title: God rest our hearts: Religiosity and cognitive reappraisal.
abstract: Although religiosity is often accompanied by more intense emotions, we propose that people who are more religious may be better at using 1 of the most effective emotion regulation strategies-namely, cognitive reappraisal. We argue that religion, which is a meaning-making system, is linked to better cognitive reappraisal, which involves changing the meaning of emotional stimuli. Four studies (N = 2,078) supported our hypotheses. In Study 1, religiosity was associated with more frequent use of cognitive reappraisal in 3 distinct religions (i.e., Islam, Christianity, Judaism). In Studies 2A-2B, we replicated these findings using 2 indices of cognitive reappraisal and in a large representative sample. In Studies 3-4, individuals more (vs. less) religious were more effective in using cognitive reappraisal in the laboratory. We discuss how these findings inform our understanding of the psychology of religion and of emotion regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University.
authors.forename: Allon
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vishkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University.
authors.forename: Yochanan E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Bigman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University.
authors.forename: Roni
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Porat
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University.
authors.forename: Nevin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Solak
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
authors.forename: Eran
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Halperin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University.
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamir
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002835:Christianity / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology; D007557:Israel; D007599:Judaism / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D014421:Turkey; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult