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Previous research revealed that meaning in life is related positively to psychological engagement with art (i.e., aesthetic engagement), such as interest in art, knowledge about art, awe around art, and supernatural attributions for art experiences. We extended this work by considering the relevance of dispositions toward aesthetics (i.e., aesthetic dispositions), such as openness to experience, creativity in general and in art, and religious belief salience. Specifically, we proposed a conceptual model relating aesthetic dispositions, aesthetic engagement, and meaning in life. We tested hypotheses derived from the model with an online sample of N = 696 artists. Correlational results supported our hypotheses and replicated previous findings. Path analytic results showed that interest in art mediated associations between aesthetic dispositions and meaning in life. The results contribute to empirical work on aesthetic cognitivism, the philosophical stance that art can lead to understanding, by shedding light on factors associated with meaningful interactions with art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do people make supernatural attributions (SA) for events? This article focused on five possible predictors: stressfulness, unusual events, religiousness, seeing a supernatural explanation as meaningful, and seeing supernatural entities as powerful. We also predicted that people would be more likely to adopt supernatural explanations seen as highly accessible, motivating, and plausible. We focused primarily on SA in general and secondarily on specific entities. We tested preregistered hypotheses using survey data in two samples of undergraduates: one reporting life‐changing events (N = 594) and another reporting on an event with a supernatural air, or supernaturally perceived events (N = 475). Results supported all proposed predictors except for stressfulness. Path analyses revealed that, in both samples, predictors were linked with seeing supernatural explanations as accessible, plausible, and motivating; these ratings, in turn, had positive associations with SA. These results begin to integrate previous theory and research on individual predictors of SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: What types of moral improvements do people wish to make? Do they hope to become more good, or less bad? Do they wish to be more caring? More honest? More loyal? And why exactly do they want to become more moral? Presumably, most people want to improve their morality because this would benefit others, but is this in fact their primary motivation? Here, we begin to investigate these questions. Method: Across two large, preregistered studies (N = 1818), participants provided open‐ended descriptions of one change they could make in order to become more moral; they then reported their beliefs about and motives for this change. Results: In both studies, people most frequently expressed desires to improve their compassion and more often framed their moral improvement goals in terms of amplifying good behaviors than curbing bad ones. The strongest predictor of moral motivation was the extent to which people believed that making the change would have positive consequences for their own well‐being. Conclusions: Together, these studies provide rich descriptive insights into how ordinary people want to be more moral, and show that they are particularly motivated to do so for their own sake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do supernatural attributions to God and the devil relate to a sense of meaning in life? We investigated this question by conducting a three-week experience sampling study (N = 75), in which we measured daily causal attributions for both positive and negative events and assessed daily meaning (n = 1,425 total daily reports). Correlational and multilevel path analyses revealed several reliable between-person associations. People who made more attributions to God (particularly for positive events) had higher meaning, and people with stronger religious worldviews who made more attributions to the devil/demons (particularly for negative events) had higher meaning. These findings were largely robust when controlling for relevant meaning and religious/spiritual covariates. We did not find evidence for within-person associations; daily changes in attributions and meaning were not related. Consistent and enduring attributions to God and the devil/demons may be particularly meaningful ways of understanding the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the interplay among Gratitude to God (GTG) and daily life experiences and affect, we conducted a 14-day diary study in a national US sample of 184 adults. GTG minimally fluctuated across days. People who experienced more daily uplifts had more daily GTG relative to both their own baseline and to others in the study, while those who experienced more daily hassles had less GTG relative to their own baseline. Trait GTG (but not religiousness) buffered these associations. Specifically, trait GTG attenuated the positive association between uplifts and PA as well as the negative association between hassles and NA. However, daily GTG was unrelated to daily affect, effects not moderated by religiousness or trait GTG. GTG may be influenced by daily experiences and may have consequences for well-being, but associations are not straightforward. In some ways, GTG may lead to lower reactivity to both positive and adverse