title: Miraculous Meaning: Threatened Meaning Increases Belief in Miracles.
abstract: For many, religious belief is a source of meaning and a resource for coping with life stressors that have the potential to undercut meaning. In the present study, we sought to further probe the connection between religion and meaning by focusing on the potential for threatened meaning to inspire belief in miraculous testimonials. We threatened meaning with a meaninglessness manipulation and then had participants read testimonials in which people described miraculous experiences involving supernatural agents and rate the extent to which they believed these testimonials to be credible and true. Meaning threat, relative to a control condition, increased belief in miraculous stories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, 58108, USA. Clay.Routledge@ndsu.edu.
authors.forename: Clay
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Routledge
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, 58108, USA.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roylance
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, 58108, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Abeyta
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012069:Religion and Psychology
keywords: Meaning in life; Psychological health; Religion; Supernatural beliefs