Religious fundamentalism has been suspected as a product of simple cognitive structuring. On the other hand, recent publications have shown that cognitive structure formation is not as simple as was previously thought. The concept of the Ability to Achieve Cognitive Structure (AACS) revealed that not everyone was able to form simple cognitive structure. This study employed a total of 187 Indonesian university students as participants. By the mean of Structural Equation Modeling, this study treated the desire for simple cognitive structure as a “new” latent variable and examined its relation with intratextual fundamentalism using AACS as moderator. The desire for simple structure was reflected by the Need for Cognitive Structure (NCS), the Dogmatism, and the RWA. The fundamentalism was reflected by the Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale (IFS). The result showed that fundamentalism, among other things, was a product of desire for simple cognitive structure. This study also showed that AACS moderated the relation in which high AACS would lead to higher fundamentalism while low AACS would not. Implications of the findings for social psychology and cross-cultural understanding of religious fundamentalism were discussed.
AlmondG. A., SivanE., & ApplebyR. S. (1995). Fundamentalisms: Genus and species. In MartyM. E., & ApplebyR. S. (Eds.), Fundamentalisms comprehended (pp. 399–424). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3.
AltemeyerB. (1981). Right-wing authoritarianism.Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba Press.
4.
AltemeyerB. (1996). The authoritarian specter.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
5.
AltemeyerB. (1998). The other “authoritarian personality”.Advances in Experimental Psychology,30, 47–92.
6.
AltemeyerB. (2003). Why do religious fundamentalists tend to be prejudiced?The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 13, 17–28.
7.
AltemeyerB., & HunsbergerB. (1992). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest and prejudice.The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion,2, 113–133.
8.
AltemeyerB., & HunsbergerB. (2004). A revised religious fundamentalism scale: the short and sweet of it.International Journal for the Psychology of Religion,14(1), 47–54.
9.
AltemeyerB., & HunsbergerB. (2005). Fundamentalism and Authoritarianism. In PaloutzianR. F., & ParkCrystal L. (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality (pp. 378–393). New York, NY: the Guilford Press.
10.
ApplegateB. K., CullenF. T., FisherB. S., & VenT. V. (2000). Forgiveness and fundamentalism: Reconsidering the relationship between correctional attitudes and religion.Criminology,38(3), 719–754.
11.
ArmborstA. (2009). A profile of religious fundamentalism and terrorist activism.Defence Against Terrorism Review,2(1), 51–71.
12.
BagaskaraS. (2009). Fundamentalism and closed-mindedness: the role of religiosity, intolerance of uncertainty, and need for closure on religious fundamentalism. Unpublished Master Thesis, University of Indonesia, Depok.
13.
Bar-TalY. (1994). The effect of need and ability to achieve cognitive structure on mundane decision-making.European Journal of Personality,8, 45–58.
14.
Bar-TalY., Kishon-RabinL, & TabakN. (1997). The effect of need and ability to achieve cognitive structuring on cognitive structuring.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,73(6), 1158–1176.
15.
Bar-TalY., RavivA., & SpitzerA. (1999). The need and ability to achieve cognitive structuring: Individual differences that moderate the effect of stress on information processing.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,77(1), 33–51.
16.
Bar-TalY., & GuinoteA. (2002). Who exhibits more stereotypical thinking? The effect of need and ability to achieve cognitive structure on stereotyping.European Journal of Personality,16, 313–331.
17.
BatsonC.D., and Raynor-PrinceL. (1983). Religious orientation and complexity of thought about existential concern.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion22: 38–50.
18.
Beit-HallahmiB., & ArgyleM. (1997). The psychology of religious behavior, belief, and experience.London and New York: Routledge.
19.
BerryT.D. (1989). Personality correlates of religious fundamentalism. Doctoral Dissertation, The Wright Institute.
20.
BertschS., & PestaB. J. (2009). The wonderlic personnel test and elementary cognitive tasks as predictors of religious sectarianism, scriptural acceptance and religious questioning.Intelligence,37, 231–237.
21.
BrewerM.B. (1988). A dual process model of impression formation. In SrullT. K., & WyerR. S.Jr. (Eds.), A dual process model of impression formation. (pp. 1–36). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
22.
