Adaptation of the Big Five as a hermeneutic instrument for religious constructs

This study investigated the personological significance of religious constructs through analysis with the five-factor model (FFM) of personality. For this purpose the Polish Adjective List (PAL Szarota, 1995. Polish Adjective List: instrument to assess the five-factor model of personality. Studia Psychologiczne, 33, 229–256.]) was used to assess the personality factors, namely; neuroticism (N), extraversion (E), openness (O), agreeableness (A) and conscientiousness (C). The Polish version of the Swedish Religious Orientation Scale (SROS Hovemyr, 1996. Assessment of the Swedish religious orientation scale in a Polish context. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 15, 248–257.]) was used to assess intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious orientation. These were administered to 104 middle school students. Results suggest that intrinsic and quest religious orientations linked to qualities of agreeableness and conscientiousness. Whereas extrinsic religiosity associated to extraversion. The overall findings of the hierarchical regression suggested that the five personality domains explained the 4% variance of relationship with God, whereas religious orientation accounted for the additional 35% variance of relationship with God.