The Influence of Affective Priming on One's Perceived Relationship to God

It seems that when individuals are asked to assess their perceived relationship to God, they are often given a negative affective prime prior to the assessment. The purpose of the current series of studies was to explore how this negative affective priming would influence participants' thoughts about their perceived relationship to God. Study 1 showed that the classic priming effect can be seen when the affective priming is nonreligious. However, going against predictions, there was a contrast effect when there was a religious focus with the positive priming having the most negative influence. Study 2 replicated and expanded this finding by showing that positive affective priming was linked to participants reporting that they experienced God's love less frequently. The current study highlights how the way that individuals think about or approach their relationship to God can have serious effects on how they experience this relationship. ********** Decision frames are ways that problems or situations are presented and have long been shown to influence subsequent choices (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981). Dunegan (1993) showed that a choice framed in terms of successes is allocated more funding by participants than the same choice framed in terms of failures. This decision making process is often driven by the affect that is produced by the decision frame (Finucane, Alhakami, Slovic, & Johnson, 2000). Showing participants subliminal images of smiling faces prior to evaluation increased their liking of ideographs (Murphy & Zajonc, 1993; Winkielman, Zajonc, & Schwarz, 1997) and inducing a happy mood caused participants to rate positive events as more likely to occur (Wright & Bower, 1992). Zajonc (1980) believed that the affective reaction to a stimulus is the first and automatic reaction an individual has, and evidence supports that affect may be the underlying cause of the decision framing effect (Van't Riet, Ruiter, Werrij, Candel, & De Vries, 2010). As such, the present study explores how decision frames can function as affective primes that potentially influence people's perceptions of their relationship to God. Affective Priming Affective priming is the presentation of a stimulus that evokes an affective response which then influences subsequent decisions (Murphy & Zajonc, 1993). Numerous studies have shown the effects that affective priming can have on subsequent evaluations (Finucane et al., 2000; Slovic, Finucane, Peters, & MacGregor, 2002; Wright & Bower, 1992). Affective primes can influence not only what memories are retrieved (Blaney, 1986) but also how those memories are processed (Slovic, 2000). It seems that when individuals are asked to assess their perceived relationship with God, the questions are often cast in a negative light (e.g., How have you failed God? Do you need forgiveness/ to repent?), putting individuals into a negative affective state before they evaluate their relationship to God. Johnson, Okun, and Cohen (2014) have noted that the way in which God is represented can have significant implications for individuals' perception and understanding of the divine. Addtionally, Exline (2013) has stated that pointing out the moral imperfections or failings of an individual could create anxiety, shame, or self-loathing. Evaluations of these imperfections may cause individuals to compare their ideal and actual selves thereby increasing anxiety (Peterman, LaBelle, & Steinberg, 2014). The purpose of the current research is to examine how specific affective priming--that is, the way people are asked to evaluate their perceived relationship to God--impacts subsequent attitudes and evaluations of their relationship. Relationship to God The personal relationship one has with God is thought to be at the heart of a Christian's experience (Stark & Glock, 1968). This relationship can be comforting (Exline, Yali, & Sanderson, 2000) as seen in Isaiah 41:10 or a struggle (Pargament, Murray-Swank, Magyar, & Ano, 2005) as Paul accounts when describing the thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12. …