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Give me strength or give me a reason: Self-control, religion, and the currency of reputation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2013

Justin M. D. Harrison  and
Ryan McKay
Justin M. D. Harrison
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, 2795, Australia. [email protected]
Ryan McKay
Affiliation:
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, and Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom. [email protected]://tinyurl.com/ryan-mckay
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Abstract

We show that Kurzban et al.'s approach illuminates the relationship between religion and self-control. Whereas resource-depletion theorists suggest religion replenishes self-control resources (“strength”), we submit that religious cues make people feel observed, giving them “reason” to persevere, and we describe an experiment that supports our interpretation. Finally, we question the claim that subjective fatigue is a signal to redeploy resources.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 688 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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