Christopher T. Burris

It's the end of the world as we know it: threat and the spatial-symbolic self

According to amoebic self theory, the boundary defining the self encompasses 3 levels of self-representation--bodily, social, and spatial-symbolic. Study 1 related a newly developed measure of individual differences in sensitivity to boundary threat across these 3 domains to values and disgust sensitivity. Four subsequent studies focused on spatial-symbolic threat sensitivity and related it to right-wing authoritarianism, aversive reactions to unfamiliar out-groups, and revulsion to vermin. A final experiment illustrates how a salient spatial-symbolic threat (dust mites) can elicit reactions toward out-groups that closely parallel mortality salience effects observed in research inspired by terror management theory, even though dust mites do not elicit mortality concerns. The importance of preserving the familiar in order to preserve the self is discussed.

“For God and Country”: Religion and the Endorsement of National Self-Stereotypes

To assess the relationship between personal religious motivation and spontaneous thoughts about one’s nation, Canadian and American undergraduates completed a measure of religious orientation, and both listed and rated the importance of self-generated thoughts about their respective countries. Among Americans, intrinsic orientation predicted greater ascribed importance to the national heritage (e.g., freedom, equal opportunity, tradition, and family) and to official national symbols such as the flag. Among Canadians, intrinsic orientation predicted greater ascribed importance to multiculturalism, but was unrelated to the enshrining of national symbols. Thus, in both cases, intrinsic religion was associated with the endorsement of ideological components of the nation’s dominant self-stereotype.

Contemporary Sexism and Discrimination: The Importance of Respect for Men and Women

Three studies supported the proposal that one important aspect of contemporary sexism is greater respect for men than for women and that this differential respect has a unique role to play in mediating hiring discrimination, distinct from gender stereotypes. In Studies 1 and 2, participants in a hiring paradigm evidenced bias favoring men on both respect ratings and hiring recommendations. Moreover, higher respect for male than for female applicants accounted for hiring discrimination. Some evidence that gender stereotypes contributed to hiring discrimination also emerged but it was weaker and less consistent. In Study 3, respect was shown to have a causal effect on hiring recommendations for a high-status job. It is suggested that a focus on respect for men and women could complement currently popular stereotyping perspectives on sexism and discrimination.

Social identity and the true believer: responses to threatened self-stereotypes among the intrinsically religious.

That religion is an impactful social category has often been assumed but seldom tested. Based on social identity and self-categorization theories, it is argued that devout religious commitment reflects, at least in part, an individuals motivation to engage in religious self-stereotyping (i.e. to perceive oneself as an exemplary religious group member). In order to test this analysis, individuals scoring high or low on a measure of intrinsic religious orientation received false feedback that either threatened or bolstered their self-perceptions on a dimension of behaviour that was either important or not important to religious group membership. As expected, intrinsic orientation predicted increased religious self-stereotyping only when feedback was threatening and important to religious group membership; affective and behavioural indices revealed a similar pattern. Implications for the social identity/self-categorization literature, and for theory development in the psychology of religion, are subsequently discussed.

Hate the sin/love the sinner, or love the hater? Intrinsic religion and responses to partner abuse

Traditional religion is often assumed to contribute to partner abuse, although empirical tests of this assumption have been hampered by coarse measurement of religion, socially desirable responding, and neglect of contextual moderators, such as whether an abuse victims behavior upholds or violates religious values. In an attempt to address these issues, we asked 90 undergraduates to complete measures of religious orientation, then read about a woman who was abused by her boyfriend after she refused his marriage proposal because she wished not to marry outside her faith (value-affirming), was not sure that she loved him (value-neutral), or thought that she might be a lesbian (value-violating). Intrinsic religious orientation predicted liking for the victim and justification of her behavior when she upheld religious values, whereas it predicted liking for the abuser and sympathetic attributions for his behavior when the victim violated religious values. Thus, whether religion discourages or encourages tolerance for abuse may depend on who is being abused.

