Delay discounting as a function of intrinsic/extrinsic religiousness, religious fundamentalism, and regular church attendance.
Delay discounting occurs when the subjective value of an outcome decreases because its delivery is delayed. Previous research has suggested that the rate at which some, but not all, outcomes are discounted varies as a function of regular church attendance. In the present study, 509 participants completed measures of intrinsic religiousness, extrinsic religiousness, religious fundamentalism, and whether they regularly attended church services. They then completed a delay-discounting task involving five outcomes. Although religiousness was not a significant predictor of discounting for all outcomes, participants scoring high in intrinsic religiousness tended to display less delay discounting than participants scoring low. Likewise, participants scoring high in religious fundamentalism tended to display more delay discounting than participants scoring low. These results partially replicate previous ones in showing that the process of discounting may vary as a function of religiousness. The results also provide some direction for those interested in altering how individuals discount.
a University of North Dakota.
Jeffrey N
JN
Weatherly
Karyn M
KM
Plumm
D065786:Delay Discounting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
delay discounting; religiousness; university students