According to prominent theories of social control such as social bonding theory, religion has shown to be an influential factor of social control in building an ethical and moral society. Among the core religious teachings in construction of one’s self is the person’s shame and guilt emotions. It is believed that when a person is conscious about religion, they are more likely to experience feelings of shame and guilty after engaging in behaviors deemed sinful. This article aims to study the relationships between religiosity and moral emotions (shame and guilt) among Malay youth in Malaysia. A quantitative survey was conducted from June to September 2015 in Klang Valley which was involved 250 respondents (73 males and 177 females). The study set out to examine the relationships between religiosity and moral emotions and to examine whether there are differences in moral emotions (shame and guilt) by gender. Two measures were used to carry out the study. The Muslim Religiosity Personality Inventory(MRPI) was used to measure religiosity, while Muslim Moral Emotion Inventory (MMEI) was used to measure moral emotions. Overall, the study results showed a positive correlation between in God-consciousness and shame and guilt, supporting the study hypothesis.
Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri. (2007). Al-Qushayri’s Epistle on Sufism. United Kingdom: Garnet Publishing Limited.
Ausubel, D. P. (1955). Relationships between shame and guilt in the socialization process, Psychological Review, 67,378–390
Azimi Hamzah., Steven Eric Krauss, Sidek Mohd. Noah, Turiman Suandi, Rumaya Juhari, Jamiah Manap, Khairul Anwar Mastor, Azma Mahmoud & Hasnan Kassan. (2007). Muslim religiosity and personality assessment: Prototype for nation building. Universiti Putra Malaysia: Institute for Social Science Studies (IPSAS).
Benetti-McQuoid, J., & Bursik, K. (2005). Individual differences in experiences of and responses to guilt and shame: Examining the lenses of gender and gender role. Sex Roles, 53(1/2).
Broom, D. M., (2003). The Evolution of Morality and Religion, Cambridge University Press.
Cardwell, J. D. (1980). The social context of religiosity. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Chau, L. L., Johnson, R. C., Bowers, J. K., Darvil, T. J., & Danko, G. P. (1990). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity as related to conscience, adjustment and altruism. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 397-400.
Choudhury, D. (2010). Religiosity and psychological well-being in South Asian Muslim Women. University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science, PhD thesis.
Dein, S. (2013). The origins of Jewish guilt: Psychological, theological and cultural perspectives, Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 15(2), 123-137.
Demerath, N. J., & Hammond, P. E. (1969). Religion in social context, New York: Random House.
de Waal, F. (2013). The bonobo and the atheist: in search of humanism among the primates. W.W. Norton, New York.
Dodge, K. A., & Price, J. M. (1994). On the relation between social information processing and socially competent behavior in early school-aged children. Child Development, 65, 1385-1397.
Evans, E. G. (1984). Hostility and sex guilt: Perceptions of self and others as a function of gender and sex role orientation. Sex Roles, 10, 207–215.
Ferguson, T. J., & Crowley, S. L. (1997). Gender differences in the organization of guilt and shame. Sex Roles, 37, 19–43.
Ferguson, T. J., Eyre, H. L., & Ashbaker, M. (2000). Unwanted identities: A key variable in shame—anger links and gender differences in shame. Sex Roles, 42, 133–157.
Fischer, A., & Manstead, A. (2000). The relation between gender and emotions in different cultures. In Agneta H. Fischer (Ed.), Gender and Emotion, Social psychological perspectives,72-91, Cambridge, United Kingdom: University Press.
Fischer, A. H., Mosquera, P. M. R., van Vianen, A. E. M., & Mansted, A. S. R. (2004). Gender and cultural differences in emotion. Emotion, 4(1), 87-94, American Psychological Association Inc.
Gorsuch, R. L., & McPherson, S. E. (1989). Intrinsic/Extrinsic measurement: I/E-revised & single-item scales. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 348-354.
Haidt, J. (2003). The moral emotions. in Davidson, R. J., Scherer, K. R. & Goldsmith, H. H. (Eds.), Handbook of Affective Sciences, 852-870, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hess, U., Adams, R., & Kleck, R. (2004). Facial appearance, gender, and emotion expression. Emotion, 4, 378-388.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
Holdcroft, B. (2006). Review of research: What is religiosity, Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, 10(1), 89-103.
Johnson, B. R., Jang, S. J., Larson, D. B. & De Li, S. (2001). Does adolescent religious commitment matter? A reexamination of the effects of religiosity in delinquency. The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38(1), 22-45.
Kon, I. S. (1979). Moralnoe soznanie lichnosti i regulytivnye mehanizmy kultury [The moral conscience of the individual and the regulatory mechanisms of culture], in Bobnevoy, M. I. & Shorohovoy, E. V. (Eds.), Socialnay Psyhologia [Social Psychology], 85–113, Moscow: Nauka.
