Intrinsic Religious Orientation Research Articles

Church Growth in Times of Secularization: A Case Study of People Joining Evangelical Congregations in the Netherlands

Background: Today the Dutch religious landscape is characterized by two opposite trends. On the one hand, there is a massive and dominant trend of religious disaffiliation which mostly affects the Roman Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant churches, while on the other hand the Netherlands also witnesses the emergence of several independent, evangelical congregations of near megachurch size. Purpose: Against the background of these opposite trends, this paper focuses on the second trend and tries to explain why some people join an evangelical congregation. Methods: For this purpose, quantitative data gathered among the audiences of six thriving evangelical congregations are analyzed in view of the following research questions: (1) What was the previous religious affiliation of the people who switched or converted to one of the six participating evangelical congregations? and (2) Which factors induced the switch or conversion to these congregations? Results: Results of bivariate and multivariate analyses show that these congregations attract both mainline and orthodox Protestant switchers as well as a significant number of secular converts, whose decision to join these evangelical congregations is induced by early socialization experiences, their intrinsic religious orientation and the switching of their partner. Closer scrutiny into the background of the apparent secular converts reveals, however, that several of these converts are probably re-affiliates. Although these secular converts indicated to be a religious none in their early teens, their conversion to evangelicalism is in part still induced by certain, early religious socialization experiences. Conclusions and Implications: This insight puts the alleged success of these evangelical congregations in more perspective. It shows that their success is more a matter of circulating, religious believers and not so much a matter of successfully reaching out to the unchurched. In all likelihood, then, thriving evangelical congregations will remain an exception in secular societies like the Netherlands and evangelical church growth in no way marks a break with the ongoing trend of religious disaffiliation.

Centrality of Buddhist Religiosity Scale: Adaptation and Validation of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale in a Buddhist Sample in Vietnam

This paper describes an adaptation of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale to the Buddhist religious tradition (CBRS) and a validation in Vietnam. The sample included data from 421 Vietnamese Buddhists (300 females, 121 males), aged 17 to 71 years (M=35.03, SD=13.09). The results provided evidence for good psychometric properties of the short, intermediate, and long version: CBRS-5, CBRS-10, and CBRS-15 respectively. Specifically, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the measure’s original five-factor structure: intellect, ideology, public practice, private practice, and religious experience. Furthermore, the Centrality of Buddhist Religiosity has proven to be a stable psychological construct across the three versions of CBRS and was associated strongly with the Gordon Allport’s notion of the intrinsic religious orientation. The results also suggested that the Stefan Huber’s centrality of religiosity model can capture the Buddhist religiosity and that the CBRS can be used to measure the five theoretical defined core dimensions of religiosity in Buddhism.

Religious Orientation and Religious Internalization in Madrasa and College Students

The research was aimed at examining the relationship between religious orientation (extrinsic,  intrinsic and quest religious orientation) with religious internalization (Introjection religious  internalization and identification religious internalization). A stratified convenient sample of 200  students was selected from different madrasas and colleges of Jhang and Faisalabad. For religious  orientation adopted Urdu version of Religious Orientation Scale developed by Francis & Leslie  (2007) and for religious internalization adopted Urdu version of Religious Internalization Scale  developed by Ryan, Rigby, and King (1993) were used. The extrinsic religious orientation  contributed significantly positive with introjection religious internalization and significantly  negative with Identification Religious Internalization. Intrinsic religious orientation contributed  significantly positive with Identification Religious Internalization and non-significantly negative  with Introjection Religious Orientation. Quest Religious Orientation contributed significantly  positive with Introjection Religious Internalization and non-significantly positive with  identification religious internalization. These two groups namely the madrasa students and college  students when compared on these dimensions it was found that college students have significantly  higher scores on intrinsic religious orientation, extrinsic religious orientation, quest religious  orientation, introjection religious internalization and non-significant differences on identification  religious internalization. The findings of the current study are quite new in Pakistan and are  important in understanding development of religiosity in the students of two competitive  educational systems of madrasa and colleges.  

