How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves
In this study we examined the applicability of personality measures to assessing God representations, and we explored how the overlap between personality judgments of self and God relate to strength of (dis)belief and closeness to God among atheists and agnostics. Using sample of 1,088 atheists/agno...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Studia Humana |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2019-0024 |
| _version_ | 1819242564053630976 |
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| author | Mikloušić Igor Lane Justin E. |
| author_facet | Mikloušić Igor Lane Justin E. |
| author_sort | Mikloušić Igor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this study we examined the applicability of personality measures to assessing God representations, and we explored how the overlap between personality judgments of self and God relate to strength of (dis)belief and closeness to God among atheists and agnostics. Using sample of 1,088 atheists/agnostics, we applied Goldberg’s Big Five bipolar markers as a standardized measure of personality dimensions, along with measures of identity fusion with God, belief strength, and sociosexuality, as this trait has been shown to be relevant in predicting religiosity. Our study revealed that personality measures can be used for research on the personality of supernatural agents. We also found that personality self-assessments were related to the assessments of God personality. Agreeableness was positively related to the perception of emotional stability of God, while conscientiousness and surgency were negatively related to perceived intellect and surgency of god, respectively. Also, intellect of the participants was related negatively to perceptions of God’s emotional stability and intellect. Perceived distance between the assessment of one’s own personality and the personality of God predicted the strength of (dis)belief, thus opening new interpretations into possible sources of belief and disbelief. Finally, echoing previous studies, we found that conscientiousness of God had a negative effect on SOI-R score. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:41:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0cdeb3b5dd614ab39bfd92d7ae9e1750 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2299-0518 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:41:48Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studia Humana |
| spelling | doaj.art-0cdeb3b5dd614ab39bfd92d7ae9e17502022-12-21T17:43:11ZengSciendoStudia Humana2299-05182019-10-0183395710.2478/sh-2019-0024sh-2019-0024How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to ThemselvesMikloušić Igor0Lane Justin E.1Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Trg Marka Marulića 19, 10000, Zagreb, CroatiaCenter for Modeling Social Systems, Prospectus Solutions AS, Kristiansand, Sørlandets Kunnskapspark, Universitetsveien 19, 4630Kristiansand, NorwayIn this study we examined the applicability of personality measures to assessing God representations, and we explored how the overlap between personality judgments of self and God relate to strength of (dis)belief and closeness to God among atheists and agnostics. Using sample of 1,088 atheists/agnostics, we applied Goldberg’s Big Five bipolar markers as a standardized measure of personality dimensions, along with measures of identity fusion with God, belief strength, and sociosexuality, as this trait has been shown to be relevant in predicting religiosity. Our study revealed that personality measures can be used for research on the personality of supernatural agents. We also found that personality self-assessments were related to the assessments of God personality. Agreeableness was positively related to the perception of emotional stability of God, while conscientiousness and surgency were negatively related to perceived intellect and surgency of god, respectively. Also, intellect of the participants was related negatively to perceptions of God’s emotional stability and intellect. Perceived distance between the assessment of one’s own personality and the personality of God predicted the strength of (dis)belief, thus opening new interpretations into possible sources of belief and disbelief. Finally, echoing previous studies, we found that conscientiousness of God had a negative effect on SOI-R score.https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2019-0024atheismpersonalityfusionsexualitybig-5personality of god |
| spellingShingle | Mikloušić Igor Lane Justin E. How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves Studia Humana atheism personality fusion sexuality big-5 personality of god |
| title | How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves |
| title_full | How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves |
| title_fullStr | How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves |
| title_full_unstemmed | How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves |
| title_short | How the Non-Religious View the Personality of God in Relation to Themselves |
| title_sort | how the non religious view the personality of god in relation to themselves |
| topic | atheism personality fusion sexuality big-5 personality of god |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2019-0024 |
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