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Religious belief as compensatory control.

Aaron C Kay1, Danielle Gaucher, Ian McGregor

  • 1University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ackay@uwaterloo.ca

Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc
|December 31, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Religious conviction offers a flexible defense, acting as both personal and external control. This helps manage anxiety stemming from low personal control or uncertain experiences.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Sociology of Religion

Background:

  • Low personal or external control can increase anxiety.
  • Individuals may seek compensatory control to alleviate distress.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review experimental evidence on religious conviction as a source of compensatory control.
  • To examine how religious belief functions as personal and external control.
  • To identify dispositional factors influencing the use of compensatory control.

Main Methods:

  • Review of experimental studies examining control manipulation.
  • Analysis of how religious conviction compensates for reduced personal or external control.

Main Results:

  • Belief in deities and institutions provides external compensatory control.
  • Religious conviction acts as personal compensatory control when other controls are low.
  • Dispositional factors influence preference for external versus personal control.

Conclusions:

  • Compensatory religious conviction is a flexible psychological resource.
  • It helps individuals cope with anxiety from uncertainty and lack of control.
  • Religious belief can serve adaptive functions in managing distress.