What aspects and features of events impel people to label them as miraculous? Three studies examined people's miracle conceptions and the factors that lead them to designate an event as a miracle. Study 1 identified the basic elements of laypersons’ miracle beliefs by instructing participants to define a miracle, to list five events that they considered miraculous, and to state what they believed to be the purpose of miracles. Results showed that individuals tend to view miracles as highly improbable and beneficial occurrences that instill hope and faith in people. Studies 2 and 3 investigated people's intuitive miracle theories. Findings demonstrated that people tend to label events as miracles when the events in question were of high magnitude, were obtained in an unusual manner, resulted in a beneficial health outcome, personally affected the participant, involved a person of worthy character, and depicted a low-probability event.
AllportG.W. (1966). Religious context of prejudice. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 5, 447–457.
2.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2000.
3.
AndersonG. (2008, August). Miracles, divine healings and angels: Beliefs among U.S. adults 45+ with Hispanic oversample. AARP The Magazine, 1–37.
4.
AquinasT. (1984). Summa contra Gentiles (SCG), (trans.) J. Rickaby, London: Burns and Oates, 1905. (Original work published in 1274).
5.
Augustine in HealeyJ.BussellF.W. & BarkerE. (Eds.). (1931). The City of God.London: J.M. Dent. (Original work written in the 5th century).
6.
BatsonC.D.SchoenradeP.A. & VentisW.L. (1993). Religion and the Individual: A Social-Psychological Perspective.New York: Oxford University Press.
7.
BerryR.J. (2002). Divine action: Expected and unexpected. Zygon, 37(3), 717–728.
8.
BrownC.B. (1984). Miracles and the Critical Mind.Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, Cahn, & Polich, 2006.
9.
ClarkeS. (2003). Response to Mumford and another definition of miracles. Religious Studies, 39, 459–463.
10.
ClaytonP. (2004). Natural law and divine action: The search for an expanded theory of causation. Zygon, 39, 615–636.
11.
DalbertC. (1999). The world is more just for me than generally: About the personal belief in a Just World Scale's validity. Social Justice Research, 12(2), 79–98.
12.
DalbertC.LipkusI.M.SallayH. & GochI. (2001). A just and an unjust world: Structure and validity of different world beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(4), 561–577.
13.
DijksterhuisA.PrestonJ.WegnerD.M. & AartsH. (2008). Effects of subliminal priming of self and God on self-attribution of authorship for events. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(1), 2–9.
EhrmanB.D. (1999). Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium, New York: Oxford University Press.
16.
EhrmanB.D. (2000). The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 2nd edn., New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
EmmonsR.A. & PaloutzianR.F. (2003). The psychology of religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 377–402.
18.
ExlineJ.J. (2002). Stumbling blocks on the religious road: Fractured relationships, nagging vices, and the inner struggle to believe. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 182–189.
19.
FermV. (1945). The Encyclopedia of Religion.Secaucus, NJ: Poplar.
20.
FogelinR.J. (2003). A Defense of Hume on Miracles.Princeton/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
21.
FranklV.E. (1963). Man's Search for Meaning.New York: Washington Square Press.
22.
GalloisW. (2007). Time, Religion and History.London: Longman.
23.
GaztambideD.J. (2008). Relocating, reanalyzing, and redefining miracles: A psychodynamic exploration of the miraculous. In EllensJ.H. (Ed.), Miracles: God, Science and Psychology in the Paranormal, Vol. 2 (27–49). Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
24.
GibbsN.BonfanteJ.KamlaniR.OstlingR. & TowleL. (1995, April 10). The message of miracles. Time Magazine, 145, 2–18.
25.
GorsuchR.L. & McPhersonS.E. (1989). Intrinsic/Extrinsic measurement: I/E-revised and single-item scales. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28(3), 348–354.
26.
GorsuchR.L. & SmithC.S. (1983). Attributions of responsibility to God: An interaction of religious beliefs and outcomes. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 22: 340-52.
27.
GranqvistP. & KirkpatrickL.A. (2008). Attachment and religious representations and behavior. In CassidyJ. & ShaverP.R. (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications, 2nd edn. New York: Guilford. pp. 906–933.
28.
GrayK. & WegnerD.M. (2010). Blaming God for our pain: Human suffering and the divine mind. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(1), 7–16.
29.
HaarG. (2003). A wondrous God: Miracles in contemporary Africa. African Affairs, 102, 409428.
30.
HerbertJ. & AttridgeC. (1975). A guide for developers and users of observation systems and manuals. American Educational Research Journal, 12(1), 1–20.
31.
HillP.C. & HoodR.W. (1999). Affect, religion and unconscious processes. Journal of Personality, 67(6), 1015–1046.
32.
HoodR.W.SpilkaB.HunsbergerB. & GorsuchR.I. (1996). The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach.New York: Guilford.
33.
HoustonJ. (1994). Reported Miracles: A Critique of Hume.Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.
34.
