Mental contamination: The effects of religiosity

Accepted Manuscript Mental contamination: The effects of religiosity İlgün Bilekli, Müjgan İnözü PII:

S0005-7916(17)30087-3

DOI:

10.1016/j.jbtep.2017.08.001

Reference:

BTEP 1337

To appear in:

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry

Received Date: 22 April 2017 Revised Date:

6 July 2017

Accepted Date: 2 August 2017

Please cite this article as: Bilekli, İü., İnözü, Mü., Mental contamination: The effects of religiosity, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2017.08.001. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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Đlgün Bileklia, Müjgan Đnözüb

Research Assistant, Hacettepe University, Department of Psychology, Ankara-

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MENTAL CONTAMINATION: THE EFFECTS OF RELIGIOSITY

Turkey, e-mail: [email protected]

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Hacettepe University, Department of Psychology, Ankara-

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Turkey, e-mail: [email protected]

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Corresponding author: Đlgün Bilekli, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Psychology, 06800, Beytepe-Ankara. Phone: +90-312-2978325, e-mail:

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[email protected]

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MENTAL CONTAMINATION: THE EFFECTS OF RELIGIOSITY

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Abstract Background and Objectives Mental contamination, which occurs in the absence of contact with a contaminant, has a moral element. Previous studies evoked feelings of mental contamination via listening to a scenario,

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which described a non-consensual kiss. Since mental contamination has a moral element, we tested the effects of the level of religiosity on feelings of mental contamination and related variables in an experimental design.

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Methods

Female undergraduates of high religiosity (n = 48) and low religiosity (n= 44) were randomly

kiss from a man described as moral. Results

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assigned to listen to one of two audio recordings involving a consensual or non-consensual

Mental contamination feelings were evoked successfully in both groups. Effects of scenario

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condition and religiosity level were seen in mental contamination and related negative feelings. Participants who imagined a non-consensual kiss reported greatest feelings of mental contamination, and internal and external negative feelings. More importantly, high religiosity

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resulted in greater feelings of mental contamination, internal negative feelings, as well as urges to wash and actual washing behaviors.

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Limitations

The current study was conducted on non-clinical Muslim females. This limits the generalization of the findings to the wider population. Conclusions Mental contamination and related feelings can be seen in different forms at different levels of religiosity. Keywords: OCD, mental contamination, religiosity

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 1. Introduction Fear of contamination is most often affiliated with OCD, in which the content of obsessions includes intense and persistent thoughts or doubts about having been polluted or infected as a result of direct or indirect contact with a contaminant. Epidemiological research

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has indicated that fear of contamination is the most common OCD symptom and

approximately 30–50% of patients with OCD experience a persistent fear of contamination and exhibit washing compulsions (Calamari et al., 2004; Foa & Kozak, 1995; Rasmussen &

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Eisen, 1992). Rachman (1994) pointed out the existence of the phenomenon of mental

contamination or mental pollution, in which feelings of contamination can also arise and

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persist without physical contact with an external, observable contaminant. Even though both types of contamination evoke a strong feelings of dirtiness and an urge to clean oneself or the surrounding environment, mental contamination has a moral aspect; hence it can elicit a sense of internal dirtiness (Fairbrother & Rachman, 2004; Herba & Rachman, 2007; Rachman,

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1994).

Because mental contamination can be triggered by a perceived impurity, immorality, unpleasant memories, and aversive events such as sexual assault (Fairbrother, Newth &

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Rachman, 2005), perceived mistreatment (Warnock-Parkes, Salkovskis, & Rachman, 2012), betrayal, or shameful acts (Coughtrey, Shafran, Lee, & Rachman, 2012), Fairbrother et al.

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(2005) developed a consensual and non-consensual scenario technique for studying mental contamination in a laboratory setting. Subsequent experimental studies that used the paradigm of the “dirty kiss” in non-clinical samples have consistently reported that those in the nonconsensual condition reported significantly more feeling of internal dirtiness, felt more negative emotions (such as being upset, anxious, angry, ashamed, immoral, and sleazy) and reported a greater urge to wash (e.g., Elliott & Radomsky, 2009, 2012; Fairbrother et al., 2005; Herba & Rachman, 2007; Millar, Salkovskis, & Brown, 2016).

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT The findings from studies that used the paradigm of the “dirty kiss” support the moral aspect of mental contamination, and drawn attention toward whether rigid moral codes and/or strict value systems can predispose some subjects to suffer from more persistent and severe symptoms of mental contamination. Rachman (2006) suggested that if individuals feel that

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any act, thought, or image has violated one of their own moral standards they can feel mental contamination. Furthermore, in an experimental study with Israeli students (Doron, Sar-el and Mikulincer, 2012), even morality is manipulated by a subtle task, participants in morality

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condition reported more contamination-related behavioral tendencies. Accordingly, Herba and Rachman (2007) examined the individual vulnerability factors for mental contamination

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including fear of contact contamination, disgust and anxiety sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, sexual attitudes, and prior experience with unwanted sexual contact. They hypothesized that women with conservative attitudes toward sex would report more severe feelings of mental contamination after a sexual encounter because of conflict with their value

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system. Although the study failed to find a significant association between sexual attitudes and mental contamination indices, it underlined the importance of identifying variables that serve as predictors of mental contamination to better understand this phenomenon (Elliott &

