Is There Anything Good About Atheists? Exploring Positive and Negative Stereotypes of the Religious and Nonreligious

Abstract

Negative stereotypes about atheists are widespread, robust, rooted in distrust, and linked to discrimination. Here, we examine whether social perceivers in the United States might additionally hold any positive stereotypes about atheists (and corresponding negative stereotypes of the religious). Experiments 1 ( N = 401) and 2 ( N = 398, preregistered) used methods of intuitive stereotypes (the conjunction fallacy). People tended to stereotype atheists as fun, open-minded, and scientific—even as they harbor extreme intuitive anti-atheist prejudice in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 ( N = 382) used a quasi-behavioral partner-choice paradigm, finding that most people choose atheist (vs. religious) partners in stereotype-relevant domains. Overall, results suggest that people simultaneously possess negative and also positive stereotypes about atheists, but that corresponding negative stereotypes of the religious may be even stronger. These effects are robust among the nonreligious and somewhat religious, but evidence is mixed about whether the highly religious harbor these positive stereotypes.

Preliminary evidence for an aversion to atheists in long-term mating domains in the Southern United States

“…Two unexpected correlations emerged indicating perceived proclivity toward infidelity heightened both attractive atheists’ and theists’ desirability in STM. These findings provide continued evidence for a physical attractiveness premium in STM, particularly among those perceived as interested in promiscuous mating strategies, regardless of theism (Jonason & Buss, 2012; Kenrick et al, 1993; Moon et al, 2021).…”

“…One third-person statement accompanied each target indicating they were either theistic (i.e., This person believes in God ) or atheistic (i.e., This person does not believe in God ). I designed statements to mirror typical dating site statements where individuals would disclose their religious affiliation as part of a battery of demographics information presented for dating decisions, which were akin to the brief manipulations seen in other research assessing perceptions of atheists’ costs and benefits (e.g., Moon et al, 2021). Theists’ religious affiliation was intentionally nondenominational to reduce the likelihood of homogamy effects influencing preferences beyond the mere espousal of religiosity, given the considerable preferences individuals have for members of their own religious denomination in relationships that sees individuals typically being most interested in mates with the same religious views (e.g., Catholics preferring other Catholics, but not Protestants; Luo, 2009).…”

“…Several positive atheist stereotypes exist, including perceptions of them as fun, open-minded, and analytic. These perceptions subsequently become the basis of atheists being desirable in relevant domains (Moon et al, 2021). Atheists’ unconventionality may present downstream cues of benefits in other tasks.…”

“…Finally, participants provided perceptions of atheists and theists’ personalities. Given findings suggesting atheists are perceived as open-minded (Moon et al, 2021), I predicted atheists to be perceived as more open to experience than theists, which would predict subsequent STM desirability. Conversely, I predicted theists would be perceived as more conscientious and agreeable than atheists, given their associations with monogamous intent (Schmitt & Fuller, 2015), which I predicted to be associated with theists’ LTM desirability.…”

Are agnostics associated with immorality to the same degree as atheists?

“…Results indicated that people judged others who committed acts of cannibalism, consensual incest, necrobestiality, and serial murder to be more representative of individuals who do not believe in God compared with Christians or Muslims. The finding that people perceive atheists as more likely to engage in immoral behaviors than religious believers has been replicated using the conjunction fallacy paradigm across several countries, suggesting a robust stereotype that is applied to atheists cross-culturally (Gervais et al, 2017;Giddings & Dunn, 2016;Moon et al, 2021). Using other types of methodologies, researchers have demonstrated that atheists are more likely to be associated with immorality than religious believers (Bergstrom et al, 2022;Brown-Iannuzzi et al, 2018;Cook et al, 2015;Harper, 2007).…”