{"title":"大(好)事物之神:宗教启动、事件属性和超自然解释","authors":"J. Ramsay, Zhi Yin Khong, Joey S. E. Yeo","doi":"10.1080/10508619.2022.2097778","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Humans have a pervasive tendency to make causal attributions when attempting to explain life events. While causality is often attributed to naturalistic forces, such as the agency of individuals or situational factors, many individuals – particularly those who hold religious or spiritual beliefs – invoke supernatural explanations that ascribe causation to invisible forces or agents such as God(s), fate, or karma. The present research sought to clarify conflicting findings regarding the types of events that tend to elicit supernatural explanations, and to investigate whether reminders of religion exerts a causal effect on these tendencies using priming methodologies. Over two studies (N = 119; N = 121), we observed a consistently greater tendency to invoke supernatural explanations of various kinds when event outcomes were serious and positive. A significant influence of religious priming was observed only for one type of supernatural explanation in Study 1, while inconsistent interactions between valence and seriousness were also observed. These findings are consistent with the notions of “God-of-the-gaps” and God-serving attributional biases, although evidence for a causal influence of reminders of religion on these processes remains inconclusive.","PeriodicalId":47234,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Psychology of Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"The God of Big (And Good) Things: Religious Priming, Event Properties, and Supernatural Explanations\",\"authors\":\"J. Ramsay, Zhi Yin Khong, Joey S. E. Yeo\",\"doi\":\"10.1080/10508619.2022.2097778\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"ABSTRACT Humans have a pervasive tendency to make causal attributions when attempting to explain life events. While causality is often attributed to naturalistic forces, such as the agency of individuals or situational factors, many individuals – particularly those who hold religious or spiritual beliefs – invoke supernatural explanations that ascribe causation to invisible forces or agents such as God(s), fate, or karma. The present research sought to clarify conflicting findings regarding the types of events that tend to elicit supernatural explanations, and to investigate whether reminders of religion exerts a causal effect on these tendencies using priming methodologies. Over two studies (N = 119; N = 121), we observed a consistently greater tendency to invoke supernatural explanations of various kinds when event outcomes were serious and positive. A significant influence of religious priming was observed only for one type of supernatural explanation in Study 1, while inconsistent interactions between valence and seriousness were also observed. These findings are consistent with the notions of “God-of-the-gaps” and God-serving attributional biases, although evidence for a causal influence of reminders of religion on these processes remains inconclusive.\",\"PeriodicalId\":47234,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"International Journal for the Psychology of Religion\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":1.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-07-11\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"1\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"International Journal for the Psychology of Religion\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"102\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2022.2097778\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"哲学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal for the Psychology of Religion","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2022.2097778","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
The God of Big (And Good) Things: Religious Priming, Event Properties, and Supernatural Explanations
ABSTRACT Humans have a pervasive tendency to make causal attributions when attempting to explain life events. While causality is often attributed to naturalistic forces, such as the agency of individuals or situational factors, many individuals – particularly those who hold religious or spiritual beliefs – invoke supernatural explanations that ascribe causation to invisible forces or agents such as God(s), fate, or karma. The present research sought to clarify conflicting findings regarding the types of events that tend to elicit supernatural explanations, and to investigate whether reminders of religion exerts a causal effect on these tendencies using priming methodologies. Over two studies (N = 119; N = 121), we observed a consistently greater tendency to invoke supernatural explanations of various kinds when event outcomes were serious and positive. A significant influence of religious priming was observed only for one type of supernatural explanation in Study 1, while inconsistent interactions between valence and seriousness were also observed. These findings are consistent with the notions of “God-of-the-gaps” and God-serving attributional biases, although evidence for a causal influence of reminders of religion on these processes remains inconclusive.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (IJPR) is devoted to psychological studies of religious processes and phenomena in all religious traditions. This journal provides a means for sustained discussion of psychologically relevant issues that can be examined empirically and concern religion in the most general sense. It presents articles covering a variety of important topics, such as the social psychology of religion, religious development, conversion, religious experience, religion and social attitudes and behavior, religion and mental health, and psychoanalytic and other theoretical interpretations of religion. The journal publishes research reports, brief research reports, commentaries on relevant topical issues, book reviews, and statements addressing articles published in previous issues. The journal may also include a major essay and commentaries, perspective papers of the theory, and articles on the psychology of religion in a specific country.