Research Directions

Across the world and through time, people have felt a spiritual connection with nature. This connection comes in many flavours—from feeling at one with nature to seeing nature as God's creation. These beliefs matter because they shape the way we make important decisions about how nature is treated. 

Where do these beliefs come from? Why are they so prevalent? And what role do they play in a world marked by rapid cultural and ecological changes? Questions like these speak to the basic questions of how we culturally construct the natural world and the wide-ranging consequences of that process. 

Review of current research on ecospirituality and its link to environmental preservation and human well-being.

Billet, M. I., Baimel, A., Schaller, M., & Norenzayan, A. (2025) Ecospirituality. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 34(2), 97-104. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214241304326

Ecospirituality leverages the same psychological mechanisms to predict concern for nature across the world.

Billet, M. I. & Baimel. A. (in review). Ecospirituality predicts pro-environmental outcomes across cultures. Preprint available: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/dtu7c 

Ecospirituality is linked to societal factors that are shifting rapidly around the world.

Billet, M. I. & Baimel. A. (in review). Religion, urbanization, and affluence are antecedents of ecospirituality across cultures. Preprint available: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/veq2k 

Ecospirituality is associated with multiple indicators of well-being.

Billet, M. I., McPherson, A. R., Norenzayan, A., & Schaller, M. (2025). Seeing nature through a spiritual lens: The effects of a novel photo-taking task on environmental concern and well-being. Collabra: Psychology, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.128463

People from diverse religious backgrounds who have a spiritual connection with nature feel more grateful to nature.

White, C. J. M., & Billet, M. I. (2024). The roles of anthropomorphism, spirituality, and gratitude in pro-environmental attitudes. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2024.2363759 

Ecospiritual people moralize nature and make principled decisions about environmental issues.

Billet, M. I., Baimel, A., Sahakari, S. S., Schaller, M., & Norenzayan, A. (2023). Ecospirituality: The psychology of moral concern for nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 87, 102001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102001

Political polarization is one of the greatest barriers to addressing environmental issues. Poll after poll show political differences in attitudes towards climate change and environmental policy. These polls suggest that political discourse can be made better than it currently is. This requires identifying the common ground on which liberals and conservatives see eye-to-eye.

I've asked over a thousand liberals and conservatives to explain why nature is worth preserving, in their own words. The amount of common ground they shared was astonishing. How can we use these insights to work towards mutual goals? 

Liberals and conservatives share political common ground on why nature is worth preserving.

Billet, M. I., Baimel, A., Milfont, T. L., & Norenzayan, A. (2024). Political common ground on preserving nature: Environmental motives across the political spectrum. Environment & Behavior, 56(7-8), 542-576. https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165241303315

If you thought the world would end in your lifetime, how would your life be different? 

Polls show that 30% of Americans literally believe the world will end in their lifetime. International polling suggests this isn't a unique phenomenon. In fact, this belief appears throughout history and is said to have motivated an incredibly diverse set of phenomena, from quiet passivity to violent rebellion. 

This research program addresses basic psychological questions pertaining to people's beliefs about existential threats. How do perceptions of threats become apocalyptic narratives? What are the psychological similarities and differences between traditional religious narratives and modern secular narratives about existential threats? And what role do these narratives play in a society's ability to address or adapt to threats?

The end of world beliefs of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and nonreligious Americans can help us predict how these groups will react to pressing global risks.

Billet, M. I., White, C. J. M., Shariff, A., & Norenzayan, A. (in review). End of world beliefs are common, diverse, and predict how people perceive and respond to global risks. Preprint available: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hq59n

Nearly 100 million Americans report going to church each week, and many say they are there primarily to hear the sermon. To put that into context, only 67 million Americans tuned in to watch the 2024 presidential debate. This makes religious sermons one of the most prolific forms of mass communication in the country. Yet, we know little about the contents of these sermons or the factors that shape sermon content.

Using modern natural language processing methods, I analyze over 20,000 live sermon transcripts from across the United States. These tools let us describe at a high level what exactly is said in American churches, and also provides insights into how sermons differ across churches, denominations, and regions of the United States.

Sermons can provide a window into the diversity and evolution of religion in America.

Billet, M.I., Götz, F.M., Gvirtz, A., & Norenzayan, A. (Under Review). The Many Faces of the Church: A Portrait of American Christianity in 20,624 Sermons.

There's a new colleague at the office that you have yet to meet and people are gossiping about them in the break room. What information might you hope to hear?

Humans are remarkably talented at forming fast impressions of other humans—we've evolved to do it! And it turns out that how we perceive others depends quite a bit on the context. If you were passing this new colleague in a dark alley at night or were asked to care for them when they were sick, would you still be interested in the same information about them? If they were a child, rather than adult, would your interests change as well?

This program of research investigates how our perceptions of others are shaped by situational context, including differences in place (e.g., office versus dark alley) and person (e.g., adult versus child).

What we want to know about other people depends on the other person's age.

Billet, M. I., Hohm, I., Dunn, R. M.*, Hofer, M. K., Sidloski, B., & Schaller, M. (under review). What Do people want to know about another person? The answer differs depending on whether that person is an adult or a child. Preprint available: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/p3xf6

What we want to know about other people depends on the situation.

Billet, M. I., McCall, H. C., & Schaller, M. (2022). What motives do people most want to know about when meeting another person? An investigation into prioritization of information about seven fundamental motives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(4), 495–509. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211069468

As an undergraduate student, I had the pleasure of conducting a study with Professor Cynthia Fekken. I wanted to know why bad people with bad reputations are still able to gain people's trust. After all, the literature on the Dark Triad of personality (psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism) is full of examples of bad people hurting others, precisely because they are able to gain their trust.

One idea is that we judge bad people to be good at doing bad things (not horribly bad things, but bad things that a regular university student might find themselves interested in doing from time to time—throwing keg parties, lying to professors, you know!) Anyways, we didn't find any evidence for that idea. 

We did find that bad people who propose to do good things are judged to be more trustworthy than good people who propose to do bad things. This tendency is the sort of thing that a sweet-talking bad person could take advantage of. If this interests you, check out our paper!

We trust bad people when they say they are going to do good things.

Billet, M. I., & Fekken, G. C. (2020). The influence of instrumentality in trusting Dark Triad members. Personality and Individual Differences, 154, 109690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109690