It seems that when individuals are asked to assess their perceived relationship to God, they are often given a negative affective prime prior to the assessment. The purpose of the current series of studies was to explore how this negative affective priming would influence participants’ thoughts about their perceived relationship to God. Study 1 showed that the classic priming effect can be seen when the affective priming is nonreligious. However, going against predictions, there was a contrast effect when there was a religious focus with the positive priming having the most negative influence. Study 2 replicated and expanded this finding by showing that positive affective priming was linked to participants reporting that they experienced God's love less frequently. The current study highlights how the way that individuals think about or approach their relationship to God can have serious effects on how they experience this relationship.
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