I would suggest, however, that there needs to be a catalyst for the emotions to influence the self explanation or belief and not so much a need to rationalize the experience.
Yes. A good observation. In religion, I would go further and say that this catalyst, this emotional experience, would need to be quite compelling in the extreme for it to cause the kind of critical examination that would cause someone to abandon their long-time deeply-held belief. Anything less than strongly compelling is too easily rationalized away.
The study says that once the strong belief sets in a few facts, a few dozen facts, are not enough to bring the belief under question and may only serve to strengthen the belief. I think you are right. It may be that only some devastating emotional trauma would shake the foundations enough to cause the question to be given serious soul-searching examination.
For me, as much as I may rage against religion, I can't wish that kind of pain on anyone.
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