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Radomsky, 2009). Berman, Wheaton, Fabricant, and Abramowitz (2012) extended this work by examining the relationship between mental pollution and three domains: religious,

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familial, and childhood trauma. Based on Rachman’s arguments of the aggravating influence of religiosity on strict morality (1994), they hypothesized a positive association between mental pollution and degree of religiosity. Contrary to their hypothesis, mental pollution was not associated with religiosity, but was positively associated with exposure to childhood trauma and maladaptive guilt-induction strategies by one’s parents. However, because of limited religious variability at the study site, their study was conducted on only members of Christian faith, so evidence for the generalizability of the results to different cultures and

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT religious traditions is unknown. Hence, the authors strongly suggested replication of the findings in those with different religious affiliations. Previous research suggests that the relationship between religiosity and OCD symptoms (e.g., Abramowitz, Deacon, Woods, & Tolin, 2004; Sica, Novara, & Sanavio,

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2002) and related beliefs (e.g., Siev, Chambless, & Huppert, 2010; Yorulmaz et al., 2009) might differ across religious practices. For example, Cohen and Rozin (2001) found that religiosity had a stronger association with thought-action fusion (TAF) morality in a

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Protestant than in a Jewish sample (see also, Cohen, Siegel, & Rozin, 2003; Rassin & Koster, 2003). In a comparison of Canadian and Turkish undergraduates, Yorulmaz, Gencoz, and

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Woody (2009, 2010) reported that degree of religiosity was only related to OCD symptoms in the Turkish sample but was significantly related to TAF-morality in the Canadian students. Inozu, Karancı, and Clark (2012) found that highly religious Muslim students reported more severe compulsive symptoms as compared with highly religious Christian students. TAF and

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mental pollution both involve overestimating the significance and importance of the occurrence and content of thoughts, and the two concepts are positively associated (Cougle, Lee, Horowitz, Wolitzky-Taylor, & Telch, 2008). Therefore, one might reasonably expect that

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they would also show a similar relationship with religiosity (Berman et al., 2012). Although Berman et al.’s study did not find any significant association between mental pollution and

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religiosity, theirs was a questionnaire study conducted on only Christians. It may be that doctrinal differences among Christianity and other religions underlie these findings. For example, Christianity places higher value on individual conscience and maintaining certain beliefs than Islam (Favier, O’Brien, & Ingersoll, 2000; Sica, Novara, & Sanavio, 2002; Siev & Cohen, 2007), whereas Islam is more ritualistic and is characterized by many pre-defined behavioral requisites, rules, and rituals for worshipers to follow (Ghassemzadeh et al., 2002; Karadağ, Oğuzhanoğlu, Özdel, Ateşçi, & Amuk, 2006; Okasha, 2002; Siev & Cohen, 2007).

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Therefore, it is logical to expect different roles of religiosity in mental contamination across different religious affiliations. Most of the research on religion and mental contamination is based on Christian, and to a lesser extent, Jewish samples; as such, the generalizability of these results to different

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cultures and religious traditions is unknown. Therefore, the present study extended previous studies (e.g., Berman et al., 2012) by examining the relationship between mental pollution and religiosity in Muslim students of high and low religiosity, using a non-consensual kiss

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paradigm developed by Fairbrother et al. (2005). Since Islam disapproves of physical and sexual intimacies before marriage (Đsrâ 17/32, Furkān 25/68, Mümtehine 60/12), it was

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hypothesized that highly religious participants would exhibit significantly greater feelings of mental contamination than less religious participants. Based on previous studies, we also predicted that in both consensual and non-consensual kissing conditions, highly religious Muslim students would score significantly higher on all mental contamination indicators (i.e.,

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internal negative emotions, external negative emotions, feeling of dirtiness, urges to wash) than students low in religiosity. Furthermore, while the highly religious group would not differ in mental contamination indicators between consensual and non-consensual kissing

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conditions, participants of low religiosity would report higher scores on all mental contamination indicators in the non-consensual kissing condition than the consensual kissing

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condition. We also expected that highly religious participants would generate higher perceived immorality scores for the man in the scenario, feelings of disgust, responsibility beliefs, feelings of violation, and washing behavior than the less religious participants. 2. Method 2.1. Screening Study To generate samples of high and low religiosity, an initial questionnaire screening was conducted of 476 undergraduate students from a large urban university in Turkey. The sample

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT consisted of 67 males (14.1%) and 409 females (85.9%), with a mean age of 20.27 years (SD = 1.83). In terms of religious affiliation, 392 (82.4%) were Muslim, 34 (7.1%) were deist, and 24 (5%) were atheist. Twenty-six participants (5.5%) stated their religious affiliation as “other,” indicating they pursued their own beliefs. The procedure for defining participants as

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high and low religiosity was identical to Inozu et al. (2012), and Inozu, Clark, and Karancı (2012). The participants were asked to complete a battery of questionnaires, which included a demographics sheet that assessed age, sex, relationship status, ethnicity, religious affiliation,

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and five questions on religious behaviors and beliefs that assessed how often they attended a place of worship, prayed, read a religious text (Bible, Koran), gave money or volunteered

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their time, and the importance of religion in guiding their decisions and behaviors on a 5-point rating scale (i.e., 1 = Not at all important, 5= Extremely Important). The low religiosity group was composed of participants who indicated that religion was not important in guiding their decisions and behaviors (i.e., a rating of 1), whereas the high religiosity group consisted of

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individuals who rated religious beliefs as very important (4) or extremely important (5) in guiding their decisions and behavior. Students who indicated an interest in further research participation and who met the inclusion criteria for high or low importance of religious beliefs

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were invited back for the main part of the study. All students provided informed consent before completing the questionnaires.

