Research has widely demonstrated that religiosity is related to psychological well-being even in situations of severe illness. To assess religious beliefs explicit measures have generally been used. In this study, we measured the belief that God is reality as opposed to myth or abstraction by using an implicit technique (the Single Category Implicit Association Test). The study was carried out in Italy, where a large majority of the population is Catholic, and the prevailing image of God is that of a compassionate and supportive father. Participants were cancer patients identifying themselves as believers. As expected, the automatic belief that God is reality (vs. abstraction) was related to beneficial outcomes: lower reported psycho-physical anxiety symptoms and a weaker use of avoidance strategies to cope with stress. Thus, also automatic religious beliefs may affect feelings and behaviors.

The Implicit Image of God: God as Reality and Psychological Well-Being

TESTONI, INES
;
VISINTIN, EMILIO PAOLO;CAPOZZA, DORA;
2016

Abstract

Research has widely demonstrated that religiosity is related to psychological well-being even in situations of severe illness. To assess religious beliefs explicit measures have generally been used. In this study, we measured the belief that God is reality as opposed to myth or abstraction by using an implicit technique (the Single Category Implicit Association Test). The study was carried out in Italy, where a large majority of the population is Catholic, and the prevailing image of God is that of a compassionate and supportive father. Participants were cancer patients identifying themselves as believers. As expected, the automatic belief that God is reality (vs. abstraction) was related to beneficial outcomes: lower reported psycho-physical anxiety symptoms and a weaker use of avoidance strategies to cope with stress. Thus, also automatic religious beliefs may affect feelings and behaviors.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3210868
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