‘So Help Me God’? Does oath swearing in courtroom scenarios impact trial outcomes?

In countries such as Britain and the US, court witnesses must declare they will provide truthful evidence and are often compelled to publicly choose between religious (“oath”) and secular (“affirmation”) versions of this declaration. Might defendants who opt to swear an oath enjoy more favourable outcomes than those who choose to affirm? Two preliminary, pre-registered survey studies using minimal vignettes (Study 1, N = 443; Study 2, N = 913) indicated that people associate choice of the oath with credible testimony; and that participants, especially religious participants, discriminate against defendants who affirm. In a third, Registered Report study (Study 3, N = 1821), we used a more elaborate audiovisual mock trial paradigm to better estimate the real-world influence of declaration choice. Participants were asked to render a verdict for a defendant who either swore or affirmed, and were themselves required to swear or affirm that they would try the defendant in good faith. Overall, the defendant was not considered guiltier when affirming rather than swearing, nor did mock-juror belief in God moderate this effect. However, jurors who themselves swore an oath did discriminate against the affirming defendant. Exploratory analyses suggest this effect may be driven by authoritarianism, perhaps because high-authoritarian jurors consider the oath the traditional (and therefore correct) declaration to choose. We discuss the real-world implications of these findings and conclude the religious oath is an antiquated legal ritual that needs reform.     

Attributes of God: Conceptual Foundations of a Foundational Belief

Anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human properties to nonhuman entities, is often posited as an explanation for the origin and nature of God concepts, but it remains unclear which human properties we tend to attribute to God and under what conditions. In three studies, participants decided whether two types of human properties—psychological (mind‐dependent) properties and physiological (body‐dependent) properties—could or could not be attributed to God. In Study 1 (n = 1,525), participants made significantly more psychological attributions than physiological attributions, and the frequency of those attributions was correlated both with participants’ religiosity and with their attribution of abstract, theological properties. In Study 2 (n = 99) and Study 3 (n = 138), participants not only showed the same preference for psychological properties but were also significantly faster, more consistent, and more confident when attributing psychological properties to God than when attributing physiological properties. And when denying properties to God, they showed the reverse pattern—that is, they were slower, less consistent, and less confident when denying psychological properties than when denying physiological properties. These patterns were observed both in a predominantly Christian population (Study 2) and a predominantly Hindu population (Study 3). Overall, we argue that God is conceptualized not as a person in general but as an agent in particular, attributed a mind by default but attributed a body only upon further consideration.     

A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Coaches’ Observed Emotion-Behavior Profiles and Adolescent Athletes’ Self-Reported Developmental Outcomes

This investigation explored the relationship between coaches’ emotions and adolescent athletes’ psychosocial development. Participants were 9 male soccer coaches and their female athletes (N = 134, M_age = 14.54). Systematic observation was used to assess coaches’ emotions during practice and athletes completed questionnaires evaluating developmental outcomes. Cluster analyses revealed 2 groups: “calm, inquisitive coaches” (n = 6) and “intense, hustle coaches” (n = 3). Athletes of calm, inquisitive coaches reported significantly more prosocial behaviors and less antisocial behaviors directed toward opponents than athletes of intense, hustle coaches. Thus, coaches’ emotions during practice may be associated with young athletes’ moral behaviors.     

Symbols and Similarity: You Can Get Too Much of a Good Thing

A method for eliciting extended explanations was used to evaluate predictions from the “theory-theory” account of developing psychological reasoning. Children were repeatedly asked to explain the actions or emotions of story characters with false beliefs. Questioning elicited false belief attributions in half of 3-year-olds (Study 1, N = 16, age M = 3;6) and most 4-year-olds who failed belief prediction tasks (Study 2, N = 30, M = 4;5). In Study 3, 30 prediction failers (M = 5;1) gave significantly more false belief explanations for emotions than for actions. Across the studies, desire and emotion explanations emerged early and often, reflecting the primacy of these constructs in the children's understanding of psychological causality. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for developmental mechanism.     

