A recent study of 511 American Christians revealed that people's conception of God is egocentric. Do people see a God who looks like them? Egocentrism suggests that people see the world and other people through the lens of the self. Perhaps the same is true with God, such that He shares not only people’s opinions, but also their facial features. We tested for the role of egocentrism in the perception of God by comparing God’s composite faces of (a) the youngest third of our sample with the oldest third of our sample, (b) the least attractive third of our sample with the most attractive third of our sample, (c) African American participants with Caucasian participants, and (d) men versus women.
The researchers conclude: These findings are striking in two respects. First, though many Christians claim that God’s appearance is unknowable, our sample of believers did appear to have stable representations of God’s face that included differentiable physical features (e.g. masculinity, youthfulness, and Whiteness) and psychological characteristics (e.g. lovingness). Second, even though American Christians ostensibly believe in the same God, people perceived Him in their own way, their perceptions reflecting their political ideologies and their own personal appearance.
For the original study, go to "The faces of God in America: Revealing religious diversity across people and politics" journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198745
The researchers conclude: These findings are striking in two respects. First, though many Christians claim that God’s appearance is unknowable, our sample of believers did appear to have stable representations of God’s face that included differentiable physical features (e.g. masculinity, youthfulness, and Whiteness) and psychological characteristics (e.g. lovingness). Second, even though American Christians ostensibly believe in the same God, people perceived Him in their own way, their perceptions reflecting their political ideologies and their own personal appearance.
For the original study, go to "The faces of God in America: Revealing religious diversity across people and politics" journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198745
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