who were external, but also that they were significantly more likely to maintain their religious beliefs and behaviors over a 6 year period compared to those with an external orientation. Additional exploratory analyses by gender revealed that compared to internal men, internal women were significantly more involved in all indicators of religious belief and action except for attending church weekly and obtaining help from religious leaders where internal men were higher. The present findings support the association between the generalized expectancy of LOC as defined by Rotter and religious beliefs, attitudes and behaviors.
Highlights
Considerable research has focused on religious attitudes, beliefs and behavior and the factors that may impact on them
An individual difference characteristic that reflects the degree of individualism is called locus of control (LOC)
According to Rotter (1966) who introduced the construct to the psychological community over half a century ago, the more individuals perceive connections between their behavior and outcomes the more “internal” they are in contrast to those who are more prone to view their outcomes as being determined by luck, fate, chance or powerful others who are called “external.” Results of thousands of studies using measures of LOC consistent with Rotter’s definition strongly suggest that internality is related to more positive outcomes overall than externality (Rotter, 1966, 1975; Lefcourt, 1976; Nowicki, 2016)
Summary
Considerable research has focused on religious attitudes, beliefs and behavior and the factors that may impact on them (see Koenig et al, 2012). This focus has recently become more intense in western countries because of data suggesting decreasing interest in religious belief and activity. Twenge and colleagues (Twenge et al, 2015) examined data on 11.2 million American adolescents (1966–2014) and found that those surveyed in the 2010s were significantly less religious that in previous generations. According to Rotter (1966) who introduced the construct to the psychological community over half a century ago, the more individuals perceive connections between their behavior and outcomes the more “internal” they are in contrast to those who are more prone to view their outcomes as being determined by luck, fate, chance or powerful others who are called “external.” Results of thousands of studies using measures of LOC consistent with Rotter’s definition strongly suggest that internality is related to more positive outcomes overall than externality (Rotter, 1966, 1975; Lefcourt, 1976; Nowicki, 2016)
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