Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

Psychology

Date of Award

8-2004

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Roger C. Bailey

Committee Members

David J. Marx, Otto Zinser

Abstract

Three scenarios regarding a target man's moral behavior were used to examine 'religious halo' 'religious boomerang', and a 'halo recovery' effect. Initially, participants rated a male target in response to his religious affiliation. Secondly, participants rated the male target following an act of infidelity. Finally, participants provided ratings of the male target with the knowledge that the target received forgiveness from significant others. Results indicated that participants did not discriminate based on knowledge of the target's religious affiliation but did reject the target following an act of infidelity. New to this research, however, was discovery of a 'halo recovery' where participants were again accepting of a target following forgiveness from his wife and church leaders. These results varied from previous findings that suggested that participants' religious affiliation primarily influenced judgments of moral behavior.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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