Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-grvzd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-28T13:26:20.649Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self-control, cultural animals, and Big Gods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Tania Reynolds  and
Roy F. Baumeister
Tania Reynolds
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306. reynolds@psy.fsu.edu baumeister@psy.fsu.edu http://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeister.dp.html
Roy F. Baumeister
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306. reynolds@psy.fsu.edu baumeister@psy.fsu.edu http://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeister.dp.html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As Norenzayan et al. cogently argue, religions that proliferated most successfully did so because they facilitated prosociality and cooperation in large-scale, anonymous groups. One important way that religion promotes cooperation may be through improving self-control. In this comment, we cover some potential obstacles to implementing self-control and how religion can overcome them.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e21
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Baumeister, R. F. (1991) Escaping the self: Alcoholism, spirituality, masochism, and other flights from the burden of selfhood. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. (2005) The cultural animal: Human nature, meaning, and social life. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., Bauer, I. M. & Lloyd, S. A. (2010) Choice, free will, and religion. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 2:67–82. doi: 10.1037/a0018455.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. & Exline, J. J. (1999) Virtue, personality, and social relations: Self-control as the moral muscle. Journal of Personality 67:1165–94. doi: 10.1111/1467-6494.00086.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., Gailliot, M. C., DeWall, N. & Oaten, M. (2006) Self-regulation and personality: How interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. Journal of Personality 74:1773–802. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00428.x.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. & Heatherton, T. F. (1996) Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry 7:1–15. doi: 10.1207/s15327965pli0701_1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desmond, S. A., Ulmer, J. T. & Bader, C. D. (2013) Religion, self control, and substance use. Deviant Behavior 34:384–406. doi: 10.1080/01639625.2012.726170.Google Scholar
Duval, S. & Wicklund, R. A. (1972) A theory of objective self awareness. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Emmons, R. A., Cheung, C. & Tehrani, K. (1998) Assessing spirituality through personal goals: Implications for research on religion and subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research 45:391–422. doi: 10.1023/A:1006926720976.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, F. (2011) The origins of political order: From prehuman times to the French Revolution. Profile Books.Google Scholar
Jaynes, J. (1976) The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
McCullough, M. E. & Willoughby, B. L. B. (2009) Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications. Psychological Bulletin 135:69–93. doi: 10.1037/a0014213.Google Scholar
Mead, N. L., Baumeister, R. F., Gino, F., Schweitzer, M. E. & Ariely, D. (2009) Too tired to tell the truth: Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45:594–97. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.02.004.Google Scholar
Muraven, M. & Slessareva, E. (2003) Mechanisms of self-control failure: Motivation and limited resources. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29:894–906. doi: 10.1177/0146167203253209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Öner-Özkan, B. (2007) Future time orientation and religion. Social Behavior and Personality 35:51–62. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2007.35.1.51.Google Scholar
Tice, D. M., Bratslavsky, E. & Baumeister, R. F. (2001) Emotional distress regulation takes precedence over impulse control: If you feel bad, do it! Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80:53–67. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.80.1.5.Google Scholar