Evidential Vulnerability of Religious Beliefs in the Context of Petitionary Prayers.

ABSTRACT: Petitionary prayers-requests made to a deity for specific outcomes-are widely practiced across religious traditions. While their efficacy remains a subject of theological debate, they exhibit remarkable resilience to disconfirmation. In three pre-registered studies-a field study in China and two global surveys via Prolific-we examined how religious believers (Christians, Muslims, local deity worshippers, and Hindus) update beliefs and behaviors in response to prayer successes or failures for both hypothetical co-religionists and themselves. Results indicate that belief updates generally follow a Bayesian pattern, with increases after prayer successes and decreases after failures, though with an asymmetry favoring belief reinforcement. Notably, participants from the Prolific sample exhibit

SUBMITTER: Hong Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12828874 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature