Based on theorization on the four basic dimensions of religiousness, Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging, and corresponding cognitive, emotional, moral, and social motives and functions of religion, we developed a measure and investigated cross-cultural consistency of the four dimensions as well interindividual and cross-cultural variability. Data were collected from 14 countries varying in religious heritage: Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism/Taoism ( N = 3,218). Beyond their high interrelation and common personality correlates, that is, agreeableness and conscientiousness, the four dimensions were distinct across cultures and religions, less interrelated in Eastern Asia compared to the West, differentially preferred across cultural zones, and characterized by distinct features. Believing and bonding, to which spirituality was primarily related, were preferred in Western secular societies. Behaving and belonging, valued in religious societies, were importantly related to fundamentalism, authoritarianism, and low openness. Bonding and behaving were primordial in, respectively, Israel and Turkey. Furthermore, belonging (marked by extraversion) and bonding were uniquely associated with increased life satisfaction, whereas believing was uniquely related to existential quest and decreased life satisfaction. Thus, the multidimensionality of religiousness seems deeply rooted in distinct psychological dispositions evident at both the individual and the cultural levels.

In seven studies, six with American Christians and one with Israeli Jews (total N = 2,323), we examine how and when belief in moralizing gods influences dehumanization of ethno-religious outgroups. We focus on dehumanization because it is a key feature of intergroup conflict. In Studies 1-6, participants completed measures of dehumanization from their own perspectives and also from the perspective of God, rating the groups' humanity as they thought God would rate it, or wish for them to rate it. When participants completed measures from both their own and God's perspectives, they reported believing that, compared with their own views, God would see (or prefer for them to see) outgroup members as more human. In Study 7, we extend these findings by demonstrating that thinking about God's views reduces the extent to which religious believers personally dehumanize outgroup members. Collectively, results demonstrate that religious believers attribute universalizing moral attitudes to God, compared to themselves, and document how thinking about God's views can promote more positive intergroup attitudes.

Social scientists have greatly advanced our understanding of how people think and feel about God as a person-like, supernatural being. However, there has been insufficient research and theory investigating abstract God representations. Furthermore, previous research has assessed beliefs about God with descriptors generated by the researchers. We collected qualitative data from 1,030 participants in the U.S. who provided free-response descriptions of how they visualize God. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we developed a coding scheme that fit well with an integrative, two-dimensional, conceptual framework of God-views. We found evidence that people draw from different cognitive domains (folk-physics, -biology, and -psychology; Dimension 1) to visualize God as personified (20.8%), supernatural (34.0%), or abstract (21.6%; Dimension 2). Some participants provided both supernatural and abstract (multiple God-view) descriptions (16.8%); others had no view of God (6.9%). The God-view groups differed significantly on an array of quantitative measures of God representations and religiosity. This research integrates previous literature and provides additional understanding of the underlying cognitive structure of God-views in general, and highlights the need for more research of abstract God-views in particular.

In this paper we report studies in which we investigated the relationship between religious cognition and dehumanization of religious outgroup members. Dehumanization is a key feature of intergroup conflict, and many argue that belief in moralizing gods promotes a distinctly parochial altruism which excludes or even encourages conflict with non-believers. In six studies, five with American Christians and one with Israeli Jews (total N = 1,548), we find that belief in moralizing gods discourages dehumanization of ethno-religious outgroups. Across studies, participants completed measures of dehumanization from their own perspectives and also from the perspective of God, rating the groups’ humanity as they thought God would rate it or wish for them to rate it. When participants completed measures from both their own and God’s perspectives, they reported believing that, compared with their own views, God would see (or prefer for them to see) outgroup members as more human. Results demonstrate that religious believers attribute universalizing moral attitudes to God, compared to themselves, and document how belief in God can promote more positive intergroup attitudes.

Gratitude is a prototypical emotional response when life’s blessings come from the intentional goodwill of other people, but many also attribute good experiences to the intervention of God, gods, a Higher Power, or other benevolent spiritual forces. This study investigated the differences between how United States participants (N = 610) experience interpersonal gratitude and spiritual gratitude. Compared to interpersonal gratitude, spiritual gratitude experiences were less often attributed to human action, more often attributed to supernatural beings and circumstances beyond human control, and elicited significantly less feelings of gratitude, indebtedness, and admiration, but greater awe. Participants reported the highest feelings of gratitude when they also believed in a personal God with a benevolent mind. These findings demonstrate the importance of perceiving benevolent agency in evoking feelings of gratitude, whereas experiences that are attributed to more abstract, less personified, or less external entities elicit a different profile of positive emotional responses.