Religious Afterlife Beliefs Decrease Behavioral Avoidance of Symbols of Mortality.

This article investigates the relationship between religious afterlife beliefs and behavioral avoidance of symbols of mortality (BASM), proposing that such beliefs reduce avoidance behaviors toward death-related symbols. Across five studies involving 1,590 participants from diverse religious backgrounds—including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists—and nonbelievers, the researchers developed and validated a novel word-position (WP) task to quantitatively measure BASM. Findings consistently showed that religious believers exhibited decreased BASM compared to nonbelievers, a difference that was independent of self-esteem, death anxiety, and cultural traits. Moreover, experimental priming of religious afterlife beliefs causally reduced BASM in nonbelievers, suggesting that these beliefs modulate behavioral responses to mortality cues beyond emotional fear of death. The research highlights the psychological function of afterlife beliefs in shaping human behavior under mortality threat and underscores the importance of considering religious beliefs in cross-cultural studies of death-related cognition and behavior.