Psychology

Galen, L. W. (in press). What do we mean by Agnosticism?: Self-identification, belief uncertainty, and the unknowability of God. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.

Galen, L. W. (In press). Assumption of unique religious and spiritual effects 10 years later: “Nevertheless, it persists”. Religion, Brain, & Behavior.

Galen, L. W. (2026). Nonreligious paths to existential fulfillment. In K. Vail, D. Van Tongeren, B. Schegel, J. Greenberg, L. King, & R. Ryan (Eds.) The Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology. (pp. 849 – 863) Guilford.

Galen, L. W. (2025). Nonreligion, Well-Being, and Mental Health. In D. Abbott (Ed.) Culturally Responsive Mental Health Care for Secular Clients. (pp. 87 – 108). London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Galen, L. W., & Speed, D. (2025). Testing the religion/spirituality-mental health curvilinear hypothesis using data from many-analysts religion project. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 15(3), 312-329.

Galen, L. W. (2024). Morality, Prosociality, and Nonreligion. In J. M. Smith & R. T. Cragun (Eds.) Secularity and Nonreligion in North America: An Introduction. (pp. 135-151). London: Bloomsbury Academic. 

Galen, L. W. (2023). A Social Cognition Perspective of the Psychology of Religion: “Why God Thinks like You.” London: Bloomsbury.

Galen, L. W., Kurby, C. A., & Fles, E. H. (2022). Religiosity, shared identity, trust, and punishment of norm violations: No evidence of generalized prosociality. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 14(2), 260–272. 

Speed, D., Hwang, K., Galen, L. W., & Coleman, T. J. (2022). In Doubt and Disbelief: How Mrdjenovich 2018 Misunderstands the (Non) Religion–Health Relationship. Journal of Religion and Health, 61, 2319–2322. 

Galen, L.W. (2021). Morality, Prosociality, and Nonreligion. In Bloomsbury Religion in North America. London: Bloomsbury Academic. 

Galen, L. W., Gore, R, & Shults, F.L. (2021). Modeling the effects of religious belief and affiliation on prosociality. Secularism and Nonreligion, 10, 6, 1–21. 

Galen, L. W. (2020). “God’s not my type”: The Pew religious typology from a secular studies perspective. Commentary on the Pew religious typology report. Secular Studies, 2, 1-13. 

Galen, L. W. (2018). Focusing on the nonreligious reveals secular mechanisms underlying well-being and prosociality. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10, 296-306.

Galen, L. W. (2017). Overlapping mental magisteria: Implications of empirical psychology for religious belief. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 29, 221-267.

Galen, L. W. (2017). Which functions assumed to be religious and spiritual in nature are ultimately attributable or reducible to purely secular mechanisms? Religion, Brain, and Behavior, 7, 293-295.

Galen, L. W. (2017). Secular prosociality and well-being. In P. Zuckerman & J. R. Shook (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Secularism. (pp. 533-553). New York: Oxford University Press.

Zuckerman, P., Galen, L. W., & Pasquale, F. (2016). The Non-Religious: Understanding Secular People and Societies. New York: Oxford University Press.

Galen, L. W. (2016). Beyond prosocial (Commentary on Martin and Weibe, 2014). In L. H. Martin & D. Wiebe (Eds.), Conversations and controversies in the scientific study of religion. (pp. 145 – 150). Leiden: Brill.

Galen, L. W. (2016). Commentary on Norenzayan et al.: The cultural evolution of prosocial religions. Big Gods: Extended prosociality or group binding? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, 29-30.

Galen, L. W., Sharp, M., & McNulty, A. (2015). The role of nonreligious group factors versus religious belief in the prediction of prosociality. Social Indicators Research, 122, 411-432.

Galen, L. W. (2015). Atheism, wellbeing, and the wager: Why not believing in God (with others) is good for you. Science, Religion and Culture, 2, 54-69.

Galen, L. W., Williams, T., & Ver Wey, A. (2014). Personality ratings are influenced by religious stereotype and group identity bias. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 24, 282-297.

Galen, L. W. (2014). Beyond prosocial (Commentary on Martin and Weibe, 2014). Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 2, 13-18.

Galen, L. W. (2014). Nonreligious and atheist emerging adults. In C. Berry & M. Abo-Zena (Eds.), Emerging adults’ religiousness and spirituality: Meaning-making in an age of transition (pp. 237-252). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Galen, L. W. & Beahan, J. (2013). A skeptical review of religious prosociality research. Free Inquiry, 33, 14-24. [Winner – Forkosch Award for best Free Inquiry article of 2013].

Galen, L. W. (2012). Does religious belief promote prosociality?: A critical examination. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 876-906.

Galen, L. W. (2012). The complex and elusive nature of religious prosociality: Reply to Myers (2012) and Saroglou (2012). Psychological Bulletin, 138, 918-923.

Galen, L. W., & Kloet, J. (2011). Personality and social integration factors distinguishing non-religious from religious groups: The importance of controlling for attendance and demographics. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 33, 205-228.

Galen, L. W., & Kloet, J. (2011). Mental well-being in the religious and the non-religious: evidence for a curvilinear relationship. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 14, 673-689.

Galen, L. W., Smith, C., Knapp, N., Wyngarden, N. (2011). Perceptions of religious and nonreligious targets: Exploring the effects of perceivers’ religious fundamentalism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41, 2123-2143.

Galen, L. W., & Miller, T.R. (2011). Perceived deservingness of outcomes as a function of religious fundamentalism and target responsibility. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41, 2144-2164.

Galen, L. W., Wolfe, M.B.W., Deleeuw, J., & Wyngarden, N. (2009). Religious fundamentalism as schema: Influences on memory for religious information. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39, 1163-1190.