Orientation of religiosity and radicalism: the dynamic of an ex-terrorist’s religiosity

Recognition of the religious motives and orientations of acts of radicalism and terrorism is often preached by mass media. The religious motive in the context of Islamic radicalism is often referred to the term of jihad, it is the act of seeking Allah's blessings or Lillahi ta'ala. The motive or religious orientation in the view of Religious Psychology is called an intrinsic religious orientation, turning religion a goal of action because of religion itself. This is distinguished from the extrinsic religious orientation that makes religion as a tool for obtaining subjective goals. We aim to understand to what extent the consistency of recognition is viewed from the perspective of religious orientation theory. This is because there is often an inconsistency between claimed motives with attitude. To examine more deeply on this issue, we raised the case of the dynamics of the religious orientation of a former terrorist, Yusuf Adirama, who experienced the dynamics and religious orientation changes of a radical and terrorist into a moderate one. This research reveals that in the case of Yusuf Adirama, the meaning of jihad could change over time following his life experience. Jihad, originally interpreted as taking up arms against the enemies of God, has turned into opposing various acts of violence and helping the needy (Dhuafa) who need help, including those caused by terrorism, both for the perpetrator and victim.

A study to determine the relationship between consumers perceptions of halal certificates and their religious orientations

Purpose- This study was conducted in Isparta and Burdur sample provinces to determine the relationship between the halal certificate perceptions of consumers and their religious orientations. Besides, it is also aimed to determine the halal certificate perceptions and religious orientations of consumers. Methodology- A descriptive research model was used in the study. In addition, factor analysis, reliability test, KMO tests and correlation analysis were conducted. The relationship between the halal certificate perceptions of consumers, and their religious orientations was tried to be determined according to the research model. Findings- Six factors emerged in the dimensions of halal certificate perceptions of consumers. The emerged factors according to the items they contained were named as “Halal Certificate and Control”, “Promotion”, “Market Demand”, “Quality and Attraction”, “Accessibility” and “Retailer”. Four factors were found in the religious orientations of the consumers. The emerged factors according to the items they contained were named as “Intrinsic Religious Orientation”, “Religious Interest”, “Religion and Prayer”, and “Liberalism”. Conclusion- In the study, positive, significant, and weak relationships were observed among most of the dimensions and it was found that the participants who position themselves as liberal have no or low interest in halal-certified products. Besides, it was also revealed that advertising of halal products through mass media is not very important for the participants. Likewise, it may be beneficial to review the places where halal products are supplied since different opinions arise among the participants regarding the supply locations of halal products.

The Effects of Religious Orientations on Malevolent Creativity: Role of Positive Emotions and Spiritual Intelligence

ABSTRACT Creativity has long been touted as one of the aspects of human behavior that truly delineates mankind from all other species. However, sometimes people use creativity in negative ways, whereby it is used to reach goals through harming others. Often these malevolent acts are sensationalized in the media. Previous research found that there is a relationship between malevolent creativity and religious beliefs. This research evaluates the effect of two dimensions of religious orientation, intrinsic and extrinsic, on malevolent creativity through the mediating roles of positive emotions and spiritual intelligence. Data were collected from 862 Muslim students from the countries of Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria. In this research, intrinsic religious orientation was found to reduce students’ malevolent creativity while extrinsic religious orientation increased the malevolent creativity. Furthermore, the effect of intrinsic religious orientation on malevolent creativity through spiritual intelligence and positive emotion was negative, whereas this effect for extrinsic religious orientation was positive. Thus, understanding how religious orientation affects malevolent creativity is vital to advancing our understanding of this area of human behavior.

Effects of religious orientation and state secularism on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

This study aimed to test the associations of religious orientation (extrinsic, intrinsic, and quest) and secularism of state with individuals' attitudes towards the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos. Moreover, we tested the mediating effects of secularism of state on the relationship between religious orientations and attitudes towards this issue related to embryos. Participants were 312 Catholic Italians that completed a questionnaire containing measures of investigated constructs. Results showed that attitude towards pre-implantation genetic diagnosis negatively correlated with intrinsic religious orientation and positively with extrinsic religious orientation and secularism. Moreover, results indicated that secularism mediated the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic orientation and attitude towards pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Taking together these results indicate that real endorsement with religion is associated with the refusal of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis because intrinsic religious orientation is related to the desire for state laws to follow religious principles; on the other hand, the use of religion for utilitarian reasons is associated to the acceptance of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in order to have a religious state and then maintain Catholics’ privileges.

