Religious People Are Trusted Because They Are Viewed as Slow Life-History Strategists

Moon, Jordan W.; Krems, Jaimie Arona; Cohen, Adam B.

doi:10.1177/0956797617753606

Cited by 55 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…Life-history theory posits that organisms with slow life-history strategies exhibit traits and behaviors that are adapted to predictable and stable environments (Stearns, 1992). Recently, it has been proposed that atheists are seen as less trustworthy because, compared to religious people, they are not viewed as slow life-history strategists (Moon, Krems, & Cohen, 2018). It has been suggested that atheists are associated with fast life-history strategies that represent ecological unpredictability and uncertainty (Moon et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distrust persists after subverting atheist stereotypes

Grove

Rubenstein

Terrell

2019

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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Antiatheist prejudice appears to be common. This prejudice may stem from distrust. However, the factors influencing distrust are not fully understood. The current research identified common stereotypes about atheists, tested the intuitiveness of those stereotypes, and determined whether distrust toward atheists depends more on the label “atheist” or the attributes atheists are thought to possess. Study 1 ( N = 100) and Study 2 ( N = 149) identified several attributes thought to be most characteristic of atheists and least characteristic of Christians (or vice versa). Study 3 ( N = 219) demonstrated that atheists and Christians are intuitively associated with the respective traits identified in Studies 1 and 2. Study 4 ( N = 274) and Study 5 ( N = 259) used fake social media profiles to manipulate target religious identification (atheist, Christian, or unspecified) and attributes (stereotypically atheist or stereotypically Christian) to determine the effect on trust ratings. Overall, the results of these studies indicate that atheists and Christians are explicitly and implicitly associated with different attributes and that, even when atheists possess stereotypically Christian attributes, Christians trust atheists significantly less than other Christians. These findings suggest that antiatheist prejudice is relatively insensitive to individual differences of the target.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distrust persists after subverting atheist stereotypes

Grove

Rubenstein

Terrell

2019

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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“…This finding is interesting given different affective responses among religious groups (Gallup, ; Pew Research Center, ) as well as prior research showing that religious cue usage in marketing communications generally increases product evaluations (Dotson & Hyatt, ; Minton, ; Taylor et al, ). These findings are particularly interesting in that they also contradict a large body of prior research showing a positive halo effect of religion on evaluations of people (c.f., Bailey & Vietor, ; Bailey & Young, ; Isaac, Bailey, & Isaac, ) as well as greater trust of religious people (c.f., Gervais, Shariff, & Norenzayan, ; McCullough, Swartwout, Shaver, Carter, & Sosis, ; Moon, Krems, & Cohen, ). Put simply, results from the studies herein suggest that religious cues do not have the same effect for products as they do for people.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When open‐mindedness lowers product evaluations: Influencers to consumers’ response to religious cues in advertising

Minton

2019

Psychology and Marketing

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Prior research has examined response to Christian religious cues used in secular marketing messages but has inadequately explored the underlying reasons for such response as well as why religious cues may negatively influence product evaluations. These limitations are addressed in this research work through three studies utilizing religious cues. In Studies 1a and 1b, ads with a Christian or Muslim religious cue (no religious cue) were found to produce lower (higher) product evaluations. Studies 2-3 then examined why religious cues in ads can produce lower product evaluations to show that open-mindedness moderated this effect (Study 2), and priming openmindedness also influenced this effect (Study 3). Most interestingly, open-minded consumers were more negative toward religious cues in marketing communications than close-minded consumers, and priming open-mindedness magnified this effect. These novel effects are discussed in relation to the literature on open-mindedness and value-based consumption. Additionally, implications for research and practice are discussed.

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“…In line with these observations, religions' adherents tend to be viewed as trustworthy (Hall, Cohen, Meyer, Varley, & Brewer, 2015;McCullough, Swartwout, Shaver, Carter, & Sosis, 2016;Tan & Vogel, 2008) and this trustworthiness is linked to perceived reproductive strategies (Moon, Krems, & Cohen, 2018;Moon et al, 2019). That is, people tend to trust religious targets more than nonreligious targets because of their supposed adherence to long-term mating strategies, including more restricted sexual orientations and reduced sexual promiscuity, male abandonment, and female cuckoldry.…”

mentioning

confidence: 73%

Religion Causes Decreases in Women’s Provocativeness of Dress

Hone¹,

McCullough²

2019

Preprint

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Long-term mating strategies are associated with greater religiosity and studies demonstrate that exposure to religious stimuli down-regulate traits associated with short-term mating strategies in men. Based on evidence that women might also occasionally pursue short-term mating strategies, we evaluated the effects of religiosity on a trait associated with women’s mating strategies: Provocativeness of dress (POD). We predicted that women’s baseline religiosity would be negatively correlated with their POD (measured via skin exposure) on the premise that POD is typically associated with women’s short-term mating strategies. We also predicted that women who completed a religious writing task would illustrate less skin exposure than their peers when asked what they would wear to a hypothetical social gathering with attractive members of the opposite sex in attendance. In a college sample of 817 participants, women (but not men) who classified themselves as highly religious exposed less skin in their day-to-day lives. Likewise, women (but not men) who completed a religious writing task illustrated less skin exposure than did their peers. A significant religiosity by writing task condition assignment interaction indicated that the religious writing task was more effective in reducing skin exposure for highly religious participants than it was for less religious participants.

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Religious People Are Trusted Because They Are Viewed as Slow Life-History Strategists

Cited by 55 publications

References 36 publications

Distrust persists after subverting atheist stereotypes

Distrust persists after subverting atheist stereotypes

When open‐mindedness lowers product evaluations: Influencers to consumers’ response to religious cues in advertising

Religion Causes Decreases in Women’s Provocativeness of Dress

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