Pictures Are Worth a Thousand Words and a Moral Decision or Two: Religious Symbols Prime Moral Judgments
Symbols represent information we have previously learned or experienced, but they can also serve to encourage thoughts and behaviors that are consistent with this knowledge/experience in order to maintain social cohesion. Secular pictures representing moral rules have been shown to influence moral d...
| Published in: | The international journal for the psychology of religion |
|---|---|
| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
2015
|
| In: |
The international journal for the psychology of religion
|
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
|
| Summary: | Symbols represent information we have previously learned or experienced, but they can also serve to encourage thoughts and behaviors that are consistent with this knowledge/experience in order to maintain social cohesion. Secular pictures representing moral rules have been shown to influence moral decisions, but there is no empirical evidence to demonstrate that religious pictures (e.g., crucifix) encourage the same outcome. Two studies examined whether religious pictures would influence decision making (lexical, moral) and whether personal religious belief was a moderating factor. Results overall showed that religious pictures influenced decision making. In Study 1, lexical decisions were faster to religious than nonreligious words when primed with religious pictures. In Study 2a, participants rated morally ambiguous actions as less morally appropriate when primed with religious pictures. This occurred to a greater degree for religious participants. In Study 2b, there was a priming effect of religious versus control words on moral decisions, but this was not influenced by individual religious beliefs. When compared, pictures versus words led to lower ratings of moral appropriateness for presented actions. Implications for religious iconography and moral education are discussed. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1532-7582 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal for the psychology of religion
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/10508619.2014.921111 |