The Effect of Religious Priming On Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 12-1-2015

School

Psychology

Abstract

The current research investigated whether priming students with a religious message affected their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Undergraudate students (N = 145) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: participants in a religious=positive condition were primed with a biblical passage containing a loving message (e.g., "love one another, for love comes from God"), participants in a religious-negative condition were primed with a biblical passage containing an angry message (e.g., "God takes revenge on all who oppose him"), and participants in a control condition were primed with a neutral passage. After reading the priming passage, participants completed questionnaires assessing various measures of religiosity such as religiousness, spirituality, religious affiliation, extrinsic and intrinsic religious orientation, religious fundamentalism, and their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Consistent with previous research, religiosity was negatively related to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (ps < .01). Self-identified Christians had more negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (p = .002, ηp2 = .009).

Publication Title

Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research

Volume

20

Issue

4

First Page

188

Last Page

196

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