HumeD. (2007). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding[Philosophical essays concerning human understanding]. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published in 1748).
35.
KahnemanD. & MillerD.T. (1986). Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review, 93(2), 136–153.
36.
KeltnerD. & HaidtJ. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 297–314.
37.
KirkpatrickL.A. (2005). Attachment, Evolution, and the Psychology of Religion.New York: Guilford.
38.
KoenigH.G.McCulloughM.E. & LarsonD.B. (2001). Handbook of Religion and Health.New York: Oxford University Press.
39.
KoenigH.G. (Ed.) (1998). Handbook of Religion and Mental Halth.San Diego, CA: Academic.
40.
LarmerR.A. (1988). Water into Wine: An Investigation of the Concept of Miracle.Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queen's University Press.
41.
LarsonD.B.SwyersJ.P. & McCulloughM.E. (Eds.) (1998). Scientific Research on Spirituality and Health: A Consensus Report.Rockville, MD: National Institute.
42.
LawalO. (2008). Miracles and crowd psychology in African culture. In EllensJ.H. (Ed.), Miracles: God, Science and Psychology in the Paranormal, Vol. 2 (134–153). Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
43.
LernerM.J. & SimmonsC.H. (1966). Observer's reaction to the “innocent victim”: Compassion or rejection?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 203–210.
44.
LewisC.S. (2001). Miracles: A Preliminary Study.San Francisco, CA: Harper. (Original work published in 1947).
45.
LupferM.B.BrockK.F. & DePaolaS.J. (1992). The use of secular and religious attributions to explain everyday behavior. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 31(4), 486–503.
46.
LupferM.B.DePaolaS.J.BrockK.F. & ClementL. (1994). Making secular and religious attributions: The availability hypothesis revisited. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 33: 162-71.
47.
LupferM.B.TolliverD. & JacksonM. (1996). Explaining life-altering occurrences: A test of the “God-of-the-Gaps” Hypothesis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 35(4), 379391.
48.
MackieJ.L. (1982). The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God. Oxford University Press.
49.
MatonK.I. (1989). Community settings as buffers of life stress? Highly supportive churches, mutual help groups, and senior centers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 17(2), 203–232.
50.
MawsonT.J. (2001). Miracles and laws of nature. Religious Studies, 37, 33–58.
51.
McCulloughM.E. & WilloughbyB.L.B. (2009). Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135(1), 69–93.
52.
McKenzieD. (1999). Miracles are not immoral: A response to James Keller's moral argument against miracles. Religious Studies, 35, 73–88.
53.
MikulincerM.GurwitzV.ShaverP.R. & GranqvistP. (2008). Attachment Security and the Use of God as a Safe Haven: New Experimental Findings. Manuscript in preparation.
MumfordS. (2001). Miracles: Metaphysics and modality. Religious Studies, 37, 191–202.
56.
NicholsT. L. (2002). Miracles in science and theology. Zygon, 37(3), 703–715.
57.
NorenzayanA. & HansenI.G. (2006). Belief in supernatural agents in the face of death. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(2), 174–187.
58.
OdegardD. (1965). Miracles and good evidence. Religious Studies, 18, 37–46.
59.
OsarchukM. & TatzS.J. (1973). Effect of induced fear of death on belief in afterlife. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(2), 256–260.
60.
PannenbergW. (2002). The concept of miracle. Zygon, 37(3), 759–762.
61.
PargamentK.I. (1997). The Psychology of Religion and Coping.New York: Guilford.
62.
PargamentK.I. & HahnJ. (1986). God and the just world: Causal and coping attributions to God in health situations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 25 (2), 193–207.
63.
PepitoneA. & L'ArmandK. (1997). Justice in cultural context: A social-psychological perspective. Cross-Cultural Research: The Journal of Comparative Social Science, 31(2), 83–100.
64.
PepitoneA. & SaffiottiL. (1997). The selectivity of nonmaterial beliefs in interpreting life events. European Journal of Social Psychology, 27(1), 23–35.
PolomaM.M. & GallupG.H. (1991). Varieties of Prayer: A Survey Report.London: Trinity International.
67.
PughM.M. (2008). What is a medical or therapeutic miracle? In EllensJ.H. (Ed.), Miracles: God, Science and Psychology in the Paranormal, Vol. 2 (67–81). Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
68.
PyysiäinenI. (2002). Mind and miracles. Zygon, 37(3), 729–740.
RitzemaR.J. & YoungC. (1983). Causal schemata and the attribution of supernatural causality. Journal of Psychology and Theology11: 36–43.
71.
RoweW.L. (2001). Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction, 3rd edn. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
72.
RutjensB.T.Van der PligtJ. & Van HarreveldF. (2010). Deus or Darwin: Randomness and belief in theories about the origin of life. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 1078–1080.
73.
SedikidesC. & GebauerJ. E. (2010). Religiosity as self-enhancement: A meta-analysis of the relation between socially desirable responding and religiosity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(1), 17–36.
