What Was That Sermon about? Predicting Memory for Religious Messages from Cognitive Psychology Theory

Abstract

Drawing from cognitive psychology theory, it was predicted that memory for religious messages would increase as a function of several variables: verbal ability, interest in the message, religiosity, and the consistency of the message with the religious beliefs of the subject. Three hundred fiftythree college students listened to one of three religious messages structurally similar, but thematically different: High God Control-Low Personal Control, High God Control-High Personal Control, and Low God Control-High Personal Control. They then completed several memory measures and other scales. Only modest amounts of information were retained from the messages. The predictions of the study were generally confirmed for the messages more familiar and acceptable to the subjects. Subjects also distorted the content of the message to fit more closely with their religious beliefs. These results support the study of religious material from a cognitive psychology perspective.