"Born" to be religious: Universal personality predispositions?

Being religious does not change core personality. But specific personality characteristics – in interaction with contextual factors - predispose some people to be, become, or remain religious more than others. Personality predispositions of religiousness seem to be universal: they are the same across religions, religious dimensions, countries, genders, ages, and cohorts. This was found in a recent meta-analysis of 71 studies from 19 countries (total N = 21,715). The links between these personality characteristics and religiousness become stronger with age, what may be due to genetic influences. These are known to be clearer on both personality and religiosity as people move from adolescence and young adulthood to adulthood, a period when family and environmental influences decrease.

The personality predispositions of religiousness are Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C), for all religious dimensions; additionally, high Openness to experience (O), for spirituality; and low Openness to experience, for fundamentalism. These personality traits may help to understand (a) how spirituality escapes from the temptation of paranormal beliefs that are disconnected from social reality (high O and intuitive thinking, but no relation with A and C) and (b) how religiosity escapes from the temptation of the cold rigidity of authoritarians (high C, low O, but no relation with A). The personality profile of religiousness underlies the adaptive functions of religion, i.e. personal stability (C), social harmony (A), and moral self-transcendence (A and C). It, indirectly, also points out the adaptive functions of being non-religious, i.e. playfulness, growth/creativity, and social change, functions reflected by high O and Extraversion, and low A and C.

Finally, one has not to understand the above results as implying that only personality predicts individual differences in religiousness. The latter, of course, are also predicted by other factors, i.e. religious (family) socialization (indeed, the most important predictor) and personal experiences. Personality predispositions better predict religiousness when they interact with environment.

Saroglou, V. (2010). Religiousness as a cultural adaptation of basic traits: A Five-Factor Model perspective . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14, 108-125.