Prosocial Behavior and Religion: New Evidence Based on Projective Measures and Peer Ratings

An important discrepancy seems to exist between self-reports and laboratory studies regarding prosociality among religious people. Some have even suggested that this involves moral hypocrisy on the part of religious people. However, the assumption of the four studies reported here is that the impact of religiousness on prosociality is limited but exists, and does not reflect self-delusion. In Study 1 ( N = 106), religious young adults tended not to use indirect aggression in dealing with hypothetical daily hassles. In Study 2 ( N = 105), female students' religiosity was associated with willingness to help close targets in hypothetical situations but the effect was not extended to unknown targets. In Studies 3 ( N = 315, 105 triads) and 4 ( N = 274, 109 targets), religious targets not only reported high altruistic behavior and empathy, but were also perceived as such by peers (friends, siblings, or colleagues) in three out of four cases. Other results from the studies suggested that the prosociality of religious people is not an artifact of gender, social desirability bias, security in attachment, empathy, or honesty.     

Individual Differences in Religion and Spirituality: An Issue of Personality Traits and/or Values

Personality, in terms of both strict personality traits (five factors) and their cultural adaptations (e.g., values), has systematically been found to predict religion. This article focuses on three issues that still remain unclear: predictiveness of personality facets versus the five factors; predictiveness of values versus personality; and similarities and differences between religiosity and spirituality in their associations with personality and values. We administered the NEO-PI-R, the Schwartz Value Survey, and religious measures to Spanish students (N = 256). The personality facets provided additional and subtler information than the five factors on individual differences in religion and spirituality. When the overlap between personality and values was controlled for, values were almost unique predictors of these differences. Spirituality shared with religion both a prosocial tendency (with even some intensification) and conscientiousness, but not the emphasis on conservation versus openness to change and to experience.