On Nudges From the Unseen

Previous research on supernatural attributions has primarily investigated judgments about stressful events and judgments about everyday behavior. Two studies investigated attributions to God and attributions to Satan for major historical events. Attributions to God were greater for positive events than for negative events, but attributions to Satan were greater for negative events than for positive events, especially among more religious participants. However, attributions to God were greater for negative events than attributions to Satan were for positive events. Attributions to God were also greater than attributions to Satan overall and this tendency was better predicted by belief in God’s greater power (β = 0.39) than by greater belief in God (β = 0.01). Participants believed God has greater control than Satan (d = .81).