Week 6 - Stereotypes of the Non-Religious

Negative Stereotypes of Atheists

• Atheists among most disliked groups in US

  • 58% Americans would vote for an atheist for President (Gallup, 2015)

    • Muslim – 60%, Gay/Lesbian – 74%, Woman – 92%, Black – 92%

  • 49% Americans unhappy if relative married an atheist (Pew, 2014)

    • Born-again Christian – 9%

Distrust and Atheists

• Participants read about “Richard”

  • Backed into car and didn’t leave note

  • Found wallet and kept money

• Is Richard more likely to be a teacher, or…

  • A teacher and X?

Distrust of Atheists in Specific Domains

• Moon et al. (2018)

  • Atheists viewed in dating profile study as faster life-history strategists

    • Promiscuous, impulsive, less committed

    • But effect disappeared with information about atheists’ commitment

• Rios et al. (2021)

  • People less willing to accommodate atheists’ expression of beliefs at work

    • Compared to Christian, Jewish, Muslim

    • Atheists seen as imposing beliefs, jeopardizing workplace values

Effects of Stereotypes on Atheists

• Cowgill et al. (2017)

  • Atheists gave more to Christians in economic game than Christians gave to atheists

  • Effect disappeared when atheist identity was not revealed to partner

• Mackey et al. (2021)

  • Concealment of nonreligious identity

  • Especially in American South

  • Especially after reading article about anti-atheist stereotypes

Positive Stereotypes of Atheists

• Moon et al. (2021)     & Grove et al. (2020)

  • Scientific, fun, open-minded

  • Participants prefer atheists for stereotype-consistent activities

  • But are atheists always viewed as open-minded?

What about Agnostics?

• Cowgill et al. (2017)

  • Less trustworthy than Christians

  • More trustworthy than atheists

• Bergstrom et al. (2022)

  • Most common characteristics: indecisive, confused, questioning

  • Atheists: immoral, intolerant, evil