APA NLM tapraid5/z2g-perpsy/z2g-perpsy/z2g99920/z2g4968d20z xppws Sϭ1 2/25/20 7:45 Art: P-2019-1704 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences © 2020 American Psychological Association 2020, Vol. 2, No. 999, 000 ISSN: 0022-3514 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000288 Religious Residue: Cross-Cultural Evidence That Religious Psychology and Behavior Persist Following Deidentification AQ: au Daryl R. Van Tongeren C. Nathan DeWall AQ: 1 Hope College University of Kentucky Zhansheng Chen Chris G. Sibley and Joseph Bulbulia University of Hong Kong University of Auckland More than 1 billion people worldwide report no religious affiliation. These religious “nones” represent the world’s third largest religion-related identity group and are a diverse group, with some having previous religious identification and others never identifying as religious. We examined how 3 forms of religious identification—current, former, and never—influence a range of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Three studies using nationally representative samples of religious Western (United States), secular Western (Netherlands, New Zealand) and Eastern (Hong Kong) cultures showed evidence of a religious residue effect: Formerly religious individuals (i.e., religious “dones”) differed from never religious and currently religious individuals in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes. Study 1 (n ϭ 3,071) offered initial cross-cultural evidence, which was extended in a preregistered replication study that also included measures of charitable contribution (Study 2; n ϭ 1,626). Study 3 (N ϭ 31,464) found that individuals who deidentified were still relatively likely to engage in prosocial behavior (e.g., volunteering) after leaving religion. This research has broad implications for understanding changing global trends in religious identification and their consequences for psychology and behavior. Keywords: religious residue, religion, formerly religious, nonreligious, cross-cultural AQ: 2 Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000288.supp Religion is a cross-cultural phenomenon. After Christianity and these contributions, current research obscures some of the com- Islam, the third largest affiliative group in the world consists of plexity among religious nones, such as potential psychological and people who do not identify as religious (Pew-Templeton, 2015). behavioral differences between people who have previous reli- During the next 35 years, the number of these religious “nones” is gious identification (i.e., religious dones) and others who have projected to grow from 1.1 billion to 1.2 billion. Accordingly, never identified as religious (i.e., religious nones). Neither reli- scientific research on religious nones has steadily increased (Baker gious dones nor religious nones identify as religious, but do these & Smith, 2015; Shariff, Piazza, & Kramer, 2014; Norenzayan & groups have identical psychological and behavioral patterns? Our Gervais, 2013; Zuckerman, Galen, & Pasquale, 2016). Despite research fills this gap in the literature. 2(https://osf.io/9d8yg/), which was also a preregistered replication (https:// This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. X Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Department of Psychology, Hope College; osf.io/zvqg2) of Study 1, on the Open Science Framework (OSF). The This article is intended solely for the personal use ofC. the individual user andNathan is not to be disseminated broadly. DeWall, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky; relevant data, code, and materials from Studies 1 and 2 are available on the X Zhansheng Chen, Department of Psychology, University of Hong OSF (https://osf.io/pwy5f/). The code for Study 3 is available on the OSF Kong; X Chris G. Sibley, Department of Psychology, University of Auck- (https://osf.io/s6fwb/). The data described in Study 3 are part of the New land; X Joseph Bulbulia, Department of Theological and Religious Stud- Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS). Full copies of the NZAVS ies, University of Auckland. data files are held by all members of the NZAVS management team and This work was supported by a grant from The John Templeton Foun- advisory board. A deidentified data set containing the variables analyzed in dation (60734). Daryl R. Van Tongeren and C. Nathan DeWall conceived this article is available on request from Chris G. Sibley or Joseph Bulbulia of the project. Studies 1-2 were designed by Daryl R. Van Tongeren and C. or any member of the NZAVS advisory board for the purposes of repli- Nathan DeWall. Study 3 was designed by Joseph Bulbulia who analyzed cation or checking of any published study using NZAVS data. A portion of