German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

Julia Köbrich / Borja Martinović / Tobias H. Stark

Interreligious Contact and Attitudes in Togo and Sierra Leone: The Role of Ingroup Norms and Individual Preferences

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology | 2023

Abstract

Rising religious violence makes it imperative to develop strategies to foster and preserve interreligious peace. We examine the role of descriptive and injunctive pro-mixing ingroup norms in explaining interreligious contact and, indirectly, more favorable interreligious attitudes. Ingroup norms have been argued to affect intergroup contact independently of individual preferences through mechanisms of social control and indirectly via the internalization of the norms in one’s own preferences. However, the relation between ingroup norms and individual preferences is rarely investigated, and it is unknown whether these two mechanisms matter differently for positive and negative contact. We conducted two studies (N1 = 678, N2 = 1,831) in Togo and Sierra Leone to determine whether ingroup norms predict positive and negative interreligious contact directly, indirectly via individual preferences, or via both mechanisms, and how this then translates to intergroup attitudes. We also explored whether the processes were comparable between countries and for religious majority and minority members. We found that descriptive and injunctive norms both mattered for interreligious contact. While for descriptive pro-mixing norms, direct mechanisms of social control were more pronounced, injunctive norms were related to interreligious contact and attitudes via preferences for similar others through internalization processes.

Journal

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

Number of Pages

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000702

Link

https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-90938-6

Julia Köbrich

Doctoral Researcher

T. +49 40 42825-620 julia.koebrich@giga-hamburg.de

Ass. Prof. Dr. Borja Martinović

Ass. Prof. Dr. Tobias H. Stark

GIGA Focus Africa | 2/2024

Peaceful or Contentious? How to Promote Interreligious Peace in Africa

In African societies, celebrations of religious diversity exist alongside (violent) religious extremism. What determines whether interreligious relations are peaceful or contentious? What can we learn from positive examples, and what role does religious extremism play in interreligious peace?

Hervé Akinocho

Dr. Lisa Hoffmann

Julia Köbrich

Contribution | 2024

Pictures of Religion and Interreligious Relations in Everyday Life

For a photo project Togolese and Sierra Leonean participants took photos of religion and interreligious relations in their everyday life. This documentation of the project displays their diverse perspectives and invites observers to reflect on religion and interreligious relations in their lives.

Julia Köbrich

Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Lisa Hoffmann

Associate

Research Comic | 2024

The Making of Interreligious Peace

Sometimes, people belonging to different religions do not get along well. In 2022 we travelled to Sierra Leone and Togo where interreligious relations were very peaceful. This comic depicts some examples of how to make interreligious peace: celebrating together, collaborating, being friends, and respecting each other despite differences.

Julia Köbrich

Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Lisa Hoffmann

Associate

Deutsche Welle | Interview | 12/03/2024

Religion in Africa: High tolerance for other faiths

Muslims and Christians in much of sub-Saharan Africa have a long history of religious tolerance. Sierra Leone in particular stands out as a positive example.