Religious Motivation, Priming and Their Effects on Sexist Language

This experiment delves into the potential effects of sexist language used in the Christian religious context on increased use of sexist language, and endorsement of sexism on an individual level. In order to demonstrate a relationship between these two variables, an experiment was designed. Participants were exposed to either a religious or neutral priming session and were then immediately asked to complete several scales and measures of sexist language, sexism, and their level of intrinsic religious motivation. The hypothesis was that participants who ranked lower on intrinsic religious motivation, and who received a religious prime, would generate increased sexist language and sexism than the neutrally primed, higher ranking intrinsically motivated participants. The results demonstrated opposite effects of the religious prime on the behavior of the participants. The religiously primed participants expressed less sexism and sexist language; and a significant interaction was found between exposure to a religious prime and intrinsic religious motivation level. Exposure to a religious prime affected intrinsic religious motivation, in that those ranking higher in intrinsic religious motivation expressed less sexism and sexist language than those lower in intrinsic religious motivation with a religious prime. Religious Motivation, Priming and Their Effects on Sexist Language 3 Religious Motivation, Priming and Their Effects on Sexist Language Christianity, operating within the U.S. American context, has historically equated maleness with the divine. God is viewed as being masculine in nature, and women, historically have not been elevated within the Christian theological context (Holdsworth, 1999). This understanding of the divineness of being male is rooted in the language used within Christian liturgies, prayers, and hymns. This language regularly uses male pronouns in reference to God, as well as uses male pronouns to refer to all of humanity. This type of language becomes problematic when it is used in a light, nonchalant way, as it is today (Routley, 1979). This language extends out from the Christian church, as it’s congregates interact with the secular world. Within America, and around the world, gender roles have been heavily influenced by religious experiences and understandings of God as male. When God is understood as male, the attributes of God, such as power and strength, are assumed to be attributes of men in general. If power and strength are attributes of men, then logically they would not be attributes of women (Johnson, 1984). Therefore, it is preached that women must inherently be different from God and possess different attributes, or at least different strengths than God or men. As with any religion, the messages and teachings are taught through language, both spoken and written. Both forms of language within the Christian context depict God as male and all-powerful. This subtle assumption and historical use of sexist language is expected to impact peoples’ individual attitudes and behaviors. Ehrlich & King (1994) argue that language is not a neutral means of communicating, as many may assume. They argue that language is a social institution that favors higher classes and dominant cultures. This argument makes sense, as it would be the dominant culture that has the privilege of forming the acceptable language in the ways that they see to be most fit. Within the current study, the dominant culture would be one Religious Motivation, Priming and Their Effects on Sexist Language 4 that is male, and the current sexist language that is used in the Christian context utilizes masculine generics. By exclusively using masculine generics in religious language, the implication is communicated that humanity is male, and that women are inherently deviations from the norm (Ehrlich & King, 1994). Additionally, Ehrlich & King (1994) highlight the societal norm to know the gender of any individual one may address. People will replace masculine generics with simply names that continue the stereotypes of the roles that men play in society. Additionally, if someone does begin using the term “chairperson” they will use it to refer to a woman who is the chair of a department. But if the chair is a man, they will call them the “chairman. ” This type of behavior demonstrates the deeply rooted need to communicate gender in identifying others, including God in a Christian religious context. God is not to be confused with a woman but must clearly be male in order to maintain power. Throughout the history of the Christian church, people have attempted to check the sexist language use of the church. Most notably Julian of Norwich wrote about God as Mother in 1373 (“About Julian of Norwich,” 2014). Yet, sexist language within the Christian church has continued until recent years. One reason for this lack of questioning could be system justification. Individuals depend on social systems for wealth, security, and structure in their lives. The expectation is that the institutions that people rely on will be inherently fair, or else they could not be reliable (Douglas & Sutton, 2014). The church is a source of security and structure that goes unquestioned from its justified position. Men score higher on scales of system-justification and a major part of a system is the language that is used within it. Sexist language used within churches is justified by the men and women who are part of those churches. Religious Motivation, Priming and Their Effects on Sexist Language 5 Psychological studies have demonstrated that there is a connection between having a Christian, religious background and experiencing sexism in a personal, subconscious way. Specifically, in a study by, Eliason, Hall, Anderson, & Willingham (2017), they found that when biblical beliefs become more hierarchical, gender role identities became more traditional and career aspirations of women are lowered and their body shaming increased. Additionally, it has been shown that women who viewed themselves in a more masculine light had more positive evaluations of their self-worth (Mason, Mason, & Mathews, 2016). If hierarchical biblical beliefs ultimately lead women to lower their aspirations for themselves, then this is not only a personal problem, but a societal problem. American society relies on women to be a part of their work force and to be active members in society; businesses owned by women employ over 9 million people in the United States (National Association of Women Business Owners, 2017). The hierarchical biblical beliefs that can set this problem into motion may be exacerbated by the language that assumes God is male and women are, therefore, subtly thought of as powerless. Despite the magnitude of this problem, there is a lack of empirical research conducted concerning the effects of religious sexist language on the attitudes and behaviors of individuals. Currently, the only other psychological study to experimentally examine the effects of religion on individuals’ attitudes and behaviors was conducted by Haggard, Kaelen, Saroglou, Klein, & Rowatt (2018). All other studies concerning the effects of religion on individuals’ attitudes or behaviors has been correlational. The general consensus from previous work is that religion has been shown to affect individual attitudes and behavior. The Christian religious community has historically used sexist language and, therefore, laid the foundation for sexist attitudes towards women through gender roles and stereotypes. According to Swim, Aikin, Hall, & Hunter (1995), as sexist attitudes increase, sexist language Religious Motivation, Priming and Their Effects on Sexist Language 6 use also increases. Therefore, if the general consensus is that God is male and all-powerful, and the language reflects as much, then individuals who see men as more closely related to God and made in God’s image, will express increased sexism and use similar sexist language. Additionally, individuals must have motivation to participate in religion. If an individuals’ primary motivation to participate in a religious context is to be part of a religious community, then these individuals would be especially prone to using sexist language, and expressing sexism, as they are exposed to these practices more frequently than one who does not participate within the religious community.