Browsing by Author "McPhee, Rory"

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    Ideological prejudice among religious fundamentalists and atheists
    (University of New Brunswick, 2024-10) McPhee, Rory; Best, Lisa
    Numerous religious variables have been linked to a variety of prejudicial attitudes. Much of this research has repurposed measures from the study of ethnic prejudice. Unfortunately, these measures may not always be appropriate as members of religious groups are primarily distinct from each other due to ideological, rather than innate, differences. The goal of this study was to test the possibility that such prejudicial attitudes directed are partially targeted at outgroup teachings, rather than members, by having participants directly evaluate the morality of a sampling of teachings from several religious affiliations, with the authorship of the teachings scrambled to obscure their true sources. Significant relationships were found to influence assessments via either ingroup favoritism or outgroup discrimination. This study offers a versatile and less ambiguous method of assessing prejudice compared to some existing measures. Other novelties included the assessment of atheists and of how personality might play into religious prejudice.