Atheists Become Emotionally Aroused When Daring God to Do Terrible Things

We examined whether atheists exhibit evidence of emotional arousal when they dare God to cause harm to themselves and their intimates. In Study 1, the participants (16 atheists, 13 religious individuals) read aloud 36 statements of three different types: God, offensive, and neutral. In Study 2 (N = 19 atheists), 10 new stimulus statements were included in which atheists wished for negative events to occur. The atheists did not think the God statements were as unpleasant as the religious participants did in their verbal reports. However, the skin conductance level showed that asking God to do awful things was equally stressful to atheists as it was to religious people and that atheists were more affected by God statements than by wish or offensive statements. The results imply that atheists' attitudes toward God are ambivalent in that their explicit beliefs conflict with their affective response.     

Injury Representations,Coping, Emotions,and Functional Outcomes in Athletes With Sports‐Related Injuries: A Test of Self‐Regulation Theory1

This study examined the influence of injury representations on emotions and outcomes of athletes with sports‐related musculoskeletal injuries using self‐regulation theory. Participants were athletes (N= 220; M age = 23.44 years, SD= 8.42) with a current sports‐related musculoskeletal injury. Participants self‐reported their cognitive and emotional injury representations, emotions coping procedures, physical and sports functioning, attendance at treatment centers, and 3‐week follow‐up attendance. Participants’ negative and positive affect were influenced by emotional representations. Identity, causal attributions, and emotional representations influenced physical functioning; and identity, serious consequences, causal attributions, and emotional representations predicted sports functioning. Injury severity, identity, and personal control predicted attendance at treatment centers, but the effect of personal control was mediated by problem‐focused coping. Problem‐focused coping predicted 3‐week follow‐up attendance. Results support self‐regulation theory for examining injury representations in athletes.     

Religious Coping and Quality of Life Among Severely Ill Lung Patients in a Secular Society

This survey study investigated the prevalence of religious beliefs and religious coping and possible associations between religious factors and quality of life (QoL) among a group of severely ill lung patients (lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in Denmark (N = 111). Almost two thirds (64.8%) reported having some belief in God and/or a spiritual power. Patients who reported believing in God and patients who believed in God and a spiritual power reported better QoL than patients who reported that they believed in a spiritual power only. Religious coping was prevalent; for positive religious coping strategies, those used from least to most often, respectively, were invoked 15% to 37% of the time; for negative religious coping strategies the percentages were 3% to 16%. Negative religious coping was associated with lower QoL (β = ?0.320, p < .006), whereas no associations were found between positive religious coping and QoL. Results are discussed in relation to the cultural context of secularized societies like the Scandinavian countries.     

Relational Spirituality and Forgiveness of Offenses Committed by Religious Leaders

In the present article, we extend a model of relational spirituality and forgiveness to the context of major offenses by clergy. In Study 1, undergraduate students (N = 208) described a major offense that they had experienced by a religious leader and then completed several questionnaires in relation to the offense and the religious leader. Appraisals of relational spirituality were significantly associated with forgiveness, after controlling for known predictors of forgiveness (i.e., hurtfulness, time since the offense, and commitment to God or another source of spirituality). In Study 2, we replicated and extended the findings from Study 1 using an independent sample of undergraduates (N = 365). In a series of structural equation models, we found that relational engagement of God (or another source of spirituality) partially mediated the relationship between anger toward God (or another source of spirituality) and unforgiving motivations. We conclude by discussing implications for future research.     

Religion as a source of variation in the experience of positive and negative emotions

In a series of three studies, we examined the ways in which religion informs the individual experience and valuation of emotions. In Study 1, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish participants (N = 7231) in 49 nations reported the frequency with which they experienced nine discrete emotions. Results indicate group level differences in the frequency with which different emotions are experienced. Study 2 examined whether the patterns of emotional experiences found in Study 1 replicated in the valuation of those emotions by the adherents of those different religious traditions. Study 3 experimentally manipulated the salience of religious identity to examine the effect of religion on the current experience of emotions. Across the studies, findings provide evidence that religion (e.g., Christianity, Buddhism, etc) is related to the experience of, and beliefs about, emotional states. Implications for the study of happiness and positive psychology are discussed in light of the findings.     

Weight beliefs and messages: Mindsets predict body‐shame and anti‐fat attitudes via attributions

In two samples (N = 247, N = 291), we examined the link between beliefs and messages about the changeable (incremental theory) vs. fixed (entity theory) nature of weight, attributions for weight, and body shame. We recruited participants using online sampling, employing a correlational design in Study 1 and an experimental design in Study 2. Across both studies, we found evidence for the stigma‐asymmetry effect—incremental, relative to entity beliefs/messages of weight predicted both (a) stronger onset responsibility attributions, indirectly increasing body shame and (b) stronger offset efficacy attributions, indirectly decreasing body shame. Study 2 replicated the stigma‐asymmetry effect with anti‐fat attitudes. We discuss implications for public health obesity messages with the goal of reducing stigma.     