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2.2. Participants

Since the paradigm designed to test the phenomenon of mental contamination was

suitable for specifically women, only female undergraduate students were permitted to participate in the present study. The sample was composed of 48 high religiosity and 44 low religiosity female students. The mean age of participants in the high religiosity group was 20.38 (SD = 1.50), and the mean age of participants in low religiosity group was 20.82 (SD = 1.85). All participants stated their marital status as single. All participants in the high

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT religiosity group identified Islam as their religious affiliation, 47.7% (n = 21) of the low religiosity group identified their religious affiliation as Islam, 25% (n = 11) stated no religious affiliation, and 15.9% (n = 7) indicated they were atheists. Participants received course credit as compensation for their participation.

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2.3. Measures 2.3.1. Demographic Information Sheet (DIS)

The DIS was developed for this study. It was adapted from questions used in Inozu,

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Karanci, et al. (2012) and Inozu, Clark, et al. (2012) and added several new items that

assessed age, sex, relationship status, ethnicity, existence of mental health problems, physical

religious behavior (α = .91).

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illness, and traumatic experiences, as well as religious affiliation, and five questions on

2.3.2. Religious Fundamentalism Scale-Revised (RFS-R; Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 2004)

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The RFS-R (Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 2004) consists of 12 items, which are rated using a 9-point Likert scale, ranging from -4 (very strongly disagree) to +4 (very strongly agree). The scale does not contain items specific to any particular religion; therefore, it can be

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used across diverse religious groups to assess “fundamentalist” attitudes about one’s religious beliefs. The scale was translated into Turkish by Altin (2009). The Turkish version of the

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scale has excellent reliability (Cronbach’s α = .93) and satisfactory validity. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was .96. 2.3.3. Baseline Ratings Form (Elliott & Radomsky, 2009) This form was not a questionnaire, but rather was used for a manipulation check. Before the manipulation, internal negative emotions (such as shame, guilt, humiliation, fear, sadness, cheapness, and sleaziness) and external negative emotions (such as distress, anger, and anxiety), which exist in the Mental Contamination Report, were rated by the participant

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT from 0 to 100. Internal negative emotions point to emotions that participants feel about themselves, whereas external negative emotions can be defined as negative emotions that participants feel towards the man in the scenario as much as possible towards themselves. The participant also rated the extent to which she felt dirty or unclean, on a scale from 0 to 100,

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before the manipulation.

2.3.4. Mental Contamination Report (MCR; Elliott & Radomsky, 2009)

MCR was developed by Elliott and Radomsky (2009) for the purpose of examining

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mental contamination symptoms. The MCR is a 29-item self-report questionnaire. It assesses to what extent the participant can imagine the scenario, desires the kiss, evaluates the man as

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immoral/moral, and the degree to which the participant feels dirtiness, shame, guilt, disgust, and other negative emotions. Each item is rated on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 100 (completely). This report was translated into Turkish for this study. 2.3.5. Break Behavior Questionnaire (BBQ; Elliott & Radomsky, 2009)

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The BBQ is a 3-item questionnaire that assesses whether the participant drinks water and/or washes her hands/face, and/or uses cologne and/or wet wipes during break.

2.4. Procedure

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Participants were also asked why they engaged in any such behavior.

The procedure for this study was exactly the same as in Elliott and Radomsky (2009,

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2012), except for the content of the audio recordings. In contrast to Elliott et al. (2006), immorality was not a component of our research aims. Therefore, the man who performed the kiss was described as well behaved and moral in both kiss conditions. Furthermore, because house parties are not common in Turkey, the woman in the scenario went to a house in which a college community meeting was held. A blind study design was employed. The experimenter did not know either the participants’ group or the conditions to which the participants were assigned.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT The experiment took place in a small sound-attenuated laboratory, which contained a washroom, two tables, computer, earphones, and two chairs. After participants entered the room, they provided informed consent to participate in the study. After signing a consent form, participants completed the questionnaire packet, followed by random assignment to the

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consensual kiss or non-consensual kiss condition (e.g., Herba & Rachman, 2007; Elliott & Radomsky, 2009; Radomsky & Elliott, 2009). The Baseline Ratings Form was administered to assess internal and external negative feelings and feelings of dirtiness before the

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manipulation. Before the scenario was played, the experimenter asked participants to imagine that they were the woman described in the scenario, as clearly and vividly as possible. After

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listening to the audio recording, participants were asked to complete the MCR. Then, participants were offered a glass of water, cologne or wet wipes, and given directions to the washroom before a five-minute break. After the break, all participants completed the BBQ and they were debriefed about the study and the purpose of the break.

