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“I once was blind” : experimental manipulation of religious attitudes via choice blindness

McKay, Ryan ; Hall, Lars LU ; Strandberg, Thomas LU ; Vasilichi, Alexandrina ; Gall, Annabelle and Johansson, Petter LU (2025) In Religion, Brain and Behavior
Abstract

Given ongoing debates about the nature and consequences of religious belief, effective procedures for experimentally controlling such beliefs are highly desirable. To date, however, there are few robust, replicable methods. Here, we show that the “choice blindness” paradigm can be leveraged to directly manipulate religious beliefs and attitudes in a way that avoids demand characteristics. Across three studies, a substantial portion of our participants were prepared to endorse and justify reversals of their originally indicated beliefs about questions such as the existence of life after death and whether religion is a force for good in the world. Moreover, our experimental manipulation had a large effect (d > 1) on subsequently... (More)

Given ongoing debates about the nature and consequences of religious belief, effective procedures for experimentally controlling such beliefs are highly desirable. To date, however, there are few robust, replicable methods. Here, we show that the “choice blindness” paradigm can be leveraged to directly manipulate religious beliefs and attitudes in a way that avoids demand characteristics. Across three studies, a substantial portion of our participants were prepared to endorse and justify reversals of their originally indicated beliefs about questions such as the existence of life after death and whether religion is a force for good in the world. Moreover, our experimental manipulation had a large effect (d > 1) on subsequently measured religious attitudes, which moved in the manipulated direction. Religious participants were no less likely than their atheistic counterparts to detect manipulations of their attitudes. Our work introduces a powerful paradigm for the experimental control of religious beliefs, a paradigm that holds great promise for illuminating contentious topics in the psychology and cognitive science of religion.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
belief change, Choice blindness, experimental manipulations, religious beliefs
in
Religion, Brain and Behavior
external identifiers
  • scopus:105017057729
ISSN
2153-599X
DOI
10.1080/2153599X.2025.2557482
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
18bb552a-4720-40e0-9554-c07e27709984
date added to LUP
2025-12-08 14:58:30
date last changed
2025-12-08 14:59:25
@article{18bb552a-4720-40e0-9554-c07e27709984,
  abstract     = {{<p>Given ongoing debates about the nature and consequences of religious belief, effective procedures for experimentally controlling such beliefs are highly desirable. To date, however, there are few robust, replicable methods. Here, we show that the “choice blindness” paradigm can be leveraged to directly manipulate religious beliefs and attitudes in a way that avoids demand characteristics. Across three studies, a substantial portion of our participants were prepared to endorse and justify reversals of their originally indicated beliefs about questions such as the existence of life after death and whether religion is a force for good in the world. Moreover, our experimental manipulation had a large effect (d &gt; 1) on subsequently measured religious attitudes, which moved in the manipulated direction. Religious participants were no less likely than their atheistic counterparts to detect manipulations of their attitudes. Our work introduces a powerful paradigm for the experimental control of religious beliefs, a paradigm that holds great promise for illuminating contentious topics in the psychology and cognitive science of religion.</p>}},
  author       = {{McKay, Ryan and Hall, Lars and Strandberg, Thomas and Vasilichi, Alexandrina and Gall, Annabelle and Johansson, Petter}},
  issn         = {{2153-599X}},
  keywords     = {{belief change; Choice blindness; experimental manipulations; religious beliefs}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  series       = {{Religion, Brain and Behavior}},
  title        = {{“I once was blind” : experimental manipulation of religious attitudes via choice blindness}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2557482}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/2153599X.2025.2557482}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}