BrownR.P., BarnesC. D., & CampbellN.J. (2007). Fundamentalism and forgiveness.Personality and Individual Differences,43(6), 1437–1447.
23.
BrownT.A. (2006). Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research (Methodology In The Social Sciences).New York: The Guilford Press.
24.
BunderS. (1962). Intolerance of ambiguity as a personalty variable.Journal of Personality, 30, 29–51.
25.
ByrneB.M. (1998). Structural Equation Modelling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
26.
CerecedesL. (2003). Self-identified heterosexual attitudes toward same-sex marriage: the role of authoritarianism, social dominance, gender beliefs, religious fundamentalism, and religious heterosexism. Doctoral Dissertation, Alliant International University, Los Angeles, CA.
27.
ChinW.W. (1998). Issues and opinion on structural equation modeling.Management Information Systems Quarterly, 22(1), 7–16.
28.
CohenJ., CohenP., WestS.G., & AikenL.S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences, third edition.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
29.
DuckR.J., & HunsbergerB. (1999). Religious orientation and prejudice: The role of religious proscription, right-wing authoritarianism and social desirability.International Journal for the Psychology of Religion,9, 157–179.
FiskeS.T., & PavelchakM.A. (1986). Category-based versus piecemeal-based affective responses: Developments in schema-triggered affect. In SorrentinoR. M., & HigginsE. T. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior. (pp. 167–203). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
32.
Frenkel-BrunswikE. (1949). Intolerance of ambiguity as an emotional and perceptual personality variable.Journal of Personality.18, 108–143.
33.
FrykenbergR.E. (1994) The Accounting for fundamentalism in South Asia: Ideologies and institutions in historical perspectives. In MartyM., & ApplebyR.S.. (Eds). Accounting for fundamentalism: The dynamic character of movements.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
GalenL.W., WolfeM.B.W., DeleeuwJ., & WyngardenN. (2009). Religious fundamentalism as schema: Influences on memory for religious information.Journal of Applied Social Psychology,39(5), 1163–1190.
35.
GibsonH.M. (1995). Personality and Christian fundamentalism.Journal of Empirical Theology,8(2), 58–81.
36.
HeilmanS.C. (1994). Quiescent and active fundamentalisms: The Jewish cases. In MartyM.E., & ApplebyF.S. (Eds.), Accounting for fundamentalisms (pp. 173–196). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
37.
HeiserD.M. (2005). A Study of fundamentalism and cognitive complexity among undergraduate students at a fundamentalist college. Doctoral Dissertation, The Adler School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, IL.
38.
HelmH.W.Jr., BereczJ.M., & NelsonE.A. (2001). Religious fundamentalism and gender differences.Pastoral Psychology,50(1), 25–37.
39.
HoeS.L. (2008). Issues and procedures in adopting structural equation modeling technique.Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods, 3(1), 76–83.
40.
HoodR.W., HillP.C., & WilliamsonW.P. (2005). The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism.New York, NY: the Guilford Press.
41.
HunsbergerB., PrattM., & PancerS.M. (1994). Religious fundamentalism and integrative complexity of thought: A relationship for existential content only?Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33, 335–346.
42.
International Crisis Group. (2007). Indonesia: Jemaah Islamiyah's Current Status. Update Briefing, 3 May 2007.
43.
IrwinJ.R., & McClellandG.H. (2001). Misleading heuristics and moderated multiple regression models.Journal of Marketing Research,38(1), 100–109.
44.
IrwinJ.R., & McClellandG.H. (2003). Negative Consequences of Dichotomizing Continuous Predictor Variables.Journal of Marketing Research,40(3), 366–371.
45.
IsmailN.H., & UngererC. (2009). Jemaah Islamiyah: A renewed struggle. ASPI Policy Analysis, 16 July 2009.
46.
JakobiP.L. (1990). Medical science, Christian fundamentalism, and the etiology of AIDS.AIDS & Public Policy Journal,5(2), 89–93.
47.
KaganJ. (1972). ‘Motives and development’,Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,22, 51–66.
48.