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3. Results

3.1. Validation of High and Low Religiosity Groups To investigate the criterion-related validity of religious group assignment, a one-way

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MANOVA was performed on the four religious behaviour scales and the RFS-R Total Score. Results indicated that high and low religiosity groups significantly differed (Wilks’ λ = .24, F

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(5, 86) = 55.74, η2partial = .76, p < .001) in terms of religious ratings. Univariate analysis of variance indicated that high religiosity participants significantly differed from low religiosity participants in terms of Attendance Worship, F (1, 90) = 89.82, η2partial = .50, p < .001; Praying, F (1, 90) = 165.96, η2partial = .65, p < .001; Reading Religious Text, F (1, 90) = 90.85, η2partial = .50, p < .001; Donation, F (1, 90) = 46.74, η2partial = .34, p < .001; and RFS-R scores, F (1, 90) = 192.35, η2partial = .68, p < .001. According to the results, highly religious participants scored significantly higher than low religious participants on all religion-related

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT variables. These results confirmed that the high religious and low religious university students were accurately classified by the grouping variable. Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations.

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3.2. Preliminary Analysis To investigate the group differences in scores for the imagination of the scenario, a 2 (Group: High Religiosity, Low Religiosity) × 2 (Scenario: Non-consensual, consensual) MANOVA was performed on the 3 questions about the scenario (“How easy was it to

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imagine the scenario in your mind?”, “How clear/vivid was the imagined scenario?”, “How

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realistic was the imagined scenario?”). After Bonferroni correction (p < .02), results indicated that there were no significant main effects of group (Wilks’ λ = .95, F [3, 86] = 1.54, p > .05, η2partial = .05) or scenario (Wilks’ λ = .93, F [3, 86] = 2.17, p > .05, η2partial = .07). Regardless of religiosity and the desirability of the kiss, the participants rated the difficulty, vividness/clarity, and reality of the imagination in a similar manner. Participants were

in Table 2.

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compared in terms of previous sexual assault. Participant characteristics can be seen in detail

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3.3. Effects of Religiosity and Scenario on Feelings of Mental Contamination First, based on procedure used by Herba and Rachman (2007) and Elliott and

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Radomsky (2009), we examined feelings of dirtiness, urges to wash, internal negative emotions (INEs refer to emotions that have primary focus on within-person processes; i.e., feelings of shame, guilt, fear, cheapness, sadness, sleaziness, and humiliation; α = .91 in this study), and external negative emotions (ENEs refer emotions that have primary focus on outer-word; i.e., feelings of anxiety, anger, and distress; α = .90 in this study). A 2 (Group: High Religiosity, Low Religiosity) × 2 (Scenario: Consensual Kiss, Non-consensual Kiss) × 2 (Time: Time 1, Time 2) multivariate repeated measures ANOVA was then conducted to assess the effect of scenario, religiosity, and their interaction on the dependent variables (i.e.,

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT feelings of mental contamination, ENE and INE, and ratings of the immorality of the man in the scenario). Mental contamination feelings, internal and external negative emotions, and the rated immorality of the man were significantly affected by Time (Wilks’ λ = .29, F [4, 85] = 52.89, p < .001, η2partial = .71), scenario (Wilks’ λ = .73, F [4, 85] = 7.94, p < .001, η2partial =

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.27), and religiosity level (Wilks’ λ = .87, F [4, 85] = 3.23, p < .05, η2partial = .13). The

interaction Time × Scenario was significant (Wilks’ λ = .73, F [4, 85] = 7.98, p < .001, η2partial = .27), and the interaction Time x Religiosity Level (Wilks’ λ = .90, F [4, 85] = 2.46, p =

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.051, η2partial = .10) was marginally significant.

That the time by scenario interaction was significant after Bonferroni correction

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indicates that while there were no significant differences between consensual kissing and nonconsensual kissing groups at Time 1, at Time 2 all participants rated significantly higher feelings of mental contamination (F [1, 88] = 9.57, p < .05, η2partial = .10), INE (F [1, 88] = 8.33, p < .05, η2partial = .09), ENE (F [1, 88] = 28.09, p < .001, η2partial = .24), and immorality of

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the man (F [1, 88] = 14.00, p < .001, η2partial = .14) than at Time 1. Importantly, at Time 2, the non-consensual kissing group scored significantly higher on mental contamination. Means and SDs can be seen in Table 3.

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-------------------------------------------Insert Table 3 here--------------------------------------------When the marginally significant time by religiosity level examined using Bonferroni

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correction, the results indicated that the interaction was only significant for INE (F [1, 88] = 6.86, p < .05, η2partial = .07) and feelings of mental contamination (F [1, 88] = 7.57, p < .05, η2partial = .08). Post-hoc analyses indicated that high religiosity participants scored significantly higher than low religiosity participants on INE (Mhigh [SD] = 38.50 [28.80]; Mlow [SD] = 26.15 [21.91]) and feelings of mental contamination (Mhigh [SD] = 44.69 [30.59]; Mlow [SD] = 33.14 [29.14]) at Time 2. 3.4. Post-Manipulation Mental Contamination and Related Variables

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3.4.1. Washing Behavior and Location of Dirtiness Participants reported mental contamination feelings in different parts of their bodies (as shown in Table 3). Furthermore, a 2 (Group: High Religiosity, Low Religiosity) × 2 (Scenario: Consensual Kiss, Non-consensual Kiss) ANOVA was conducted to examine group

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differences in urges to wash. Religiosity level (F [1, 88] = 5.36, p < .05, η2partial = .06) and scenario condition (F [1, 88] = 23.90, p < .001, η2partial = .21) significantly influences urges to wash. We also examined whether participants engaged in any cleaning/washing behaviors to

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remove this dirtiness and to restore feelings of relaxation. There was a significant difference between the high religiosity and low religiosity participants only for the percentages of

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participants who engaged in washing behavior during the break, χ2 (1) = 4.40, p < .05. The percentage of participants who performed washing behaviors within the high religiosity group (18.8%) was significantly higher than in the low religiosity sample (4.5%). Other differences in percentages were not significant (Table 4).

