Examining the Relationship Between Awe, Spirituality, and Religiosity

Although the emotional experience of awe is linked both historically and empirically to religious feelings and behavior, there is reason to posit that awe relates to certain aspects of religious psychology more strongly than others. For instance, awe is linked to increased communal orientations, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology of religion and spirituality 2022-11, Vol.14 (4), p.436-444
Main Authors: Kearns, Peter O., Tyler, James M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Emotions
Female
Human
Male
Motivation
Psychology
Religion
Religiosity
Religious Experiences
Spirituality
Test Construction
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Summary:Although the emotional experience of awe is linked both historically and empirically to religious feelings and behavior, there is reason to posit that awe relates to certain aspects of religious psychology more strongly than others. For instance, awe is linked to increased communal orientations, and awe prompts people to seek out new and diverse experiences. These characteristics appear more compatible with expressions similar to spirituality and communal religious motivations, rather than to religiosity or solitary religious pursuits. The aim of the present research was to examine the relative strength of the association between awe and various religious constructs. Both Study 1 and Study 2 showed that dispositional awe was more strongly related to spirituality than religiosity. However, the findings from Study 2 also indicate that both spirituality and religiosity are equally significant predictors of state awe. Study 2 results also suggest communal religious motives are more strongly related to dispositional and state awe than individual religious motivations.
ISSN:1941-1022
1943-1562
DOI:10.1037/rel0000365