Fixed or Flexible: The Effect of Negative Feedback on One’s Religious Identity

1. Fixed or Flexible: The Effect of Negative Feedback on One’s Religious Identity Erika Brown Oklahoma State University

2. Previous Research • Dealing with religiosity (Mullet, Barros, Frongia, Usai & Shafighi, 2003) • Dealing with effects of negative events on self-esteem (DeHart & Pelham, 2007) • Anticipated that those highly religious will re-evaluate their identity more so than those who are not religious.

3. Anticipated Results

4. Method: Participants • 24 undergraduate students • Mean age of 19 years. • 63% were female • Majority were Caucasian (80%) • All were Christian

5. Method: Procedure • Participants first completed SIBS • Categorized into high or low religious identity • Pre-Feedback rating of subjective religiosity

7. Method: Procedures • Took difficult Bible quiz • Filler task • Ruse • Negative feedback • Post-Feedback subjective religiosity

8. Results • Pre- and Post-Feedback ratings overall • Matched-pairs t-test • t(23) = 1.79, p = .086, two –tailed • High and low Religious Identity • Independent samples t-test • t(14) = -1.823, p = .090, two-tailed

9. Results

10. Discussion • Overcompensation • Limitations: • Low power • High SIBS scores • Future research • Replicate • Different denominations

11. Thank you!