考試作弊能力取決於信仰何種上帝

Belief in vengeful God may affect cheating

College students who believe in a God seen as mean or punishing are less apt than others to cheat on a test, US and Canadian researchers found。

Psychology researchers Azim F. Shariff at the University of Oregon and Ara Norenzayan at the University of British Columbia said college students who believe in a caring, forgiving God, are more likely to cheat. The researchers said the study is part of a larger effort to understand the role of religion in encouraging - or forcing adherence to - moral behavior。

In one experiment, 61 undergraduate students took a simple "but tedious" math test in which they were given the opportunity to cheat. They were also asked about religiosity and views of God and demographics。

The research found no differences in cheating between self-described believers in God and non-believers, but those who perceived God as punitive, angry and vengeful cheated fewer times。

In a second experiment, 39 undergraduate participants were surveyed on their views of God several days before the math test. Again, students who believed in a loving God were the most likely to cheat。

The findings are published in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion。美國和加拿大的研究人員發現，視上帝爲作心胸狹窄、報復性強者的大學生在考試作弊時更笨拙。

俄勒岡大學的心理學研究人員沙立夫和不列顛哥倫比亞大學的Norenzayan稱心中裝有一個仁愛、寬容上帝的學生更有可能考試作弊。研究人員稱該研究旨在幫助人們進一步瞭解宗教對道德行爲的激勵或者規誡作用。

試驗中，61個本科學生需完成一個簡單但是枯燥的數學測驗，這當中他們可以作弊。同時他們還需回答宗教信仰情況、對上帝的看法以及人口特徵。

研究發現，兩個羣體(自認爲信上帝者、不信上帝者)的作弊情況沒有任何區別。但是那些將上帝視作愛懲罰、易怒且報復性強的學生作弊次數更少。

在第二個實驗中，39名本科學生在數學測試的前幾天就回答了自己對於上帝的看法。再一次地，心中裝有仁愛上帝的學生更容易作弊。

研究結果刊載於《國際宗教心理學期刊》。