TY - JOUR
T1 - Material insecurity predicts greater commitment to moralistic and less commitment to local deities
T2 - a cross-cultural investigation
AU - Baimel, Adam
AU - Apicella, Coren
AU - Atkinson, Quentin
AU - Bolyanatz, Alex
AU - Cohen, Emma
AU - Handley, Carla
AU - Henrich, Joseph
AU - Kundtová Klocová, Eva
AU - Lang, Martin
AU - Lesogorol, Carolyn
AU - Mathew, Sarah
AU - McNamara, Rita
AU - Moya, Cristina
AU - Norenzayan, Ara
AU - Placek, Caitlyn D.
AU - Soler, Monserrat
AU - Vardy, Thomas
AU - Weigel, Jonathan
AU - Willard, Aiyana
AU - Xygalatas, Dimitris
AU - Purzycki, Benjamin
N1 - Funding Information:
The overarching project was made possible by a SSHRC partnership grant (#895-2011-1009) and the John Templeton Foundation (grant ID #40603). The project reported in this manuscript was directly supported by grants from the Understanding Unbelief Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation (grant ID #60624) and the Consequences of Formal Education for Science and Religion project (#TIF0206) funded by the Issachar Fund. These grants were awarded to AB and BGP, who express thanks to Jon Lanman and Cristine Legare for their encouragement. AB acknowledges support from the Templeton World Charity Foundation (grant ID #TWCF0164) and BGP acknowledges support from the Aarhus University Research Foundation. We are thankful for Adam Barnett for being so awesome.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by John Templeton Foundation: [Grant Number 40603,60624]; The Issachar Fund: [Grant Number TIF0206]; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: [Grant Number 895-2011-1009]; Templeton World Charity Foundation: [Grant Number TWCF0164]. The overarching project was made possible by a SSHRC partnership grant (#895-2011-1009) and the John Templeton Foundation (grant ID #40603). The project reported in this manuscript was directly supported by grants from the Understanding Unbelief Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation (grant ID #60624) and the Consequences of Formal Education for Science and Religion project (#TIF0206) funded by the Issachar Fund. These grants were awarded to AB and BGP, who express thanks to Jon Lanman and Cristine Legare for their encouragement. AB acknowledges support from the Templeton World Charity Foundation (grant ID #TWCF0164) and BGP acknowledges support from the Aarhus University Research Foundation. We are thankful for Adam Barnett for being so awesome.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The existential security hypothesis predicts that in the absence of more successful secular institutions, people will be attracted to religion when they are materially insecure. Most assessments, however, employ data sampled at a state-level with a focus on world religions. Using individual-level data collected in societies of varied community sizes with diverse religious traditions including animism, shamanism, polytheism, and monotheism, we conducted a systematic cross-cultural test (N = 1820; 14 societies) of the relationship between material insecurity (indexed by food insecurity) and religious commitment (indexed by both beliefs and practices). Moreover, we examined the relationship between material security and individuals’ commitment to two types of deities (moralistic and local), thus providing the first simultaneous test of the existential security hypothesis across co-existing traditions. Our results indicate that while material insecurity is associated with greater commitment to moralistic deities, it predicts less commitment to local deity traditions.
AB - The existential security hypothesis predicts that in the absence of more successful secular institutions, people will be attracted to religion when they are materially insecure. Most assessments, however, employ data sampled at a state-level with a focus on world religions. Using individual-level data collected in societies of varied community sizes with diverse religious traditions including animism, shamanism, polytheism, and monotheism, we conducted a systematic cross-cultural test (N = 1820; 14 societies) of the relationship between material insecurity (indexed by food insecurity) and religious commitment (indexed by both beliefs and practices). Moreover, we examined the relationship between material security and individuals’ commitment to two types of deities (moralistic and local), thus providing the first simultaneous test of the existential security hypothesis across co-existing traditions. Our results indicate that while material insecurity is associated with greater commitment to moralistic deities, it predicts less commitment to local deity traditions.
KW - Religious commitment
KW - cross-cultural
KW - existential insecurity
KW - moralistic gods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128338432&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85128338432&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006287
DO - 10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006287
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85128338432
SN - 2153-599X
VL - 12
SP - 4
EP - 17
JO - Religion, Brain and Behavior
JF - Religion, Brain and Behavior
IS - 1-2
ER -