data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, which Chris G. this work was presented at the 2019 Midwestern Psychological Association Sibley leads and curates. This part of the study was supported by the and 2019 American Psychology Association conventions. Templeton Religion Trust (TRT0196). Daryl R. Van Tongeren analyzed Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Daryl the data from Studies 1–2. All authors wrote the paper. Funders played no R. Van Tongeren, Department of Psychology, Hope College, Sci- role in the design, analysis, or interpretation of any aspect of this study. We ence Center, 35 East 12th Street, Holland, MI 49422-9000. E-mail: preregistered our hypotheses for Study 1 (https://osf.io/mv6t9/) and Study [email protected] 1 APA NLM tapraid5/z2g-perpsy/z2g-perpsy/z2g99920/z2g4968d20z xppws Sϭ1 2/25/20 7:45 Art: P-2019-1704 2 VAN TONGEREN, DEWALL, CHEN, SIBLEY, AND BULBULIA Insufficiently differentiating between formerly religious and Although prior work suggests that adolescence is a period of never religious individuals fails to identify the features associated particular identity formation (Erikson, 1993), throughout one’s with religious deidentification and the complex ways in which life, internal or external changes may elicit changes in one’s these two groups of individuals vary on cognitive, emotional, and perceived identity (Burke, 2006). For example, individuals begin motivational processes. This research is important because prior identifying as parents following the birth of a child, which is a new research on religion, and nonreligion, may conflate religious dones identity. Alternatively, following a divorce, individuals may no with religious nones, obscuring the research findings and poten- longer identify as a spouse. Work from research on moral identity tially leading to inaccurate or incomplete results, especially when provides insights into how identity is formed and may change; comparing religious and irreligious individuals to approximate the given the link between religion and morality (McKay & White- role of religion in psychology and behavior. Here, using nationally house, 2015), this may particularly applicable to development of representative samples from a religious Western culture (United religious identity. States), and secular Western (Netherlands, New Zealand) and Prior experimental work has shown that morality is considered Eastern (Hong Kong) cultures, we address this gap in the literature to be a central, if not predominant, feature of identity (Strohminger by testing the religious residue hypothesis, assessing whether & Nichols, 2014), and changes in morality are associated with formerly religious individuals differ from never religious and viewing one’s essence as being changed (De Freitas, Tobia, New- currently religious individuals in terms of their cognitive, emo- man, & Knobe, 2017). Other experimental work has shown that tional, and behavioral processes. changes to morality are associated with perceived changes in identity among adults and children (Heiphetz, Strohminger, Gelman, & Young, 2018). Thus, changes in a dimension that is The Power of Social Identities central to one’s core sense of self (i.e., morality) result in changes in one’s sense of identity. AQ: 3 A person’s social identity is powerful. Each person can have multiple identities based on differing social categories (e.g., gen- der, sex, ethnicity, religion). These identities shape how people The Development of Religious Identity perceive themselves and others along such dimensions (Hogg, One such powerful, yet somewhat malleable, social identity is AQ: 4 2006), as well as how people treat others, such as engaging in religious identity (Hogg, Adelman, & Blagg, 2010; Ysseldyk, AQ: 7 AQ: 5 ingroup favoritism and outgroup prejudice (Brewer, 1999). Ac- Matheson, & Anisman, 2010). How does religious identity de- cording to social identity theory, one’s identity is a potent source velop? There are likely several pathways by which one might of self-esteem and plays a substantial role in cognitive, affective, identify as religious; here we focus on two: immediate context AQ: 6 and behavioral processes (Hornsey, 2008). Many identities are (parenting) and broader context (culture). First, because religious largely self-defined, based on perceptions of whether or not indi- identity, like some other social identities, is based in part by one’s viduals meet the criteria that determine inclusion in that group’s (early) formative relationships, it is likely that if one is raised in a identity (Abrams & Hogg, 1990). This process has been called religious household, they may be more likely to identify as reli- “self-categorization” (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, gious (Hardy,