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.