The Role of (Non)religious Worldviews and Morality in Explaining Attitudes Towards Outgroups

Increasing religious diversity caused by immigration is often perceived as a threat to national majority members' (non)religious worldviews. However, defensive reactions to diversity are not inevitable. Building on the social identity approach and motivated identity construction theory, we argue that (non)religious worldviews that satisfy motivational needs may promote support for religious minorities' rights. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 1,499 national majority group members in four countries with Christian traditions (Australia, Finland, Germany, and Norway). Participants reported their adherence to a (non)religious worldview in terms of their (dis)belief in God, and also the extent to which their worldview satisfied their needs for belonging, continuity, and meaning in life. The more religious worldview was perceived to satisfy these motives, the more religious majority group members supported religious minorities' rights. Worldview motive satisfaction was not associated with support for religious minorities' rights among the non‐religious. In addition, perceived diversity threat was associated with weaker support for minority rights, but again, this negative effect of threat was less evident among religious participants whose religious worldview satisfied their needs for belonging, continuity, and meaning. We conclude that communities based on a shared (religious) worldview should invest in fulfilling the motivational needs of their members, to foster interreligious solidarity. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Positive and negative contact and attitudes towards the religious out-group: Testing the contact hypothesis in conflict and non-conflict regions of Indonesia and the Philippines

The generalization of attitudes toward individual outgroup members into attitudes toward the outgroup as a whole can affect intergroup relations. However, little is known about the relative strengths of the generalization of negative and positive interpersonal attitudes into attitudes about the outgroup. The unique contribution of negative (disliking) interpersonal attitudes to intergroup attitudes was examined and its strength was compared with the effect of positive (liking) interpersonal attitudes, using cross-sectional (Study 1; N = 733, age 10-12) and longitudinal data (Study 2; N = 960, age 12-13). Disliking uniquely contributed to respondents' outgroup attitudes. The generalization of interpersonal liking and disliking was about equally strong in both studies. This underpins the importance of examining the effects of both positive and negative intergroup contact experiences on the formation of outgroup attitudes.

We investigated how and when individuals transform existing cross‐group interactions into more positive attitudes towards outgroups. Specifically focusing on the context of Syrian immigration to Turkey, we examined whether native children'scross‐group friendship self‐efficacy beliefs—the perception of their abilities about building successful cross‐group interactions—moderated the direct and indirect associations between cross‐group friendship quantity (measured by the number of Syrian friends), cross‐group friendship positivity and negativity, and attitudinal outcomes (outgroup attitudes, intergroup anxiety, and social distance). Analyses of correlational data (5th graders,N = 746) demonstrated that direct and indirect (through cross‐group friendship positivity) associations between cross‐group friendship quantity and positive intergroup outcomes were stronger among children who held greater self‐efficacy beliefs. Importantly, quantity of such friendships was related to more negative intergroup outcomes through negative contact experiences among children who reported lower self‐efficacy beliefs. Theoretical implications of the findings and possible interventions targeting self‐efficacy beliefs in intergroup contact strategies were discussed.

This article focuses on the effects of positive and negative contact with majority Finns on the outgroup attitudes of remigrants from Russia to Finland. We tested (a) whether negative contact leads to negative outgroup attitudes via perceived threats, and (b) whether positive contact leads to positive outgroup attitudes via perceived gains seen to result from contact with majority Finns. We also tested whether the effects of contact with majority members generalized to attitudes toward other immigrant groups living in Finland. The study used 2-wave longitudinal panel data on Ingrian-Finnish remigrants (NT1 = 133, mean age 46.4 years, 73% females; NT2 = 85, mean age 49.3 years, 73% females). The results attested the effects of positive contact experiences on attitudes toward both majority and other minority group members, via perceived gains. As regards negative contact, it was associated with more negative attitudes toward the majority via perceived threats, but no evidence of secondary transfer effect on attitudes toward other immigrants was found. The results highlight the importance of simultaneous examination of positive and negative contact. Especially positive contact and gains perceived to result from it can be powerful tools in promoting positive outgroup attitudes also among minority group members. The results also show the role of majority group members in defining interminority attitudes.

