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RELIGIONSPSYCItOLOGI E 645 l'intentionaiff6 religieuse. La preJmi~re voie ne peut encore ~tre suivie faute de corrrlations vrrifides, mais nous la croyons ouverte. La seconde voie est otierte 5. la libre discussion des participants de ce symposium. PERSONALITY AND SOCIO-CULTURAL VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND OBSERVANCE A. W. SIEGMAN Ramat-Gan (Israel) 1. Although a number of personality variables have been identified by various authors as the determinants of religious behavior, independent of specific religious demonination, the results of the studies under con- sideration certainly appear to be inconsistent with such claims. It is suggested instead that the personality correlates of religious behavior vary with the specific religious denomination. 2. For most people religious belief and religious observance are acquired or learned in the socialization process. In a culture in which there is no social pressure to conform in relation to religious behavior (e.g., Israel in relation to religious belief), individual differences in adult religious behavior may be a result of certain personality differences. In a Israeli Jewish sanaple a number of personality variablg, s were found to covary with religious belief and/or observance. Religious belief and observance, however, were also highly signLficant sources of variance in Ss' values. These value differences probably inttuence the what and how of the socialization pi,.~'ess which in turn may be responsible for some--although probably not all-.--of the personality variables assoc~iated with religious behavior. 3. In cultures which are characterized by strong social pressure in relation to rcl;.gious conformity, e.g. the culture represented by our United States Protestant sample, the religious behavior of mar~y individuals will be a result of their need to conform rather than other personality variables directly related to their religious behaviour as such. Thus in the United States Protestant sample conformity and variables associated with it were the only signifit:ant sources of variance in Ss' religious behavior. The results of our studies indicate the importance of differentiating between religious belief and observance which are merely the rdsult of

Personality and socio-cultural variables associated with religious belief and observance

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RE LIGIONSPSYCItOLOGI E 645

l'intentionaiff6 religieuse. La preJmi~re voie ne peut encore ~tre suivie faute de corrrlations vrrifides, mais nous la croyons ouverte. La seconde voie est otierte 5. la libre discussion des participants de ce symposium.

P E R S O N A L I T Y A N D S O C I O - C U L T U R A L V A R I A B L E S

ASSOCIATED W I T H R E L I G I O U S B E L I E F A N D O B S E R V A N C E

A. W. SIEGMAN Ramat-Gan (Israel)

1. Although a number of personality variables have been identified by various authors as the determinants of religious behavior, independent of specific religious demonination, the results of the studies under con- sideration certainly appear to be inconsistent with such claims. It is suggested instead that the personality correlates of religious behavior vary with the specific religious denomination.

2. For most people religious belief and religious observance are acquired or learned in the socialization process. In a culture in which there is no social pressure to conform in relation to religious behavior (e.g., Israel in relation to religious belief), individual differences in adult religious behavior may be a result of certain personality differences.

In a Israeli Jewish sanaple a number of personality variablg, s were found to covary with religious belief and/or observance.

Religious belief and observance, however, were also highly signLficant sources of variance in Ss' values. These value differences probably inttuence the what and how of the socialization pi,.~'ess which in turn may be responsible for some--al though probably not all-.--of the personality variables assoc~iated with religious behavior.

3. In cultures which are characterized by strong social pressure in relation to rcl;.gious conformity, e.g. the culture represented by our United States Protestant sample, the religious behavior of mar~y individuals will be a result of their need to conform rather than other personality variables directly related to their religious behaviour as such. Thus in the United States Protestant sample conformity and variables associated with it were the only signifit:ant sources of variance in Ss' religious behavior.

The results of our studies indicate the importance of differentiating between religious belief and observance which are merely the rdsult of

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social cordormity and religioug belief and observance which are also the result of other variables which are ~xlore directly rclzted to religious behavior as such.

4. Finally, it is suggested that in trying to discover the determinants of individual differences in religious behavior there has been too much emphasis on motivational variables al~,d not enough on environmental factors. A social learning model may be the best suited for 'the investi- gation of the sources of individual differences in religious behavior.