Preliminary Evidence of Aversion to Atheists in a Long-Term Mating Territory in the Southern United States

First published October 13, 2021 in Research Article at

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211045051

Commentary

There is some text suggesting that atheism may be undesirable in the context of religiosity considerations in spousal selection.

Considering findings that suggest some positive stereotyping in atheist groups, which are considered untrustworthy in large part, individuals may prefer atheists in mating areas that do not emphasize long-term commitment (i.e., short-term mating).

In two studies, participants in the United States were asked to rate the desirability of long-term and short-term mating while assessing their perceptions of atheist and theist personalities.

Study 1 showed that atheists preferred short-term mating, but this preference did not mean that they preferred it over atheists.

In Study 2, we showed that this effect holds true for physically attractive targets.

And atheists are perceived to be more likely to be unfaithful, which seems to be especially true for individuals when they are attractive.