Author : Lawton K. Swan
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (7 download)
Book Synopsis Attitudes Toward Religiosity and Dogmatism by : Lawton K. Swan
Download or read book Attitudes Toward Religiosity and Dogmatism written by Lawton K. Swan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: Negative attitudes toward atheists in America suggest that theistic beliefs are an important and perhaps crucial component of social acceptance, though there is still demonstrated and yet unexplained variability both between and within religious faiths. In national polling data, for example, Christians identified as Fundamentalists received more negative evaluations than their non-fundamentalist counterparts, perhaps suggesting a non-linear relationship between attitudinal evaluations and degree of religiosity. To begin exploring this phenomenon, the present survey research employed a sample of 541 students at three large southeastern institutions of higher education to address three research aims: (1) to replicate and extend previous research on negative attitudes toward atheists by examining attitudes toward fictitious characters with various religiosity identifications (atheist, agnostic, not religious, somewhat religious, very religious, and religious fundamentalist), (2) to test formally the hypothesis that both atheists and religious fundamentalists would be evaluated more negatively than those with non-fundamentalist religious beliefs, and (3) to explore the potential role of terror management in the formation and maintenance of these attitudes. This study found support for a general bias against atheists on an attitude measure, but did not find support for a general bias against religious fundamentalists. Further, attitudes toward a fictitious character were not more negative when the character was perceived as relatively religious and dogmatic. Finally, presenting participants with a biography of a person who identifies as an atheist or a religious fundamentalist did not appear to trigger death-thought awareness in this sample.