For some people, religion strongly influences their worldviews. We propose that religious outgroups threaten the foundational beliefs of people with strong religious worldviews (RWVs) by endorsing alternative belief systems and that this threat contributes to religious prejudice. To examine these ideas, we developed a measure of RWV strength and assessed the role of RWV threat in religious prejudice. Across five studies, strength of RWV was related to religious prejudice, including derogation and denial of alternative religious viewpoints, as well as support for suppressing, avoiding, and even aggressing against religious outgroups. These responses were strongest toward religious outgroups whose worldviews were the most different, and therefore most threatening. Mediational analyses revealed that strong RWV people expressed heightened prejudice because of the worldview threat posed by religious outgroup members. These findings indicate that the avoidance and subjugation of religious outgroups can serve as a worldview protection strategy for some people.

Based on the argument that the ingroup projection model may not be applicable to the minority group when addressing the effect of relative ingroup prototypicality (RIP) on outgroup attitudes, two studies investigated whether RIP and its effects on outgroup attitudes differ for the majority (Han) and an ethnic minority group (Tibetan). We measured RIP and outgroup attitudes in Study 1 ( N = 164) and manipulated RIP in Study 2 ( N = 145). The results indicated that the Hans presented high RIP, whereas the Tibetans presented low RIP. The effects of RIP on outgroup attitudes were moderated by group size: High RIP among Hans resulted in negative outgroup attitudes, whereas high RIP among Tibetans led to positive outgroup attitudes. These findings imply that improving the minority group’s RIP by making its culture prototypicality equal to that of the majority group would lead to positive outgroup attitudes.

This 1-year follow-up study investigated the direct and indirect effects of past, anticipated, and actual experiences of inter-group interactions on the development of national identity and attitudes towards the national majority among ethnic re-migrants (N= 141) from Russia to Finland. According to the results, the quality of past inter-group contact in the pre-migration stage (T(1)) did not directly affect national identification and out-group attitudes in the post-migration stage (T(2)). Instead, the effect of contact quality at T(1) on national identification and out-group attitudes at T(2) was indirect via perceived discrimination and out-group rejection at T(2). In addition, there were two indirect pathways from out-group attitudes at T(1) to national identification and out-group attitudes at T(2), via pleasant contact experiences (further associated with positive out-group attitudes) and via perceived discrimination (further associated with negative attitudes and lower national identification) in the post-migration stage. Anticipated discrimination only had a direct effect on out-group attitudes in the post-migration stage. The results highlight the role of past and anticipated inter-group relations in the formation of post-migration inter-group interactions, which, in turn, are decisive for the formation of national identification and out-group attitudes of re-migrants.

The comparison of the views of teachers with positive and negative attitudes towards rubrics

Ingroup norms, intergroup contact and intergroup anxiety as predictors of the outgroup attitudes of majority and minority youth

Intergroup attitudes in a Norwegian town were investigated based on a survey with 12 to 16 year-old adolescents. Members of the ethnic majority group ( n > 1,100) and members of a minority group (ethnic Turks, n = 54) were studied. Two smaller immigrant groups (Pakistanis and Vietnamese) were used as additional attitude objects. The study demonstrated the expected association between outgroup friendships and more favourable outgroup attitudes. Explained variance of outgroup attitudes was limited among majority members, but was significantly higher among minority members. Boys among majority members demonstrated less favourable outgroup attitudes than those demonstrated by girls. However, they also revealed a higher association between contact and attitudes than girls did. The study was particularly interested in generalization effects across various outgroups. Although no common generalization effect was evident, the data indicated that friendships with members of one outgroup may be associated with either more positive or more negative attitudes towards another outgroup, dependent on the interrelations between the two outgroups. The study supported several hypotheses derived from the Contact Hypothesis, from Social Identity Theory, and from the Common Ingroup Identity Model. Still, it also demonstrated that intergroup relations in real world settings are more complex than laboratory experiments involving two groups can reflect. The data indicated that Muslim immigrant groups with different ethnic backgrounds might hold a common ingroup identity. At the same time, ethnic Norwegians demonstrated the least positive outgroup attitudes towards Muslim groups.

