Otherness, Religiosity/Spirituality and Cheating - Results from Students, General and Clinical Population
Abstract
One of the core values of spirituality is the capacity to encounter otherness, to appreciate difference, to acknowledge other possible perceptions, interpretations and behavior. The purpose of our studies was to focus on the relationship between the degree of R/S, the perception of otherness, the perception of cheating, and actual cheating behavior. Despite the fact that religiosity and spirituality (R/S) are often pointed out as a protective factors for cheating or other undesirable phenomena, results of studies are contradictory. The relationships between religiosity and the measures of cheating were expected to be statistically significant in the negative direction. The studies used one specific method - Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF; Plante & Boccaccini,
1997). Results are presented from several studies: (1) the preliminary results of relations between R/S, integrity as an anti-cheating variable, and the acceptance of otherness (The Stranger as a Symbol of Otherness - How Personality Influences Our Attitudes), which was measured using a modified version of an experience sampling method (ESM, Csikszentmihalyi et al.,
1977). Furthermore, included were also results from previous studies of cheating using - (2) general population - white and blue collars, (3) clinical population, (4) university students from different study background - theology or economy, (5) people from the opposite end of the spectrums, such as people consecrated to God vs. control group, (6) multicultural study comparing three countries differentiating in their religiosity levels - Czech, Slovak and Polish university students. Cheating was measured by The Perception Scale of Cheating at University and The Behavioral Scale of Cheating at University (Klein et al.,
2007). Results revealed mixed support for influence of R/S on measured variables. Contradictory findings will be discussed along with the cultural, personality and the environmental issues that influenced these factors.