The path to God is through the heart: Metaphoric self-location as a predictor of religiosity
The path to God is through the heart: Metaphoric self-location as a predictor of religiosity
Metaphors linking the heart to warm intuition and the head to cold rationality may capture important differences between people because some individuals locate the self primarily in the heart (heart-locators) and others locate the self primarily in the head (head-locators). Five studies (total N = 2575) link these individual differences to religious beliefs, which are thought to follow from warm and intuitive forms of thinking. As hypothesized, Study 1 found that religious beliefs were stronger among heart-locators than head-locators. Study 2 replicated this relationship in a more diverse sample and Study 3 replicated it in another country (Germany). Studies 4 and 5 focused on questions of mediation. Heart-locators believed in God to a greater extent partly because of empathy-related processes (Study 4) and partly because they tended to think in less analytic terms (Study 5). These studies significantly extend our knowledge of how conceptual metaphors interact with personality processes.
Self-Location, Head, Heart, Metaphor, Religiosity
Fetterman, Adam
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Juhl, Jacob
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Meier, Brian
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Abeyta, Andrew
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Routledge, Clay
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Robinson, Michael
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Fetterman, Adam
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Juhl, Jacob
1c3b38b1-ba9e-4f3c-8520-ebca3b712fa2
Meier, Brian
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Abeyta, Andrew
d943772f-b558-4cc0-8ce4-3ed309993e72
Routledge, Clay
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Robinson, Michael
a276f644-9d06-42f6-905d-a3aaf0c85f8e
Fetterman, Adam, Juhl, Jacob, Meier, Brian, Abeyta, Andrew, Routledge, Clay and Robinson, Michael
(2019)
The path to God is through the heart: Metaphoric self-location as a predictor of religiosity.
Self and Identity.
(doi:10.1080/15298868.2019.1651389).
Abstract
Metaphors linking the heart to warm intuition and the head to cold rationality may capture important differences between people because some individuals locate the self primarily in the heart (heart-locators) and others locate the self primarily in the head (head-locators). Five studies (total N = 2575) link these individual differences to religious beliefs, which are thought to follow from warm and intuitive forms of thinking. As hypothesized, Study 1 found that religious beliefs were stronger among heart-locators than head-locators. Study 2 replicated this relationship in a more diverse sample and Study 3 replicated it in another country (Germany). Studies 4 and 5 focused on questions of mediation. Heart-locators believed in God to a greater extent partly because of empathy-related processes (Study 4) and partly because they tended to think in less analytic terms (Study 5). These studies significantly extend our knowledge of how conceptual metaphors interact with personality processes.
Text
Fetterman et al. in press Accepted Version
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Accepted/In Press date: 29 July 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 August 2019
Keywords:
Self-Location, Head, Heart, Metaphor, Religiosity
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Local EPrints ID: 432999
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432999
ISSN: 1529-8868
PURE UUID: 0667ff94-03f3-4cfa-9b4a-fe367cbc10b9
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Date deposited: 06 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:04
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Author:
Adam Fetterman
Author:
Brian Meier
Author:
Andrew Abeyta
Author:
Clay Routledge
Author:
Michael Robinson
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