Membership in Orthodox Christian Groups, Adjustment and Dogmatism.

The research reported here investigated the possibility that dogmatism is related to an individual's association with certain groups, as well as to his psychological predispositions or characteristics. The relative neglect of social influences upon authoritarianism and dogmatism has been cited by Kirscht and Dillehay (1967), among others. This study tested the hypothesis that dogmatism is associated with membership in orthodox (fundamentalist) Christian groups in addition to, or apart from, defense against anxiety, the typically invoked etiology of closed-mindedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]