Religion and Morality Big Questions o Existential questions and answers o Human consciousness o Terror Management Theory TMT o Morality salience anxiety distress o Increased belief in supernatural agents afterlife mind body distinctions Foxhole Atheism o Mortality salience Worldview defense system justification o Effects for religious and secular o Explicit survey vs implicit IAT scores o Supernatural real vs imaginary Religion Coping o Universality of suffering and harm o Even to innocent people o Divine purpose is orderly Belief in a just world o When things go wrong o In group social support o God as a parental figure personal relationship with God Proximity seeking under stress threat o Compensatory control SDT o Meaning Making from Trauma o Increased Happiness and Well Being 4 2 14 Religion as social identity 70 of Americans say religious identity other social identity ethnic geographic etc Identity continuity certainty o Advertise self to others Share beliefs social connectivity generate values judgments decisions More likely to bond with people to share similar values as you music taste Mind perception and assessment o Fast judgments of others Halo Effect Thoughts Attitudes behavior o E g lust fantasy adultery action HALO EFFECT Thoughts Moral Reaction shock test Shocks by person in next room intending to shock them pain remained same Shocks by person in next room but person was trying not to shock them pain went down People attribute actions to pain and moral consequences Secular manifestation for people to attribute and judge character Religion and Social Issues moralizing normative behavior Sex eating work Religious people decrease adultery Self control willpower o Experimental religious primes Decrease suicide rate in societies with increased social norms tighter societies Bod As the Enforcer God post mortem justice social loyalty and good behavior Experimental evidence less cheating in lab tasks o Even in non social settings math tests told they could self score their math test and for every test they got right they would get after scoring test was thrown away so it was completely based on the honor system o Mean Gods make good people 10 Commandments honor pledges When people are given a prime that involves god they are less likely to cheat in tasks Religion Blinds People Autonomy vs Community Morals o Homo duplex two level man o 90 chimp 10 bee Trust facilitates cooperation in large groups Multi level evolutionary selection o Strong moral norms competitive advantage Religion Binds Communities Group level concerns pathogens o Parasite stress outsiders are undesirable Atheists are decreased trust decreased group liking do not think that god is watching them so they are more likely to behavior in poor extraneous ways o God s watching variable that determines why people see Atheist s as Distrust Belief that God watches discrimination job hiring teachers less trustworthy day care Binding Communities Religion and morality o Increased in group cooperation and altruism o Decreased free rider problems o Keep authority structure in tact o Assist in mobilizing around common causes Religious Groups Conflict and competition o Resources territory ideas o Group deservingness and victimization o Moral strivings and viciousness holy war Religious prejudice racial prejudice o Caveat historical artifact Mortality salience radicalization Atheism most distrusted and least liked group Atheists secular people have religious experiences o Unity with humankinds universe o Transcendence of time space Esp with psychedelic drugs o Emotion elevation awe o Behavior rituals superstition holy ground o Cognition karma sacralized ideals sell your soul Groupishness Group level morality o Politics sports nations Greek life Collective effervescence o Singing in Church burning man synchronized movement chants Jediism UK 2001 census Jediism Buddhism Judaism Belief in god is relevant religion is about finding people in groups who have shared sacred objects and people Free Will the bad Stems from religious philosophical conundrum determinism o Religious and secular people endorse free will Doesn t take into account o Emotions and other mental states esp homeostatic states Origin of intentions chain of events Neurological activity before intentions I am statements Free Will the good are in control of their lives they are happier Useful for organizing society Priming free will Agency SDT self determination theory when people are told that they o Increased motivation effort altruism job performance o Decreased aggressive behavior cheating AN existential paradox beneficial illusion The idea that things are influencing us is okay we can assign praise blame Primed with free well increased altruism job performance determination for good bad behaviors less aggression and cheating o Free will may not exist but it may be useful for us to belief that it does exist 4 9 14 Religion and Morality Heinz s Dilemma Heinz stealing medication for his dying wife Moral Development Developmentalists Perspective Piaget Kohlberg Gilligan Focus on Utilitarianism 5 1 better to kill just one life than just kill one consequentialism Rule based Morality deontology Minimizing harm maximizing justice equality freedom Cognitive sophistication increases reasoning ability Theory of mind cultural relativity Disgust Evolved for physical health cleanliness o Disgust promotes moral sanctity purity o Moralizing normative behavior How Jewish people survived in the desert because they made hand washing a religious experience Moral Dumbfounding innate sense that something is wrong but cannot come up with concrete reasoning why Emotions Moral Judgment The emotional dog and its rational tail Moral Intuitiveness intuitive primacy o Logic and reason are afterthoughts o Mind as a lawyer analogy 4 14 14 Political Psychology every week Moral Violations son that didn t fill his promise to visit his mother s grave o Woman who cuts up old America flag and uses it as cleaning rags Moral Foundations Theory o Individual level morality Care vs Harm Fairness Justice vs Inequality norm of reciprocity Liberty vs Oppression has not been studied that much Conservatives are concerned about care fairness Conservatives and Liberals rely on a different moral o Group level morality code to govern behavior In group loyalty patriotism allegiance fairness to church group Authority Respect parents police institutions having reverence to authority figures Purity Sanctity sex
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