Kroll, J., & Egan, E. (2004). Psychiatry, moral worry and the moral emotions, Journal of Psychiatry Practice, 10(6), 352-360.
Lefkowitz, E.S.; Gillen, M. M.; Shearer, C. L. and Boone, T. L. (2004). Religiosity, Sexual Behaviors, and Sexual Attitudes during Emerging Adulthood. The Journal of Sex Research, 41(2), pp. 150-159.
Lutwak, N., & Ferrari, J. R. (1996). Moral affect and cognitive processes: Differentiating shame from guilt among men and women. Personality and Individual Differences, 21, 891–896.
Luyten, P., Corveleyn, J., & Fontaine, J. R. J. (1998). The relationship between religiosity and mental health: Distinguishing between shame and guilt, Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 1(2).
Mashitah Sulaiman. (2016). “Islamic Resurgence and Religiosity among The Malay Middle and Low Income Classes in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, 1977-2014”. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya.
Muhammad Syukri Salleh. (2012). Religiosity in development: A theoretical construct of an Islamic-Based Development, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(14).
Murray, K. M., Ciarrochi, J. W., & Murray-Swank, N. A. (2007). Spirituality, religiosity, shame and guilt as predictors of sexual attitudes and experiences.Journal of Psychology and Theology, 35(3), 222-234.
Mustapha Man. 1995. Masalah penderaan dalam rumahtangga dan penyelesaiannya. In. Mahadi Osman, Nurul Akla Abdullah & Saadiah Hassan (ed.). Masyarakat Melayu & Gejala Sosial: Proses Penyelesaian Masyarakat Melayu Cemerlang Abad Ke-21, pages. 63-72. Kuala Lumpur: Institut Perkembangan Minda.
Nan, L. M. (2004). Moral guilt and shame: An investigation of their associations with personality, values, spirituality and religiosity, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Unpublished Dissertation.
Pew Research Center. (2007). Pew Research Global Attitudes Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewglobal.org/2007/10/04/chapter-3-viewsof-religion-and-morality.
Planalp, S., (1999). Communicating emotion: social, moral, and cultural processes, Cambridge University Press.
Population, Household & Living Quarters. (2010). Putrajaya: Department of Statistics, Malaysia.
Rasha Mohsen Qudisat. (2015). Effect of gender, guilt, and shame on byu business school students' innovation: Structural equation modeling approach. All Theses and Dissertations. 5790.
S Maria Awaluddin, Noor Ani Ahmad, Noridah Mohd. Saleh, Tahir Aris, Noraida Mohd Kasim, Noor Azlin Muhammad Sapri and Nik Rubiah Nik Abdul Rashid. (2015). Prevalence of Sexual Activity in Older Malaysian Adolescents and Associated Factors,Journal of Public Health Aspects, 2(1), Herbert Open Access Journal.
Shecterle, R. A. (1999). Guilt reconsidered: Empirical research on the theological influences upon religious differences in the phenomenological experiences of the emotions of guilt and shame. PhD dissertation, Department of Pastoral Counseling of Loyola College in Maryland.
Shepard, D. S., & Rabinowitz, F. E. (2013). The power of shame in men who are depressed: Implications for counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91(4), 451-457.
Stuewig, J., Tangney, J.P., Kendall, S., Folk, J.B., Meyer, C.R., Dearing, R.L. 2015. Children’s Proneness to Shame and Guilt Predict Risky and Illegal Behaviors in Young Adulthood. Child Psychiatry Human Development. 46(2): 217–227. doi:10.1007/s10578-014-0467-1.
Tangney, J. P., Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D. J. (2007). Moral emotions and moral behavior, Annual Revision Psychology, 58, 345–372.
Uriel Abulof. (2015). The mortality and morality of nations, Cambridge University Press.
Utusan Malaysia. (2016, September 10). “3,980 remaja hamil anak luar nikah”.
Woien, S. L., Ernst, H. A. H., Patock-Peckham, J. A., & Nagoshi, C. T. (2003). Validation of the TOSCA to measure shame and guilt. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 313-326.
World Health Organization. (2009). Evidence for the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm, Copenhagen, Regional Office for Europe.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Kochanska, G., Krupnick, J., & McKnew, D. (1990). Patterns of guilt in children of depressed and well mothers. Developmental Psychology, 26(1), 51-59.
Zakaria Stapa. (2002). Akhlak Islam dan gaya hidup Muslim semasa. Analisis konsep dan agenda
bertindak. Jurnal YADIM, 2 (1), 51-65.
Sawai, R. P., Noah, S. M., Krauss, S. E., Sulaiman, M., Sawai, eJoki P., & Safien, A. M. (2017). Relationship between Religiosity, Shame and Guilt among Malaysian Muslims Youth. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(13), 132-143.
Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode