Download or read book Perceptions of and behaviour toward religious people and atheists in Sweden and the USA written by Nathalie Hallin and published by Linköping University Electronic Press. This book was released on 2024-05-14 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religiosity has been present in societies throughout history and several theories hold that religion serves to foster trust and a sense of community within the religious ingroup. In many societies today, it is not uncommon to lack religious beliefs and religion is no longer a natural part of everyday life. The studies included in this thesis investigated how religious groups perceive each other or how generous they are to each other, both in the more secular Sweden and in the more religious USA. Paper 1 examined Swedes’ perceptions of atheists and religious people. Specifically, how often they associated atheists or religious people with extreme immoral behaviour by making a conjunction error. Previous studies using the same methodological paradigm have found that more people associate atheists, rather than religious people, with immoral behaviour. We found no significant association between target (atheist or religious person) and conjunction errors, indicating that Swedes do not associate immoral behaviour with atheists to a greater degree than they associate immoral behaviour with religious people. We compared the results to those presented in a previous study and found that the Swedish participants in our study made significantly fewer conjunction errors when the target was an atheist than a sample from the USA. They also made significantly more conjunction errors when the target was a religious person than a Finnish sample and the American sample. The results suggests that anti-atheist bias is lower in Sweden compared to the USA, but anti-religious bias is higher than in both Finland and the USA. However, it is also possible that the type of sample used affected the results – we recruited participants from social media while the other two samples were solely or mainly student samples. The study shows that the clear anti-atheist bias found in similar studies is not universal. Paper 2 investigated Christians’ and atheists’ perceptions of Christian, Muslim, and atheist job applicants in four studies, two with Swedish samples (studies 1 and 3) and two with samples from the USA (studies 2 and 4). Participants rated the perceived competence and likeability of a target applicant (Christian, Muslim, or atheist) and a control applicant (with no information about religious affiliation). In the last two studies, participants also specified if they would have hired the target or control applicant. Participants generally rated the control applicant as being more competent (USA) and more likeable (Sweden and USA) than the target applicant. Both Christian and atheist participants rated targets with the same religious affiliation higher in likeability than targets from one or both religious outgroups in two of the studies. The only significant difference in competence ratings between the targets were in study 3, where Christians rated Muslims as less competent than Christians. However, Christians’ likeability ratings in study 3 did not differ between targets. More atheists in study 3 hired the control applicant than the Christian applicant, but no other group differed in which applicant they hired. In conclusion, when people perceived one religious group to be more likeable, it was their ingroup. However, these results do not translate to perceptions of competence and seldom to hiring decisions. Paper 3 investigated generosity toward religious ingroup and outgroup members in three studies conducted in Sweden (study 1), the USA (study 2), and Egypt and Lebanon (study 3), using an adapted Dictator Game. Participants allocated a sum of money between themselves and three potential recipients. In the most relevant round, these were a Christian, a Muslim, and an atheist. We found that in studies 1 and 2, there was no significant difference in overall generosity between religious people, agnostics, and atheists in the rounds where they did not know the religious affiliation of the recipients. In the round where they knew the affiliation of recipients, religious people gave significantly more than atheists (studies 1 and 2) and agnostics (study 2). Study 3 had too few agnostics and atheists to compare their generosity to that of religious people. Christians, Muslims, and atheists in all three studies gave significantly more money to their respective religious ingroups than to the outgroup that was given the largest amount. This ingroup generosity was found in the other rounds as well. However, the ingroup minus outgroup amount was larger in the religion round compared to most other rounds. The exceptions were the ideology round in study 1 and 2, which did not differ significantly from the religion round. In study 2, the difference between ingroup and outgroup generosity was larger for Muslim participants than for Christians and atheists. In conclusion, religious people seem to be more generous only when they know the religious affiliation of recipients, but atheists, Muslims, and Christians are all more generous toward religious ingroup members than toward outgroup members. The papers together show that religious affiliation is an important group category that affects perceived likeability and generosity in several contexts. Religiositet har funnits i samhällen genom hela historien och flera teorier hävdar att religion bidrar till att främja förtroende och en känsla av gemenskap inom den religiösa ingruppen. I många samhällen idag är det vanligt att sakna religiösa övertygelser och religion är inte längre en naturlig del av vardagslivet. Studierna som ingår i denna avhandling undersökte hur religiösa grupper uppfattar varandra eller hur generösa de är mot varandra, både i det mer sekulära Sverige och i det mer religiösa USA. Papper 1 undersökte svenskars uppfattningar om ateister och religiösa människor. Specifikt hur ofta de associerade ateister eller religiösa människor med extremt omoraliskt beteende genom att göra ett konjunktionsfel. Tidigare studier som använt samma metodologiska paradigm har funnit att fler människor associerar ateister, snarare än religiösa människor, med omoraliskt beteende. Vi fann ingen signifikant koppling mellan target (ateist eller religiös person) och konjunktionsfel, vilket indikerar att svenskar inte associerar omoraliskt beteende med ateister i högre grad än de associerar omoraliskt beteende med religiösa människor. Vi jämförde resultaten med de som presenterades i en tidigare studie och fann att de svenska deltagarna i vår studie gjorde signifikant färre konjunktionsfel när target var en ateist jämfört med ett amerikanskt urval. De gjorde också signifikant fler konjunktionsfel när target var en religiös person än ett finskt urval och det amerikanska urvalet. Resultaten tyder på att anti-ateistisk bias är lägre i Sverige jämfört med USA, men anti-religiös bias är högre än i både Finland och USA. Det är dock också möjligt att urvalet påverkade resultaten – vi rekryterade deltagare från sociala medier medan de andra två urvalen enbart eller främst var studenturval. Studien visar att den tydliga anti-ateistiska biasen som hittats i liknande studier inte är universell. Papper 2 undersökte kristnas och ateisters uppfattningar om kristna, muslimska och ateistiska jobbkandidater i fyra studier, två med svenska urval (studier 1 och 3) och två med urval från USA (studier 2 och 4). Deltagarna bedömde hur kompetenta och likeable de uppfattade en target-kandidat (kristen, muslim eller ateist) och en kontroll-kandidat (utan information om religiös tillhörighet). I de två sista studierna specificerade deltagarna även om de skulle ha anställt target- eller kontroll-kandidaten. Deltagarna bedömde generellt kontroll-kandidaten som mer kompetent (USA) och mer likeable (Sverige och USA) än target-kandidaten. Både kristna och ateistiska deltagare bedömde targets med samma religiösa tillhörighet högre i likeability än target från en av eller båda religiösa utgrupper i två av studierna. Den enda signifikanta skillnaden i kompetensbedömningar mellan targets var i studie 3, där kristna bedömde muslimer som mindre kompetenta än kristna. Kristnas likeabilitybedömningar skilde sig dock inte mellan targets i studie 3. Fler ateister i studie 3 anställde kontrollkandidaten än den kristna kandidaten, men ingen annan grupp skilde sig åt i vilken kandidat de anställde. Sammanfattningsvis, när människor uppfattade en religiös grupp som mer likeable, var det deras ingrupp. Dessa resultat leder dock inte till motsvarande skillnader i bedömningar av kompetens eller i anställningsbeslut. Papper 3 undersökte generositet mot religiösa ingrupps- och utgruppsmedlemmar i tre studier utförda i Sverige (studie 1), USA (studie 2) samt Egypten och Libanon (studie 3), med ett anpassat diktatorspel. Deltagarna fördelade en summa pengar mellan sig själva och tre potentiella mottagare. I den mest relevanta omgången var dessa en kristen, en muslim och en ateist. Vi fann att i studie 1 och 2 fanns det ingen signifikant skillnad i övergripande generositet mellan religiösa människor, agnostiker och ateister i de omgångar där de inte visste mottagarnas religiösa tillhörighet. I omgången där de kände till tillhörigheten gav religiösa personer signifikant mer än ateister (studie 1 och 2) och agnostiker (studie 2). Studie 3 hade för få agnostiker och ateister för att kunna jämföra deras generositet med den hos religiösa personer. Kristna, muslimer och ateister i alla tre studierna gav signifikant mer pengar till sina respektive religiösa ingrupper än till utgruppen som fick det största beloppet. Denna ingruppsgenerositet fanns också i de andra omgångarna. Skillnaden mellan ingrupps-och utgruppsgenerositet var dock större i religionomgången jämfört med de flesta andra omgångar. Undantagen var ideologiomgången i studie 1 och 2, som inte skilde sig signifikant från religionomgången. I studie 2 var skillnaden mellan ingrupps och utgruppsgenerositet större för muslimska deltagare än för kristna och ateister. Sammanfattningsvis verkar religiösa människor vara mer generösa endast när de vet mottagarnas religiösa tillhörighet, men ateister, muslimer och kristna är alla mer generösa mot medlemmar av den religiösa ingruppen än mot utgruppsmedlemmar. Papperna tillsammans visar att religiös tillhörighet är en viktig gruppkategori som påverkar uppfattad likeability och generositet i flera sammanhang.

