Religion

In 2022, over 25% of U.S. adults reported being too stressed to function most days which, in turn, undermines physical and mental health. Although it is well-established that religion, broadly speaking, provides a set of tools to cope with stress, we know little about links between religious and spiritual identity and religious coping strategies. Indeed, religious and spiritual identity may influence health via different coping pathways, as may broader religious and cultural contexts. Thus, the current study examined how religious and spiritual identity uniquely contribute to health and well-being outcomes, and if these effects are explained by how people differentially leverage positive and negative religious coping strategies to manage stress. Using data from four diverse US samples (total N = 6965) and structural equation modeling, we found spiritual and religious identity are independently associated with increased usage of positive – but not negative – religious coping strategies. However, individuals who used more negative religious coping strategies tended to report worse mental health. Additionally, some associations were significant (e.g. use of positive religious coping strategies and better mental health) only amongst certain racial/ethnic groups. Findings point toward potential places for intervention in addressing mental health concerns amongst religious and spiritual individuals while underscoring the need for culturally and religiously sensitive approaches to mental health interventions. 

Can religion promote human flourishing? Existing research says yes. However, this work has largely been done within ‘WEIRD’ and Christian contexts. Might the reasons why or the answer be different elsewhere? Here, we outline how religion can contribute to flourishing among individuals and cultures using a cross-cultural approach. In five sections, we cover how religion and culture shape meaning in life, character/virtue, positive emotion, social relationships, and physical/mental health. We emphasize how little these relationships have been studied around the world and why the relationship between religion and flourishing, especially, would be aided by a cross-cultural look. We close with future directions in the study of religion and flourishing, with special attention to how and why this relationship may vary across cultural and religious groups.

Wordle is a daily, online brainteaser. The widespread popularity of the game in the early months of 2022 has also led to widespread cheating. Here, we use data from Google Trends and Twitter to explore correlates of cheating on Wordle. We find that cheating behavior is negatively related to religiosity and cultural tightness. Although this is a benign example of cheating behavior, we discuss how popular trends can be used as case studies of group-level behavior.

Being that food is integral to our survival, it follows that religion would play a role in what and how we eat, in the same way it guides our social relationships, our dress, our routines, and our worldviews. Indeed, food is a critical component of religion—as well as a reflection of the other components that make religion unique: beliefs, values, practices, and community. This fact is what necessitates greater attention towards food as a lens for understanding psychological phenomenon both within the psychology of religion and the social scientific community at large. Utilizing existing theories from the psychology of religion and cultures, as well as illustrative examples from anthropological accounts, this book describes how food plays a role in religious life as a driver of beliefs, values, practices, and community.

Book coming 2026 with Cambridge University Press.