712 vII. APPLICATIONS  AND  IMPLICATIONS
and characteristic adaptations, but they are 
also highly relevant to narrative identity. 
According to McAdams (Chapter 5, this 
volume), narrative identity  refers to the in -
ternalized and integrative story of the self. 
These self-  stories are changing across time 
and are always told within the context of 
social relationships, culture, and moral 
norms. For many people, religion and spiri -
tuality feature prominently in their narrative 
identities and may even be the central fea -
ture (McLean, Syed, Yoder, & Greenhoot, 
2016). In the context of a religious family 
or culture, most people incorporate religious 
content into their self-story, which is then re -
inforced as they engage in religious commu -
nity through consensual validation (Becker, 
1973; Krause, 2008).
Religion therefore provides a lens through 
which to interpret knowledge and experi -
ence (Silberman, 2005), as well as narrative 
scripts and prototypes (e.g., the redemptive 
self; see McAdams, Chapter 5, this vol -
ume). Religion is especially suited to pro -
vide meaning systems that can make sense 
of suffering and death, because it is capable 
of addressing existential questions brought 
to the fore by negative life events in a way 
that is more satisfying (to many, but not all) 
than naturalistic attributions (e.g., negative 
events as part of the plan of a benevolent 
deity vs. probabilistic outcomes; Park, Ed -
mondson, & Hale-Smith, 2013). Even when 
religious meanings are not comforting (e.g., 
belief in punitive gods), they can still pro -
vide a sense of coherence and control. How -
ever, religious identity and meaning making 
may engender intergroup conflict as people 
cling to their own worldview and derogate 
outgroup beliefs to relieve existential anxi -
ety, though this effect is moderated by in -
trinsic religiousness, quest religiousness, 
and religious fundamentalism (Vail et al., 
2010).
Some have even argued that religions 
are uniquely capable of meeting demands 
for meaning given their ability to tap into 
supernatural and transcendent sources of 
knowledge and power (Pargament, Magyar- 
Russell, & Murray-  Swank, 2005), likely 
because they are pertinent to meeting needs 
for control, purpose, coherence, and con -
nection (Park et al., 2013), and alleviating anxious uncertainty (McGregor, Nash, & 
Prentice, 2010). Empirical data support this 
claim. Not only do religious people tend to 
report higher levels of purpose and meaning 
in life (with r ’s around .40; Steger & Fra -
zier, 2005), but people who turn to religious 
meaning after stressful life events (as op -
posed to other forms of meaning-  making) 
also demonstrate higher psychological ad -
justment and even posttraumatic growth 
(e.g., Laufer, Solomon, & Levine, 2010; 
Park, Edmondson, & Blank, 2009).
Religion, Evolution, and  Culture
The field of personality deals with not only 
describing individual differences but also ar -
ticulating universal laws of human behavior 
and culture. Thus, the field of personality 
must also grapple with explaining the uni -
versality of religious beliefs and behaviors, 
as well as particular cultural expressions of 
religion.
The evolution of religion and its possible 
adaptive function have been the subject of 
considerable investigation by a wide array 
of researchers with diverse theoretical and 
methodological approaches, including cog -
nitive psychology, anthropology, and evo -
lutionary psychology. Rather than focus on 
individual differences in religiousness, these 
scholars have primarily studied elements 
typical of religious life, including beliefs in 
supernatural agents, transmission of reli -
gious concepts, ideas about the afterlife, and 
the role of cognition and affect in ritual. Pri -
mary debates in the area concern whether 
religious thought and behavior arise from 
capacities evolved for other selective advan -
tages (e.g., Boyer, 2001), or whether religion 
itself confers selective advantage (e.g., Wil -
son, 2002). Also disputed is the relative im -
portance of implicit, less culturally variable 
cognition versus explicit, more culturally 
variable cognition in explaining religious 
thought and behavior (e.g., Whitehouse, 
2004). Cognitive–  evolutionary approaches 
to religion come in three varieties: neurothe -
ology, group selection, and cognitive science 
of religion. Though all possess some con -
nections to evolutionary perspectives, the 
three schools take importantly different ap -
proaches to explaining religion.