Sunday Times 2
Being religious does not make you better behaved, only more guilty
Being religious does not make you better behaved, researchers have found.
A new study found ‘no significant difference’ in the number or quality of moral and immoral deeds made by religious and non-religious participants.
The researchers found only one difference – Religious people responded with more pride and gratitude for their moral deeds, and more guilt, embarrassment and disgust for their immoral deeds.
The new study found 'no significant difference' in the number or quality of moral and immoral deeds made by religious and non-religious participants (Reuters)
Researchers say the find means religious and nonreligious people have more in common than generally thought when it comes to moral experiences in everyday life.
‘To our knowledge, it’s the first study that directly assesses how morality plays out in people’s everyday lived experience,’ says Linda Skitka, a University of Illinois at Chicago psychologist. who co-authored the study, which was published in the journal Science.
To learn how people experience morality and immorality in everyday life, the researchers surveyed more than 1,200 adults, aged 18 to 68, via smartphone.
For three days, the demographically diverse group of U.S. and Canadian citizens received five signals daily, prompting them to deliver short answers to a questionnaire about any moral or immoral act they had committed, received, witnessed or heard about within the last hour.
In addition to the religion variable, the researchers also looked at moral experience and political orientation, as well as the effect moral and immoral occurrences have on an individual’s happiness and sense of purpose.
The study found that religious and nonreligious people differed in only one way: how moral and immoral deeds made them feel.
Religious people responded with stronger emotions – more pride and gratitude for their moral deeds, and more guilt, embarrassment and disgust for their immoral deeds.
The study also found little evidence for a morality divide between political conservatives and liberals.
‘Our findings are important because they reveal that even though there are some small differences in the degree to which liberals and conservatives emphasise different moral priorities, the moral priorities they have are more similar than different,’ Skitka said.
Both groups are very concerned about issues such as harm/care, fairness/unfairness, authority/subversion and honesty/dishonesty, she said.
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