This article presents a theoretical framework for religiocentrism that is suited to cross-religious comparisons between Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Religiocentrism is defined as the combination of positive attitudes toward the religious ingroup and negative attitudes toward religious outgroup(s). Empirical research proves the relevance of the construct 'religiocentrism' among Christian, Muslim and Hindu college students in Tamil Nadu. Full score comparability is possible for positive ingroup attitudes but is hampered in the case of negative outgroup attitudes because of the specificity of outgroup prejudice to each religious group. Cross-religious differences between levels of positive ingroup attitudes can be explained in terms of the differential effects of socio-cultural, socio-economic and socio-religious characteristics. This topic calls for further reflection, taking into account contextual factors such as majority versus minority position and specific religious convictions for each religious tradition, more particularly within the context of Tamil Nadu. The article ends with a discussion of the findings.

The current research reveals that while positive expectations about an anticipated intergroup interaction encourage generalization of positive contact to outgroup attitudes, negative expectations restrict the effects of contact on outgroup attitudes. In Study 1, when Blacks and Whites interacted with positive expectations, interaction quality predicted outgroup attitudes to a greater degree than when groups interacted with negative expectations. When expectations (Studies 2 and 3) and the actual interaction quality (Study 4) were manipulated orthogonally, negative expectations about the interaction predicted negative outgroup attitudes, regardless of actual interaction quality. By contrast, participants holding positive expectations who experienced a positive interaction expressed positive outgroup attitudes, whereas when they experienced a negative interaction, they expressed outgroup attitudes as negative as those with negative expectations. Across all four studies, positive expectations encouraged developing outgroup attitudes consistent with interaction quality.

Although evidence indicates that religious persons are more generous on average than nonreligious persons, little work has been done to determine if this greater generosity is a general pattern or is, rather, specific to church-based institutions. Limited research addresses if, or how, religious and nonreligious givers respond to subsidies. This article uses experimental data to examine differences in the amount and pattern of giving to secular charities in response to subsidies by self-identified religious and nonreligious participants. The results indicate no significant difference in either the amount or pattern of giving or in the response to subsidies by religious and nonreligious participants; however, giving by religious participants is significantly more responsive to income changes than giving by nonreligious participants.

Lecturer trying to grow and improve the positive attitude of students in the study of the course so that students can learn an increased vigor in the course. Indeed, the persistence of the negative attitude of students to a course, and it does not mean all the students to be negative towards a course, otherwise many students a positive attitude towards a subject that is learned. Lecturer of the course seeks to evoke the spirit of students to love a subject and trying to build a positive attitude towards the subject that he teaches. If the student has not been able to raise it toward a positive attitude among students, it is difficult for educators to develop students are knowledgeable and skilled in mastering a subject. For students who are positive or negative attitude is always the case in the learning of a subject, and even negative attitude is more dominant than positive attitude. Thus, the learning that educators are given less attractive, so that lecturers are less able to foster a positive attitude in the students learn a subject. That the lecturer of the course is able to actualize its role optimally in the process of learning a course undoubtedly positive attitude of students in the learning will become more prevalent among students. From the description above, the attitude of a person when used in the learning activities of the course, there will be individuals who love a subject (positive attitude) or being otherwise is not like a subject (a negative attitude). For students who have a positive attitude about a course will learn of their own accord and devote full attention to the matter of the course. Instead negative student attitudes about a course would lead to inactive students in learning activities and will ultimately negative effect also on a subject that is learned