Late Abrahamic reunion? Religious fundamentalism negatively predicts dual Abrahamic group categorization among Muslims and Christians (original) (raw)
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Although extensive research has documented the effectiveness of common or dual in-groups on improving intergroup relations, little is known about how individual-difference variables affect people's willingness to make such re-categorizations in the first place. Here, we demonstrate that individual differences in religious fundamentalism predict willingness to categorize in terms of the common Abrahamic religious origins of Christianity and Islam among Christians and Muslims. Study 1 (n = 243 Christians, 291 Muslims) uses multigroup structural equation modeling and Study 2 (n = 80 Christians) an experimental manipulation to show that religious fundamentalism causes lower dual Abrahamic categorization, which, in turn, predicts more positive attitudes toward the respective out-group, mediating the negative effects of religious fundamentalism on religious intergroup bias. While making the general case that individual differences may play important roles for dual categorizations, these results also highlight the specific positive potential of dual ecumenical categorizations for improving interreligious relations. Research and societal implications are discussed.
Religious fundamentalism is associated with Christian-Islamic conflicts globally, but the psychological reasons remain unexplored. Here, we show that fundamentalism is detrimental to inter-religious relations because it makes Christians and Muslims alike reject common theological grounds and Abrahamic origins. Specifically, Study 1 demonstrated that such dual Abrahamic categories mediated the negative effects of fundamentalism on real monetary donations to out-group children desperately in need (i.e., Save the Children Syria) among Christians, but not Atheists. Importantly, this was the case only to the degree that Syrian children were perceived as Muslims and, hence, part of an Abrahamic out-group. Using a double-randomized experimental design, Study 2 demonstrated the causal effects of religious fundamentalism on Abrahamic categorization and of Abrahamic categorization on mutual resource distribution bias among Muslims and Christians. Together, these studies suggest that religious fundamentalism fuels inter-religious conflicts because it crucially impacts basic categorization processes, with subsequent negative effects on intergroup relations.
Religious fundamentalism is associated with Christian-Islamic conflicts globally, but the psychological reasons remain unexplored. Here, we show that fundamentalism is detrimental to inter-religious relations because it makes Christians and Muslims alike reject common theological grounds and Abrahamic origins. Specifically, Study 1 demonstrated that such dual Abrahamic categories mediated the negative effects of fundamentalism on real monetary donations to out-group children desperately in need (i.e., Save the Children Syria) among Christians, but not Atheists. Importantly, this was the case only to the degree that Syrian children were perceived as Muslims and, hence, part of an Abrahamic out-group. Using a double-randomized experimental design, Study 2 demonstrated the causal effects of religious fundamentalism on Abrahamic categorization and of Abrahamic categorization on mutual resource distribution bias among Muslims and Christians. Together, these studies suggest that religious fundamentalism fuels inter-religious conflicts because it crucially impacts basic categorization processes, with subsequent negative effects on intergroup relations.
Psikohumaniora: Jurnal Penelitian Psikologi, 2020
Contact between groups continues to be recognized as a variable that affects prejudice. The effectiveness of the impact of such contacts on prejudice is influenced by other variables, according to the characteristics of the group. This study aims to determine the effect of group identity mediation and religious fundamentalism on the influence of intergroup contact on the prejudice of transnational Islamic groups against moderate Islamic ones. The research subjects were selected randomly from 365 members of Jama’ah Tabligh, a transnational Islamic group in Semarang, Indonesia. The research data collection used the scales of prejudice, intergroup contact, group identity, and religious fundamentalism, while the data analysis employed structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that group identity and religious fundamentalism have a mediating effect on intergroup contact's impact on the prejudice of transnational Islamic groups against moderate ones. This research's th...
Religiosity and prejudice revisited: In-group favoritism, out-group derogation, or both?
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2012
Two studies focused on the relationship between religiosity and intergroup bias. In Study 1, participants completed brief measures of religiosity and spirituality and attitudes toward religiously value-consistent in-groups (Christians, heterosexuals) and value-violating out-groups (atheists, Muslims, and gay men). As predicted, selfreported religiosity and spirituality correlated positively with more negative attitudes toward out-groups relative to in-groups. In Study 2, priming methods were used to examine whether activating cognitive representations of religion would affect intergroup bias. Individuals subliminally primed with religious words showed significantly larger increases in negative attitudes toward value-violating out-groups relative to attitudes toward in-groups than those primed with neutral words. This change in relative attitudes was due to simultaneous increases in in-group favoritism and outgroup derogation. These effects remained when statistically controlling for selfreported religiosity and spirituality and preexisting attitudes toward these groups. Furthermore, there were no interaction effects between religious primes and selfreported levels of religiosity, indicating that the religion primes drove the effects. Results are discussed in light of religious priming and its association with increases in attitudes relevant to the social group component of religion.
