Religion and the morality of mentality

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Religious Studies
• Moral Psychology

Background:

• Christian doctrine emphasizes the moral significance of mental states, while Jewish doctrine places less importance on them.
• Previous research suggests potential differences in moral judgment between religious groups based on their doctrines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether American Jews and Protestants differ in the moral import they attribute to mental states.
• To explore the mediating factors and underlying beliefs contributing to any observed differences in moral judgment.

Main Methods:

• Four studies were conducted involving American Jews and Protestants.
• Participants rated the moral status of actions and target persons exhibiting specific mental states.
• Surveys assessed beliefs about thought controllability, action-conduciveness, moral relevance of thoughts, and cultural tendencies (individualism/collectivism).

Main Results:

• Protestants and Jews rated the moral status of actions similarly.
• Protestants judged individuals with inappropriate mental states more negatively than did Jews.
• Differences were partially mediated by Protestants' beliefs in thought controllability and action-conduciveness, and strongly correlated with the belief that thoughts are morally relevant.

Conclusions:

• Religious differences exist in attributing moral relevance to mental states, with Protestants emphasizing it more than Jews.
• Beliefs regarding the controllability and moral relevance of thoughts significantly mediate these religious differences in moral judgment.
• These observed differences are not explained by variations in individualistic or collectivistic cultural orientations.