The effects of religious references on identity salience and social behaviors

In the aftermath of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks on U.S. soil (e.g., the Boston bombings) researchers began to empirically investigate the conditions under which religion can lead to supporting or committing violence. The contradictory findings for the effects of religious references on both positive and negative behavior call for a closer examination of individual or contextual factors that influence the effect of religion on social behaviors. To address these contradictory findings and to identify the underlying mechanism involved, Study 1 examined the extent to which god-related or church-related religious references impact the salience of individual or group identities. Study 2 served two goals: (1) to test the extent exposure to religious references increases self-ratings of attitude certainty and ratings of the extent to which one\u27s stance is the correct stance (2) to test under what conditions the influence of religious references will lead to increased support for collective action or over-claiming of religious knowledge. Results suggest that religious references, in general, produce greater group identity salience. The current research develops our understanding of how religion influences individuals\u27 engagement in social behaviors. Specifically, we have now identified group identity salience as one mechanism through which religion may influence social behaviors

The Effect of Religious References on Identity Salience and Social Behaviors

In the aftermath of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks on U.S. soil (e.g., the Boston bombings) researchers began to empirically investigate the conditions under which religion can lead to supporting or committing violence. The contradictory findings for the effects of religious references on both positive and negative behavior call for a closer examination of individual or contextual factors that influence the effect of religion on social behaviors. To address these contradictory findings and to identify the underlying mechanism involved, Study 1 examined the extent to which god-related or church-related religious references impact the salience of individual or group identities. Study 2 served two goals: (1) to test the extent exposure to religious references increases self-ratings of attitude certainty and ratings of the extent to which one\u27s stance is the correct stance (2) to test under what conditions the influence of religious references will lead to increased support for collective action or over-claiming of religious knowledge. Results suggest that religious references, in general, produce greater group identity salience. The current research develops our understanding of how religion influences individuals\u27 engagement in social behaviors. Specifically, we have now identified group identity salience as one mechanism through which religion may influence social behaviors

The effect of religious imagery on following suggestions for risk-taking

Events such as 9/11 show that religion can be used to promote negative social behavior. The aim of the current study was to test whether religious imagery leads individuals to follow suggestions for increased risk-taking behaviors. The current study used culturally relevant positive and negative religious imagery primes (i.e., Virgin de Guadalupe and Santa Muerte) as well as positive and negative non- religious imagery primes (i.e., Frida Kahlo and La Malinche) and measured the extent to which individuals followed a confederate\u27s suggestions to engage in risky behaviors on a Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Individuals varied in the number of over inflations on the BART (our measure of risk) as a function of confederate suggestion and religious versus non-religious imagery. As predicted, the effect for confederate suggestion led to greater increased risk taking in the religious imagery condition than in the non-religious imagery condition. The findings have important implications for current narco-terrorism in Ciudad Juarez, and in other locations where terrorists use religious imagery to manipulate gang members. The findings demonstrate that when individuals are exposed to religious concepts, they are more susceptible to the influence of others to engage in risky behaviors