AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

ABSTRACT

The present study has experimentally investigated the relationship between religious beliefs and negative emotions. We found that the mere association of a chain of negative events with the presence of a merciful and omnipotent spiritual being induces less worry and sadness and increased hope in the future than when the same events are presented alone. The former religious attitudes may intensify the impact of the actual religious beliefs in the generation of positive emotions. We found also that the meaning-making process induced by the religious beliefs is an implicit, tacit rather than an explicit inferential process.

KEYWORDS: religious beliefs and values, negative emotions, irrational beliefs