Ratings of Prosocial Personality Traits are Contaminated by Religious Stereotype Bias
Presentation Type
Poster/Portfolio
Presenter Major(s)
Psychology
Mentor Information
Luke Galen
Department
Psychology
Location
Kirkhof Center KC62
Start Date
11-4-2012 9:00 AM
Keywords
Identity, Religion, Social Science, World Perspective
Abstract
A religious prosociality stereotype exists such that relgiosity and prosociality are presumed to be associated. Previous research has not controlled for the religiosity of the participant nor the target subject. One measure of prosociality is the personality trait of aggreableness. The level of religiosity and personality traits of the participants were measured in a prescreening survey. Later in the semester, participants rated religiously-labeled targets (e.g., Christian, Atheist) on personality adjectives. Participants higher in religiosity attributed greater Agreeableness to religious targets, an effect mediated by stereotypes about the nonreligious. This tendency was lessened when the perceiver was more agreeable regardless of religiosity. Ratings of Agreeableness are affected to a large extent by stereotypes of religious prosociality and religious ingroup bias.
Ratings of Prosocial Personality Traits are Contaminated by Religious Stereotype Bias
Kirkhof Center KC62
A religious prosociality stereotype exists such that relgiosity and prosociality are presumed to be associated. Previous research has not controlled for the religiosity of the participant nor the target subject. One measure of prosociality is the personality trait of aggreableness. The level of religiosity and personality traits of the participants were measured in a prescreening survey. Later in the semester, participants rated religiously-labeled targets (e.g., Christian, Atheist) on personality adjectives. Participants higher in religiosity attributed greater Agreeableness to religious targets, an effect mediated by stereotypes about the nonreligious. This tendency was lessened when the perceiver was more agreeable regardless of religiosity. Ratings of Agreeableness are affected to a large extent by stereotypes of religious prosociality and religious ingroup bias.