The Effect of Thinking about Being Excluded by God on Well-Being: A Replication and Extension

Prior research has provided initial evidence that thinking about being excluded by God lowers self-reported well-being in a Dutch sample of Christian students. The current research sought to replicate this finding in two studies. The first experiment recruited a USA sample of Christian students from a secular and religious school. The second experiment recruited a USA online sample of Christians contacted via Mechanical Turk. Results of these two studies replicated the initial finding that thinking about being excluded by God lowers self-reported well-being relative to thinking about being included by God, or contemplating that God created the earth. Moreover, a mini-meta analysis of the original study and the current two studies added the novel insight that thinking about being included by God increased well-being relative to contemplating that God created the earth. Overall, these results show how people's perceived relationship with God may influence their quality of life.

Automated summary

Two studies replicated the finding that thinking about being excluded by God lowers well-being, while thinking about being included by God increases well-being. This suggests that people's perceived relationship with God may impact their quality of life.