Belief in Foreign Supernatural Agents as an Alternate Source of Control When Personal Control Is Threatened

ABSTRACT

Across four studies (N = 460), we examined whether foreign supernatural agents (i.e., ones outside one’s own religious tradition) can serve as sources of secondary control (by hearing and responding to requests) and compensatory control (by imbuing the world with order and structure) when personal control is threatened. In Study 1, non-Buddhist control-threat participants believed in the Buddha as a source of secondary control more than nonthreat participants. In Study 2, control-threat participants believed in the Buddha as a source of compensatory control, but this effect was found only among those indicating a religious affiliation. Studies 3 and 4 clarified this finding, demonstrating that religious individuals with a strong quest orientation responded to control threat with greater belief in the Buddha (Study 3) and Shamanic ancestral spirits (Study 4) as sources of both secondary and compensatory control. We discuss discrepancies between our findings and extant research and offer directions for future research.

Acknowledgments

Study 2 was submitted as part of Mary A. Millard’s undergraduate thesis. We thank Brian Pfohl for his research assistance and Ian Hansen for providing the newspaper article for Study 4.

Notes

¹ Secondary control beliefs were negatively correlated with the first two manipulation check items, such that as perceptions of reduced personal control decreased, secondary control beliefs increased, r(88) = –.26, p = .01, and r(88) = –.28, p = .01, respectively, but this was not the case with the third item, r(88) = .14, p = .20. However, correlations between secondary control/compensatory control and manipulation check items were nonsignificant in Studies 3 and 4 (rs = –.16 to .07, all ps > .05).