On election day, where do you vote? If it's in a church, you might be inclined to vote more conservatively than if you cast your (ballot) at a school or government building. That’s according to research published in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.
And the effect seems to hold, whether you’re Christian, Muslim or agnostic, progressive, independent or conservative.
The study found that when random people were (surveyed) in front of a church, they gave more socially and politically conservative responses than people surveyed while standing in front of a government building.
The shift in people's attitudes, the researchers suggest, was likely a result of visual priming—meaning that people who could see the (religious) building were, consciously or not, getting cues that influenced their response.
The surveys were conducted in Europe, so it's possible American voters might react differently. But the survey included subjects from more than 30 (countries) to try to minimize a particular national bias. So before you cast your vote this (election) year, think about whether your view is influencing your views.
