Randomness, Attributions of Arousal, and Belief in God

Kay, Aaron C.; Moscovitch, David A.; Laurin, Kristin

doi:10.1177/0956797609357750

Cited by 170Religion, Spirituality, and PsychologyParanormal Experiences and BeliefsStudy and Philosophy of Religion

Randomness, Attributions of Arousal, and Belief in God

Kay, Aaron C., Moscovitch, David A., Laurin, Kristin·2010·Psychological Science

DOI 10.1177/0956797609357750

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/0956797609357750

Cites

16 of 16 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Religious faith becomes more appealing after reminders of tragic suffering, danger, randomness, and death.
“Researchers have discovered that religious faith becomes more appealing after reminders of tragic suffering [6], danger [7], randomness [8] and death [9].”
From Faith after an Earthquake: A Longitudinal Study of Religion and Perceived Health before and after the 2011 Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake (2012) · cites this paper as [8]
Living under conditions of low existential threat increases the likelihood of becoming a disbeliever.
“In summary, there appear to be at least three plausible contributors to religious disbelief: a lack of exposure to CREDs in the community while growing up, living under conditions of low existential threat, and a reliance on an analytic (vs. intuitive) cognitive style should all increase the likelihood of becoming a disbeliever.”
From The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality (2021) · cites this paper as [35]

A Decade of System Justification Theory: Accumulated Evidence of Conscious and Unconscious Bolstering of the Status Quo
Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2004) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00402.x · Cited by 2,883 · see citing works
The Belief in a Just World
Lerner, M. J. (1980) · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0448-5 · Cited by 2,656 · see citing works
The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion.
Hamilton, V. L., & Lerner, M. J. (1982) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2067083 · Cited by 2,544 · see citing works
The Meaning Maintenance Model: On the Coherence of Social Motivations
Heine, S. J., Proulx, T., & Vohs, K. D. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1002_1 · Cited by 1,437 · see citing works
Lacking control increases illusory pattern perception
Whitson, J. A., & Galinsky, A. D. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1159845 · Cited by 1,119 · see citing works
Religion as a Meaning‐Making Framework in Coping with Life Stress
Park, C. L. (2005) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00428.x · Cited by 1,097 · see citing works
God and the government: Testing a compensatory control mechanism for the support of external systems
Kay, A. C., Gaucher, D., Napier, J. L., Callan, M. J., & Laurin, K. (2008) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.18 · Cited by 809 · see citing works
Self-citation
Religion's evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, commitment, compassion, communion
Atran, S., & Norenzayan, A. (2004) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x04000172 · Cited by 759 · see citing works
Dissonance and the pill: An attribution approach to studying the arousal properties of dissonance.
Zanna, M. P., & Cooper, J. (1974) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0036651 · Cited by 577 · see citing works
Belief in supernatural agents in the face of death
Norenzayan, A., & Hansen, I. G. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167205280251 · Cited by 390 · see citing works
God as a Substitute Attachment Figure: A Longitudinal Study of Adult Attachment Style and Religious Change in College Students
Kirkpatrick, L. A. (1998) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167298249004 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
On the belief in God: Towards an understanding of the emotional substrates of compensatory control
Laurin, K., Kay, A. C., & Moscovitch, D. A. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.07.007 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Self-citation
From child sexual abuse to adult sexual risk: Trauma, revictimization, and intervention.
(2004) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10785-000 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
The Case of the Transmogrifying Experimenter
Proulx, T., & Heine, S. J. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02238.x · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Religious Zeal and the Uncertain Self
McGregor, I., Haji, R., Nash, K. A., & Teper, R. (2008) · Basic and Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/01973530802209251 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Translating traumatic experiences into language: Implications for child abuse and long-term health.
Pennebaker, J. W., & Stone, L. D. (2004) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10785-010 · Cited by 35 · see citing works