The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 2016
The present study aims to understand the conditions where prejudice can be predicted by ingroup and outgroup meta-prejudice. The data collecting was disseminated toward Muslim and Christian participants (N = 362) living in Maumere, Flores Island, Indonesia. In Flores, Christianity is the largest religion and Islam is the second. Across two samples, the effects of ingroup and outgroup meta-prejudice on prejudice were found to be moderated by ingroup self-evaluation. It shows that at high level (but not low) of positive ingroup self-evaluation, the effect of ingroup and outgroup meta-prejudice on prejudice was significant. The results suggest that it is important to consider how group members evaluate their own group and how group members think what others are thinking, in the study pertaining to intergroup relations.
Prejudice in inter-religious context: The role of meta-prejudice and majority-minority status
Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 2017
Samples of two hundred forty-five majority Sunny Muslims, 87 Ahmadiyya Muslims and 145 Christians were used to investigate the determinants and mediators of prejudice in inter-religious context in Indonesia. First, the study extends the idea of ingroup and outgroup meta-prejudice; both of which were found to mediate the relationship between perceived quality of intergroup relationship and personal prejudice. Second, we expected that majority members are more likely to reject a minority, and that a minority is more likely to more strongly reject another minority than the majority for self-serving reasons. Additionally, the Sunni majority will prejudice and reject the Ahmadiyya minority more than the Christian minority due to the strained religious relation between the two Muslim groups. The hypotheses were confirmed. The findings are discussed in the context of stereotyping and prejudice dynamics in other intergroup conflicts and ways of coping with such conflict are suggested.
Developmental and Social Determinants of Religious Social Categorization
Journal of Genetic Psychology, 2012
The purpose of this study was to assess developmental and social determinants of the age at which children become aware that the social environment can be marked by categorization into religious groups and that those groups are associated with different religious beliefs. The results show that middle childhood is a critical period for this religious social categorization. Moreover, social factors play a role in the development. Religious categorization is likely to appear sooner in children attending heterogeneous schools than in those at homogeneous schools, and children from the minority religious group in the country understand religious categorization earlier than children from the majority group. However, no relation was found between the age at which religious categorization was understood and parents’ religious socialization practices. This study is of both theoretical and practical interest: It complements what is already known about gender, race, and ethnic categorization by integrating developmental and social frameworks, and it can serve as a guideline for educational programs.
Investigating Stereotypes Towards the Outgroup: The Role of Religious Concepts and Group Membership
Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 2019
We examined the effects of exposure to religious concepts on stereotypes of two unique groups in Israel-Arab Muslims and Arab Christians. In Study 1, Muslim persons exposed to Jewish concepts and Christian persons exposed to Christian concepts showed increased negative stereotypes toward Jews. The findings were replicated in Study 2, additionally showing that identification with the religious ingroup has a moderating effect, which either increases or reduces stereotypes following exposure to outgroup concepts. In Study 3, a control condition was run, confirming that the religious priming effects were due to an increase in negative stereotypes. Thus, the paradox of religion may be partially accounted for by group distinctiveness, exposure to specific religious content, group membership, and identification with the ingroup.
Religious Fundamentalism as a Predictor of Prejudice: A Two-Component Model
The present study aims to determine whether the empirical relationship between religious fundamentalism and prejudice can be accounted for in terms of the mutually opposing effects of Christian orthodoxy and right-wing authoritarianism using multiple regression. Three separate samples (total n = 320) completed measures of religious fundamentalism, right-wing authoritarianism, Christian orthodoxy, ethnic prejudice and homosexual prejudice. Consistent with previous research, fundamentalism (1) was essentially unrelated to ethnic prejudice when considered alone;(2) was positively related to ethnic prejudice when orthodoxy was statistically controlled; and (3) was negatively related to ethnic prejudice when authoritarianism was statistically controlled. Finally, when both authoritarianism and orthodoxy were controlled simultaneously, fundamentalism was again unrelated to prejudice, whereas orthodoxy was negatively related and authoritarianism positively related. In contrast, fundamentalism was a significant positive predictor of prejudice against gays and lesbians irrespective of whether authoritarianism and/or orthodoxy were statistically controlled.