Religious Fundamentalists Epistemic Beliefs and Relationship to Right-wing Authoritarianism
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to inspect differences in epistemic beliefs among high and low religious fundamentalists and to examine the potential mediating effects of epistemic beliefs in the relationship between fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism. A convenience sample of 163 undergraduate students were administered the Epistemic Beliefs Inventory, Right-wing Authoritarianism scale, and the Revised Religious Fundamentalism scale via an online survey. Differences in epistemic beliefs among high and low fundamentalists were found in the present study, in that high fundamentalists exhibited a greater tendency than low fundamentalists to believe that knowledge is certain, derived from omniscient authority, and that learning occurs quickly or not at all. It was also found that the indirect path of religious fundamentalism through these variables to right-wing authoritarianism was significantly different from zero, thereby providing partial support for the contention that epistemic beliefs mediate the relationship between fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism.
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- OSU Theses [15752]