Racial group differences in help-seeking behaviors

The authors evaluated variations in help-seeking behaviors among Blacks and Whites and the role of cognitive-affective variables as mediators of these variations. Participants were 70 Black and 66 White community college students who completed the SCL-90-R (L. R. Derogatis, 1977, 1994), the Revised Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (T. Bekhuis et al., 1995), the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire (J. M. Robbins & L. J. Kirmayer, 1991), and a measure of help-seeking behaviors and demographic information. Relative to White college students, Black college students significantly less frequently used psychological or social services and significantly more frequently used religious services. The authors accounted for group differences in religious help-seeking behaviors by beliefs in the power of God and by normalizing symptom attributions. The cognitive-affective variables that were studied did not account for differences in psychological help-seeking behaviors. The authors inferred that to better meet the needs of Black college students, collaboration between mental health services and religious services would likely be beneficial.     

Positive and Negative Religious Beliefs Explaining the Religion–Health Connection Among African Americans

Theory and literature suggests that the reason religiously involved people tend to have good health outcomes is because they have healthy lifestyles and behaviors in accord with religious beliefs. Other literature suggests that religious involvement may play a negative role in health outcomes due to beliefs about illness originating as punishment for sins. These ideas were tested as part of a theoretical model of the religion–health connection in a national sample of African Americans. Outcomes included a variety of health-related behaviors. Study participants (N = 2,370) randomly selected from a U.S. national call list completed a telephone survey assessing religious involvement, health behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze study data. Findings indicate that perceived religious influence on health behavior mediated the relationship between religious beliefs and behaviors and higher fruit consumption and lower alcohol use and smoking. Belief that illness is the result of punishment for sin mediated the relationship between (a) religious beliefs and higher vegetable consumption and lower binge drinking and (b) religious behaviors and lower vegetable consumption and higher binge drinking. These findings could be applied to health education activities conducted in African American faith-based organizations, such as health ministries, in the effort to eliminate health disparities.     

Gender Differences in Attributions and Emotions in Helping Contexts

Gender differences in the provision and receipt of emotional support may result from differences in the formation of responsibility and effort attributions in support-seeking interactions. Participants (N = 1,211, primarily middle-class, European American college students) read support-seeking scenarios that varied in support-seeker gender, responsibility for the problem, and effort to resolve the problem, as well as the problem itself, and completed measures of responsibility, effort attributions, and emotions (anger, sympathy). Results indicated qualified and subtle gender differences in attributions, emotions, and attribution--emotion associations, which are broadly consistent with the application of gendered moral orientations and instrumentality norms. These findings are discussed with respect to theorizing about gender differences in attribution processes and emotional support behavior.     

Judgments of Meaning in Life,Religious Beliefs,and the Experience of Cognitive (Dis)Fluency

The primary aim of the current studies was to test whether religiousness interacted with self‐reported levels of meaning in life (MIL) to predict the ease or difficulty in judging one's MIL, the search for meaning itself, and religious doubt. Undergraduate students in Study 1 (N = 111) and adult participants recruited online in Study 2 (N = 206) completed measures of religious beliefs, MIL, cognitive fluency related to MIL, and related variables. Study 3 merged these data sets. In Study 4 (N = 255), online participants completed measures of religious beliefs, cognitive fluency related to religious beliefs, and MIL. Studies 1 and 2 showed that highly religious people with lower MIL reported greater difficulty making their MIL judgments than other people. Study 3 showed that they were also more likely to search for MIL and that disfluency mediated this effect. Study 4 demonstrated that they also reported more difficult judgments of religious beliefs and more religious doubts than their religious peers with high MIL. The current studies demonstrate that the experience of ease or difficulty associated with MIL judgments represents an important yet largely unexamined aspect of MIL. Our findings have implications for understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying responses to meaning threats.     

