Belief-threat increases commitment to close others who hold majority beliefs in one’s close social group
Matthew H. Goldberg, Cheryl L. Carmichael, & Curtis D. Hardin, Brooklyn College, CUNY.
Evidence
Threatening a belief threatens relationships in which that
belief is shared (Hardin & Conley, 2001).
Belief-threat leads people to seek out social support to
bolster the threatened belief (Festinger, Riecken, Schachter, 1956).
Feelings of threat lead to compensatory efforts to mitigate
threat (Jonas et al., 2014).
Study Aims
Explore if belief-threat leads to increased commitment to
close others who share their religious beliefs and decreased
commitment to those who do not.
Determine if people without socially-shared religious beliefs
respond to threats by increasing commitment to
relationships in which beliefs are not shared.
Hypotheses
People with highly religious social networks will increase
commitment to close others who share their religiosity and
decrease commitment to those who do not.
People with non-religious social networks will increase
commitment to close others who do not share their
religiosity and decrease commitment to those who do.
Method
Participants
210 Brooklyn College undergraduates
Method (continued)
Results: Non-religious friends
Commitment ratings (Rusbult et al., 1998)
• “I am oriented toward the long-term future of our relationship”
(1= Do not agree at all, 9= Agree completely)
• 7 items (α= .80)
Religiosity scale (Magee & Hardin, 2010; α= .95)
• 22 items about religious beliefs, behaviors, and community
Religious shared reality with three closest friends (α= .79)
• “How religious is this person?”
• “What is the importance of shared religiosity to your relationship
with this person?”
Analysis Strategy
Multiple regression analyses tested for a three-way interaction:
• Religiosity X Relationship (Shared vs. Unshared) X Friend religious
shared reality
Simple slope analyses tested if slopes were significantly different
from one another.
Results: Religious friends
Results
As hypothesized, there was a significant Religiosity X Relationship X
Friends religious shared reality interaction, b= .13, t(202)= 2.15,
p=.032.
People with religious friends increased commitment to close others
who share their religiosity and decreased commitment to close
others who do not, resulting in significantly different slopes, t=
3.37, p = .001.
People with non-religious friends increased commitment to close
others who do not share their religiosity and decreased
commitment to close others who do, also resulting in significantly
different slopes, t= -2.37, p= .019
• M= 63 , F= 141 , Unidentified= 6; Median age= 20
Procedure
Exposure to Evolution evidence
• Participants read strong scientific rebuttals to common
criticisms of evolution (e.g. “evolution is just a theory”).
Manipulation: Think of someone close to you with who you
• Share religiosity
• Do not share religiosity
Discussion
Our data suggest that people respond to belief-threats by looking
to relationship partners with beliefs that are most prevalent in their
close social network.
Bolsters findings that show that people share beliefs with close
others for epistemic purposes.
Indirectly supports the idea that beliefs lacking social support are
vulnerable to belief-change (Festinger, Riecken, Schachter, 1956).