Self-transcendent dispositions and spirituality: the mediating role of believing in a benevolent world

ABSTRACT

The considerable connection between religiosity/spirituality and positivity in life in general has been widely demonstrated. However, preliminary evidence has shown that when also a cognitive component is included, the direction of this relationship seems to emerge more clearly. Specifically, the differential pathways linking specific positive self-transcendent (ST) experiences and religiosity/spirituality is still an open issue. In this study, we explored the cognitive pathways linking general ST to spirituality and religiosity, via basic beliefs. The results obtained were partially in line with the existing literature. Notably, being a believer or not did not affect the emotional side but only the cognitive one.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• spirituality
• self-transcendent emotions
• positive emotions
• beliefs

Authors contributions

Alice Chirico and Daniela Villani contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Alice Chirico and Daniela Villani. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Alice Chirico and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Milan (Date 30/01/2019/ Protocol Number: 8-19).

Additional information

Funding

The project has been supported by Fondazione Cariplo, grant: “Promoting Education of Scientific and Technological Societal Issues Through Sublime (PROMETHEUS)” n°: 2019-3536.