Vess Matthew, Arndt Jamie, Cox Cathy R, Routledge Clay, Goldenberg Jamie L
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2009 Aug;97(2):334-50. doi: 10.1037/a0015545.
Decisions to rely on religious faith over medical treatment for health conditions represent an important but understudied phenomenon. In an effort to understand some of the psychological underpinnings of such decisions, the present research builds from terror management theory to examine whether reminders of death motivate individuals strongly invested in a religious worldview (i.e., fundamentalists) to rely on religious beliefs when making medical decisions. The results showed that heightened concerns about mortality led those high in religious fundamentalism to express greater endorsement of prayer as a medical substitute (Study 1) and to perceive prayer as a more effective medical treatment (Study 2). Similarly, high fundamentalists were more supportive of religiously motivated medical refusals (Study 3) and reported an increased willingness to rely on faith alone for medical treatment (Study 4) following reminders of death. Finally, affirmations of the legitimacy of divine intervention in health contexts functioned to solidify a sense of existential meaning among fundamentalists who were reminded of personal mortality (Study 5). The existential importance of religious faith and the health-relevant implications of these findings are discussed.
在健康问题上，决定依靠宗教信仰而非医疗治疗是一个重要但研究不足的现象。为了理解此类决定的一些心理基础，本研究基于恐惧管理理论进行，以检验对死亡的提醒是否会促使强烈认同宗教世界观的个体（即原教旨主义者）在做出医疗决策时依赖宗教信仰。结果表明，对死亡的担忧加剧导致那些宗教原教旨主义程度高的人更强烈地认可祈祷作为医疗替代手段（研究1），并认为祈祷是更有效的医疗治疗方式（研究2）。同样，高度原教旨主义者更支持出于宗教动机的医疗拒绝行为（研究3），并报告在被提醒死亡后更愿意仅依靠信仰进行医疗治疗（研究4）。最后，在健康背景下对神的干预合法性的肯定，起到了巩固那些被提醒个人死亡的原教旨主义者的存在意义感的作用（研究5）。本文讨论了宗教信仰的存在重要性以及这些发现与健康相关的意义。
