The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
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?
In the citing paper
“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]
Citations
Cites
Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063 · Cited by 32,433
James, W. (1891) · Personality Culture Society · doi:10.1037/11059-000 · Cited by 25,876
Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex
Bush, G., Luu, P., & Posner, M. I. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01483-2 · Cited by 6,259
A new method for off-line removal of ocular artifact
Gratton, G., Coles, M. G. H., & Donchin, E. (1983) · Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/0013-4694(83)90135-9 · Cited by 5,055
The Psychology of Self-Affirmation: Sustaining the Integrity of the Self
Steele, C. M. (1988) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60229-4 · Cited by 3,697
Motivated closing of the mind: “Seizing” and “freezing”
Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.2.263 · Cited by 2,379
Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data?
POLDRACK, R. (2006) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.12.004 · Cited by 2,249
Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology
West, T., Reis, H. T., Judd, C. M., Banaji, M. R., Crandall, C., Giner-Sorolla, R., Biernat, M., Fiedler, K., Ermark, F., Tepper, S. J., et al. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009170123 · Cited by 2,134
The neural basis of error detection: Conflict monitoring and the error-related negativity
Yeung, N., Botvinick, M. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2004) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.111.4.931 · Cited by 1,924
Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications.
McCullough, M. E., & Willoughby, B. L. B. (2009) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0014213 · Cited by 1,275
Localization of a Neural System for Error Detection and Compensation
Dehaene, S., Posner, M. I., & Tucker, D. M. (1994) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00630.x · Cited by 1,255
Human cingulate cortex and autonomic control: converging neuroimaging and clinical evidence
Critchley, H. D., Mathias, C. J., Josephs, O., O’Doherty, J., Zanini, S., Dewar, B., Cipolotti, L., Shallice, T., & Dolan, R. J. (2003) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awg216 · Cited by 1,201
Shariff, A., & Norenzayan, A. (2007) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01983.x · Cited by 1,182
The mind in the middle: A practical guide to priming and automaticity research.
Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (2000) · Cited by 1,136
Religion and spirituality: Linkages to physical health.
Powell, L. H., Shahabi, L., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.58.1.36 · Cited by 1,093
The adaptive nature of human categorization.
Anderson, J. R. (1991) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.98.3.409 · Cited by 1,069
Emotion, motivation, and anxiety: brain mechanisms and psychophysiology
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1998) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(98)00275-3 · Cited by 1,043
Natural selective attention: Orienting and emotion
Bradley, M. M. (2009) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00702.x · Cited by 976
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
Action-Monitoring Dysfunction in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Gehring, W. J., Himle, J., & Nisenson, L. G. (2000) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00206 · Cited by 670
Neurocognitive correlates of liberalism and conservatism
Amodio, D. M., Jost, J. T., Master, S. L., & Yee, C. M. (2007) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1979 · Cited by 630
The error-related negativity (ERN) and psychopathology: Toward an endophenotype
Olvet, D. M., & Hajcak, G. (2008) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2008.07.003 · Cited by 607
Why God won't go away: brain science and the biology of belief
(2001) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.39-0259 · Cited by 533
Strategic control and medial frontal negativity: Beyond errors and response conflict
Bartholow, B. D., Pearson, M. A., Dickter, C. L., Sher, K. J., Fabiani, M., & Gratton, G. (2005) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00258.x · Cited by 387
Hajcak, G., & Foti, D. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02053.x · Cited by 371
Jonas, E., & Fischer, P. (2006) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.3.553 · Cited by 367
Religion as a Meaning System: Implications for the New Millennium
Silberman, I. (2005) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00425.x · Cited by 363
Neural Signals for the Detection of Unintentional Race Bias
Amodio, D. M., Harmon‐Jones, E., Devine, P. G., Curtin, J. J., Hartley, S. L., & Covert, A. E. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01502003.x · Cited by 352
Neural Markers of Religious Conviction
Inzlicht, M., McGregor, I., Hirsh, J. B., & Nash, K. A. (2009) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02305.x · Cited by 276
Self-citationThe Cambridge Companion to Atheism
(2006) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/ccol0521842700 · Cited by 269
Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns
Zuckerman, P. (2006) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/ccol0521842700.004 · Cited by 260
Hirsh, J. B., & Inzlicht, M. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02183.x · Cited by 226
Self-citationBurle, B., Roger, C., Allain, S., Vidal, F., & Hasbroucq, T. (2008) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20110 · Cited by 174
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 173
Functional neuroanatomy of CCK4-induced anxiety in normal healthy volunteers
Benkelfat, C., Bradwejn, J., Meyer, E., Ellenbogen, M. A., Milot, S., GJEDDE, A. H., & Evans, A. (1995) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.152.8.1180 · Cited by 171
Boyer, P. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/4551038a · Cited by 160
Heritability of frontal brain function related to action monitoring
Anokhin, A. P., Golosheykin, S., & Heath, A. C. (2008) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00664.x · Cited by 144
Oxazepam alters action monitoring
Johannes, S., Wieringa, B. M., Nager, W., Dengler, R., & Münte, T. F. (2001) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s002130100680 · Cited by 79
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 39 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Joseph R., 2000, The transmitter to god: The limbic system, the soul, and spirituality
- Olvet D.M., Psychophysiology, 46, 1
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The cultural evolution of prosocial religions
Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R. A., Slingerland, E., & Henrich, J. (2016) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x14001356 · Cited by 934
Psychological entropy: a framework for understanding uncertainty-related anxiety
Hirsh, J. B., Mar, R. A., & Peterson, J. B. (2012) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0026767 · Cited by 606
George, L. S., & Park, C. L. (2016) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/gpr0000077 · Cited by 682
Divine intuition: Cognitive style influences belief in God.
Shenhav, A., Rand, D. G., & Greene, J. D. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/a0025391 · Cited by 557
Shariff, A., Willard, A. K., Andersen, T., & Norenzayan, A. (2015) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868314568811 · Cited by 522
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
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
