Transcript ButcherSpr2013x

Religious Affiliation Predicts Prejudice and Prosocial Behavior
Cody Butcher, Alex DeLaPena, Hemapreya Selvanathan
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Goodman, Ph. D
Introduction
• The relationship between religion, prejudice and prosocial behavior
is complex. Religion has long provided a tenet of goodness,
contributing to the widely held belief that religious adherence is
associated with lower prejudice and greater helping. However,
evidence exists to the contrary (Pargament, 2002).
• To conceptualize religion, social psychologists have described
religion in terms of religious orientation (Batson & Burris, 1994):
• Intrinsically religious believers internalize and follow a set of
religious teachings.
• Extrinsic believers view religion as a means to establish
interpersonal connections and external rewards.
• Quest believers are characterized by an openness to various
religious teachings without adhering strongly to any one doctrine.
• Religious fundamentalist believers commit to a set of religious
doctrine, believed to be the absolute truth, thereby creating an
“us” versus “them” mentality.
Methods
Results of Regression Analyses
Participants
• N = 230 UWEC students (129 women, 60 men, 41 no response;
mean age = 20.9; 95% Caucasian, 3% Asian American, 1%
African American, 1% Latino)
Regression Analysis Strategy
Fundamentalism was strongly predictive of greater prejudice and less helping
toward all groups, however fundamentalists represented a small percentage
of our sample (that exerted an undue influence on our regression models).
We removed this variable from consideration, and performed a series of four
regression analyses to parse out the variance in prejudice explained by
intrinsic religiosity, quest religiosity, and sex.
Procedure
• An e-mail was distributed inviting participants to complete an
anonymous survey regarding religious affiliation and social
attitudes and behaviors.
Predictor Variables
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•
•
Intrinsic Religiosity (10 items, α=.92, e.g., My faith involves all of
my life; My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole
approach to life)
Quest Religiosity (16 items, α=.90, e.g., My religious beliefs may
change in the future as I mature and learn)
Religious Fundamentalism (20 items, α=.95, e.g., God will punish
most severely those who abandon his true religion; There is a religion
on this earth that teaches, without error, God’s truth)
Criterion Variables
• Leak & Finken (2011) demonstrated complex links between religious
orientation and prejudice toward minority groups.
• Religious fundamentalism predicted prejudice toward Black,
Muslim, and gay and lesbian people.
• Quest religiosity predicted lower prejudice toward Black, Muslim,
and gay and lesbian people.
• Neither intrinsic nor extrinsic religiosity predicated prejudice
toward Black and Muslim people, but both predicted prejudice
toward gay and lesbian individuals.
• Research provides controversial findings on the link between
religion and prosociality (Pargament, 2002). Several researchers
describe religion as encouraging helping behaviors, while others
suggest that altruism develops independent of religious beliefs.
• We sought to replicate and extend the findings of previous
researchers by evaluating the relationships between religious
affiliation and prejudice, and between religious affiliation and
helping. Additionally, we sought to compare levels of prejudice and
helping between believers and nonbelievers.
Nonbelievers
8
•
•
•
•
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Feelings Towards Abortion (4 items, α=.92, e.g., how appropriate is
it for a woman to have an abortion)
Muslim Posse (6 items, α=.93, e.g., if the government created a law
allowing it, would you pursue Muslim militants)
Black Prejudice (19 items, α=.91, e.g., Black people have jobs
whites should have; Black people should not push themselves where
they are not wanted)
Gay and Lesbian Prejudice (20 items, α=.96, e.g., I think
female/male homosexuality is disgusting; The idea of female/male
homosexual marriages seems ridiculous to me)
Helping Questions (6 items, α=.93, e.g., if you found $20 would you
be willing to give it to an LGBTQ student association)
Results of ANOVA Analyses
ANOVA group differences between Nonbelievers and Believers
Significant group differences can be observed on the graphs by nonoverlapping standard error bars. Believers scored higher than
nonbelievers on all measures of prejudice, and on two measures of
religious orientation. Nonbelievers scored higher than believers on quest
religiosity and the abortion helping measure.
Believers
6
Nonbelievers
• Abortion Prejudice: Higher scores on intrinsic religiosity predicted higher
prejudice (β = .60, p <.001); whereas higher scores on quest religiosity
predicted lower prejudice (β = -.24, p < .003), R2adj = .427; F(2, 228) = 86.6,
p < .001)
• Muslim Prejudice: Intrinsic scores were unrelated to prejudice (β = .07, p
>.4); whereas higher quest scores predicted lower prejudice (β = -.28, p <
.007). Being male predicted greater prejudice (β = .22, p < .002), R2adj =
.14; F(3, 179) = 10.8, p < .001)
• Black Prejudice: Intrinsic scores were unrelated to prejudice (β = -.07, p
>.5); whereas higher quest scores predicted lower prejudice (β = -.38, p <
.001). Being male predicted greater prejudice (β = .18, p < .009), R2adj =
.12; F(3, 185) = 9.7, p < .001)
• LGBT Prejudice: Intrinsic scores were unrelated to prejudice (β = .09, p
>.2); whereas higher quest scores predicted lower prejudice (β = -.58, p <
.001). Being male predicted greater prejudice (β = .26, p < .001), R2adj =
.46; F(3, 184) = 54.24, p < .001)
Conclusion
• Our results indicated that compared to nonbelievers, believers scored
higher on intrinsic and fundamentalist religiosity. Somewhat surprisingly,
nonbelievers scored higher than believers on quest religiosity.
• A clear pattern emerged indicating that believers expressed more
prejudicial attitudes than nonbelievers toward all four minority groups we
considered. One type of religiosity - quest - predicted lower prejudice
toward all groups considered.
• Believers were no more likely than nonbelievers to indicate they would
provide a monetary donation to minority organizations. In fact, nonbelievers
exhibited a significantly higher likelihood to donate to an abortion
organization. A similar trend was evident in regards to organizations
affiliated with our other minority groups.
• Our findings make important theoretical contributions to the study of
religion, prejudice and helping.
Believers
6
5
4
3
2
5
Helping: Monetary Donation
($)
Prejudice Toward Group
Religious Orientation
7
4
3
2
1
Intrinsic
Religious Fundamentalism
We thank Learning & Technology Services for printing this poster.
Quest
1
Muslims
Blacks
Lesbian & Gay
Nonbelievers
14
Believers
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Abortion
Muslims
Blacks
LBGT