Reminders Of God Don ’t Actually Encourage Us To Take Risks, Replication Study Finds

 By guest blogger Sofia Deleniv “…Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.” This passage, pulled from Isaiah 41.10, is just one example of the Bible’s many references to God’s power to protect. And this protective persona might affect you much more than you think. At least that’s what emerged in 2015, when researchers from Stanford University published a string of studies finding that people prompted to think of God made significantly riskier decisions — whether or not they were religious. The scientists’ explanation, promptly picked up by the media, was that thinking of God makes risk-taking less intimidating because it primes us to expect divine protection. As of recently, however, this narrative has not stood up to scrutiny. The first pre-registered replication of this study, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests that the effect was probably no more than an exciting false positive. The failure to replicate such a high-profile experiment will probably come as a disappointment. The original publication had certainly generated a global splash, giving rise to headlines like “God is my co-pilot” and “Thank God for risky behaviour”. In many ways, the study stated a convincing case. It featured nine experiments, all of which concurred that being reminded of God triggered a significant increase in people’s tendency to take on risk. In these experi...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Cognition Decision making Religion Replications Source Type: blogs