Personality and religiousness: Examining the interactions between religious beliefs and personality traits

Previous research has indicated that personality is a stable construct that affects many areas of behavior and both genetics and environment influence the development of personality traits. Research has also demonstrated both genetic and environmental contributions to the development of religious beliefs and behaviors. Previous research examining the relationship between personality and religiousness has demonstrated a negative relationship between religiousness and Eysenck's Psychoticism and mixed results in terms of the relationship between Extraversion and Neuroticism and religiousness. Several studies have also been conducted examining the relationship between sensation seeking and religiousness, but these have primarily been conducted with adolescents rather than adults. Although the relationship between personality and religiousness has been examined in multiple studies, previous studies have typically only used one measure of personality and religiousness, and this may limit what can be concluded based on the findings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between personality and religiousness using multiple measures, to examine the relationship between religiousness and sensation seeking behaviors, and to investigate in the influence of personality traits on scripture interpretation.;The sample was comprised of 56 undergraduate students and community volunteers who were administered several measures of personality and religiousness and were also asked to rate their emotional reactions to several scripture passages. Results demonstrated several positive and negative correlations between aspects of religiousness and personality traits, including sub-factors of sensation seeking. Personality traits and religiousness were also correlated with aspects of scripture interpretation, including identification with biblical characters. Future directions include a more comprehensive study of how personality affects interpretation of scripture and expanding the sample to include other religious groups.