DETERMINANTS OF ECO-CONSCIOUS CONSUMEN BEHAVIOR OF MUSLIMS IN INDONESIA USING THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

Manuscript type: Research paper Research Aims: This study aims to analyze the determinants of eco-conscious behavior of Indonesian Muslim consumers by using the Theory of Planned Behavior, with the incorporation of several additional variables namely intrinsic religious orientation, green trust, and environmental concern. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis used for this research is Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS software. Research Findings: The results show that intrinsic religious orientation influences the eco-conscious behavior of Indonesian Muslims directly and indirectly through attitude toward green products. Furthermore, environmental concern influences the eco-conscious behavior of Indonesian Muslims directly and indirectly through subjective norm and perceived behavioral control as mediators. Meanwhile, green trust does not directly influence the eco-conscious behavior of Indonesian Muslims. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: as a literature related to the theory of planned behavior that correlates religious and marketing factors to a person’s eco-conscious behavior. Practitioner/Policy Implication: Analyzing the factors that influence attitudes and behavior related to environmental awareness will make consumers more understand existing environmental problems. Furthermore, the results of this study may be useful for green marketers in shaping marketing policies and strategies. Research limitation/Implications: There are supporting variables to analyze attitudes and behaviors that explain pro-environment in previous studies but have not been included in this study. Then, more elaborated moderating effects shaped by intrinsic religious orientation is needed.

The relationship between individual differences in religion, religious primes, and the moral foundations

We present evidence for a complex relationship between religiousness and Haidt’s moral foundations, with data from four experiments, measuring 21 different dimensions of personal religiousness and utilizing six different religious primes. The more conservative dimensions of religiousness, such as intrinsic religious orientation and religious attendance, were positively related to binding moral foundations of loyalty, authority, and purity and sometimes related to the individualizing foundation of care. However, other, less conservative dimensions of religiousness, such as quest and extrinsic religious orientations, were unrelated or negatively related to binding foundations. Benevolent God concept was the only religious measure that was positively related to all five moral foundations. We did not find reliable effects of religious primes on endorsement of moral foundations. Results suggest a consistent but complicated relationship between religiousness and moral foundations at a dispositional level.

Why some religious individuals are not emotionally smart? The explanatory role of spirituality

<p align="left">In two studies, we intend to investigate whether spirituality can explain the relationship between intrinsic religious orientation (IRO) and emotional intelligence (EI). Seventy-three worshipping houses-going adults, aged 18-56, had participated in the study. Data was collected by employing Intrinsic Scale of Religious Orientation Scale, Spirituality Assessment Scale, and the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test. Our first study discovered that IRO is not a significant predictor of EI. Nevertheless, Bootstrap analysis with 5000 samples and 95% interval confidence indicated that spirituality fully mediated the link between intrinsic religious orientation and emotional intelligence in our second study. In other words, without high level of spirituality one’s religious orientation does not significantly predict their emotional intelligence. Limitation and suggestion are discussed at the end of the paper. </p>

Religious tolerance among college students: How it’s influenced by religious orientation and personality traits?

Religious tolerance among college students needs to be maintained to create harmonious conditions and peace among the religious community. This study aimed to explore the influence of religious orientations and personality traits on religious tolerance among college students. This study used a quantitative approach and performed a survey method that utilized three measurement tools of psychological scales: the Religious Orientation Scale-Revised, the Personality Scale of Big Five Personality and the Scale of Religious Tolerance. The subjects of this study were 280 students from six universities in Surabaya. The results of the study show that, generally, there is a significant influence of religious orientation and personality traits on religious tolerance among college students. Partially, intrinsic religious orientation has a positive influence on religious tolerance, and on the contrary, the extrinsic religious orientation has a negative influence on religious tolerance. Of the personality traits (Big Five Personality), agreeableness and openness have a positive influence on religious tolerance. Meanwhile, extroversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism do not have a significant influence on religious tolerance. Therefore intrinsic religious orientation and two personality traits - agreeableness and openness - are important to develop religious tolerance among college students. While college student who have extrinsic religious orientation tend to have low religious tolerance.

The Attitudes toward Codes of Ethics: Do Cynicism and Religiosity Matters?

