@article{ref1,
title="Conflict changes how people view God",
journal="Psychological science",
year="2020",
author="Caluori, Nava and Jackson, Joshua Conrad and Gray, Kurt and Gelfand, Michele",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Religion shapes the nature of intergroup conflict, but conflict may also shape religion. Here, we report four multimethod studies that reveal the impact of conflict on religious belief: The threat of warfare and intergroup tensions increase the psychological need for order and obedience to rules, which leads people to view God as more punitive. Studies 1 (<i>N</i> = 372) and 2 (<i>N</i> = 911) showed that people's concern about conflict correlates with belief in a punitive God. Study 3 (<i>N</i> = 1,065) found that experimentally increasing the salience of conflict increases people's perceptions of the importance of a punitive God, and this effect is mediated by people's support for a tightly regulated society. Study 4 showed that the severity of warfare predicted and preceded worldwide fluctuations in punitive-God belief between 1800 CE and 2000 CE. Our findings illustrate how conflict can change the nature of religious belief and add to a growing literature showing how cultural ecologies shape psychology.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0956-7976",
doi="10.1177/0956797619895286",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797619895286"
}