Religion
I am intrigued by the nature and function of religion. Why are people religious? What are the existential functions of religion? What happens when people stop identifying as religious? Drawing from experimental, longitudinal, cross-cultural, and daily diary studies, my research seeks to better understand the full range of religious identities and experiences. I am currently working on a grant to study the nature and consequences of religious deidentification and discovered cross-cultural evidence for a religious residue effect: religious psychology and behavior persist after deidentificaiton. I have a book in press navigating the process of leaving religion.
Book
Van Tongeren, D. R. (in press). Done: How to flourish after leaving religion. American Psychological Association. Anticipated publication in 2024.
Selected Publications
Van Tongeren, D. R., & DeWall, C. N. (2023). Disbelief, disengagement, discontinuance, and disaffiliation: An integrative framework for the study of religious deidentification. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 15(4), 515–524.
Van Tongeren, D. R., DeWall, C. N., & Van Cappellen, P. (2023). A sheep in wolf’s clothing? Toward an understanding of the religious dones. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152, 98–119.
McLaughlin, A., Van Tongeren, D. R., Teahan, K., Davis, D. E., Rice, K., & DeWall, C. N. (2022). Who are the religious “dones?”: A cross-cultural latent profile analysis of formerly religious individuals. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 14, 512-524.
Van Tongeren, D. R., DeWall, C. N., Chen, Z., Sibley, C. G., & Bulbulia, J. (2021). Religious residue: Cross-cultural evidence that religious psychology and behavior persist following deidentification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120, 484-503.
Van Tongeren, D. R., DeWall, C. N., Hardy, S. A., Schwadel, P. (2021). Religious identity and morality: Evidence for religious residue and decay in moral foundations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 47, 1550-1564.
Brandt, M. J., & Van Tongeren, D. R. (2017). People both high and low in religious fundamentalism are prejudiced toward dissimilar groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 76-97.
Van Tongeren, D. R., Sanders, M., *Edwards, M., Davis, E. B., Aten, J. D., Ranter, J. M., Tsarouhis, A., Short, A., Cuthbert, A., Hook. J. N., & Davis, D. E. (2019). Religious and spiritual struggles alter God representations. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11, 225-232.
Van Tongeren, D. R., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., & Johnson, K. A. (2016). Security versus growth: Existential tradeoffs of various religious perspectives. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8, 77-88.
Van Tongeren, D. R., *Hakim, S., Hook, J. N., Johnson, K. A., Green, J. D., Hulsey, T. L., & Davis, D. E. (2016). Toward an understanding of religious tolerance: Quest religiousness and positive attitudes toward religiously dissimilar others. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 26, 212-224.
Van Tongeren, D. R., Hook, J. N., & Davis, D. E. (2013). Defensive religion as a source of meaning in life: A dual mediational model. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5, 227-232.
Van Tongeren, D. R., McIntosh, D. N., Raad, J., & Pae, J. (2013). The existential function of intrinsic religiousness: Moderation of effects of priming religion on intercultural tolerance and afterlife anxiety. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 52, 508-523.
Selected Relevant Grant Funding
The John Templeton Foundation (#62948). Spiritual Yearning as a Psychological Construct: Associations with Spiritual Struggles and Existential Growth. Role: Principal Investigator. $509,623. 2023-2026.
John Templeton Foundation (#60734), Understanding the Nature and Consequences of Religious Deidentification. Role: Principal Investigator. $234,746. 2018-2021.
John Templeton Foundation (#61106), The Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology of Christian Trust in God. Role: Empirical Team Member (PI Daniel McKaughan). $994,071. 2019-2021.
Global Religion Research Initiative Grant, Psychology of World Religions Course and Electronic Resources. Role: Core Team Member (PIs Jo-Ann Tsang and Wade Rowatt). $5,000. 2017-2018.