Say Your Prayers, But Make ‘Em Quick: Replicating the Effects of Three Minutes of Prayer on Forgiveness

The correlates and effectiveness of partner-focused prayer: A meta-analysis of relational health.

“…In previous studies, partner-focused prayer has been found to foster greater cooperation in a mixed-motive game following a partner’s “hurtful behavior” (Lambert et al, 2013). Similarly, Marschall et al (2012) found that those in the prayer-for-partner condition had lower retaliation and higher benevolent tendencies compared to those in the control group. Vasiliauksas and McMinn (2013) also reported on how a prayer intervention increased not only state forgiveness but also empathy toward a person who committed an interpersonal offense in the intervention group as compared to a control group.…”

The effects of brief prayer on the experience of forgiveness: An American and Indian comparison

“…A 3‐way culture (American vs. Indian) by condition (prayer vs. control) by time (pre‐test vs. post‐test) mixed ANCOVA was computed. Following Lambert et al () and Marschall et al () in analytic approach, we controlled for gratitude, prayer frequency, self‐reported religiousness and gender in all analyses, however, the results are unchanged irrespective of inclusion or exclusion of covariates. Plots of the condition by time interactions for both Americans and Indians are provided in Figure .…”

“…Hence, the experimental prayer manipulation may have separated the control and prayer groups, but the extent to which the prayer group actually increased in forgiveness could not be inferred. Likewise, a strict replication of the Lambert et al study also reported only post‐test levels of forgiveness and conducted only between‐groups prayer versus control comparisons (Marschall et al, ).…”

“…Lambert et al's first study documented the immediate benefits of 3 minutes of prayer for forgiveness. Marschall, Toussaint, Stuart, and Gates () provided the only known study that showed that the effect of 3 minutes of prayer could be replicated in an independent sample. Documenting the effectiveness of brief prayer in promoting forgiveness is significant because the implicit, though often not explicitly tested, assumption of subsequent work has been that brief, daily episodes of prayer will offer a long‐term boost in forgiveness.…”

“…Time 2 data only were previously published(Marschall, Toussaint, Stuart, & Gates, 2012) in an exact procedural replication ofLambert et al (2010). All of the analyses and findings presented in this study are new and have not been published heretofore elsewhere.…”