Thinking of God may give people the courage to seek out and take risks, a new study suggests.

The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, goes against research that indicates religious people are less likely to engage in risky behaviour, such as gambling.

Lead researcher Daniella Kupor of Stanford University Graduate School of Business, noticed that the risks examined in the previous studies tended to focus on negative behaviour.

She and her colleagues reasoned that that thinking about God may have a different effect when the risks are morally neutral, such as skydiving, because they believe God will protect them from harm.

To investigate, they issued online surveys to nearly 900 people and found that those who were reminded of God – either by working on word scrambles that included God-related words or by reading a paragraph about God – were more willing to take risks than participants who weren't prompted to think about religion.

In one study participants were asked to choose which version of the survey they wanted to complete.

One version would give them a small bonus payment, but involved looking at an 'extremely bright colour' that they were told could potentially damage their eyes, while the other version involved looking at a harmless darker colour.

The researchers found that participants who had been reminded of God before making their choice were more likely to opt for the dangerous version of the experiment (96 per cent) than those who hadn't been reminded of God (84 per cent).

In a different study, the researchers posted variations of three adverts online and recorded the click-through rates for each.

Some adverts promoted an immoral risk, such as 'learn how to bribe,' others promoted a non-moral risk, such as 'find skydiving near you' and another set promoted no risk, such as 'find amazing video games'.

In some cases, the adverts included a mention of God – for example, 'God knows what you're missing! Find skydiving near you.'

The research revealed that when the adverts included a religious reference, people clicked on the non-moral risk of skydiving, more often.

However, they clicked on the bribing – moral risk – less often.

'We were surprised to find that even a simple colloquial expression – "God knows what you're missing" – influences whether people click on a real online ad that is promoting a risky behaviour,' Ms Kupor said.

The study also indicated that people who were reminded of God perceived less danger in various risky behaviours than participants who were not reminded of God.