Religious residue: Cross-cultural evidence that religious psychology and behavior persist following deidentification.

More than 1 billion people worldwide report no religious affiliation. These nones represent the world's third largest religion-related identity group and are a diverse group, with some having previous identification others never identifying as religious. We examined how 3 forms of identification-current, former, never-influence range cognitions, emotions, behavior. Three studies using nationally representative samples Western (United States), secular (Netherlands, New Zealand) Eastern (Hong Kong) cultures showed evidence residue effect: Formerly individuals (i.e., dones) differed from currently in cognitive, emotional, behavioral processes. Study (n = 3,071) offered initial cross-cultural evidence, which was extended preregistered replication study that also included measures charitable contribution (Study 2; n 1,626). (N 31,604) found who deidentified were still relatively likely to engage prosocial behavior (e.g., volunteering) after leaving religion. This research has broad implications for understanding changing global trends their consequences psychology (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).