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-------------------------------------Insert Table 4 here----------------------------------------------------3.4.2. Other Mental Contamination Indices

Groups were compared in terms of feelings of disgust elicited by the man’s behavior

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and physical attributes, perceived morality of the man, and responsibility beliefs and feelings of violation. As expected, high religiosity participants and participants in the non-consensual

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kiss condition reported greater levels of these variables than their counterparts did. One exception was that participants in the consensual kiss condition reported more responsibility as a result of the kiss than participants in the non-consensual condition. Means and SDs and group differences can be seen in Table 5. --------------------------------Insert Table 5 here--------------------------------------------------------4. Discussion

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Researchers have long been interested in how cultural contexts shape individuals’ actions, feelings, beliefs, and thoughts (Nedeljkovic, Moulding, Foroughi, Kyrios, & Doron, 2011). Religion has received increasing attention as a potent micro belief-system and macro cultural-force that can powerfully shape individuals’ attitudes and beliefs (Finke &

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Adamczyk, 2008; Nedeljkovic et al., 2011). Therefore, this study investigated the influence of cultural values by examining the role of religiosity in feelings of mental contamination, using highly religious Muslim students. High and low religious participants were selected and

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listened to a scenario that induced feelings of mental contamination (Elliott & Radomsky, 2009). Results from this study expand on Rachman’s conceptualization of mental

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contamination in that mental contamination feelings were induced after listening to the scenario and the participants in the non-consensual kiss condition reported significantly higher mental dirtiness, internal and external negative emotions, and attributed more immorality to the man than the participants in the consensual kiss condition. Physical

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violations play a part in the etiology of mental contamination (Rachman, Coughtrey, Shafran, & Radomsky, 2015), and victims of sexual assaults report mental contamination and related feelings (Adams, Badour, Cister, & Feldner, 2014; Badour, Bown, Adams, Bunaciu, &

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Feldner, 2012; Fairbrother & Rachman, 2004; Ishikawa, Kobori, & Shimizu, 2015). Consistent with this, Fairbrother and Rachman, (2004) suggested that some thoughts, feelings,

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and even memories can reveal feelings of mental contamination and associated negative emotions. The results of the present study support these arguments. Being a victim of a nonconsensual kiss, even if it is an imagery situation, evoked feelings of dirtiness and related negative emotions. More importantly, as hypothesized, after the manipulation high religious participants reported more feelings of mental contamination and internal negative emotions than low religious participants.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Rachman (2006) noted the moral aspect of mental contamination, and drew attention to the role of rigid moral-codes and/or strict value-systems in mental contamination. He suggested that if individuals feel that any act, thought, or image has violated one of their own moral standards they can feel mental contamination. Although subsequent studies failed to

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provide evidence supporting an aggravated role of conservative values and religiosity in

mental contamination (e.g., Berman et al., 2012; Herba & Rachman, 2007), results of the present study highlight a positive link between religiosity and mental contamination.

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Furthermore, high religiosity participants felt more internal negative emotions, including shame, guilt, humiliation, and so forth, immediately after being exposed to the kissing

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scenario. Although the sacred texts of major religions proscribe premarital and extramarital sexual intimacy (Adamczyk & Hayes, 2012), some cross-national attitudinal studies found that Muslims and Hindus tend to have more conservative sex-related attitudes than do Christians (Addai, 2000; Agha, 2009; Finke & Adamczyk, 2008). More recently, Adamczyk

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and Hayes (2012) found that ever-married Muslims and Hindus were less likely than evermarried Christians and Jews to report premarital sex. More conservative and rigid attitudes about sex can be understood when basic doctrines of Islam are taken into account. Islam

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defines pre-marital and extra-marital relationships as a great sin (e.g., “Nor come closer to illicit sexual intimacy for it is shameful and immoral, opening the door to other immorality,”

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Quran Đsrâ 17:32). Devotees believe that God is always watching them, knows what they think even if they do not perform overt acts, and can punish them for immoral acts and thoughts. Therefore, it is quite possible that highly religious Muslim individuals who internalize the basic doctrines of Islam would have a tendency to believe that some thoughts are unacceptable and impure, and they might misinterpret such thoughts as an indication of committing a sin and having incomplete faith. These kinds of misinterpretation would induce strong mental pollution, shame, guilt, and humiliation. Therefore, it can be concluded that

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT strict and rigid rules of morality in certain religions might make more vulnerable highly religious individuals to mental contamination as a result of violation of their values. High internal levels of negative emotions in highly religious participants after mental contamination induction might be explained via feelings of inflated responsibility for their

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acts. Our results indicate that highly religious participants and participants in the consensual kiss condition felt more responsibility than other individuals after they imagined themselves in the described situation. Detailed examination of the open-ended questions revealed that

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aside from kissing, even going to the location described, and interacting with the opposite gender was enough to induce feelings of responsibility and guilt for highly religious

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participants. These findings are also consistent with findings regarding the relationship between religion and responsibility (Abramowitz et al., 2004; Inozu et al., 2012; Sica et al., 2002). Therefore, because of high personal responsibility, highly religious participants might experience greater internal negative feelings than less religious individuals. Our results

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highlight multiple factors that might explain greater mental contamination and stronger negative feelings in highly religious individuals than less religious individuals, such as strict moral rules regarding sexuality, over emphasis of spiritual purity, and inflated responsibility.

