Laythe, B., Finkel, D., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2001). Predicting
prejudice from religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism:
A multiple-regression approach. Journal for the Scientific Study
of Religion, 40, 1-10.
Abstract
In a study designed to investigate the respective roles of religious fundamentalism
and right-wing authoritarianism as predictors of prejudice against racial
minorities and homosexuals, participants (47 males, 91 females) responded
to a series of questionnaire measures of these constructs. Data were
analyzed using multiple regression. Consistent with previous research,
authoritarianism was a significant and strong positive predictor of both
forms of prejudice. With authoritarianism statistically controlled,
however, fundamentalism emerged as a significant negative predictor of
racial prejudice but a positive predictor of homosexual prejudice.
In a second study we conducted parallel multiple regressions using the
correlations from two previously published studies. The Study 1 results
were replicated exactly, except that fundamentalism was a nonsignificant
predictor of homosexual prejudice. We interpret the results as evidence
that Christian fundamentalism consists of a second major component other
than authoritarianism – related to Christian belief content – that is inversely
related to some forms of prejudice (including racial prejudice) but not
others (e.g., homosexual prejudice). |