Religious activity frequency substitutes as a proxy measure for intrinsic orientation

Evidence

A second method of measuring the extrinsic–intrinsic distinction was also developed. Gorsuch and McFarland (1972) suggested that a measure of this distinction could be obtained by simply asking people about the frequency of their involvement in religious activities. The extrinsically religious should limit their involvement to a moderate level because for them religion is subsumed under more important values and goals. The intrinsically religious should be highly involved because for them religion is the master motive in life. Employing this logic, a number of researchers used three levels of involvement in religious activities to assess the association with prejudice: no or low involvement (e.g., less than four times a year), moderate involvement (e.g., less than weekly), and high involvement (e.g., at least weekly). The three levels were assumed to identify the nonreligious, extrinsically religious, and intrinsically religious, respectively. Consistent with this assumption, among religious individuals involvement in religious activities has been found to be highly positively correlated with scores on the Intrinsic scale but not the Extrinsic scale (Donahue, 1985; Gorsuch & McFarland, 1972). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2537