Hearts Strangely Warmed (and Cooled): Emotional Experience in Religious and Atheistic Individuals

In light of neurophysiological evidence suggesting a link between hemispheric dominance and religious preference, three studies tested whether atheists and religious individuals process emotions differently. Suggestive of right-hemispheric dominance, individuals who identified with religion reported more intense positive emotions associated with a recalled love experience (Study 1), greater sadness in immediate response to reading a tragic news story (Study 2), and more vivid recall of the subjective details of either their most recent birthday or an existential crisis (Study 3). They also reported greater alexithymia compared to atheists. Overall, agnostic/no religion individuals averaged in between these two groups. The results suggest that, relative to atheists, religious individuals have more accessible yet undifferentiated emotions, which may perhaps serve as raw materials for religious experience.

What Lies Beyond: Theory and Measurement of Afterdeath Beliefs

Previous attempts to assess postmortem continuation beliefs have been hampered by unidimensional approaches and a lack of theory. We argue that core variations in postmortem beliefs can be described in terms of the fate of consciousness (awareness), identity (memory, personality), and physicality (the body) beyond the death event. Based on this theoretical framework, we constructed the Afterdeath Belief Scale, which measures five variations in belief: Annihilation, Disembodied Spirit, Spiritual Embodiment, Reincarnation, and Bodily Resurrection. We also assessed the extent to which people regard their beliefs and behaviors as efficacious in determining their fate beyond death. These new measures proved to be meaningfully related to self-reported religious affiliation, religiosity, spirituality, death concerns, mystical experience, and attitudes toward embodied existence. Implications for future research are discussed.

Torn between two lovers? Lay perceptions of polyamorous individuals

Lay attitudes towards polyamorous individuals – conceptualised here as those who experience romantic love for more than one person simultaneously – were explored experimentally. Canadian undergraduates (N = 262) read about an individual involved in a long-term, exclusive romantic relationship who met someone and wanted to be sexual with that person. The individual (1) had fallen in love with this new-found interest while remaining in love with his/her primary partner (polyamory); (2) was no longer in love with the primary partner (love affair); or (3) simply had sexual feelings for the new-found partner (sexual fling). Participants’ overall evaluations of the individual seeking a sexual fling were the least negative following perspective-taking instructions; otherwise, global evaluations of the three protagonists did not differ. Relative to (especially) those seeking a love affair, polyamorous individuals were seen as more loving, warm, sensitive and needy. Relative to (especially) those seeking a sexual fling, they were seen as confused, as more likely fooling themselves, and as more plausibly bisexual or homosexual. Thus, lay perceivers’ impressions of a polyamorous individual seemed mixed, apparently reflecting their struggle to make sense of the experience of being in love with more than one person at the same time.

More, More, More The Dark Side of Self-Expansion Motivation

Self-expansion without regard for others’ well-being may represent the dark side of an otherwise healthy motive. Guided by Amoebic Self-Theory (AST), we developed the Engulfing Self Scale (ESS) to measure acquisitive tendencies across AST’s three domains of the self. Four studies revealed that bodily engulfment appeared generally benign, and that the problematic aspects of social engulfment were generally restricted to interpersonal contexts. Spatial-symbolic engulfment motivation was linked to a breadth of problematic indices such as psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychological entitlement, social dominance orientation, economic system justification, greed, and valuation of power. It also predicted reluctance to expose a cheating group leader when doing so would threaten one’s own positive outcomes, greater justification of a looter’s behavior when prompted take his or her perspective, and greater justification of self-serving reward allocations after defeating an ostensible competitor. Spatial-symbolic engulfment may be a motivational fountainhead for behaviors that negate others’ well-being.

“Just Look at Him”: Punitive Responses Cued by “Evil” Symbols

Three studies examined the causes and consequences of labeling a target as “evil.” Results show that “evil” individuals are seen as dispositionally inclined to engage in “evil” behavior that matches a prototype of intentional, unjustifiable harm. Symbolic “evil” cues make a stereotype of the “truly evil” more accessible and polarize perceived applicability of the “evil” label depending on whether evil is seen as a potent, threatening force. The “evil” label predicts exceedingly punitive responses to the target and interpretive assimilation of the targets ambiguous behavior as being consistent with the evil behavior prototype. “Evil” thus appears to be a potent label with destructive consequences.