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The other important part of this study was its examination of the role of urges to wash and spontaneous washing behavior in mental contamination. Consistent with previous

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findings (e.g., Elliot & Radomsky, 2009; Fairbrother et al., 2005; Herba & Rachman, 2007) participants who were asked to imagine experiencing a non-consensual kiss reported stronger urges to wash than women asked to imagine a consensual kiss. More importantly, our findings clarify the role of washing behavior to reduce feelings of mental dirtiness by indicating stronger urges to wash in highly religious participants. Regardless of the kissing condition, highly religious participants reported stronger urges to wash after imagining the kissing scenario than low religious women did. This result parallels the greater mental contamination

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT and stronger negative internal emotions in highly religious participants. It is reasonable to expect that the greater the individual’s experience of mental dirtiness, the stronger the urge to wash themselves to restore feelings of spiritual and physical purification. Consistently, it has been showed that threat to moral purity (Zhong & Liljenquist, 2006) and moral self-

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perceptions (Doron, Sar-El, & Mikulincer, 2012) activated a need for physical cleansing. The authors suggested that physical cleansing may function as a defense against threats to the moral self. It is possible that because of increased TAF (Inozu et al., 2012), when highly

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religious individuals think or imagine something immoral that threatens moral integrity, many can have feelings of intense guilt and be disgusted with themselves. Furthermore, the sense of

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“moral dirt” may manifest itself as increased disgust and may evoke a strong urge to wash in an effort to feel clean. Similar to other religions, in Islam, cleanliness of the heart, honesty, and high ethics are as important as bodily cleanliness (e.g., “For Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean...” Al-Baqara, 222).

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Therefore, the importance of cleanliness of the heart and the body in Islam might make an individual unduly alarmed about any situation that may violate the state of cleanliness and purity, including internal matters such as immoral thoughts or intentions, or external ones,

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which may evoke strong disgust and urges to perform cleaning behaviors to remove internal dirtiness. Consistently, the findings of the present study indicate that the high religiosity group

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reported greater disgust from the man’s behavior and felt more violated than did the low religiosity group. Although this study provides only preliminary findings, the propensity toward high disgust in highly religious individuals (Inozu et al., 2012; Inozu, Eremsoy, Çiçek, & Ozcanli, under review) might evoke a strong urge to perform cleaning behaviors to remove both internal dirtiness and feeling of disgust. Despite significant differences between high and low religiosity participants in reported urges to wash and washing behavior, there was no difference between the two

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT scenario groups in terms of spontaneous washing behavior. In the highly religious group, it is possible that experiencing a virtual kiss violated their moral purity and they engaged in washing behavior to clean and purify themselves. In contrast, the lack of a difference between scenario conditions may be explained as some form of natural restorative process that allows

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the person to recover from feelings of contamination without performing any action.

Coughtrey, Shafran, and Rachman (2014) found that re-evoking contamination and repeated washing led to the persistence of mental contamination; however, if mental contamination

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was let stand, the experience of being mentally contaminated spontaneously decayed over time. Our sample was not a clinically diagnosed group, and this spontaneous decay seems

clinically diagnosed samples.

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likely to have occurred. Therefore, future studies should examine mental contamination in

In conclusion, mental contamination has been widely investigated in Western cultures; therefore, it is important to note that this is the first experimental study on mental

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contamination in highly religious Muslim students. Furthermore, the present study extended previous findings by indicating a positive association between religiosity and mental contamination. This study provides results that encourage further investigations of the

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relationship between OCD, religiosity, and mental contamination. The other important strength of this study is that it investigated the role of religiosity in mental contamination

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using an experimental research design. The findings will help researchers and clinicians to further understand the nature of the mental contamination and to improve treatment protocols to treat highly religious individuals with OCD. The clinical implications of our findings are tentative, but indicate that treatment protocols for OCD patients with contamination symptoms should consider mental contamination phenomena. Clinicians should include exposure to certain thoughts and memories as part of the exposure hierarchy. However, Huppert and Siev (2010) indicated that

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT many OCD patients with high religiosity might experience difficulty directly confronting situations and thoughts that are perceived as sinful, and can avoid exposing these thoughts. Our results indicate that highly religious participants experienced strong mental contamination and negative feeling as a result of imagining a kiss. Therefore, they might

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usefully perform thought-control strategies during exposure. Patients with high religiosity should be educated about the detrimental effects of thought control on the frequency and intensity of unwanted intrusions and obsessional thoughts. Therapy should help patients

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recognize that generating faulty appraisals of normal intrusive thoughts as ‘‘immoral’’ may lead to increased distress, whereas developing a more accepting attitude toward “sinful”

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thought may help reduce obsessional problems (Huppert & Siev, 2010). Clark (2004), Purdon (2004), and Abramowitz, Tolin, and Street (2001) discuss treatment strategies that might help religious OCD patients to be more accepting of ERP.

