The Absent God: Do Implicit Biases Influence Current Prayer Research?

Authors

Chase O'Gwin, Brigham Young University
Dr. Brent Slife, Brigham Young University

Keywords

absent God, implicit biases, prayer, Christian theism, religious thinking

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Psychology

Abstract

In a recent article Dr. Slife and Reber (2009) make an argument that there is a pervasive bias against theism in psychological research. They state that in the effort to remain neutral towards religious thinking, including Christian theism, the science of psychology has become implicitly biased. This bias is masked by an attempt at neutrality; psychologists assume that God is not required in science, but if a theist wishes to insert a God, nothing is changed. The implicit bias against theism is made manifest because for the theist God is required in all things, and when science informs the theist that God is not required it is a bias against that belief (Slife and Reber, 2009).

Recommended Citation

O'Gwin, Chase and Slife, Dr. Brent (2013) "The Absent God: Do Implicit Biases Influence Current Prayer Research?," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 532.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/532