Distrust persists after subverting atheist stereotypes

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1103-1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Grove ◽  
Ayla Rubenstein ◽  
Heather K. Terrell
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Religious Identification ◽  
Factors Influencing

Antiatheist prejudice appears to be common. This prejudice may stem from distrust. However, the factors influencing distrust are not fully understood. The current research identified common stereotypes about atheists, tested the intuitiveness of those stereotypes, and determined whether distrust toward atheists depends more on the label “atheist” or the attributes atheists are thought to possess. Study 1 ( N = 100) and Study 2 ( N = 149) identified several attributes thought to be most characteristic of atheists and least characteristic of Christians (or vice versa). Study 3 ( N = 219) demonstrated that atheists and Christians are intuitively associated with the respective traits identified in Studies 1 and 2. Study 4 ( N = 274) and Study 5 ( N = 259) used fake social media profiles to manipulate target religious identification (atheist, Christian, or unspecified) and attributes (stereotypically atheist or stereotypically Christian) to determine the effect on trust ratings. Overall, the results of these studies indicate that atheists and Christians are explicitly and implicitly associated with different attributes and that, even when atheists possess stereotypically Christian attributes, Christians trust atheists significantly less than other Christians. These findings suggest that antiatheist prejudice is relatively insensitive to individual differences of the target.

Motivating Exercise Through Social Media: Is a Picture Always Worth a Thousand Words?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn Johnston ◽  
William E. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Exercise Motivation ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Within Subjects

In the present study, we examined how the influence of exercise-related social media content on exercise motivation might differ across content type (with images vs. without images) and account type (individual vs. corporate). Using a 2 × 2 within-subjects experimental design, 229 participants viewed a series of 40 actual social media posts across the four conditions (individual posts with images, corporate posts with images, individual posts without images, and corporate posts without images) in a randomized order. Participants rated the extent to which they felt each social media post motivated them to exercise, would motivate others to exercise, and was posted for extrinsic reasons. Participants also completed other measures of individual differences including their own exercise motivation. Posts with images from individuals were more motivating than posts with images from corporations; however, corporate posts without images were more motivating than posts without images from individuals. Participants expected others to be similarly motivated by the stimuli, and perceived corporate posts as having been posted for more extrinsic reasons than individuals’ posts. These findings enhance our understanding of how social media may be used to promote positive health behaviors.

Investigating the level and determinants of hibah knowledge: a study among Muslims in Kedah, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Syaedah Kamis ◽  
Norazlina Abd. Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Estate Planning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Planning And Management ◽  
The Government

Purpose This paper aims to explore the level of hibah knowledge among Muslims in Kedah and investigate its determinants, consisting of education level, education stream, religiosity, social influence and social media. Design/methodology/approach This study is quantitative in nature. Questionnaires were distributed to collect data from Muslims in Alor Setar, Kedah. In total, 195 questionnaires were collected and data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Findings The study finds that Muslims in Alor Setar, Kedah have good knowledge of hibah. Further, education stream, religiosity, social influence and social media were identified as significant factors that influence their knowledge of hibah. Research limitations/implications The first limitation is its narrow focus in surveying Muslims only in Alor Setar, Kedah. The second limitation is the limited number of determinants used in investigating hibah knowledge among Muslims and the techniques used in analyzing the data. Despite these limitations, the study’s findings provide invaluable insights into the factors influencing hibah knowledge among Muslims in Alor Setar, Kedah. Practical implications This study provides insights regarding the significant personal factors and environmental factors to increase Muslims’ knowledge of hibah. The link between the Islamic education stream and hibah knowledge provides a clear indication that Islamic education can curb the economic problems caused by the substantial amounts of frozen and unclaimed assets in Malaysia. A significant relationship between the environmental factors (social influence and social media) and hibah knowledge also implies that the government and private agencies related to Islamic estate planning and management may use these significant determinants as part of the marketing strategy to increase the usage of hibah as an alternative tool for estate planning. Originality/value This study contributes to a better understanding of Muslims’ knowledge about hibah. The government and related agencies in Islamic estate planning and management can now gain better insights into Muslims’ level of knowledge about hibah and the factors influencing their knowledge of hibah as an effective tool for Islamic estate planning and management. Hence, more effective strategies can be recommended to enhance the knowledge of Muslims on hibah. The findings of this study should be of value to the government in its effort to address the increasing number of frozen estates in Malaysia.

scholarly journals Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Koessmeier ◽  
Oliver B. Büttner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
User Perspective ◽  
Affiliation Motive ◽  
Problematic Social Media Use ◽  
And Task

Social media is a major source of distraction and thus can hinder users from successfully fulfilling certain tasks by tempting them to use social media instead. However, an understanding of why users get distracted by social media is still lacking. We examine the phenomenon of social media distraction by identifying reasons for, situations of, and strategies against social media distraction. The method adopted is a quantitative online survey (N = 329) with a demographically diverse sample. The results reveal two reasons for social media distraction: social (e.g., staying connected and being available) and task-related distraction (e.g., not wanting to pursue a task). We find individual differences in these reasons for distraction. For social distraction, affiliation motive and fear of missing out (FoMO) are significant predictors, while for task-related distraction, self-regulatory capabilities (self-control, problematic social media use) and FoMO are significant predictors. Additionally, typical distraction situations are non-interactive situations (e.g., watching movies, facing unpleasant tasks). Strategies used to reduce distractions mostly involved reducing external distractions (e.g., silencing the device). This paper contributes to the understanding of social media use by revealing insights into social media distraction from the user perspective.

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