Download or read book Positive Perceptions of Atheists written by Jordan W Moon and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anti-atheist prejudice is cross-culturally prevalent and marked by intuitive distrust. However, recent research suggests that, when social perceivers know additional relevant information about others (i.e., their reproductive strategies), this information overrides religious information and nonreligious targets are trusted as much as religious targets. That is, perceivers seem to use religious information as a cue to a specific set of behavioral traits, but prioritize direct information about these traits when available. Here, I use this framework to explore the possibility that atheists are viewed positively in certain circumstances. First, atheists might be viewed positively for certain purposes because of their perceived reproductive strategies, even while being trusted less. Second, atheists who are family-oriented do not sacrifice trust, but may still be viewed positively for other traits (i.e., open-mindedness, scientific thinking). Third, given the constraints religion often imposes on behavior, atheists might be trusted more in situations where these constraints interfere with religious people’s inclination to cooperate. I tested these hypotheses using fictitious social media profiles to examine social perception. The study had a 3 (Target Religion: Religious, Nonreligious, or Atheist) × 3 (Target Reproductive Strategy: No Information, Committed, Uncommitted) experimental design (N = 550). Contrary to my predictions, participants did not rate atheists and nonreligious targets as “fast” compared to religious targets. Consistent with predictions, however, atheists and nonreligious individuals were rated significantly higher on perceived open-mindedness and scientific thinking. Finally, atheist and nonreligious targets were trusted more in two of the three trust domains: trust with scientific findings that contradict their worldview and trust with a secret about a friend’s abortion. Further analyses compared patterns of responding for religious and nonreligious individuals, finding evidence for ingroup bias in most perceptions, but not all. Results suggest that perceptions of atheists are complex, but that atheists may, at least sometimes, be viewed favorably. Finally, these results point to the importance of reproductive strategy as a dimension of social perception, as this variable had a clear effect, independent of target religion, on the hypothesized perceptions. (less)