Flagged first, then by citations

Sorted by citations

Causes and consequences of mind perception
Waytz, A., Gray, K., Epley, N., & Wegner, D. M. (2010) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.05.006 · Cited by 759 · see citing works
Compensatory Control: Achieving Order Through the Mind, Our Institutions, and the Heavens
Kay, A. C., Whitson, J. A., Gaucher, D., & Galinsky, A. D. (2009) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01649.x · Cited by 598 · see citing works
Self-citation
Compensatory control and the appeal of a structured world.
Landau, M. J., Kay, A. C., & Whitson, J. A. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0038703 · Cited by 479 · see citing works
Self-citation
Threat and Defense
Jonas, E., McGregor, I., Klackl, J., Agroskin, D., Fritsche, I., Holbrook, C., Nash, K., Proulx, T., & Quirin, M. (2014) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800052-6.00004-4 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
Understanding all inconsistency compensation as a palliative response to violated expectations
Proulx, T., Inzlicht, M., & Harmon‐Jones, E. (2012) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.002 · Cited by 407 · see citing works
The Five “A”s of Meaning Maintenance: Finding Meaning in the Theories of Sense-Making
Proulx, T., & Inzlicht, M. (2012) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2012.702372 · Cited by 356 · see citing works
The origins of religious disbelief
Norenzayan, A., & Gervais, W. M. (2013) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.11.006 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
The under-appreciated drive for sense-making
Nick Chater, A., & Loewenstein, G. F. (2015) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2015.10.016 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
When the appeal of a dominant leader is greater than a prestige leader
Kakkar, H., & Sivanathan, N. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1617711114 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Not all ideologies are created equal: Epistemic, existential, and relational needs predict system-justifying attitudes
Hennes, E. P., Nam, H. H., Stern, C., & Jost, J. T. (2012) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2012.30.6.669 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
The Beauty of Boundaries: When and Why We Seek Structure in Consumption
Cutright, K. M. (2012) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/661563 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity
Zuckerman, M., Silberman, J., & Hall, J. A. (2013) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868313497266 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Seeking structure in social organization: Compensatory control and the psychological advantages of hierarchy.
Friesen, J. P., Kay, A. C., Eibach, R. P., & Galinsky, A. D. (2014) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0035620 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Self-citation
For God (or) country: The hydraulic relation between government instability and belief in religious sources of control.
Kay, A. C., Shepherd, S., Blatz, C. W., Chua, S. N., & Galinsky, A. D. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0021140 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Self-citation
The ecology of religious beliefs
Botero, C. A., Gardner, B., Kirby, K. R., Bulbulia, J., Gavin, M. C., & Gray, R. D. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1408701111 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Anxious uncertainty and reactive approach motivation (RAM).
McGregor, I., Nash, K. A., Mann, N. H., & Phills, C. E. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0019701 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Religion Replenishes Self-Control
Rounding, K. D., Lee, A., Jacobson, J. A., & Ji, L. (2012) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797611431987 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Faith after an Earthquake: A Longitudinal Study of Religion and Perceived Health before and after the 2011 Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake
Sibley, C. G., & Bulbulia, J. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049648 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
“Researchers have discovered that religious faith becomes more appealing after reminders of tragic suffering [6], danger [7], randomness [8] and death [9].”
Background
Toward Parsimony in Bias Research: A Proposed Common Framework of Belief-Consistent Information Processing for a Set of Biases
Oeberst, A., & Imhoff, R. (2023) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916221148147 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Attitudes Towards Science
Rutjens, B. T., Heine, S. J., Sutton, R. M., & van Harreveld, F. (2017) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2017.08.001 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
The emotional roots of conspiratorial perceptions, system justification, and belief in the paranormal
Whitson, J. A., Galinsky, A. D., & Kay, A. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.09.002 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Self-citation
Does employees’ spirituality enhance job performance? The mediating roles of intrinsic motivation and job crafting
Moon, T., Youn, N., Hur, W., & Kim, K.-M. (2018) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-018-9864-0 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
The need to believe: a neuroscience account of religion as a motivated process
Inzlicht, M., Tullett, A. M., & Good, M. (2011) · Religion Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1080/2153599x.2011.647849 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Examining the monological nature of conspiracy theories
Sutton, R. M., & Douglas, K. M. (2014) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139565417.018 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Why did this happen to me? Religious believers’ and non-believers’ teleological reasoning about life events
Banerjee, K., & Bloom, P. (2014) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.06.017 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Awe as a Scientific Emotion
Gottlieb, S., Keltner, D. J., & Lombrozo, T. (2018) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12648 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Compensatory Control and Its Implications for Ideological Extremism
