It's reportedly paved with high religiosity, say two Florida psychologists.
Christianity Today readers, or those like them, may have more success keeping those quick-to-fade (and out of vogue?) New Year's resolutions than secular or "spiritual but not religious" peers. That's the conclusion of John Tierney's recent New York Times piece about the high correlation between personal religiosity and self-control.
Michael McCullough and Brian Willoughby are two psychologists at the University of Miami interested in religion professionally but who "personally . . . don't get down on the field much," quips McCullough. They just published the results of their 8-year study testing the hypothesis that religion gives people internal strength in Psychological Bulletin. McCullough and Willoughby concluded that the "controls" of religious belief typically used to explain religious folk's emphasis on morality - guilt, fear of punishment, exclusion from a worshiping community - do not fully account for their ability to resist temptation.
"Brain-scan studies have shown that when people pray or meditate, there's a lot of activity in two parts of the brain that are important for self-regulation and control of attention and emotion," McCullough said. "The rituals that religions have been encouraging for thousands of years seem to be a kind of anaerobic workout for self-control."
According to McCullough, even individuals who go along with a worshiping community's organized rituals, but who don't necessarily subscribe to the beliefs taught there (the "extrinsically religious"), will not be able to practice self-discipline as much as those who go but actually absorb what is taught ("intrinsically religious").
So the conclusion of this study: Those who believe their actions, words, and decisions have meaning beyond immediate ramifications and what's now visible put more weight on their actions, words, and decisions. Makes sense to this terribly unscientific thinker.
Read the study here, and take CT's poll on New Year's resolutions.
share thisPosted by Katelyn Beaty on December 31, 2008 11:54AM
Comments
Let's just hope this doesn't turn into another bad apologetic argument.
Every religion sets pretty high goals for its adherents. People who belong to those religions naturally strive to meet those goals on a regular basis. Obviously then, religious people are more practiced in the art of conformity than, say, a nihilist who has a lot less goals and a lot less motivation to acheive the ones he does have.
I wonder if the results don't reflect a very specific kind of control. From my own experience and reading, it seems that while Christians are great at abstaining from what is often superficial activities (don't dance, don't drink, etc.), they have a devil of a time controlling themselves in other areas (anger management and other such qualities). For example, look at divorce statistics or pornography statistics.
Posted by: Red Monkey at January 1, 2009
> "Those who believe their actions, words, and decisions have meaning beyond immediate ramifications and what's now visible put more weight on their actions, words, and decisions."
Anyone who has a principled worldview has guidance in how to act. This isn't a matter of "control," as the researchers suggested, but of living by one's principles (assuming they are practicable to begin with). So, as the author suggests, we shouldn't be surprised to see that principled individuals are more consistent in their determination to live according to their resolutions.
Personally, I don't see any need for New Year's resolutions. If I discover something about myself or my life circumstances that is wrong and needs changing, I would try to change as soon as I understood what I need to do. Why wait until the first day of the next year?
Posted by: Burgess Laughlin at January 2, 2009
I agree completely with Burgess Laughlin. I am not religious, but I do live by principles of love and respect for others. Like Burgess, I change when I see a need. January 1 is only one of 365 days to make the most of.
Posted by: Joel Justiss at January 3, 2009
It is revealing that the New Years Resolution Poll separates spiritual and physical categories. Are they connected? Plato lives.
Posted by: John Mustol at January 3, 2009
Post a comment