Download or read book The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors written by Kanako Taku and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-06-28 with total page 603 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors is the first edited volume to present multidisciplinary perspectives on various aspects of changes that humans experience. The handbook is designed to highlight the different contents, types, ways, meanings, applications, and moments of changes that have been recognized by experts in various fields within the life and social sciences. Comprised of four sections, the chapters address changes in a variety of contexts related to human perceptions and behaviors; the moment of change and fluctuations; changes in applied settings; and the meaning of changes, including resistance to change. Written by a range of expert international contributors, the book brings together discussions and insights about how different levels and types of changes in human perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors have been studied and considered in diverse fields. It also explores the various mechanisms that account for changes, exploring how and when changes occur and what changes mean to humans. Relevant for empirical and theoretical work, the handbook will be of great interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students across psychology, behavioral sciences, and social sciences.

Download or read book Virtuous Pagans written by Thomas H. Davenport and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-20 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1991, examines the unreligious of America. Most sociologists of religion viewed religious belief and behaviour as having strong positive function for individual well-being – with the implicit assumption that unreligious individuals would lack meaning in life. This book applies statistical approaches to modelling causality as it analyses a controversial topic in American sociology.

Download or read book God is Watching You written by Dominic Johnson (Professor of Biopolitics) and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The willingness to believe in some kind of payback or karma remains nearly universal. Retribution awaits those who commit bad deeds; rewards await those who do good. Johnson explores how this belief has developed over time, and how it has shaped the course of human evolution.

Download or read book Religious Complexity in the Public Sphere written by Inger Furseth and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-20 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an empirical comparative study of the complexity of religion in the public spheres of the five Nordic countries. The result of a five-year collaborative research project, the work examines how increasingly religiously diverse Nordic societies regulate, debate, and negotiate religion in the state, the polity, the media, and civil society. The project finds that there are seemingly contradictory religious trends at different social levels: a growing secularization at the individual level, and a deprivatization of religion in politics, the media, and civil society. It offers a critique of the current theories of secularization and the return of religion, introducing religious complexity as an alternative concept to understand these paradoxes. This book is for scholars, students, and readers with an interest in understanding the public role of religion in the West.

Download or read book Big Gods written by Ara Norenzayan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how the belief in gods has lead to cooperation and sometimes conflict between groups. The author also looks at how some cooperative societies have developed without belief in gods.

Download or read book Enemies of Freedom written by Bob Altemeyer and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 1988-09-30 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides important insights into the authoritarian personality, revealing why right-wing authoritarian tAndencies develop in some individuals and not in others. It also shows how a person's predisposition toward right-wing authoritariansim can be measured, and more.

Download or read book The Sociology of Religion written by G. E. Gorman and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1986-10-21 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Product information not available.

