Brief Summary: The Psychology Of Prejudice

Michael Keller
Psychology of Prejudice

In describing the relationship between religious involvement and prejudice, it must first be noted, as described in our book, “almost all the research on the relationship between religion and prejudice has been conducted in North America and most of the participants in the research have been White, middle-class Christians.”(Whitley & Kite, 2010, p. 256) That being said, there has consistently been found a positive correlation between certain types of White Christian religion and prejudice (p.257). These findings upset religious leaders and psychology of religion researchers of that faith because of the stigma of, what is essentially, being labeled as racist and homophobic in today’s society. These findings also go against what is considered one of the tenets of
They have a real faith in their religious teachings and genuinely want to follow it. These individuals tend to have little or no correlation to racial prejudice, but, there is a correlation between being anti-gay prejudice. Many researchers believe this is because while not tolerating someone because of the color of their skin is proscribed, homosexuality is seen as immoral and wrong in their faith. (p.257) Those who are considered to be of extrinsic religious orientation, basically, just like the look of being religious and tend to pick and choose which beliefs will fit into their social and economical needs. Those who are labeled extrinsic tend to have a small correlation with racial prejudice. (p.257) The third orientation is labeled as Quest. These individuals view religion as Whitley and Kite (2010) describe it “search, or quest, for answers to questions about the meaning of life.” (p.259) The only correlation for prejudice associated with this group is a bias against people who are intolerant of