Exploring the atheist personality: well-being, awe, and magical thinking in atheists, Buddhists, and Christians
Atheists are America’s least trusted group, and stereotypes about them abound: Atheists are non-conformist, sceptical, cynical, and joyless, rarely experiencing awe. Atheists (N = 42) were recruited from the American atheist website and compared to Christians (N = 22) and Buddhists (N = 18). Groups...
| Auteurs: | ; ; ; |
|---|---|
| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Taylor & Francis
2011
|
| Dans: |
Mental health, religion & culture
Année: 2011, Volume: 14, Numéro: 7, Pages: 659-672 |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Spirituality
B Atheism B Well-being B Personality B Religiousness B Awe |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Résumé: | Atheists are America’s least trusted group, and stereotypes about them abound: Atheists are non-conformist, sceptical, cynical, and joyless, rarely experiencing awe. Atheists (N = 42) were recruited from the American atheist website and compared to Christians (N = 22) and Buddhists (N = 18). Groups were highly similar in their reported well-being, empathy, and other personality scales, but differed strongly on scales assessing Spirituality and Magical Ideation, where atheists rejected the concepts of spirituality and magical beliefs. Responding to the question, "Have you ever felt wonderment or felt as if you were part of something greater than yourself?," 71% said "yes," citing Nature (54%), Science, (30%), Music/Art (12%), and Human cooperation (8%). Respondents explained their lack of belief as deriving from a preference for logic and rationality, suggesting an intellectual component to atheism. Findings thus support the stereotype of atheists as logical, sceptical, and non-conformist, but not as cynical and joyless. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1469-9737 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2010.509847 |