Religion’s Role in the Illusion of Gender Equality

Supraliminal and Subliminal Religious Priming Increases Benevolent Sexism

Haggard, Megan C.
Kaelen, Rob
Saroglou, Vassilis
Klein, Olivier
Rowatt, Wade C.

Department of Psychology, Francis Marion University
Social Psychology Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, and Department of Psychology, Université Catholique de Louvain
Department of Psychology, Université Catholique de Louvain
Social Psychology Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Baylor University

Megan C. Haggard, Department of Psychology, Francis Marion University, CEMC 109-I, PO Box 100547, Florence, SC 29502 [email protected]

Received July 8, 2016

revised February 23, 2018

Accepted March 12, 2018

Psychology of Religion & Spirituality 11(4):p 392-398, November 2019. | DOI: 10.1037/rel0000196

Sexism has deep roots in human history, including most religious traditions. Many religious organizations and traditions, including Judeo-Christian beliefs, subtly approve of and espouse sexism. Previous research has detailed how religiosity and sexism, particularly benevolent sexism, are positively correlated. Given these connections, we examined whether supraliminal or subliminal religious priming influenced reported benevolent and hostile sexism in Belgium (Experiments 1–2) and the United States (Experiments 3–4). Across four experiments, priming Judeo-Christian concepts increased self-reported benevolent sexism. In addition, differentiating types of religious primes into subgroups of religious agent, religious institution, and spiritual words revealed that exposure to religious agent primes resulted in higher levels of benevolent sexism compared to other groups (Experiment 4). These results provide empirical evidence that religion can act to bolster benevolent sexist ideals, which reinforce an unequal relationship between men and women.