Despite its strengths, this study also has some limitations. The most important

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limitation is that participants were assigned to the religiosity groups based on their preexisting level of this variable. It is possible that a third variable, such as spirituality, strict morality, conscientiousness, or high sensitivity for morality associated with religiosity would

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be differ between the groups, and this could influence the results. Therefore, future studies should include these variables to their research design to better understand the association

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between religiosity and mental contamination. Also, even though mental contamination feelings are widely studied in women, our study consisted of only women and this limits generalizing its findings to the wider population. In addition, although the present study examined the influence of religion on mental contamination, all participants in the study were Muslims. These findings may thus be specific to Islam. Therefore, it is important to investigate this new phenomenon in different religious groups. As mentioned earlier, this study used a kiss paradigm, which is related to violations, but mental contamination feelings

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT have different forms (self-contamination, morphing, visual contamination; Rachman et al., 2015) and future studies should investigate these different forms of mental contamination with different scenarios. 5. Conclusion

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In conclusion, this is the first study to examine the relationship between religion and feelings of mental contamination in a Muslim sample. Highly religious participants reported more internal negative emotions, feelings of mental contamination, and attributed more

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immorality to the man in the scenario than their counterparts. Highly religious participants also tended to report more feelings of responsibility, disgust, urges to wash, and feelings of

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violation than less religious participants. The results indicate that high religiosity appears to increase feelings of mental contamination and negative feelings. Despite its limitations, this study addresses a gap in the literature and illuminates the study of mental contamination, OCD, and religion.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) under the Program for Awarding Outstanding Young Scientists (GEBIP-2013).

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Declaration of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest relevant to the content of the

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article.

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Table 1 Means and SDs of High and Low Religiosity Groups and Group Differences in Terms of Religiosity Variables ή²

Religiosity Low1

High2

F(df)

Atten.R.Pl.

1.18(0.45)

3.06(1.24)

89.82(1,90)***

Prayer

2.36(1.04)

4.73(0.71)

Read.R.Bk

1.23(0.57)

3.15(1.22)

Donation

1.09(0.47)

RFS-R

31.25(13.89)

2>1

165.96(1,90)***

.65

2>1

90.85(1,90)***

.50

2>1

2.38(1.16)

46.74(1,90)***

.34

2>1

79.40(18.64)

194,43(1,90)***

.68

2>1

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.50

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 2 Participants Characteristics Have you ever been in a place like described in the scenario?

Sometimes

Nonconsensual

Consensual

Nonconsensual

Consensual

kiss

kiss

kiss

kiss

19.6%

18.5%

6.5%

(n=18)

(n = 17)

(n=6)

4.4%

5.4%

12%

(n=4)

(n = 5)

(n=11)

3.3%

n=0

(n=3) n=0

1.1% (n = 1)

Previous sexual

High religious

assault

Chi-Square test

4.4%

χ2 = 0.230,

(n = 4)

p =.632

4.4%

χ2 = 2.003,

(n = 4)

p = .157

3.3%

13%

χ2 = 7.200,

(n=3)

(n = 12)

p < .05

2.2%

2.2%

χ2 = 0.883,

(n = 2)

p = .361

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Frequently

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Occasionally

Percentage (n) Low religious (n = 44)

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Never

Percentage (n) High religious (n = 48)

(n=2)

Low religious

Chi-Square test

Nonconsensual Consensual Nonconsensual Consensual kiss

Experienced

6.5%

2.2%

previous non-

(n=6)

consensual sexual assault

kiss

(n = 2)

kiss

10.9%

6.5%

(n=10)

(n = 6)

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kiss

χ2 = 0.375, p = .54

8.7%

7.6%

χ2 = 1.434,

(n = 2)

(n=8)

(n = 7)

p = .23

1.1%

4.4%

4.4%

7.6%

χ2 = 0.428,

(n=1)

(n = 4)

(n=4)

(n = 7)

p = .51

A traumatic

1.1%

5.4%

4.4%

2.2%

χ2 = 3.086,

event

(n=1)

(n = 5)

(n=4)

(n = 2)

p = .08

7.6%

encountering

(n=7)

(One or some

2.2%

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Secondary

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of her friends experienced) Witnessing

*Note: The number of participants who stated that they had experienced a traumatic experience is quite high. While the study was being done, two different bombed attacks were carried out in Ankara, where the study was conducted. Eight of the participants reported that this bomb attacks were the traumatic events they had experienced.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

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Table 3 Means and Standard Deviations of Internal Negative Emotions, External Negative Emotions, Mental Contamination and the Ratings of Immorality of the Man in the Scenario: Religiosity Level and Time Variables Low Religious High Religious

After Manipulation

Before Manipulation

After Manipulation

Nonconsensual kiss

5.10 a (6.50)

31.82 b (20.44)

5.54 a (9.86)

48.50d (26.61)

Consensual kiss

5.65a (7.28)

20.49b (22.32)

2.27 a (2.88)

27.62b (27.61)

Nonconsensual kiss

21.62 (18.63)a

58.36 (28.49)b

17.12 (18.46)a

58.33 (30.76)b

27.77a (23.92)

25.64b (23.99)

17.91a (16.79)

30.10b (24.66)

Nonconsensual kiss

13.64a (11.36)

38.41b (28.97)

10.08a (15.68)

56.20d (30.83)

Consensual kiss

14.86a (23.52)

27.86c (29.01)

9.35a (14.56)

32.17c (25.44)

Nonconsensual kiss

20.68a (25.09)

80.45b (29.52)

31.60a (35.70)

93.20b (10.59)

