http://psr.sagepub.com Personality and Social Psychology Review RSS feed -- OnlineFirst Articles Personality and Social Psychology Review 1088-8683 http://psr.sagepub.com:80/icons/banner/title.gif http://psr.sagepub.com http://psr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1088868309350299v1?rss=1 Believing in God requires not only a leap of faith but also an extension of people’s normal capacity to perceive the minds of others. Usually, people perceive minds of all kinds by trying to understand their conscious experience (what it is like to be them) and their agency (what they can do). Although humans are perceived to have both agency and experience, humans appear to see God as possessing agency, but not experience. God’s unique mind is due, the authors suggest, to the uniquely moral role He occupies. In this article, the authors propose that God is seen as the ultimate moral agent, the entity people blame and praise when they receive anomalous harm and help. Support for this proposition comes from research on mind perception, morality, and moral typecasting. Interestingly, although people perceive God as the author of salvation, suffering seems to evoke even more attributions to the divine. ]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:30:07 PST info:doi/10.1177/1088868309350299 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. 2009-11-19 Article http://psr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1088868309349692v1?rss=1 The authors characterize religions as social groups and religiosity as the extent to which a person identifies with a religion, subscribes to its ideology or worldview, and conforms to its normative practices. They argue that religions have attributes that make them well suited to reduce feelings of self-uncertainty. According to uncertainty-identity theory, people are motivated to reduce feelings of uncertainty about or reflecting on self; and identification with groups, particularly highly entitative groups, is a very effective way to reduce uncertainty. All groups provide belief systems and normative prescriptions related to everyday life. However, religions also address the nature of existence, invoking sacred entities and associated rituals and ceremonies. They are entitative groups that provide a moral compass and rules for living that pervade a person’s life, making them particularly attractive in times of uncertainty. The authors document data supporting their analysis and discuss conditions that transform religiosity into religious zealotry and extremism. ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:09:24 PDT info:doi/10.1177/1088868309349692 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. 2009-10-23 Article