About

Research Interests

My broad research interests at this time center on the psychology of religion and spirituality, with a special emphasis on two topics: 1) religious and spiritual struggles; 2) the causes and consequences of supernatural attributions (that is, supernatural explanations for events).

Current Projects

Over the next 3-5 years, most of our projects will focus on supernatural attributions and spiritual struggles. Some new supernatural attribution projects focus on gratitude to God, demonic attributions, psychedelic experiences, spiritual experiences involving music and creativity, and perceptions of messages from God or from people who have died (sometimes called after-death communication or ADC). In terms of spiritual struggles, doubt-related struggles and interpersonal struggles around religion are likely to become major areas of focus, especially as they relate to people’s decisions about whether to disengage from organized religion. We will also continue applying our ideas to socially relevant issues, such as political polarization, LGBTQ+ perspectives, abortion, vaccine attitudes, conspiracy beliefs, and environmental issues.

Graduate Student Research Assistants

Andrew Moffitt
Yehudis Keller
Will Schutt
Kathleen Pait

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