Download or read book Theists and Atheists written by Thomas Steven Molnar and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 1980 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Download or read book Faith No More written by Phil Zuckerman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faith No More seeks to understand how and why people lose their faith, sever their ties with religious organizations, and experience a secularizing transformation in their own personal lives. Based on in-depth interviews with 75 individuals from a variety of backgrounds and religious traditions, this book offers a rich and colorful exploration of the human journey from religiosity to secularity.

Download or read book Why Evolution is True written by Jerry A. Coyne and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For all the discussion in the media about creationism and 'Intelligent Design', virtually nothing has been said about the evidence in question - the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Yet, as this succinct and important book shows, that evidence is vast, varied, and magnificent, and drawn from many disparate fields of science. The very latest research is uncovering a stream of evidence revealing evolution in action - from the actual observation of a species splitting into two, to new fossil discoveries, to the deciphering of the evidence stored in our genome. Why Evolution is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the processes first proposed by Darwin. It is a crisp, lucid, and accessible statement that will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth of evolution.

Download or read book Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality written by Heinz Streib and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines what people mean when they say they are “spiritual”. It looks at the semantics of “spirituality”, the visibility of reasons for “spiritual” preference in biographies, in psychological dispositions, in cultural differences between Germany and the US, and in gender differences. It also examines the kind of biographical consequences that are associated with “spirituality”. The book reports the results of an online-questionnaire filled out by 773 respondents in Germany and 1113 in the US, personal interviews with a selected group of more than 100 persons, and an experiment. Based on the data collected, it reports results that are relevant for a number of scientific and practical disciplines. It makes a contribution to the semantics of everyday religious language and to the cross-cultural study of religion and to many related fields as well, because “spirituality” is evaluated in relation to personality, mysticism, well-being, religious styles, generativity, attachment, biography and atheism. The book draws attention to the – new and ever changing – ways in which people give names to their ultimate concern and symbolize their experiences of transcendence.

Download or read book The Cambridge History of Atheism written by Michael Ruse and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 1307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two-volume Cambridge History of Atheism offers an authoritative and up to date account of a subject of contemporary interest. Comprised of sixty essays by an international team of scholars, this History is comprehensive in scope. The essays are written from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including religious studies, philosophy, sociology, and classics. Offering a global overview of the subject, from antiquity to the present, the volumes examine the phenomenon of unbelief in the context of Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Jewish societies. They explore atheism and the early modern Scientific Revolution, as well as the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and its continuing implications. The History also includes general survey essays on the impact of scepticism, agnosticism and atheism, as well as contemporary assessments of thinking. Providing essential information on the nature and history of atheism, The Cambridge History of Atheism will be indispensable for both scholarship and teaching, at all levels.

Download or read book Atheism and Secularity written by Phil Zuckerman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-12-21 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important two-volume contribution to the field of secular studies offers the first comprehensive examination of atheists and non-religious people around the world. Who are atheists? How does atheism relate to various aspects of our social world, such as politics, feminism, globalization, and the family? And what is the current state of atheism internationally? Atheism and Secularity addresses the growing interest in the non-religious world by exploring these and related questions. It is a comprehensive and compelling look at atheists and atheism both nationally and internationally, covering a range of topics often overlooked in other books on the subject. Atheism and Secularity is not a philosophical, polemic work, but rather an exploration of who atheists are, what they believe, how they relate to the world, and how the world relates to them. The first volume focuses on topics such as family life, gender, sexuality, politics, and social movements. The second volume looks at atheism and secularity around the world, exploring the lives of non-religious people in North America, Japan, China, India, Europe, the Arab World, and other locations.

Download or read book There Is No God written by David A. Williamson and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is No God: Atheists in America explore the growing number of atheists in America. While the United States is still a religious nation, there is an increasingly visible number of people who profess faith in no god, and yet, beyond their most famous spokespeople, we know little about this growing group. There is No God draws on national survey data, original research, and in-depth interviews to present an accessible overview of who atheists in America really are, how they come to their beliefs and explain them to others, and how their beliefs shape their lives, particularly regarding politics.

Download or read book Attachment in Religion and Spirituality written by Pehr Granqvist and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The primary aim of this book is to examine the ways in which aspects of religion and spirituality are linked to emotional attachment processes and close relationships. My approach is heavily influenced by John Bowlby's attachment theory and the enormous amount of research it has generated in developmental, social, and clinical psychology. A major aim of this book is to demonstrate the utility of approaching religion and spirituality from the perspective of a mainstream theory in developmental, social, and clinical psychology. This book will educate readers who are not yet familiar with attachment theory and the attachment-theoretical approach to religion and spirituality"--