Meaning in science as a response to existential threat

Objective: In the present registered report, we test whether belief in science as a source of meaning helps restore existential comfort following reminders of death in non-religious individuals. We predicted that spirituality of science––the capacity to experience high levels of transcendent spiritual meaning through science––may serve as proximal defence against existential anxiety and increase following reminders of death, especially for individuals who believe in science as a way of knowing. Methods: To test these hypotheses, we conducted a high-powered experiment (N = 697) with secular participants from the UK and the US and manipulated existential anxiety using a prompt asking them either to write down emotions evoked by thoughts about their own death (existential anxiety condition) or dental pain (control condition). Results: Contrary to the hypotheses, analyses indicated no significant differences in spirituality of science between conditions (and also when controlling for belief in science). Bayes factor analysis further indicated moderate evidence against such differences. Notably, post-hoc exploratory analyses of participants’ written responses revealed that only 35% of participants reported explicit feelings of existential anxiety, whilst 29% explicitly reported not being afraid of death. This suggests that the existential threat may not have been fully experienced by all secular participants in this study. Conclusions: Overall, we found no evidence to suggest that spirituality of science protects secular individuals against existential anxiety. We discuss implications for theory and future research.