IS SPIRITUALITY

A PERSONALITY
TRAIT?
WHO WE ARE
NEW WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT PEOPLE







By Professor Steven Reiss, Ph.D

09/04/2013 Is Spirituality a Personality Trait? | Psychology Today
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are/200906/is-spirituality-personality-trait 1/2
became interested in personality and spirituality inadvertently. had set
out to the study what motivates people and found 16 fundamental
motives of life, everything from biological drives such as eating to
psychological motives such as social contact and power. Virtually every
significant goal people wanted from life seemed reducible to
combinations of the 16 fundamental life motives. Everybody embraces
these motives, but individuals value or prioritize them differently. An
individual's valuation of the 16 life motives, called a Reiss Motivation
Profile, predicts the person's values, personality traits, and behavior in
such diverse natural environments as athletic field, classroom, and
business. Since very little in psychology predicts significant behavior in
natural environments, the anecdotal and scientific evidence of the
predictive powers of the 16 life motives is encouraging.
Soon after published my book, Who am I? The 16 Basic Desires that
Motivate our Actions and Define our Personalities (Tarcher/Putnam,
2000), was attacked by some religious leaders for leaving out God. My
critics observed that God is the greatest of all motives for millions of
religious people. How could leave out such an important motivator of
human experience and behavior?
Since my research questionnaires did not ask people about religion,
was astonished to discover that the 16 life motives were the dimensions
along which Christians and Jews perceived God. identified a life motive
for Acceptance, and Christians believe in Christ as Savior. identified life
motives for power, curiosity, and order, and humans perceive God as
almighty, omniscient, and permanent. Human beings do not experience
God through a spiritual dimension of personality, now thought, but
through all 16 fundamental human life motives or needs.
Next studied life motivation and religiosity. learned that idealism (the
desire to make the world a better place) was the primary motive driving
young people to join the protestant clergy, but honor (loyalty to the moral
values of the clan) was the primary motive driving the congregation to
attend church. When Jews embraces Judaism, or Catholics embraces
Catholicism, they experience loyalty to their parents, clan, and ethnic
group. summarized my views in a paper on "The 16 Strivings for God"
published in the theology-science journal Zygon.
Spirituality is not a personality trait. Religion is not the seventeenth basic
striving, as my critics had once suggested. f had recognized spirituality
as a seventeenth striving, would have implied that a person's spirituality

New ways of thinking about people
by Steven Reiss, Ph.D.
s Spirituality a Personality Trait?
Spirituality is a way of expressing any personality trait.
Published on June 16, 2009 by Steven Reiss, Ph.D. in Who We Are
Are some people more spiritual than others? Some psychologists seem to think so. They have been
busy constructing various psychological tests of spirituality. By implication, people who show the traits
measured by these tests are more spiritual than those who do not embrace such traits.
What makes somebody score high on a psychological test of spirituality? Usually high scores result
from endorsement of a specific set of values thought to indicate spirituality. These values might
include, for example, altruism, unity, charity, inner peace, generosity, and purpose in life. n contrast,
people who value individuality, solitude, competition, materialism, and expedience tend to test out as
not particularly spiritual.
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Steven Reiss is Emeritus Professor
of Psychology and Psychiatry at The
Ohio State University.
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Arguing in a broad sense is an activity fundamental
to all close relationships.
Terri Apter, Ph.D.

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09/04/2013 Is Spirituality a Personality Trait? | Psychology Today
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are/200906/is-spirituality-personality-trait 2/2
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Tags: altruism, biological drives, high scores, human experience, implication, individuality, inner
peace, materialism, motivator, natural environments, personality, personality traits,
psychological motives, psychological test, psychological tests, psychologists, purpose in life,
reiss, religious leaders, what motivates people
is separate and distinct from the rest of his/her life. As my theory stands
today with no striving for spirituality, imply that human beings have 16
basic strivings or needs, and they are free to gratify all, some or none of
those needs through religious or spiritual activities, versus all, some, or
none of needs through secular activities. God has given human beings
16significant needs and left us free to choose religious or secular
lifestyles to gratify those needs. Religion is a way of life, not just another
need or personality trait.
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