Implicit Puritanism in American moral cognition

Eric Luis Uhlmann, Andrew Poehlmann, David Tannenbaum and John Bargh
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Eric Luis Uhlmann: GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Andrew Poehlmann: Cox School of Management - SMU - Southern Methodist University [Dallas, TX, USA]
John Bargh: Yale University [New Haven]

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Abstract: Three studies provide evidence that the judgments and behaviors of contemporary Americans are implicitly influenced by traditional Puritan-Protestant values regarding work and sex. American participants were less likely to display traditional values regarding sexuality when implicitly primed to deliberate, as opposed to intuition and neutral primes. British participants made judgments reflecting comparatively liberal sexual values regardless of prime condition (Study 1). Implicitly priming words related to divine salvation led Americans, but not Canadians, to work harder on an assigned task (Study 2). Moreover, work and sex values appear linked in an overarching American ethos. Asian-Americans responded to an implicit work prime by rejecting revealing clothing and sexually charged dancing, but only when their American cultural identity was first made salient (Study 3). These effects were observed not only among devout American Protestants, but also non-Protestant and less religious Americans.

Keywords: Moral intuitions; American culture; Puritanism; Protestantism; Implicit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2011, 47 (2), pp.312-320. ⟨10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.013⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00575637

DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.013

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