Research Highlights
$15M+ in external research funding
Research on Religious Change and Meaning-Making
My research program examines how individuals navigate changes in deeply held belief systems, with a particular focus on religion as a source of meaning, identity, and existential structure. I am especially interested in how people respond when these systems are disrupted, revised, or abandoned, with a particular focus on well-being.
Religious Change as Identity Disruption
Religion is often a core feature of a person’s identity, and changes to this dimension of their self-concept can result in significant identity disruption. I pioneered research examining the nature and consequences of religious identity change, particularly focusing on religious deidentification. I’ve gathered cross-cultural evidence that aspects of one’s religious past continue to linger after leaving religion—what I term religious residue—among religious dones, and have demonstrated this effect across a range of domains, including cognition, emotion, beliefs, values, morals, and behavior.
Selected Publications:
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. [read the paper]
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. [read the paper]
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. [read the paper]
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. [read the paper]
Van Tongeren, D. R., Hardy, S. A., Taylor, E. M., & Schwadel, P. (in press). Religious dones become more politically liberal after leaving religion. Journal of Personality. [read the paper]
Selected Funding:
Existential Meaning-Making
Humans are natural meaning-makers, demonstrating a social motivation for meaning in life. I leverage a diverse array of methods to investigate how people make meaning and revise deeply-held beliefs in light of existential concerns, as well as what contributes to a good life. Recently, I have broken new ground in advancing an understanding of the psychological contours of spiritual yearning, which is a motivation for existential comfort and security outside of traditional religious structures.
Selected Publications:
Van Tongeren, D. R., & Green, J. D. (2010). Combating meaninglessness: On the automatic defense of meaning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1372-1384. [read the paper]
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. [read the paper]
Van Tongeren, D. R., Brady, I., Van Duinen, C., McLaughlin, A., Davis, D. E., & Hook, J. N. (in press). Tradeoffs of humility in the face of existential concerns. Journal of Research in Personality. [read the paper]
Van Tongeren, D. R., Davis, D. E., Sibley, C. G., & Bulbulia, J. A. (in press). Life loses some meaning after leaving religion. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. [read the paper]
Wilt, J. A., Van Tongeren, D. R., Van Cappellen, P., & Exline, J. J. (in press). Spirituality beyond religion: Development of 9-item and 27-item multidimensional measures of spiritual yearning. Journal of Personality Assessment. [read the paper]
Selected Funding:
Dynamics of Well-Being and Flourishing
My research examines how individual, relational, and social dynamics—such as prosociality, relational repair, and intergroup functioning—help or hinder personal and collective well-being and flourishing. I lead interdisciplinary approaches that cut across levels of analyses to identify how people can thrive amid challenges, including suffering and struggles, and cultivate a lasting sense of well-being and flourishing.
Selected Publications:
Van Tongeren, D. R., Green, J. D., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., & Hulsey, T. L. (2016). Prosociality enhances meaning in life. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11, 225-236. [read the paper]
Van Tongeren, D. R., Hill, P. C., Krause, N., Ironson, G. H., & Pargament, K. I. (2017). The mediating role of meaning in the association between stress and health. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 51, 775-781. [read the paper]
Van Tongeren, D. R., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., & Witvliet, C. V. O. (2019). Humility. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 463-468. [read the paper]
Edwards, M., & Van Tongeren, D. R. (2020). Meaning mediates the association between suffering and well-being. Journal of Positive Psychology, 15, 722-733. [read the paper]
Van Tongeren, D. R., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., Altman-Suchocki, M., & Ballantyne, N. (2025). Existential concerns, culture, context, and calibration: The 4C model of virtue. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 20, 865-877 [read the paper]
Selected Funding: