Self-reported religious conviction diverges from measured racial tolerance

Evidence

Although religious people might be expected to express humanitarian acceptance of others, their humanitarianism is expressed primarily toward in-group members. Thus, we found little evidence that religiosity motivated racial toler­ ance. People who were intrinsically religious did express racial tolerance on direct measures of racism, but this response appeared to reflect social desirability concerns (Sedikides & Gebauer, 2010). They were not racially tolerant on indi­ rect measures of racism that were less controllable or less obviously markers of racial prejudice (e.g., choosing to engage in interracial interactions). Only those individuals with an agnostic, questioning orientation toward religion (i.e., quest) proved racially tolerant. — Deborah L. Hall and David C. Matz and Wendy Wood, Why Don’t We Practice What We Preach? A…, 77

Categorization

• XREF: This is exactly the reader’s core question — professed conviction (religious egalitarianism) vs. actual measured bias — and it directly parallels the Hall, Matz & Wood meta-analysis finding the same divergence for religious people. — connects to: Religious conviction type rather than strength predicts measured racism — Deborah L. Hall and David C. Matz and Wendy Wood, Why Don’t We Practice What We Preach? A…, 42; Self-reported religiosity reliably but weakly predicts racial prejudice; Self-reported religiosity may diverge from measures of implicit prejudice. — Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, Christian Orthodoxy, Religious…, 87 (+2 more)
• SEED: The direct-vs-indirect-measure discrepancy is a ready-made angle: religious people ‘pass’ direct prejudice tests but fail indirect ones, exactly mirroring how implicit-bias measures diverge from self-report in secular egalitarian contexts.
• QUESTION: Does the quest-orientation finding replicate, and does the same direct/indirect divergence appear for critics of religious believers (secular people asked about the religious)?

Related

• Self-reported religiosity may diverge from measures of implicit prejudice. (similarity 0.89)
• Neither intrinsic nor social religion predicts measured implicit racial bias (similarity 0.86)
• Religious conviction type rather than strength predicts measured racism (similarity 0.86)
• Reported low prejudice among the religious reflects self-presentation, not true tolerance (similarity 0.84)
• Religiosity correlates with inclusive attitudes despite reinforcing its own boundaries (similarity 0.83)
• Extrinsic religion correlates with higher prejudice than intrinsic religion across diverse measures (similarity 0.82)
• Intrinsic religion reflects in-group conformity, not reduced prejudice (similarity 0.82)
• Self-reported religiosity reliably but weakly predicts racial prejudice (similarity 0.82)
• Religious intrinsic orientation tracks whatever attitudes one’s religion endorses (similarity 0.81)
• Religiosity-prejudice links are correlational, not established as causal (similarity 0.80)
• Intrinsic religion robustly predicts lower prejudice across 32 studies of religious activity (similarity 0.80)
• Intrinsic religiosity tracks tolerance only on overt, community-proscribed measures (similarity 0.79)
• Right-wing authoritarianism predicts racial prejudice but religious fundamentalism does not once controls are applied. (similarity 0.79)
• Religiosity’s link to prejudice depends on whether the prejudice is proscribed. (similarity 0.79)
• Intrinsic religiosity tracks whatever prejudice one’s religion endorses, for or against. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Self-reported religiosity may diverge from measures of implicit prejudice. #expands (0.90) — Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, Christian Orthodoxy, Religious…, 87
• Self-reported religiosity reliably but weakly predicts racial prejudice #corroborates (0.82)
• Intrinsic religiosity correlates with appearing unprejudiced rather than being tolerant #expands (0.80)
• Intrinsic religion’s low-prejudice link vanishes under non-self-report measures #expands (0.75)