Consensual kiss

21.36a (24.11)

40.23b (31.87)

20.65a (28.54)

62.74b (32.85)

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External Negative Emotions

Before Manipulation

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Internal Negative Emotions

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Consensual kiss

Mental Contamination

Immorality of the Man in the Scenario

M (SD)

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M (SD)

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Table 4 Subsequent Behaviors after Manipulation Low

Chi-

Non-

Consensual Total

religious

religious

Square

consensual

Square

Test 4.5%

themselves

(n=9)

(n=2)

Drink

10.4%

water/gargle (n=5)

6.8% (n=3)

Use

16.7%

15.9%

cologne/wet

(n=8)

(n=7)

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12% (n =11)

χ2 = 0.79, p > .05

4.4% (n=2)

8.7%

χ2 = 2.01, p > .05

11.1% (n=5)

16.3%

14.9%

8.9%

(n=7)

(n=4)

χ = 0.37, p > .05

12.8%

χ2= 0.01, p > .05

21.3%

2

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wipes

χ2= 4.40, p < .05

(n=6)

(n=10)

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18.8%

Test

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Wash/clean

Chi-

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High

(n=8)

(n=15)

χ2= 1.74, p > .05

31

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 5

Mean and Standard Deviations of Variables Related Mental Contamination, and Group Differences in terms of These Variables Scenario

High

Low

Non-

Consensua

religiou

religiou

consensua

l kiss

s

s

l kiss

Feeling of

49.06a

40.80a

67.55b

21.67c

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

disgust

(37.32)

(38.18)

(31.05)

(29.00)

= 1.58, p

= 58.34,

6.63, p <

> .05, ns.

p < .001,

.03, η2partial

η2partial =

= .07

.40

(Bonferron

(man’s

Religiosit

Scenario

Religiosity

y Group

Conditio

x Scenario

n

Interaction

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Religiosity

attributes)

76.21a

57.80b

89.38c

disgust

(31.33)

(39.21)

(18.68)

(man’s behaviors)

(36.17)

i adjusted)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

= 9.96, p

= 64.45,

4.15, p >

< .05,

p < .001,

.03, ns.

η2partial =

η2partial =

(Bonferroni

.10

.42

adjusted)

F (1, 88)

41.30a

29.37b

47.52c

23.14d

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

(26.80)

(25.75)

(26.40)

(21.24)

= 5.36, p

= 23.90,

0.69, p >

< .05,

p < .001,

.05, ns.

η2partial =

η2partial =

.06

.21

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Urge to wash

44.44d

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Feeling of

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physical

71.09a

61.29b

85.74c

46.20d

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

morality of

(26.51)

(30.88)

(17.12)

(24.69)

= 4.52, p

= 85.33,

2.89, p >

< .05,

p < .001,

.05, ns.

the man

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(Negative

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Perceived

η

evaluations)

2 partial

=

η

2 partial

.05

.49

=

Perceived

35.43a

31.95a

22.23b

45.81c

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

morality of

(20.31)

(22.29)

(16.51)

(18.89)

= 1.14, p

= 40.69,

0.03, p >

> .05, ns.

p < .001,

.05, ns.

the man

2

(Positive

η

evaluations)

.32

partial

=

32

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 5 Continued. Religiosity

Scenario

Religiosit

Scenario

Religiosity

y Group

Conditio

x Scenario

n

Interaction

Low

Non-

Consensua

religiou

religiou

consensua

l kiss

s

s

l kiss

Responsibilit

57.73a

42.31b

32.36c

69.15d

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

y beliefs

(30.31)

(29.58)

(26.51)

(22.78)

= 10.86, p

= 59.14,

2.36, p >

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RI PT

High

p < .001,

η2partial =

η2partial =

.11

.40

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< .05,

.05, ns.

Feeling

63.75a

47.16b

83.30c

27.11d

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88)

F (1, 88) =

violation

(37.54)

(43.70)

(25.65)

(34.32)

= 6.40, p

= 83.49,

0.68, p >

< .05,

p < .001,

.05, ns.

η

2

partial

.07

=

η

2 partial

=

.49

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EP

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Notes: Perceived morality of the man (negative evaluations) was constituted by using “How inappropriate (Socially/morally wrong) would you rate the man’s behavior?”, “Do you think this man would take advantage of a vulnerable or defenseless person?”, “Do you think this man would risk harming someone else in order to get something he wanted?”, Perceived morality of the man (positive evaluations) was constituted by using “Do you think this man is trustworthy?”, “Do you think this man would help someone if they were in need?”, “Do you think this man would decide not to do something immoral if he thought it might harm someone else?”, “Do you think this man would choose to do the ‘right’ thing even though he didn’t want to do it?”, “Do you think this man would decide not to do something he thought was wrong even though he really wanted to do it?”, Responsibility beliefs was constituted by using “Do you think you did anything wrong in this situation?”, “How responsible do you feel for the events that occurred in this situation?”, “Do you think you could have prevented this situation?”.

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Highlights * Female undergraduate students were divided into low and high religiosity groups.

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* All participants listened to a consensual or non-consensual kiss scenario. * Feelings of mental contamination and related negative emotions were evoked.

* Highly religious Muslims reported the greatest feelings of mental contamination.

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* Religiosity increased urges to wash and actual washing, due to mental contamination.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Declaration of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest relevant to the content of the

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article.