Yale University, USA.
University of Innsbruck, Austria.
J Soc Psychol. 2020;160(1):75-91. doi: 10.1080/00224545.2019.1609400. Epub 2019 May 5.
Past research suggests that religion imbues people with a sense of certainty - via an increase in personal control, by providing meaning in life, or by activating associated norms. Based on findings suggesting that uncertainty and cognitive dissonance share many underlying features, we investigated whether thinking about religion, either situationally or chronically, buffers against cognitive dissonance. In four methodically diverse studies, we found converging support for this hypothesis. Semantically or symbolically activating Christian religious concepts, as well as being a self-reported believer, attenuated participants' need to reduce post-decisional dissonance via a spreading of alternatives in a free-choice paradigm (Studies 1, 2, & 4) as well as after counterattitudinal advocacy in an induced compliance paradigm (Study 3). The attenuation of post-decisional dissonance was found for a US American online sample (Studies 1 & 4) and for German university students in a laboratory setting, where the dissonance-inducing decision had factual consequences (Study 2).
过去的研究表明，宗教通过增加个人控制感、赋予生活意义或激活相关规范，给人们带来一种确定性。基于不确定性和认知失调有许多共同的潜在特征的发现，我们研究了是否思考宗教，无论是情境性的还是习惯性的，是否可以缓冲认知失调。在四项方法上差异很大的研究中，我们找到了支持这一假设的证据。在自由选择范式中，通过扩大选择范围（研究 1、2 和 4）以及在诱导顺从范式中通过反态度宣传之后，语义上或象征性地激活基督教宗教概念，以及被自我报告为信徒，都可以减轻参与者减少决策后失调的需求（研究 1、2 和 4）。在美国在线样本中（研究 1 和 4）和在德国大学生的实验室环境中（在这个环境中，引起失调的决策有实际后果，研究 2），都发现了决策后失调的减轻。
