"Most scientists agree that religiosity (also called religiousness) is not an independent personality trait..."
Studies of religion and personality focus on the ways in which religious beliefs and practices are related to individual differences in personality traits, such as openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Researchers look at the ways in which these traits influence religious practice, and how they are affected by religion.
Religion: definition and history: This topic explores the definition of religion and its historical development.
Personality: definition and theories: This topic examines different personality theories and how they relate to religion.
Theories of religion and personality: This topic looks at different theoretical frameworks and their applicability to the psychology of religion.
Religious beliefs and attitudes: This topic explores the relationship between a person's religious beliefs and their attitudes.
Religious practices and behavior: This topic focuses on the religious practices and behaviors of individuals and how they relate to their personality.
Religion, spirituality, and well-being: This topic looks at the relationship between religion, spirituality, and overall well-being.
Religion, coping, and resilience: This topic explores how religion and spirituality can be used as coping mechanisms during times of stress or adversity.
Religious identity and development: This topic examines the development of a religious identity and how it affects personality.
Religion and prejudice: This topic explores the relationship between religion and prejudice, including religious-based discrimination.
Cross-cultural perspectives on religion and personality: This topic looks at how religion and personality vary across different cultures and societies.
Christianity: This religion is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and is the world's largest religion. The personality traits associated with Christianity include kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
Islam: This religion is based on the teachings of the prophet Muhammad and is the second-largest religion in the world. The personality traits associated with Islam include piety, humility, and submission to the will of Allah.
Judaism: This religion is based on the belief in one God and the teachings of the Jewish scriptures. The personality traits associated with Judaism include a strong sense of community, education, and reverence for the Torah.
Buddhism: This religion is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who taught that the path to enlightenment involved overcoming suffering and desire. The personality traits associated with Buddhism include mindfulness, compassion, and detachment.
Hinduism: This religion is based on the belief in a supreme being and the teachings of the Vedas. The personality traits associated with Hinduism include devotion, karma, and the pursuit of dharma (righteousness).
Taoism: This religion is based on the teachings of Lao Tzu, who taught that the path to enlightenment involved aligning oneself with the natural flow of the universe. The personality traits associated with Taoism include harmony, simplicity, and humility.
"...one's level of religiosity is often measured by the presence or lack of belief in and relationship with a higher power, certain lifestyles or behaviors adopted for a higher power, and a sense of belonging with other followers of one's religion."
"Personality traits tend to follow a normal distribution, such that the majority of individuals' scores for a personality trait will be concentrated towards the middle, rather than being extremely high or low."
"Distributions for religiosity, however, follow a non-normal distribution, such that there are more individuals who score particularly high or low on religiosity scales."
"Over time, the act of being religious has been a consistent behavior across almost every culture, which could suggest that personality is related to religiosity."
"Examining religiosity as it relates to personality characteristics could provide an empirical way to study a difficult concept."
"With the use of modern, empirically tested personality measures, researchers can look for links and obtain quantitative results to provide insight into how and why religion is such an important element of being human."
"When the research on religiosity and personality is summarized, there doesn't appear to be a strong link between the two."
"While there is research to suggest that there is a modest relationship between mental ability and religiosity..."
"Mental ability is not considered an aspect of personality."
"Religiosity is better explained by environment and upbringing, such that people are likely to maintain the beliefs of the household they grew up in."
"Research on religiosity is also limited in that much psychological research is biased towards Western populations..."
"...therefore research on religiosity and personality may also be skewed towards Western religions."
"Religiosity and personality traits both relate to one's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors."
"...measured by the presence or lack of belief in and relationship with a higher power, certain lifestyles or behaviors adopted for a higher power, and a sense of belonging with other followers of one's religion."
"...personality traits will be concentrated towards the middle, rather than being extremely high or low."
"Distributions for religiosity...follow a non-normal distribution, such that there are more individuals who score particularly high or low on religiosity scales."
"...religiosity is better explained by environment and upbringing..."
"...research on religiosity and personality may also be skewed towards Western religions."
"However, more research is needed to definitively say that there is a correlation between certain personality characteristics and religion."