The scientific study of religion is an emerging field. Thus, it is natural that there are more questions than answers on the subject of how religious or God-related concepts promote self-control. There are, however, some speculations.

Kevin Rounding and I investigated the causal link between religious concepts and self-control. An interesting finding was that after subtle reminders of religious ideas, self-control appeared to have been replenished after it was diminished experimentally. That is, after performing a task that drained self-control, participants who received religious primes showed high levels of persistence in the subsequent task—they persisted with the impossible puzzles just as long as participants who had not completed the first self-control depleting task.

The psychological explanation for the replenishing effects of religious concepts on self-control, however, is currently unclear. One possibility is that religion, in many cultures, involves notions of a God who is often viewed as an omnipotent moral police who sees all, knows all, and punishes those who fall short of moral standards. Thus, it makes sense that priming people with religious concepts can bring forth the ideas of a punitive God, hence making them more resilient in the face of temptations. Some evidence has been found recently in support of this claim.

Nevertheless, ideas associated with a moralizing God are by no means the only psychological mechanism that stands between religion and self-control. As suggested by theorists, religion is a multi-dimensional construct—costly rituals, shared faith, doctrines, community, to name a few. Each of these dimensions may affect self-control in their own way. More research is required to systematically unpack and examine these components of religion.

Albert Lee is a doctoral student in psychology at Queen’s University.