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Hostile and prosocial reactions to Christian privilege in the United States: A registered report

No Stage 1 found
AuthorsMonica WeedmanRosemary L. Al-KireJo-Ann Tsang
Year2024
VenuePsychology of Religion and Spirituality

Reactions to privilege include hostility (e.g., denial of privilege) and prosociality (e.g., remorse). Studies suggest that White Americans often react hostilely when confronted with racial and class privilege, but research on reactions to religious privilege is limited. The current registered report investigated how religiousness is related to hostile and prosocial reactions to religious privilege. Three studies tested the relationship between religiousness and reactions to religious privilege. In Study 1, a correlational study, we expected parochial religious variables (Christian nationalism, religious fundamentalism, perceptions of religious threat) would be related to hostile reactions to religious privilege, whereas more universal dimensions of religiousness (intellectual humility, gratitude toward God, and sanctification of social justice) would be related to prosocial reactions. Study 2 induced actual reactions to being confronted with religious privilege, manipulating whether privilege was framed as a merit-based or a group-based threat. Study 3 primed universal and parochial religiousness to examine the causal relationship between religiousness and reactions to privilege. Across our studies (Study 1 N = 395, Study 2 N = 737, Study 3 N = 699), parochial religiousness was related to hostile reactions, whereas two forms of universal religiousness (religious intellectual humility, sanctification of social justice) were related to prosocial reactions. Merit-based information about religious privilege decreased denial, whereas a religious humility intervention increased denial. Further research is needed on interventions to increase prosocial responses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Item typeJournal Article
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