The relationship between religious knowledge and dogmatism in college students

Author

Christopher F. Silver, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Periodical Title

Modern Psychological Studies

Volume

9

Number

1 & 2

Page Numbers

pages 26-35

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

2003

Abstract

The relationship between general knowledge of world religions and dogmatism was investigated in a group of college students in Tennessee. Knowledge of world religions was assessed with a written survey and the scores were compared to scores on the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale. Dogmatism is a reluctance to accept new ideas outside of one's own belief or disbeliefs. The results supported the hypothesis that individuals with high levels of dogmatism would also have low levels of knowledge about religious traditions other than their own. Additional analysis indicated that people who identify themselves as more spiritual than religious had lower dogmatism scores and higher religious knowledge scores than those identifying themselves as more religious than spiritual. In addition, self-described conservative individuals were more open-minded than selfdescribed liberals. In addition, individuals with high levels of dogmatism tended to be members of the same religious tradition as their parents. There appears to be a correlation between dogmatism and liberal or conservative beliefs.

Subject

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

10 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

BF1 .M63 v. 9 no. 1 & 2 2003

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Recommended Citation

Silver, Christopher F. (2003) "The relationship between religious knowledge and dogmatism in college students," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol9/iss1/5