Make Love and Lose Your Religion and Virtue: Recalling Sexual Experiences Undermines Spiritual Intentions and Moral Behavior
In contrast with traditional considerations, sexuality is often perceived today as being rather compatible with religion/spirituality and morality. However, there may be some inherent opposition between (a) sexuality (thoughts, affects, and pleasure) and (b) religion/spirituality (attitudes, motives...
Autres titres: | Forum on Religious Belief |
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Auteurs: | ; ; |
Type de support: | Électronique Article |
Langue: | Anglais |
Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Publié: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2016]
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Dans: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Année: 2016, Volume: 55, Numéro: 1, Pages: 23-39 |
Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Spirituality
B Morality B Sexuality B disinhibition |
Accès en ligne: |
Accès probablement gratuit Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Résumé: | In contrast with traditional considerations, sexuality is often perceived today as being rather compatible with religion/spirituality and morality. However, there may be some inherent opposition between (a) sexuality (thoughts, affects, and pleasure) and (b) religion/spirituality (attitudes, motives) and (interpersonal) morality (dispositions, behavior). The two imply, respectively, self-enhancement versus self-transcendence, disinhibition versus self-control, and disgust indifference versus sensitivity. We hypothesized that sexual experience attenuates spiritual and moral concerns and behaviors. In three online experiments, young adults were asked to recall a personal sexual experience. Compared to a control condition, sexual induction diminished spiritual behavioral intentions (Experiments 1 and 2), in particular among those with high individual disinhibition (Experiment 1), as well as behaviors of prosociality and integrity/honesty (Experiment 3). The effects were independent of individual religiousness/spirituality. These findings suggest that combining sexual pleasure with self-transcendence and moral perfection, even if a legitimate ideal, is not an easy enterprise. |
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ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
Contient: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12244 |