Kay, A. C., & Eibach, R. P. (2013) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/josi.12029 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Self-citation
Class, chaos, and the construction of community.
Piff, P. K., Stancato, D. M., Martinez, A. G., Kraus, M. W., & Keltner, D. J. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0029673 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
How Children and Adults Represent God's Mind
Heiphetz, L., Lane, J. D., Waytz, A. G., & Young, L. (2015) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12232 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Putting Brands in Their Place: How a Lack of Control Keeps Brands Contained
Cutright, K. M., Bettman, J. R., & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2013) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmr.10.0202 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Uncertainty Increases the Reliance on Affect in DecisionsPreprint
Faraji‐Rad, A., & Pham, M. T. (2016) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2715333 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Fear of Death and Supernatural Beliefs: Developing A New Supernatural Belief Scale to Test the Relationship
Jong, J., Bluemke, M., & Halberstadt, J. B. (2013) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.1898 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Deus or Darwin: Randomness and belief in theories about the origin of life
Rutjens, B. T., van der Pligt, J., & van Harreveld, F. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.07.009 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Reactive approach motivation (RAM) for religion.
McGregor, I., Nash, K. A., & Prentice, M. S. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0019702 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Threat and defense as goal regulation: From implicit goal conflict to anxious uncertainty, reactive approach motivation, and ideological extremism.
Nash, K. A., McGregor, I., & Prentice, M. S. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025944 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Mind attribution is for morality
Young, L., & Waytz, A. G. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199692972.003.0006 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Steps, stages, and structure: Finding compensatory order in scientific theories.
Rutjens, B. T., van Harreveld, F., van der Pligt, J., Kreemers, L. M., & Noordewier, M. K. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/a0028716 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Uncertainty Increases the Reliance on Affect in Decisions
Rad, A. F., & Pham, M. T. (2016) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw073 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Turn-frogs and careful-sweaters: Non-conscious perception of incongruous word pairings provokes fluid compensation
Randles, D., Proulx, T., & Heine, S. J. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.07.020 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Loss of control stimulates approach motivation
Greenaway, K. H., Storrs, K. R., Philipp, M. C., Louis, W. R., Hornsey, M. J., & Vohs, K. D. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.10.009 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
The Common Pain of Surrealism and Death
Randles, D., Heine, S. J., & Santos, N. (2013) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612464786 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Searching for Control: Priming Randomness Increases the Evaluation of Ritual Efficacy
Legare, C. H., & Souza, A. L. (2014) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12077 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Company Worth Keeping: Personal Control and Preferences for Brand Leaders
Beck, J. T., Rahinel, R., & Bleier, A. (2019) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucz040 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Uncertainty Evokes Consumers’ Preference for Brands Incongruent with their Global–Local Citizenship Identity
Ng, S., Faraji‐Rad, A., & Batra, R. (2020) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/0022243720972956 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Reminders of Secular Authority Reduce Believers’ Distrust of Atheists
Gervais, W. M., & Ara Norenzayan, A. (2012) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797611429711 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
The role of ritual behaviour in anxiety reduction: an investigation of Marathi religious practices in Mauritius
Lang, M., Krátký, J., & Xygalatas, D. (2020) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0431 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Micro, Meso, and Macro Processes in Identity Change: The 2020 Cooley-Mead Award Address
Stets, J. E. (2021) · Social Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1177/01902725211046563 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Is dissonance reduction a special case of fluid compensation? Evidence that dissonant cognitions cause compensatory affirmation and abstraction.
Randles, D., Inzlicht, M., Proulx, T., Tullett, A. M., & Heine, S. J. (2015) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038933 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Kept in His Care: The Role of Perceived Divine Control in Positive Reappraisal Coping
DeAngelis, R. T., & Ellison, C. G. (2017) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel8080133 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
The Need to Belong Can Motivate Belief in God
Gebauer, J. E., & Maio, G. R. (2011) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00730.x · Cited by 54 · see citing works
A Raw Deal: Heightened Liberalism Following Exposure to Anomalous Playing Cards
Proulx, T., & Major, B. (2013) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/josi.12024 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
A Compensatory Control Account of Meritocracy
Goode, C., Keefer, L. A., & Molina, L. E. (2014) · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · doi:10.5964/jspp.v2i1.372 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Religious Ritual Is Good Medicine for Indigenous Indian Conservation Refugees: Implications for Global Mental Health