<p>The prevalence of corporate transgressions in Indonesia have brought the moral standards of business leaders into public domain. In light of these phenomena, an investigation into whether prospective business leaders of the country are predisposed to moral values is crucial. The purpose of this research was to ascertain the attitudes of the Indonesian future business leaders towards the existence of codes of ethics in business. In particular, the research examined whether the religious orientation of these future leaders influenced the attitudes. A test was also assigned to scrutinize whether the degree of their social cynicism moderated that possible causal relationship. A survey was used as the primary method to collect the data. The sample involved first-year students from a business school at a private university in Indonesia. A total of 111 students involved in the survey. A majority of the students Results of the research showed majority of the respondents were generally supportive shown to have positive attitudes towards codes of ethics. The intrinsic religious orientation of the students also had a positive impact on the attitudes. This positive relationship, however, was mitigated by their negative views of people and social institutions. Managerial implications of the research findings are discussed and the directions of future similar research are outlined. </p>

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AS A KEY FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATE-LIFE TRUE BELIEF

Hoffer (1951) argued that “true believers” are individuals who cannot tolerate questions about their views. In terms of “true” religious believers, such individuals would not be able to tolerate questions about religious doctrine. In this study, we examine potential causes of religious “true” belief in later life. Using a model of religious orientation developed by Allport (1950) and Batson (1991), we defined “true” religious believers as those individuals who describe deep and broad religious commitments (score high on measures of intrinsic religious orientation) but refuse to question or doubt their commitments (score low on quest religious orientations). Using logistic regression analyses, we examined predictors of religious true belief in a sample of 357 denominationally diverse older adults living in New England. Predictors in the model included denominational affiliation, religious knowledge, organizational and non-organizational religious participation, and religious experiences, as well as non-religious factors such as personality traits (NEO), severity of illness and self-rated health, overall life stress, and other background factors (SES, gender, age) Of these 14 predictors, one factor in particular stood out as a particularly robust predictor of membership in the “true” believer group (n=47) – high scores on self-reported religious experience. Religious life experiences may be influenced by cohort and personality, resulting in extremely high scores of the individual on the intrinsic orientation scale and extremely low scores on the quest scale; together these embody the “true believer”.

On Sin and Sacrifice: How Intrinsic Religiosity and Sexual-Guilt Create Support for Martyrdom

The affective, behavioral, and cognitive influence of sexual sin is investigated in this research. In Study 1, we demonstrated that religious people watching erotic (vs. neutral) images reported greater sexual guilt, which in turn increased their willingness to self-sacrifice for a cause. Extending these results, in Study 2 we demonstrated that when recalling a time when they had committed a sexual sin (vs. no sin), people with an intrinsic religious orientation believe in a more punishing view of God (akin to the Old Testament), which in turn predicts the extent to which they engaged in painful sacrificial behavior. Overall, these results suggest that sexual sins motivate self-sacrifice to repent, especially among those with an intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) religious orientation.

Effects of Religious Orientations on the Prevalence of Social Media Disorder Among Muslim University Students in Pakistan.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of religious orientations on the prevalence of social media disorder among Muslim university students in Pakistan. A total of 686 students (59.0% females), enrolled in the three public-sector universities, participated in the study. The new indices of religious orientation revised and a short version of social media disorder scale were adapted to collect the required information. Both scales demonstrated high reliability coefficients. Results demonstrate significant differences in the religious orientations of disordered and non-disordered social media users. Findings support that the higher extrinsic and quest religious orientations enhance likelihood of being disordered social media users. The enhanced intrinsic religious orientation, however, decreases the chances of being disordered social media users. The implications of research findings in related academic and non-academic settings are discussed at the end of this paper.

Predicting Attitudes towards Lesbians and Gay Men: The Effects of Social Conservatism, Religious Orientation, and Cultural Humility

This study explores the role cultural humility plays in attitudes and discrimination towards people identifying as gay or lesbian among religious individuals. Specifically, we explore cultural humility as a possible predictor of less discriminatory attitudes towards lesbians and gay men above and beyond the effects of conservatism and religious orientation. Consistent with prior work, we expected that (a) intrinsic religious orientation, extrinsic religious orientation, and conservatism would be positively related to discriminatory attitudes and (b) that quest religious orientation and cultural humility would be negatively related to discriminatory attitudes. Participants ( N = 231) were recruited through MTurk after the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida to understand the attitudes and experiences held by Americans. Participants completed measures of religious orientation, attitudes, and behaviors towards lesbians and gay men, and cultural humility regarding LGBT issues. Results supported the hypothesis that cultural humility predicts less discrimination towards lesbians and gay men beyond conservatism and religious orientation. Results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Predicting eco-conscious consumer behavior using theory of planned behavior in Pakistan.

