Dimensions of religiousness and their connection to racial, ethnic, and atheist prejudices

In this article, we review the most recent empirical research about the psychology of religion and intergroup prejudices based on race/ethnicity or religious identification. We highlight how social identity fusion, intergroup emotions, perceived value-conflict and threat, and system-justification contribute to degrees of prejudice. We also review connections between religiosity and attitudes toward-specific cultural groups (e.g. immigrants, atheists, and religious minority groups). Finally, we conclude with a few recommendations for ongoing research in this area, such as interdisciplinary and person-centered approaches.

Examining Christians' Reactions to Reminders of Religion-Science Conflict: Stereotype Threat versus Disengagement

Stereotypes of religion (particularly Christianity) as incompatible with science are widespread, and prior findings show that Christians perform worse than non-Christians on scientific reasoning tasks following reminders of such stereotypes. The present studies (N = 1,456) examine whether these reminders elicit stereotype threat (i.e., fear of confirming negative societal stereotypes about one's group), disengagement (i.e., distancing oneself from a domain perceived as incongruent with the values of one's group), or both. In Studies 1 and 2, Christians demonstrated lower task performance and greater subjective feelings of stereotype threat (but did not spend less time on the task) relative to non-Christians when beliefs about Christianity-science incompatibility were chronic or made salient. Furthermore, the effects of incompatibility stereotypes on performance were most pronounced among Christians who identified strongly with science and hence worried most about confirming negative stereotypes (Studies 3-4). Implications for Christians' responses to religion-science conflict narratives and participation in science are discussed.

Group-based meta-emotion and emotion responses to intergroup threat

In a secularizing world, religious groups are increasingly threatened by anti-religious groups. We present two studies investigating religious peoples' responses to anti-religious threats. We expected intergroup threats to shape group-based emotions and behavioural intentions through a novel pathway whereby threat affects group-based meta-emotions: the ingroup's perception of the outgroup's emotions towards the ingroup. In Study 1, we experimentally manipulated threat and group salience with participants from two different cultures (British and Latinx/Hispanic). Study 1 demonstrated non-interactive effects of threat increasing negative emotional responses and of group salience strengthening emotional responses. The results illustrated the role of group-based meta-emotions in predicting outgroup-directed emotions and behavioural response intentions. Study 2 used a different manipulation of threat in an American sample and an identity-based manipulation of salience to assess the impact of real-world anti-religious campaigns involving symbolic and realistic threats. Both threat types increased negative group-based meta-emotions, negative outgroup-directed emotions, desire to respond, and opposition to the anti-religious campaign compared to no threat. Overall, religious identity salience had little impact on outcomes. The indirect pathway through meta-emotion replicated, suggesting the importance of considering this novel meta-emotion pathway in intergroup relations.