Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2002
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Stanley H. Cohen.
Committee Co-Chair
Barry Edelstein
Committee Member
Julie H. Patrick
Abstract
The current study was a cross-sectional investigation of how spirituality as a positive life theme might be related to a unique style of cognitive processing. Of secondary interest were the relationships among spirituality and other personal control variables. Using memory recall and recognition tasks, the current study sought to determine whether or not participants would attend more to positive, negative, neutral, or religious words. The results of the current study indicate that (1) older adults are more spiritual than younger adults, (2) higher spirituality is related to higher levels of optimism, (3) spirituality is related to an external locus of control, but only for the unknown forces locus of control, and (4) spirituality neither relates to optimism, nor does it appear to be related to the cognitive bias of optimism.
Recommended Citation
Bonner, Karri, "Relationships among spirituality, cognitive processing, and personal control" (2002). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 782.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/782