CREDs, CRUDs, and Catholic scandals: experimentally examining the effects of religious paragon behavior on co-religionist belief

Previous research on credibility-enhancing displays (CREDs) suggests that long-term exposure to religious role models “practicing what they preach” aids the acceptance of religious representations by cultural learners. Likewise, a considerable amount of anecdotal evidence implicates its opposite, pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religion, brain & behavior
Authors: Turpin, Hugh (Author) ; Andersen, Marc (Author) ; Lanman, Jonathan A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge [2019]
In: Religion, brain & behavior
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Ireland / Catholicism / Example / Way of life / Religious group / Religiosity
Further subjects:B credibility-enhancing displays (CREDs)
B credibility-undermining displays (CRUDs)
B religious hypocrisy
B Irish Catholicism
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:Previous research on credibility-enhancing displays (CREDs) suggests that long-term exposure to religious role models “practicing what they preach” aids the acceptance of religious representations by cultural learners. Likewise, a considerable amount of anecdotal evidence implicates its opposite, perceived “religious hypocrisy” (forthwith credibility-undermining displays or CRUDs), as a factor in the rejection of religion. However, there is currently little causal evidence on whether behaviors of either kind displayed by religious authorities directly affect pre-existing religious belief. The current study investigated this question by priming Irish self-identified “Catholic Christian” participants with either a clerical CRED or CRUD and subsequently measuring levels of explicit and implicit belief. Our results revealed no effects of immediate CRED or CRUD exposure on either implicit religious belief or three different measures of explicit religiosity. Instead, explicit (but not implicit) religiosity was predicted by past CRED exposure. Prospects and limitations of experimental approaches to CREDs and CRUDs are discussed.
ISSN:2153-5981
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2018.1439087