Christina Roylance

Attachment-related avoidance and the social and agentic content of nostalgic memories

The reported research tested whether the social and agentic content of nostalgic memories varies as a function of attachment-related avoidance. We measured individual differences in attachment-related avoidance and anxiety and coded the interpersonal and agentic content of nostalgic and non-nostalgic narratives. Results revealed that nostalgic (relative to non-nostalgic) narratives contained more social content and that this link was not moderated by attachment-related avoidance. There was a significant association between attachment-related avoidance and attachment-related social content in nostalgic, but not non-nostalgic, past narratives. There was also a significant association between attachment-related avoidance and agency content in nostalgic, but not non-nostalgic narratives.

Miraculous Meaning: Threatened Meaning Increases Belief in Miracles

For many, religious belief is a source of meaning and a resource for coping with life stressors that have the potential to undercut meaning. In the present study, we sought to further probe the connection between religion and meaning by focusing on the potential for threatened meaning to inspire belief in miraculous testimonials. We threatened meaning with a meaninglessness manipulation and then had participants read testimonials in which people described miraculous experiences involving supernatural agents and rate the extent to which they believed these testimonials to be credible and true. Meaning threat, relative to a control condition, increased belief in miraculous stories.

I am not an animal but I am a sexist: Human distinctiveness, sexist attitudes towards women, and perceptions of meaning in life

Existential concerns relating to human physicality influence cultural worldviews and norms regarding women. When people are striving to bolster perceptions of meaning, they respond negatively to the aspects of the female body that serve as reminders that humans are animals. In the present research, we sought to further explore whether attitudes about human animality relate to attitudes about women. Specifically, we examined the association between beliefs about human–animal continuity and sexist attitudes. Since women serve as potent reminders that humans are biological creatures, we predicted that greater desire to perceive humans as distinct from other animals would be associated with higher levels of hostile and benevolent sexism among male participants. Results supported this hypothesis. We also tested and found support for the assumption that the belief that humans are distinct from and superior to other animals is associated with greater perceptions of meaning in life.

Death and end times: the effects of religious fundamentalism and mortality salience on apocalyptic beliefs

ABSTRACT According to terror management theory, the awareness of death motivates people to subscribe to cultural worldviews that offer some form of death transcendence. In support of this assertion, studies reveal that stimuli that heighten the awareness of death (mortality salience) increase investment in and defense of cultural worldviews (e.g., religion). Although past research has elucidated different forms of mortality salience-induced religious worldview defense, no study to date has considered how death-awareness contributes to apocalyptic beliefs derived from religious prophecy. The present research indicates that individual differences in religious fundamentalism interact with mortality salience to influence religious apocalyptic beliefs. For people higher in religious fundamentalism, mortality salience increased apocalyptic beliefs. For people lower in religious fundamentalism, mortality salience decreased apocalyptic beliefs.

The Existential Consequences of an Unjust World: The Effects of Individual Differences in Belief in a Just World and Just World Threats on Death-Thought Accessibility

Research has demonstrated that undermining cultural worldviews increases death-thought accessibility (DTA). However, individual differences in commitment to a particular worldview may predict DTA when that belief is challenged. In the present research, we tested if individual differences in belief in a just world (BJW) relate to DTA when the BJW is undermined. In Studies 1 and 3, BJW was associated with DTA when people reflected on an unfair experience. Study 3 indicated that this effect is driven by general BJW. In Study 2, BJW was associated with DTA after the 2012 presidential election among individuals who supported the losing candidate.

Further Exploring the Link Between Religion and Existential Health: The Effects of Religiosity and Trait Differences in Mentalizing on Indicators of Meaning in Life

Religiosity contributes to perceptions of meaning. One of the cognitive foundations for religious belief is the capacity to mentalize the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of others (Theory of Mind). We examined how religiosity and trait differences in mentalizing interact to influence meaning. We hypothesized that people who are most cognitively inclined toward religion (high mentalizers) receive the greatest existential benefits (i.e., high and secure meaning) from religiosity. We assessed individual differences in mentalizing and religiosity, and measured indicators of meaning. Results confirmed that the combination of high mentalizing and high religiosity corresponded to the highest levels of existential health.

Nostalgia as an Existential Intervention: Using the Past to Secure Meaning in the Present and the Future

Historically nostalgia was treated as a psychological disease. To be nostalgic was to be ill. Recent research has, however, demonstrated that nostalgia is not a psychological vulnerability but instead an important resource that helps people find meaning in life and regulate meaning-related distress. Specifically, nostalgia bolsters perceptions of meaning in life. In addition, experiences that threaten meaning trigger nostalgia and nostalgia mitigates the negative effects of meaning-related psychological threats. Nostalgia also serves as an intervention for those at risk of mental health problems associated with deficits in meaning: a nostalgia intervention disrupts the association between low meaning in life and psychological maladjustment. In all, nostalgia serves a critical existential function by offering people a way to derive meaning from personally cherished autobiographical experiences. Nostalgia also has implications for autobiographical-related clinical therapies.