The impact of adult attachment on partner and self‐attributions and relationship quality

This study tested the relationships between mental the models of attachment, the attributions romantic couples make for their own and their partners' behaviors, and relationship quality. Participants (n = 352) who were currently involved in a romantic relationship completed multiple measures of attachment, attributions, and relationship quality. Results revealed that secure people reported less maladaptive attributions than insecure people. In addition, structural model analyses indicated that attachment model of the self (but not the model of others) had both a direct and an indirect effect, mediated by attributions made for negative partner behavior, on relationship satisfaction. Attributions made for self‐ and partner behaviors overlapped to a great extent, implying an attributional style underlying this unique response pattern. These findings suggest that a positive model of self is a valuable personal resource that enhances adaptive attributions, and hence, leads to high levels of relationship quality.     

The role of attachment to God in secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious disease

This study investigated the role of security in one's attachment to God in relation to both secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious illness. The main objective was to test whether attachment to God and type of disease were related to secular coping strategies, when controlling for the effects of religious/spiritual coping. Study participants (N = 105) had been diagnosed either with cancer (i.e., an acute disease) and were under chemotherapy/awaiting surgery or with renal impairment (i.e., a chronic disease) and were attending dialysis. Results showed that secure attachment to God was uniquely related to fighting spirit, whereas insecure attachment to God was uniquely linked to hopelessness, suggesting that security, unlike insecurity, in one's attachment to God may impact favourably on adjustment to the disease. The only coping strategy related to type of disease was cognitive avoidance, which was linked to chronic disease.     

The need to belong can motivate belief in God

The need to belong can motivate belief in God. In Study 1, 40 undergraduates read bogus astrophysics articles "proving" God's existence or not offering proof. Participants in the proof-for-God condition reported higher belief in God (compared to control) when they chronically imagined God as accepting but lower belief in God when they imagined God as rejecting. Additionally, in Study 2 (72 undergraduates), these effects did not occur when participants' belongingness need was satisfied by priming close others. Study 3 manipulated 79 Internet participants' image of God. Chronic believers in the God-is-rejecting condition reported lower religious behavioral intentions than chronic believers in the God-is-accepting condition, and this effect was mediated by lower desires for closeness with God. In Study 4 (106 Internet participants), chronic believers with an accepting image of God reported that their belief in God is motivated by belongingness needs.     

Children's theories of god: explanations for difficult-to-explain phenomena

Participants in 3 age groups (preschoolers, 3rd graders, and college students) generated explanations for various phenomena. Participants with higher levels of religious involvement provided more attributions to God than participants with lower levels of religious involvement. Also, older participants provided more attributions to God than younger participants. The results suggest that individuals who have higher levels of religious involvement develop theorylike understanding based on their conception of God. It appears that this theorylike understanding has explanatory utility that increases with age.     

Children's Theories of God: Explanations for Difficult-to-Explain Phenomena

Participants in 3 age groups (preschoolers, 3rd graders, and college students) generated explanations for various phenomena. Participants with higher levels of religious involvement provided more attributions to God than participants with lower levels of religious involvement. Also, older participants provided more attributions to God than younger participants. The results suggest that individuals who have higher levels of religious involvement develop theorylike understanding based on their conception of God. It appears that this theorylike understanding has explanatory utility that increases with age.     

Emotional Reactions to the Outcomes of Decisions: The Role of Counterfactual Thought in the Experience of Regret and Disappointment

Regret and disappointment are emotions that can be experienced in response to an unfavorable outcome of a decision. Previous research suggests that both emotions are related to the process of counterfactual thinking. The present research extends this idea by combining it with ideas from regret and disappointment theory. The results show that regret is related to behavior-focused counterfactual thought in which the decision-maker's own actions are changed, whereas disappointment is related to situation-focused counterfactual thought in which aspects of the situation are changed. In Study 1 participants (N= 130) were asked to recall an autobiographical episode of either a regretful or a disappointing event. When asked to undo this event, regret participants predominantly changed their own actions, whereas disappointment participants predominantly changed aspects of the situation. In Study 2 all participants (N= 50) read a scenario in which a person experiences a negative event. Participants who were instructed to undo the event by changing the person's actions reported more regret than disappointment, while participants who were instructed to undo the event by changing aspects of the situation reported more disappointment than regret. Study 3 (N= 140) replicated the findings from Study 2 with a different scenario, and a design in which regret and disappointment were measured between rather than within subjects. In the discussion we address the relation among counterfactual thinking, attributions and affective reactions to decision outcomes, and the implications for decision research.