Ideological inheritance: Implicit Puritanism in American moral cognition
by Poehlman, T. Andrew, Ph.D., YALE UNIVERSITY, 2007, 100 pages; 3293364

Abstract:

The current work investigated the hypothesis that, even after 400 years since settling in the United States, cultural mores of the Protestant settlers still are active in the minds of Americans. Using theories of implicit social cognition (Banaji & Greenwald, 1995; Heider, 1958) it is proposed that settlers' norms hailing the piety of sexual purity, frugality and hard work have become entrenched in American minds and remain connected by identifiable cognitive schemas. In addition, this schema has also become automatized such that Americans need not recognize their source, or subjectively experience their influence to act in accordance with their tenets. Six studies provide evidence that the judgments of contemporary Americans implicitly reflect traditional Puritan-Protestant values regarding work and sexual purity. Moreover, among Americans, values regarding sexuality activates work and frugality values and vice versa. Many of these effects (particularly the intertwined cognitive schema of sexual these beliefs are functionally intertwined: nonconsciously priming traditional purity and hard work/frugality) are not shared across nations, even in Western Europe where Protestantism had its start. Strikingly, these schemas are just as strong among American Catholics and less, or even non-religious individuals as among devout Protestants. Study 1 reveals Americans' commitment to Protestant work norms through judgments of a hypothetical lottery winner. Study 2 reveals Americans' intuitive commitment to Puritanical sexual norms. Study 3 demonstrates the implicit Puritan schema linking sexual values and values associated with work and frugality among American participants and included a comparison group of French participants. Study 4 more specifically implicates the role of American identity in this schema by demonstrating the moderating role of identity salience in this link. Study 5 uses a memory error paradigm to show this link results in tacit inferences not simply reducible to affect. Finally, Study 6 demonstrates the behavioral relationship between traditional work norms and divinity among Americans of a wide range of belief systems. This implicit Puritanism in American moral cognition may help account for a wide range of differences between Americans' social judgments and those of members of other cultures. Implications for the influence of culture on automatic mental processes are discussed.

 
AdviserJohn A. Bargh
SchoolYALE UNIVERSITY
SourceDAI/B 68-12, p. , Mar 2008
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsAmerican studies; Social psychology
Publication Number3293364
Adobe PDF Access the complete dissertation:
 

» Find an electronic copy at your library.
  Use the link below to access a full citation record of this graduate work:
  http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl%3furl_ver=Z39.88-2004%26res_dat=xri:pqdiss%26rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation%26rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3293364
  If your library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database, you may be entitled to a free electronic version of this graduate work. If not, you will have the option to purchase one, and access a 24 page preview for free (if available).

About ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
With over 2.3 million records, the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world. It is the database of record for graduate research.

The database includes citations of graduate works ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Of the 2.3 million graduate works included in the database, ProQuest offers more than 1.9 million in full text formats. Of those, over 860,000 are available in PDF format. More than 60,000 dissertations and theses are added to the database each year.

If you have questions, please feel free to visit the ProQuest Web site - http://www.proquest.com - or call ProQuest Hotline Customer Support at 1-800-521-3042.