Optimism and fundamentalism

Abstract

Abstract-Explanatory style from nine religious groups, representing funda-mentalist, moderate, and liberal view-points, was investigated by question-lzaire and by blind content analysis of their sermons and litllrgy. Fundamelllal-ist individuals were significantly more optimistic by questionnaire than those from moderate religions, who were in tlIrn more optimistic than liberals. The liturgy and sermons showed the parallel pattern of optimism. Regression analy-ses suggested that the greater optimism offimdamentalist individuals may be en-tirely accounted for by the greater hope and daily influence fillldameittalism en-genders, along with the greater opti-mism ofthe religious sen'ices they hear. For nearly a century, religion and its effect on the psychology of its adherents have been the subject of study in the so-cial sciences. Although past studies have examined the behavioral and emotional effects of belonging to a religion, they have not explored variations in the opti-mistic or pessimistic outlook of individ-uals stemming from religious differ-ences. Nor have past studies scrutinized how emotional differences vary with the fundamentalist or liberal nature of a re-ligion. We report such an analysis of re-ligious differences in optimism and pes-simism. In a seminal study, Emile Durkheim (1897/1951) found that fundamentalist groups, such as Catholics, which have a tight hierarchical structure and demand unquestioning and unconditional accep-tance of the faith, had a much lower sui-cide rate than liberal groups, such as Unitarians, which have a more question-ing environment. (See Pescosolido & Georgianna, 1989, for a modern replica-tion.) In 1925, Malinowski suggested (1948) that there was a positive relation-ship between participation in religious Address correspondence to Sheena Sethi,