Personality and spirituality: how they are related

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Throughout history, spirituality and religion have played a fundamental role in our lives. Psychology has wanted to determine what relationship it has with personality traits and how they influence each other. In this article, we tell you the most important findings.

Personality psychology is one of the great areas of study of this discipline. For this reason, we have always tried to observe how it is formed, how it affects our behavior and how it conditions our way of seeing the world. Thus, the relationship between personality and spirituality is increasingly being studied.

Although the study of spirituality and religiosity is not new, in the last 20 years people have begun to talk about a new branch called Psychology of Religiosity and Spirituality.

Among its objectives would be to clarify the relationship between personality traits and spiritual beliefs. How they evolve throughout the life cycle and the adaptive importance it has for certain personalities. However, The main problem that exists is reaching a consensus on what spirituality and religiosity are..

One of the most used definitions states that Spirituality is an innate motivation that orients and guides behavior toward the construction of broader personal meaning. That is, the belief that there is an order in the universe that transcends our thinking. In this sense, some authors propose that it could even form a personality factor in itself.

On the other hand, Religiosity is the set of beliefs, values and practices explicitly guided by a social or institutional tradition, and that depends on education and culture.. Thus, religiosity is influenced by, and modulates, the spirituality of the person.

Personality

Although there are different models that classify personality in different ways, Studies are generally based on the 5-Factor Model.. According to this, personality can be defined based on the degree it presents in each of the following dimensions:

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Neuroticism: related to emotional instability and tendency to experience negative emotions.Extraversion: tendency to be communicative and relate to others.Mental opening or to experience: tendency to show intellectual curiosity, imagination and aesthetic sensitivity.Kindness: related to the establishment of social ties, altruistic attitude and interest in others.Responsibility: tendency to have clear purposes and goals, ability to control impulses and carry out tasks in an organized manner.

Spirituality and personality

As indicated above, Spirituality consists of an innate motivation and a belief that there is a universal order, and that determines our behavior.

In some research, spirituality has been related to the 5 personality factors, such as extraversion, openness and kindness.

However, there are authors who defend that spirituality itself includes nuances that the others do not include (simplicity, detachment or loneliness). Therefore, they consider that spirituality should constitute a sixth factor of personality.

Depending on the degree of spirituality that is present, the person would show certain behavioral tendencies and ways of perceiving the world around them.

Religiosity and personality

Religiosity contextualizes the degree of spirituality of a person. Since spirituality is considered more of a personality factor, Most studies have associated different personality traits with religiosity.

In this sense, although approximately 60% do not find any relationship, there are indications that Greater religious spirituality is related to a lower presence of neuroticism.

On the other hand, 40% of the studies indicate that more religious people show more traits of responsibility. That is, a greater presence of objectives and the ability to achieve them in a planned and organized way.

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87% of research has found that people with a higher degree of religiosity are kinder. Regarding openness or the ability to have greater imagination or curiosity, 42% of studies find a positive relationship.

However, some authors believe that, if the effect of spirituality were eliminated, that is, if everyone showed the same degree, greater religiosity would be associated with less openness.

Relationship between them

A study has analyzed the relationship between spirituality, religiosity, and personality. In it they have found that all personality factors, except openness, are related to the degree of spirituality. This result was notable in pleasantness and responsibility. On the other hand, religiosity was only associated with these last two factors.

More specifically, they saw that when the approach to religion was in search of answers to existential questions, but the feeling of faith and spiritual meaning were low, religion was related to high neuroticism and openness. On the contrary, it was associated with low extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.

Another finding was that, when people approach a religion in a more instrumental waybecause it provides security or a source of socialization, but the intellectual search and faith were low, was associated with low neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness.