Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Be Ye Fruitful And Multiply: Does Religious Activation Increase Reproductive Desire?, Erik M. Lund

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

While many norms sustain or destabilize certain religions, one domain is particularly relevant to the survival of some religions over others: norms about fertility and reproduction. Thus far, several ethnographic and correlational studies have found a positive association between religiosity and fertility rate, but there is a dearth of laboratory investigation utilizing experimental methods to isolate causation. In Study 1, I found that experimentally activating religious concepts led to an increased desire to have children (N = 462). In Study 2, the focal study, I attempted to replicate and extend the previous study by examining implicit behavior (N …