Snodgrass, J. G., Most, D. E., & Upadhyay, C. (2017) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/691212 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Finding meaning in the clouds: Illusory pattern perception predicts receptivity to pseudo-profound bullshit
Walker, A. C., Turpin, M. H., Stolz, J. A., Fugelsang, J. A., & Koehler, D. J. (2019) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s193029750000334x · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Step by Step
Rutjens, B. T., van Harreveld, F., & van der Pligt, J. (2013) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721412469810 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Guns as a Source of Order and Chaos: Compensatory Control and the Psychological (Dis)Utility of Guns for Liberals and Conservatives
Shepherd, S., & Kay, A. C. (2017) · Journal of the Association for Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/695761 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Self-citation
“My Name is Alexa. What’s Your Name?” The Impact of Reciprocal Self-Disclosure on Post-Interaction Trust in Conversational Agents
Saffarizadeh, K., University of Texas at Arlington, Keil, M., Georgia State University, Boodraj, M., Boise State University, Alashoor, T., & University of Navarra (2024) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1jais.00839 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Perception and identification of random events.
Zhao, J., Hahn, U., & Osherson, D. N. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0036816 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Cognitive Pathways to Belief in Karma and Belief in God
White, C., Willard, A. K., Baimel, A., & Ara Norenzayan, A. (2021) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12935 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Two motivations for two dimensions of mind
Waytz, A. G., & Young, L. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.08.001 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
The Motivational Underpinnings of Belief in God
Laurin, K., & Kay, A. C. (2017) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2017.02.004 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citation
Compensatory control and religious beliefs: a registered replication report across two countries
Hoogeveen, S., Wagenmakers, E., Kay, A. C., & van Elk, M. (2018) · Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/23743603.2019.1684821 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citation
Culture, Control, and Illusory Pattern Perception
Wang, C. S., Whitson, J., & Menon, T. (2012) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550611433056 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Novelty as Opportunity and Risk: A Situated Cognition Analysis of Psychological Control and Novelty Seeking
Min, B., & Schwarz, N. (2021) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1002/jcpy.1264 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Loss of Control and Self-Regulation: The Role of Childhood Lessons
VanBergen, N., & Laran, J. (2016) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw042 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality
Ståhl, T. (2021) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0246593 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Experimental studies support this notion, as manipulations of suffering [30], mortality salience [31, 32], loneliness [33], and loss of control [34, 35], each strengthen religious belief.”
Background
Threat-Compensation in Social Psychology: Is There a Core Motivation?
Proulx, T. (2012) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2012.30.6.643 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Affirming belief in scientific progress reduces environmentally friendly behaviour
Meijers, M. H. C., & Rutjens, B. T. (2014) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2009 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Supernatural Agency: Individual Difference Predictors and Situational Correlates
Barnes, K., & Gibson, N. J. S. (2012) · International Journal for the Psychology of Religion · doi:10.1080/10508619.2013.739066 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Emotion as a necessary component of threat-induced death thought accessibility and defensive compensation
Webber, D. J., Schimel, J., Faucher, E. H., Hayes, J., Zhang, R., & Martens, A. (2014) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1007/s11031-014-9426-1 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Nostalgia relieves the disillusioned mind
Maher, P. J., Igou, E. R., & van Tilburg, W. A. P. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104061 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Intolerance of uncertainty moderates the relations among religiosity and motives for religion, depression, and social evaluation fears
Howell, A. N., Carleton, R. N., Horswill, S. C., Parkerson, H. A., Weeks, J. W., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2018) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.22691 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Effects of Mortality Salience on Physiological Arousal
Klackl, J., & Jonas, E. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01893 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Moderated Disanxiousuncertlibrium: Specifying the Moderating and Neuroaffective Determinants of Violation-Compensation Effects
Proulx, T., & Inzlicht, M. (2012) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2012.734912 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Religion vs. the welfare state—the importance of cultural context for religious schematicity and priming.
Brulin, J. G., Hill, P. C., Laurin, K., Mikulincer, M., & Granqvist, P. (2018) · Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · doi:10.1037/rel0000200 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citation
The Ideological Toolbox: Ideologies as Tools of Motivated Social Cognition
Kay, A. C., & Eibach, R. P. (2012) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781446247631.n25 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citation
Personal need for structure shapes the perceived impact of reduced personal control
Noordewier, M. K., & Rutjens, B. T. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110478 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Motivation, Threat, and Defense: Perspective From Experimental Social Psychology
