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Social identity and the true believer: Responses to threatened self‐stereotypes among the intrinsically religious
Author(s) -
Burris Christopher T.,
Jackson Lynne M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466600164462
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , categorization , religious identity , religious orientation , social identity theory , identity (music) , perception , social identity approach , social group , epistemology , religiosity , philosophy , physics , neuroscience , acoustics
That religion is an impactful social category has often been assumed but seldom tested. Based on social identity and self‐categorization theories, it is argued that devout religious commitment reflects, at least in part, an individual s motivation to engage in religious self‐stereotyping (i.e. to perceive oneself as an exemplary religious group member). In order to test this analysis, individuals scoring high or low on a measure of intrinsic religious orientation received false feedback that either threatened or bolstered their self‐perceptions on a dimension of behaviour that was either important or not important to religious group membership. As expected, intrinsic orientation predicted increased religious self‐stereotyping only when feedback was threatening and important to religious group membership; affective and behavioural indices revealed a similar pattern. Implications for the social identity self‐categorization literature, and for theory development in the psychology of religion, are subsequently discussed.