Sustainability of the environment has become pivotal in the modern world, and there have been enormous efforts by the world leaders and organizations to reduce the effects of hazardous production on the environment. This has led companies to implement pro-environment programs and work on sustainability to shift consumption from conventional products to green products. This study incorporates green trust, environmental concerns, and intrinsic religious orientation as a moderator into the theory of planned behavior. It aims to validate the theory of planned behavior and its extended form to predict Pakistani consumers' eco-conscious behavior, and simultaneously assess the moderating effect of intrinsic religious orientation on consumers' attitude towards green products. The data for the study was collected from 300 respondents through purposive sampling from Karachi, the metropolitan city of Pakistan. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied to test the proposed hypotheses. The results of SEM indicate that all paths in the model are significant, except the path from attitude towards green products to eco-conscious behavior. The results also indicate that intrinsic religious orientation has no moderating effect on the green trust and attitude towards green products. This study contributes to understand the effects of new constructs in the theory of planned behavior and their relationship with other variables in the model. It also provides theoretical and managerial implications to academics and marketing professionals for understanding and promoting eco-conscious consumer behavior.

The Relationship between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Religious Orientation with Perceived Stress and Cigarette Addiction among University Students.

BackgroundPsychological stress is associated with unhealthy lifestyles, including smoking. Moreover, religious beliefs can play a significant role in relieving mental disorders such as anxiety and stress. Due to the frequent exposure of medical students to stressful situations, this study was conducted with the aim to investigate the relationship of internal and external religious orientation with perceived stress and nicotine dependence.MethodsThis correlational study was carried out on medical students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, in 2015. The sample size was determined to be 224 individuals using the Morgan table. The participants were selected using stratified random ýsampling. The data collection tools consisted of a demographic information form, the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) (Allport and Ross), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficient, and t-test in SPSS software.FindingsThe findings of the study showed that internal religious orientation had a significant negative relationship with perceived stress and nicotine dependence; however, no significant relationship was observed between external religious orientation and these variables.ConclusionBased on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the religious beliefs of individuals have a preventive role in perceived stress and nicotine dependence.

Effect of parenting stress in Korean mothers of children with disabilities on life satisfaction: Moderating effect of intrinsic religious orientation.

With growing interest in parenting stress among mothers of children with disabilities, the current study examined the multidimensional aspects of parenting stress and their impact on life satisfaction among Korean mothers of children with disabilities. Based on the suggestions of prior findings concerning the potential role of intrapersonal resources on moderating parenting stress, the study focused on intrinsic religious orientation as one of the intrapersonal resources. Participants completed measures of three types of parenting stress (parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction and difficult child), life satisfaction and religious orientation. Two subscales of parenting stress (i.e., parental distress and difficult child) had negative associations with life satisfaction. Intrinsic religious orientation weakened the relationship between parental distress and life satisfaction, especially among individuals who held moderate and high levels of intrinsic religious orientation. These findings indicate the existence of differential associations between parenting stress type and life satisfaction in Korean mothers of children with disabilities. The current findings also identified the interrelationships between the religious resources and maternal parenting stress of children with disabilities. Intrapersonal religious resources have the potential to counterbalance the negative impact of maternal distress.

Exploring Social Belonging and Meaning in Religious Groups

Participation in religious groups may help religious individuals experience higher levels of belonging and meaning. The current study explored how the makeup of religious groups as either ideologically homogeneous or diverse influences belonging and meaning, and also tested religious intellectual humility as a possible moderator of this relationship. Participants (N = 229) were randomly assigned to imagine themselves participating in an ideologically homogeneous or diverse group, and then completed a series of questionnaires. Participants in the ideologically diverse condition reported lower levels of belonging and meaning than did participants in the ideologically homogenous condition, but this effect was not as large for participants high in intellectual humility. High levels of religious commitment and intrinsic religious orientation predicted lower levels of intellectual humility, and high levels of quest religious orientation predicted higher levels of intellectual humility. We conclude by discussing limitations and areas for future research.