event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What types of attributions and appraisals predict gratitude to God (GTG)? After preregistering key hypotheses, we did an Internet survey of 1078 U.S. adults focused on a recent positive event. Even when controlling religiousness and God belief, GTG was strongly related to divine attributions for the event, which seemed more plausible when God was seen as powerful and loving and when divine attribution made the event seem more meaningful. In addition to these cognitive judgments, divine attributions and GTG were linked with desire: wanting to see God as a cause. Relationally, GTG was associated with seeing God's intentions as positive (trying to help, love, comfort, encourage, or protect), with actually feeling loved, cherished, valued, or appreciated by God in response, and with seeing the event as a divine gift – a perception more likely when people saw God as a gift-giver: giving gifts often to many people, including themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people who see themselves as having a relationship with God think of this bond in terms of love and safety. Yet some might also see this relationship in energetic terms: as exciting, lively, passionate, or fun. An online survey asked 871 U.S. adults who believed in God to reflect on a recent positive life event. Three measures assessed relational energy or excitement: a slider item, a Likert item, and a set of eight adjectives. Regressions consistently showed that even when controlling for perceived love and safety in the relationship, this energy/excitement dimension predicted more gratitude to God, more divine attributions and gift appraisals for the event, feeling more loved by God, and greater desires to pass on kindness to others. The predictive role of energy/excitement was not reducible to religiousness, God belief, state or trait gratitude, trait gratitude to God, feeling energized, subjective vitality, or social desirability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People commonly report positive changes following stressful experiences (perceived posttraumatic growth; PPTG), yet whether PPTG validly reflects positive changes remains unestablished. We tested the extent to which COVID-19 pandemic-related PPTG relates to positive changes in corresponding psychosocial resources in a national US sample participating in a five wave study (T1-T5), focusing here on T2-T5: ns = 712 –860. We examined correlations between resource change (both latent and observed difference scores) and PPTG at each occasion and conducted structural equation models to separate occasion-specific and stable (traitlike) PPTG variance. We related changes in resources to occasion-specific and stable PPTG components. Associations between change scores and occasion-specific PPTG were sparse, providing limited evidence of PPTG validity. Associations between change scores and stable PPTG tended to be positive and stronger than associations for occasion-specific PPTG. Perceptions of growth were largely unrelated to experienced positive changes and thus appear to be largely illusory. However, a personality-like tendency to believe one grows from stressful experiences relates more strongly to actual resource growth. These results suggest that people are not accurate reporters of positive changes they experience and that interventions aimed at promoting post-traumatic growth may be premature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Could psychedelic use open the door to messages from supernatural entities, including God, the devil, or human or nature spirits? Might psychedelics allow a glimpse of some transcendent domain, consciousness, or self that exists beyond the material world? We were interested in how people's answers to these questions would relate to their attitudes about psychedelic use, legalization, and desire to use psychedelics if given a safe opportunity. After preregistering key hypotheses on the Open Science Framework, we recruited U. S. adults (final N = 800) to complete an online survey. Participants expected psychedelics to prompt psychological messages (from the brain or subconscious) more than spiritual messages, which were typically endorsed more than explicitly supernatural messages; however, even supernatural messages received moderate endorsement. As predicted, seeing psychedelics as a doorway to positive spiritual or supernatural messages (from a transcendent spiritual domain, God, human spirits, nature spirits) was linked with more positive attitudes about psychedelics, more favoring of their legalization, and more past use and interest in personal use. As expected, attitudes about psychedelics were less favorable among those who saw them as doorways to negative messages, either from supernatural evil (devil, demons, evil spirits) or from one's own mind (dark side, shadow self, "inner demons"). Beliefs in supernatural messages via psychedelics were linked with stronger supernatural beliefs, more prior psychedelic use, younger age, self-identifying as spiritual, more past experiences seen as supernatural (in general and involving psychedelics), and greater approval of psychedelics by one's religious community (where applicable). In summary, many people see psychedelics as potential sources of supernatural messages. These supernatural attributions, in turn, are closely linked with attitudes, behaviors, and past experiences related to psychedelic use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]