Using Religious Affiliation to Spontaneously Categorize Others
Authors:
Matthew Weeks a;
Mark A. Vincent b
| Affiliations: | a Centenary College of Louisiana, |
| b Augustana College, |
DOI:
10.1080/10508610701572846
Publication Frequency:
4 issues per year
Published in:
International Journal for the Psychology of Religion,
Volume
17,
Issue
4
October
2007
, pages 317
- 331
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Abstract
The informativeness of a social category strongly influences the degree to which a target will be categorized along that dimension; given the social significance of religion, categorizing on the basis of religious affiliation seems likely. We used a statement recognition paradigm across 3 studies to assess this hypothesis. In Study 1, participants categorized targets along a religious dimension but not a visually salient alternative dimension. In Study 2, two replications revealed religious categorization took place in addition to categorization by another prominent and visually salient alternative social category (race). In Study 3, targets were categorized along the religious dimension even though target religiosity had to be extrapolated from a variety of social group memberships. The results are discussed in terms of the prominence of categorization along a religious dimension relative to alternative social categories that have received more attention in the social psychology literature.
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