This study examined the hypothesis derived from Terror Management Theory that reminders of death would influence both belief in a just world and Schadenfreude, in response to reading about members of a religious out-group affect by a natural disaster. Christian students (N = 88, Mage = 19.9) were primed with thoughts of death or dental pain before reading about a natural disaster that destroyed...

Belief in God's control of the world is common to many of the world's religions, but there are conflicting predictions regarding its role in shaping attitudes toward the welfare state. While the devout are expected to support pro-social values like helping others, and thus might be supportive of the welfare state, the possibility of taking action is undermined by the belief in God's absolute co...

Background and Objectives: The religious needs of hospitalized patients are reportedly not appropriately met. The purpose of this study was to explain the experiences of nurses about the barriers to providing religious care for hospitalized patients. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted on 21 nurses working in a hospital affiliated with Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran, i...

The current research tested the hypothesis that the abilities for understanding other people's minds give rise to the cognitive biases that underlie supernatural beliefs. We used structural equation modeling (N=2789) to determine the roles of various mentalizing tendencies, namely self-reported affective and cognitive empathy (i.e., mind reading), actual cognitive and affective empathic abiliti...