Attitudes toward the Church and Value Orientations as Predictors of Interest in the Occult

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine whether and to what degree an anti–Church attitude, a pro–Church attitude, value orientation to wealth, power, and glory and prosocial value orientation contribute to the prediction of an interest in occult practices and satanism. The survey was carried out on a sample of Croatian citizens (N=558) in eastern Croatia. Factor analysis was performed to establish the construct
validity of all measures applied in this survey. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that a conflicting attitude towards the Church, i.e. the simultaneous existence of both anti–Church and pro–Church attitudes, and the value orientation to wealth, power, and glory underlie an interest in the occult, whereas a prosocial value orientation pointed in a negative direction away from an interest in the occult. It
was discovered that a Church–religious severe attitudinal and perceptual confusion and disorientation, a longing for a materialistic–hedonistic life–style, and disordered relations in social interactions underlie an interest in occult practices and satanism. Such Church–religious cognitive dissonance may motivate individuals to dabble in the occult in an effort to reduce the psychological discomfort and tension that any cognitive dissonance produces. However, an interest in th e occult may generate a Church–religious cognitive dissociation as the possible result of demonic influence, leading some of the faithful to „diabolic confusion“.