Public Support for a Ban on Headscarves: A Cross-National Perspective

This paper compares a psychological explanation of support for a ban on headscarves in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands. This study examines how perceptions of threat posed by Muslims and Islam and the overall attitude towards Muslims explain support for a ban on headscarves. In addition, cross-national comparisons are made to study how these relations are affected by contextual differences. Analyses are based on the 2005 survey on Islamic extremism by the Pew Research Center. Results show that the countries have a large influence on whether someone supports the ban on headscarves, indicating that contextual differences matter. In addition, having a negative attitude towards Muslims makes it more likely to support a ban on headscarves. In general, perceived threat contributes to stronger support, although there are slight differences in effect between the countries. Finally, perceived threat equally influences support for the ban on headscarves among prejudiced and non-prejudiced people

Tolerance of Muslim minority identity enactment: The roles of social context, type of action and cultural continuity concern

There have been strong debates in many European countries about religious identity enactment of Muslims, with the wearing of the headscarf in public places being a central symbolic topic. This study investigated the importance of the context (private versus three public contexts) for tolerance of Muslim identity enactment (e.g., the wearing of headscarves) among a national sample of Dutch majority group members. Using an experimental design, it was found that tolerance was highest in the private context, followed by the street context and then the contexts of work. Furthermore and in all contexts, tolerance of Muslims persuading others to start enacting their religious identity in a similar way was lower than tolerance of identity enactment itself. Moreover, both types of tolerance were found to differ by context only for majority members who were highly concerned about the continuity of their ingroup's cultural identity (i.e., cultural continuity). It is concluded that context-related and action-related variance, as well as cultural continuity, are important for majority members' tolerance of Muslim minority identity enactment

Disentangling national and religious identification as predictors of support for religious minority rights among Christian majority groups

It is often assumed that, in Western societies, Christian values are embedded in national identities, yet, the association between religious identities and prejudice has seldom been studied in parallel to national identity. According to both the social identity theory approach and integrated threat theory, group identification is important for perceiving threats and expressing corresponding attitudes. Nevertheless, their independent roles on intergroup outcomes have often been ignored, although they are two of the most salient and important identities when considering support for religious minority rights. We address this gap in research by looking at the associations of religious identity with support for religious minority rights in general and Muslims in particular in parallel to national identity through diversity threat. This study was conducted among the members of majority groups in four Western countries: Australia, Finland, Germany, and Norway (N = 1,532), all of which are characterised as traditionally Christian. We found that a higher religious identification was associated with greater support for religious minority rights in general and for those of Muslims in particular, while national identification had no direct association with support for either groups' religious rights. However, both group identifications were also associated with heightened perceived diversity threat, which in turn, predicted reluctance to support religious minority rights. This demonstrates the dual role that religious identities may play in intergroup relations.Peer reviewe

Tolerance of the Muslim headscarf: Perceived reasons for wearing a headscarf matter

In many West European countries, debates about Muslim women wearing a headscarf in public positions evolve around the question whether the reason for wearing it is personal choice, religious freedom or community pressures. This study uses national samples of Dutch and German majority group members (N = 3734) and an experimental design to investigate whether their tolerance of the headscarf worn by a civil servant depends on four perceived reasons for wearing it. The findings indicated that a headscarf that is perceived to be worn out of personal choice was tolerated the most, and for reasons of normative community pressures was tolerated the least, with perceived reasons of religious and cultural identity enactment in between. Additionally, we found that higher (versus lower) authoritarian individuals were less likely to differentiate between the different reasons. In conclusion, perceived motives and authoritarianism are important to consider in understanding majority group members’ tolerance of the headscarf

The Attitudes of Deconverted and Lifelong Atheists Towards Religious Groups : The Role of Religious and Spiritual Identity

Increasing atheism, or the view that there is no God, is a major trend affecting the Western religious landscape. Scholarly interest in atheists has grown together with their number, but unanswered questions abound. In this study, we present survey data (N = 758) collected from deconverted and lifelong atheists in four countries (Australia, Finland, Germany, and Norway), and investigate the relationships between deconversion, religious identity, spiritual identity, and interreligious attitudes. We show that retaining a low level of religious or spiritual identity is more typical for deconverts than life-long atheists. Furthermore, we demonstrate that higher religious or spiritual identity among deconverts is associated with more positive attitudes toward different religious groups (national religious majority, religious minorities in general, and Muslims specifically).Peer reviewe

Dual citizenship and the perceived loyalty of immigrants

This survey experiment examined national majority group members' reactions to immigrants' citizenship status with a focus on dual citizenship. A sample of 779 participants (n(Finland) = 174; n(Netherlands) = 377; n(Germany) = 228) was used to examine whether immigrants' citizenship status affects trust towards immigrants, willingness to accept immigrants in strategic positions, and support for immigrants' social influence in society. Perceived group loyalties were expected to mediate these relationships. Compared to national citizens, dual citizens were perceived as having lower national loyalty and higher foreign loyalty. Compared to foreign citizens, dual citizens were perceived to have higher national loyalty but equally high foreign loyalty. Higher national loyalty was further associated with higher trust, acceptance, and support, whereas higher foreign loyalty was associated with lower trust, acceptance, and support. These findings are discussed in relation to societal debates on dual citizenship and the limited social psychological research on this topic.Peer reviewe

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative: Investigating Immigration and Social Policy Preferences. Executive Report.

In an era of mass migration, social scientists, populist parties and social movements raise concerns over the future of immigration-destination societies. What impacts does this have on policy and social solidarity? Comparative cross-national research, relying mostly on secondary data, has findings in different directions. There is a threat of selective model reporting and lack of replicability. The heterogeneity of countries obscures attempts to clearly define data-generating models. P-hacking and HARKing lurk among standard research practices in this area.This project employs crowdsourcing to address these issues. It draws on replication, deliberation, meta-analysis and harnessing the power of many minds at once. The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative carries two main goals, (a) to better investigate the linkage between immigration and social policy preferences across countries, and (b) to develop crowdsourcing as a social science method. The Executive Report provides short reviews of the area of social policy preferences and immigration, and the methods and impetus behind crowdsourcing plus a description of the entire project. Three main areas of findings will appear in three papers, that are registered as PAPs or in process