Social Psychology Commons^™

Religion And Interpersonal Trust: An Individual Differences Analysis, Kaitlyn Sawyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several factors including experience, group membership, and religious involvement can have an impact on trust. The purpose of the current research was to examine religion as a possible factor in an individual’s trust behaviors. Researchers hypothesized that (1) individuals who identified themselves as being religious would trust strangers more easily than those who did not identify with a religion, and (2) that individuals would more easily trust strangers if the strangers were presented as being religious. Seventy-two participants were presented with three vignettes and were asked to respond to a series of scales measuring general trust, religiosity, conservatism, social distance, …