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Reflecting on God: Religious Primes Can Reduce Neurophysiological Response to Errors
Abstract
The world is a vast and complex place that can sometimes generate feelings of uncertainty and distress for its inhabitants. Although religion is associated with a sense of meaning and order, it remains unclear whether religious belief can actually cause people to feel less anxiety and distress. To test the anxiolytic power of religion, we conducted two experiments focusing on the error-related negativity (ERN)—a neural signal that arises from the anterior cingulate cortex and is associated with defensive responses to errors. The results indicate that for believers, conscious and nonconscious religious primes cause a decrease in ERN amplitude. In contrast, priming nonbelievers with religious concepts causes an increase in ERN amplitude. Overall, examining basic neurophysiological processes reveals the power of religion to act as a buffer against anxious reactions to self-generated, generic errors—but only for individuals who believe.
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“Moreover religion has been shown to improve emotional regulation [45] and is associated with diminished conflict monitoring for stressful events [46].”
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 [46]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Inzlicht, M., & Tullett, A. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto Scarborough (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Inzlicht, Michael
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-06-17
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1184-1190
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2101250831
- Cited by
- 163
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 15.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Keywords
- religious beliefs, anxiety, error-related negativity, anterior cingulate cortex, religious priming
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Female, Humans, Male, Religion, Religion and Psychology, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult
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