Abstract This study investigated whether audience characteristics identified as important in the conversion and religious recruitment literature could predict reaction to a Christianity-themed recruitment message. More specific goals involved (a) comparing the impact of potential recruits' dispositional attributes and personal motivations versus their situational availability on the persuasive effect of religious recruitment messages; and (b) rank ordering the audience characteristics examined based on their predictive power. Results indicated that dispositional and motivational considerations were more reliable predictors of receivers' responses to the recruitment message than were situational factors. Specifically, five of the six dispositional and motivational variables (i.e., loneliness, perceived childhood attachment history, meaning and purpose, other-orientation, and problem-solving perspective) were-at least under certain conditions-related to participants' interest in the church. The two variables representing situational availability, free time and membership status, however, were either unrelated to interest in the church or related to participants' reactions, but in the opposite direction of what was expected. Journal Information The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JSSR), the quarterly publication of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, has published research on religious phenomena for over forty years. Drawing on a rich interdisciplinary cross-section of scholarship -- including religion, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, and history -- the journal offers scholarly analysis of the role of religion in society. Examples of topics covered include patterns of church membership and growth, the relationship between religion and health, the relationship between religion and social attitudes, the rise of fundamentalism, secularization and sacralization, and new religious movements. JSSR is an important publication for those who desire to keep current with scholarship on the role and impact of religion in today's world. Publisher Information Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research; professional development; and education. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley has published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. Wiley has partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies and publishes over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols in STMS subjects. With a growing open access offering, Wiley is committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content we publish and supports all sustainable models of access. Our online platform, Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) is one of the world’s most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Abstract Since God is generally viewed as a personal Being in our culture, attributing responsibility to God may follow the same principles as attributing responsibility to any personal source. But, given varying beliefs in God, individual religious differences may also influence attribution. In keeping with the person attribution literature, college students were found to see God as more responsible for extremely good outcomes. But this was true only for those feeling Near God and when outcomes were unlikely rather than likely. Fundamentalists and persons Near God rated God as more responsible than did other people. Only minor support occurred for a "God of the gaps" theology. The occurrence of simultaneous attributions to God and people and the impact of beliefs on attributions suggest that the person attribution approach needs broadening. Journal Information The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JSSR), the quarterly publication of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, has published research on religious phenomena for over forty years. Drawing on a rich interdisciplinary cross-section of scholarship -- including religion, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, and history -- the journal offers scholarly analysis of the role of religion in society. Examples of topics covered include patterns of church membership and growth, the relationship between religion and health, the relationship between religion and social attitudes, the rise of fundamentalism, secularization and sacralization, and new religious movements. JSSR is an important publication for those who desire to keep current with scholarship on the role and impact of religion in today's world. Publisher Information Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research; professional development; and education. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley has published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. Wiley has partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies and publishes over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols in STMS subjects. With a growing open access offering, Wiley is committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content we publish and supports all sustainable models of access. Our online platform, Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) is one of the world’s most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. |
