University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Dissertations and Theses @ UNI Student Work 2015 Predictors of racial prejudice : a meta-analysis of the influence of religion and political orientation Kristin Ann Broussard University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©2015 Kristin Ann Broussard Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Broussard, Kristin Ann, "Predictors of racial prejudice : a meta-analysis of the influence of eligionr and political orientation" (2015). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 162. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/162 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses @ UNI by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright by KRISTIN ANN BROUSSARD 2015 All Rights Reserved PREDICTORS OF RACIAL PREJUDICE: A META-ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION AND POLITICAL ORIENTATION An Abstract of a Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Kristin Ann Broussard University of Northern Iowa July 2015 ABSTRACT The effects of religion and political orientation on racial prejudice are frequently studied yet, to date, no research has compared these effects using meta-analysis. One theory of prejudice that may help to predict outcomes is sociocultural theory (Ashmore & Del Boca, 1981), which posits that social identities provide norms and values that promote cultural stereotypes. Strong social identities such as religion or political orientation may differentially promote outgroup stereotyping and prejudice. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of religion and political orientation on anti- Black racial prejudice through meta-analysis. 153 independent samples were analyzed with a random effects model using the robumeta package in R (Fisher & Tipton, 2013) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient r effect sizes. Religious constructs (i.e., religious ethnocentrism, religious fundamentalism, religious identity, religiosity) had an overall negligible relationship with racial prejudice, whereas political orientation constructs (i.e., political conservatism, political orientation, SDO, RWA) had an overall small-magnitude relationship with anti-Black prejudice. Conservative political orientation and party identification were significantly related to anti-Black prejudice. Affirmative action opposition as a measure of anti-Black prejudice was significantly related to conservative ideologies, whereas implicit measures of anti-Black prejudice were significantly related to more liberal ideologies. Religion constructs and political orientation constructs showed a small correlation with each other. The effects of religious constructs and political orientation constructs on racial prejudice were not moderated by year, but political orientation effects on racial prejudice were moderated by regional differences. In the West, the average correlation between political orientation and racial prejudice was higher than all other regions, whereas Northeast samples and in national samples, the average correlation was negative. Political orientation had a greater effect on racial prejudice than did religious constructs, but there were no differences between the magnitude of the average r when correlations between political orientation and religion were accounted for, indicating that the effects of religion and political orientation on racial prejudice may be interrelated. These results have implications for decreasing racial prejudice among political conservatives through increased intergroup contact. Conservative political groups in America (i.e., Republicans) tend to be highly insular and are predominantly White; increased intergroup contact may increase individuating information and humanization of Blacks (Pettigrew, Tropp, Wagner, & Christ, 2011) and may reduce reliance on negative stereotypes. PREDICTORS OF RACIAL PREJUDICE: A META-ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION AND POLITICAL ORIENTATION A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Kristin Ann Broussard University of Northern Iowa July 2015 ii This Study by: Kristin Ann Broussard Entitled: Predictors of Racial Prejudice: A Meta-Analysis of the Influence of Religion and Political Orientation has been approved as meeting the thesis requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in Psychology ___________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dr. Helen C. Harton, Chair, Thesis Committee ___________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dr. Nicholas Tempestra-Schwab, Thesis Committee Member ___________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dr. Andrew Gilpin, Thesis Committee Member ___________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dr. Ariel Aloe, Thesis Committee Member ___________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter, Interim Dean, Graduate College iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Laura and Reed Johnson. Thank you for everything. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of the people who have assisted me in completing my thesis, especially my thesis chair, Helen C. Harton, and my thesis committee members, Ariel Aloe, Andy Gilpin, and Nicholas Schwab. I also thank all of those who have supported and encouraged me throughout my education. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: METHOD .................................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS .................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 65 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 82 APPENDIX A: CODING MATERIALS ....................................................................... 104 APPENDIX B: META-ANALYSIS SUMMARY TABLES ......................................... 107 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Summary of Previous Meta-Analyses Assessing Religion or Political Orientation and Prejudice ................................................................................................. 23 2. Frequencies of Study Characteristics for Religion Constructs ..................................... 43 3. Descriptive Statistics for Prejudice Measure Types in Religion Model ....................... 46 4. Descriptive Statistics for Religious Construct Measures in Religion Model ............... 47 5. Frequencies of Study Characteristics for Political Orientation Constructs .................. 54 6. Descriptive Statistics for Prejudice Measure Types in Political Orientation Model .... 56 7. Descriptive Statistics for Political Orientation Measure Types in Political Orientation Model ............................................................................................................. 57 A1. Coding Rubric for Meta-Analysis……………………………………….................104 B1. Summary of Religion Studies Included in the Meta-Analysis……………………..107 B2. Summary of Political Orientation Studies Included in the Meta-Analysis………...134 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Histogram of Religion Effect Sizes .............................................................................. 42 2. Histograms of Religion and Prejudice Effect Sizes by Data Source ............................ 50 3. Histogram of Political Orientation Effect Sizes ............................................................ 53 4. Histograms of Political Orientation and Prejudice Effect Sizes by Data Source ......... 62 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Strong social identities tend to promote ingroup cohesion, social exclusion, and competition between groups. From the artificial groups seen in the minimal intergroup paradigm (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971) and the Robber’s Cave study (Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, 1961) to broader social identities (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), extensive evidence supports the idea that social identities can have negative influences on intergroup relations, particularly relations between dominant and minority racial groups. Perhaps two of the most influential and salient social identities for Americans are those of religion and political orientation. The majority of adults in the United States (83.1%) are affiliated with an organized religion, and 29% report that their religious beliefs determine their perceptions of moral absolutes (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2008). Religion tends to promote messages such as “love thy neighbor” and goodwill towards others, yet prejudice towards outgroup members (i.e., women, the LGBT community, and ethnic minorities) may actually be higher among some religious people (e.g., Burn & Busso, 2005; Johnson, Rowatt, & LaBouff, 2012; Poteat & Meriesh, 2012). Members of religions that