Does female promiscuity increase religious beliefs? testing the male control theory versus the female control theory

Abstract

Most psychological articles examining religion treat this construct as either an independent or controlled variable. Few studies have addressed the possibility that religiosity may shift as a function of environmental cues (i.e., that religiosity may be studied as a dependent variable). Among these studies, even fewer have looked into how religion may be a viable means to suppressing the sexuality of others, particularly that of females. My work aims to test two theories as to which sex stifles female sexual behavior the most. I examined whether reading about a highly versus a less promiscuous target affects participants' religiosity and whether the sex of the target and the participant interact in this effect. A series of ANCOVAs revealed that, while promiscuity levels did not seem to affect religiosity, target and participant sex did interact, with men reporting less religiosity when presented with same-sex targets but females not varying significantly as a result of the target's sex. Results support the existing research that religiosity is a more flexible construct than previously thought.