I’ve wondered whether this disinclination to join has something to do with my somewhat introverted personality. Or is it my upbringing? I come from a long line of suspicious cranks. Or was it cultural? After all, belonging to groups of all kinds has declined over time for Americans. In 2011, Pew Research reported that “75 percent of Americans are active in one kind of group or another.” In 2019, Pew reported that 57 percent of Americans “participate in some type of community group or organization.” A few readers of my series also asked whether there was some sort of intrinsic quality that makes people joiners or not, and I wanted to find out.
After looking at the research and talking to research psychologists, I’d bet that my lack of desire to join groups is probably a combination of all those things: personality, identity, family environment and the wider culture, but with one surprising (to me, at least) twist. Religiosity, specifically, could have a minor genetic component to it.
According to Zachary Hohman, an associate professor of psychological sciences at Texas Tech University who studies group behavior, there are multiple motivations for joining groups, but uncertainty — “not really knowing who you are, where you belong in your society” — plays a major role. The more uncertain you are about your sense of self, the more likely you are to join a group, which can give you guidance on “what to think, how to feel and how to behave,” Hohman told me when I called him in August. Teenagers and young adults may be particularly enthusiastic about joining groups because their sense of self is more in flux — which may partly explain the enduring popularity of Greek life at American universities.
There is something particular about people who join religious groups, though, Mohsen Joshanloo, an associate professor of psychology at Keimyung University in South Korea, told me via email. Joshanloo studies the “Big 5” personality traits — neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness — and their relationship to religiosity. According to Joshanloo, at the population level, agreeableness (one’s level of caring and cooperation) and conscientiousness (one’s level of responsibility) have a weak but positive correlation with religiosity.
On an individual level, Joshanloo’s research has found that a person’s level of openness, which is their curiosity and acceptance of new ideas, corresponds with their future religiosity — “an increase in openness is associated with a decrease in religiosity after approximately a decade,” Joshanloo explained.