Xu, X., & McGregor, I. (2018) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2018.1435640 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Spirituality and the work–home interface: a demands–resources perspective
Dust, S. B., & Greenhaus, J. H. (2013) · Journal of Management Spirituality & Religion · doi:10.1080/14766086.2013.801029 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Good for God? Religious motivation reduces perceived responsibility for and morality of good deeds.
Gervais, W. M. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/a0036678 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
The world is random: a cognitive perspective on perceived disorder
Kotabe, H. (2014) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00606 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Existential neuroscience: a proximate explanation of religion as flexible meaning and palliative
Inzlicht, M., Tullett, A. M., & Good, M. (2011) · Religion, Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1080/2153599x.2011.653537 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Supernatural beliefs: Considered adaptive and associated with psychological benefits
Boden, M. T. (2015) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.023 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Religion and the Self
Sedikides, C., & Gebauer, J. E. (2013) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203125359-10 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Similarity as a Double-Edged Sword: The Positive and Negative Effects of Showcasing Similar Previous Winners on Perceived Likelihood of Winning in Sweepstakes
Laporte, S., & Briers, B. (2018) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucy041 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
The association between the belief in coronavirus conspiracy theories, miracles, and the susceptibility to conjunction fallacy
Wabnegger, A., Gremsl, A., & Schienle, A. (2021) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3860 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Purchasing luck: The impact of scarcity cues on superstitious behavior
Wang, L., Su, X., & You, Y. (2020) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.1886 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Teleology and the intentions of supernatural agents
Roberts, A., Wastell, C. A., & Polito, V. (2020) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2020.102905 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Meaning Maintenance Model: Introducing Soren to Existential Social Psychology
Proulx, T. (2013) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6527-6_4 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Atheists
Schiavone, S. R., & Gervais, W. M. (2017) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12365 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Agency through hierarchy? A group-based account of increased approval of social hierarchies under conditions of threatened control
Lautenbacher, J. M., & Fritsche, I. (2023) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2023.104500 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Bolstering system-justifying beliefs in response to social exclusion
Hess, Y. D., & Ledgerwood, A. (2013) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430213510572 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Does poverty predict religion?
Hoverd, W. J., Bulbulia, J. A., & Sibley, C. G. (2013) · Religion Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1080/2153599x.2012.762937 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Organizational costs of compensating for mind-body dissonance through conspiracies and superstitions
Huang, L. Y., & Whitson, J. (2019) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.09.006 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Now you feel it, now you don’t
Susanne Quadflieg, A., Ul-Haq, I., & Mavridis, N. (2016) · Interaction Studies Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems · doi:10.1075/is.17.2.03qua · Cited by 11 · see citing works
‘Jesus, take the wheel’: the appeal of spiritual products in satiating concerns about randomness
Shepherd, S., & Kay, A. C. (2018) · Journal of Marketing Management · doi:10.1080/0267257x.2018.1556225 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citation
Sense of control and adolescents’ aggression: T he role of aggressive cues
Guo, X., Egan, V., & Zhang, J. (2016) · PsyCh Journal · doi:10.1002/pchj.151 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Antecedents of Irrationality in Organizational Decision Making
Sony, M., & Baporikar, N. (2019) · International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development · doi:10.4018/ijskd.2019010101 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Attitudes towards science
(2017) · OECD economic surveys. Austria · doi:10.1787/eco_surveys-aut-2017-graph59-en · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Existential uncertainty and religion
Engstrom, H. R., & Laurin, K. (2020) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-817204-9.00018-4 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Self-citation

Authors: Kay, A. C., Moscovitch, D. A., & Laurin, K.
Affiliations: University of Waterloo (CA)
Corresponding author: Kay, Aaron C.
ORCID: Kay, Aaron C.
Moscovitch, David A.
Laurin, Kristin
Venue: Psychological Science
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2010-01-08
Volume: 21
Issue: 2
Pages: 216-218
ISSN: 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
1467-9280
DOI: 10.1177/0956797609357750
OpenAlex: W2109252709
Cited by: 170
References: 16
Citations by year: 2026: 2 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 18
FWCI: 16.34
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
Keywords: randomness, belief in God, religious beliefs, randomness perception
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Anxiety, Arousal, Culture, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Religion and Psychology, Placebo Effect, Spirituality, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

Randomness, Attributions of Arousal, and Belief in God

Integrity signals

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Cites

Cited by

Related

Record

About these checks