The Mind of the Lord: Measuring Authoritarian and Benevolent God Representations

Many religious individuals use ordinary social cognitions when thinking about God's characteristics. In the absence of a generally accepted measure, we developed a measure assessing God representations as authoritarian (A-God) and benevolent (B-God) using 4 community samples of Christians. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (Studies 1 and 2), we found support for a 2-factor model. The 2-week test-retest reliability estimates were .78 and .81 (Study 3). In Study 4, we validated our new measure. B-God was associated with a secure attachment style, whereas A-God was not associated with attachment style. B-God was positively associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness, whereas A-God was negatively associated with agreeableness. Controlling for personality and other God representation measures, the A-God subscale predicted the value of power, and the B-God subscale predicted the value of benevolence. The usefulness of the measure for future research is discussed.