KellstedtL., & SmidtC. (1991). Measuring fundamentalism: An analysis of different operational strategies.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,30, 259–278.
49.
KoenigH.G., McCulloughM.E., & LarsonD.B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health.New York: Oxford University Press.
50.
KraussS.W., StreibH., KellerB., & SilverC. (2006). The distinction between authoritarianism and fundamentalism in three cultures: Factor analysis and personality correlates.Archive for the Psychology of Religion,28, 341–348.
51.
KruglanskiA.W., & AjzenI. (1983). Bias and error in human judgment.European Journal of Social Psychology,13, 1–44.
52.
KruglanskiA.W., WebsterD.M., & KlemA. (1993). Motivated resistance and openness to persuasion in the presence or absence of prior information.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,65, 861–876.
53.
LaytheB., FinkelD., & KirkpatrickL.A. (2001). Predicting prejudice from religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism: A multiple-regression approach.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,40(1), 1–10.
54.
LeakG.K., & RandallB.A. (1995). Clarification of the link between right-wing authoritarianism and religiousness: the role of religious maturity.Journal for the Scientfic Study of Religion, 34, 245–252.
55.
LehmanE.C.Jr., & ShriverD.W. (1968). Academic discipline as predictive of faculty religiosity.Social Forces,47, 171–182.
56.
MavorK.I., MacleodC.J., BoalM.J., & LouisW.R. (2009). Right-wing authoritarianism, fundamentalism and prejudice revisited: Removing suppression and statistical artefact.Personality and Individual Differences,46, 592–597.
57.
MaxwellS.E., & DelaneyH.D. (1993). Bivariate median splits and spurious statistical significance.Psychological Bulletin,113(1), 181–190.
58.
MobleyB. (2004). Jemaah Islamiyah Dossier. Center for Policing Terrorism, 26 August 2004.
59.
MujaniS. (2003). Religious democrats: Democratic culture and Muslim political participation in post-Suharto Indonesia.Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, United States: Ohio.
60.
NeubergS.L., & NewsomJ.T. (1993). Personal need for structure: Individual differences in the desire for simple structure.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,65, 113–131.
61.
OldsV. S. (2008). The relationships between object relations development, god image, spiritual maturity, and religious fundamentalism among Christians. Doctoral Dissertation, Texas A&M University.
62.
PancerS.M., JacksonL.M., HunsbergerB., & PrattM.W. (1995). Religious orthodoxy and the complexity of thought about religious and nonreligious issues.Journal of Personality,63, 213–230.
63.
PrattD. (2006). Terrorism and religious fundamentalism: Prospects for a predictive paradigm.Marburg Journal of Religion, 11(1).
64.
PrattD. (2007). Religious fundamentalism: A paradigm for terrorism?Australian Religion Studies Review, 20(2).
65.
PutraI.E. (2007). The effects of religious orientation, political ideology, fundamentalism, and social dominance orientation on political intolerance. Unpublished Master Thesis, University of Indonesia, Depok.
66.
RamakhrisnaK. (2002). Jemaah Islamiah: Aims, motivations and possible counter-strategies. IDSS Commentaries, 2 October 2002.
67.
RamakhrisnaK. (2004). Constructing the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist: A preliminary inquiry. Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies Working Paper, October 2004.
68.
RogersM.B., LoewenthalK.M., LewisC. Alan., AmlotR., CinnirellaM., & AnsariH. (2007). The role of religious fundamentalism in terrorist violence: A social psychological analysis.International Review of Psychiatry,19(3), 253–262.
69.
RokeachM. (1954). The nature and meaning of dogmatism,Psychological Review,61, 194–204.
70.
RokeachM. (1960). The open and closed mind, New York: Basic Books.
71.
RothschildZ.K., AbdollahiA., & PyszczynksiT. (2009). Does peace have a prayer? The effect of mortality salience, compassionate values, and religious fundamentalism on hostility toward out-groups.Journal of Experimental Psychology,45, 816–827.
72.
SaroglouV. (2002a). Religiousness, religious fundamentalism, and quest as predictors of humor creation.The International Journal For The Psychology of Religion,12(3), 177–188.
73.
SaroglouV. (2002b). Religion and the five factors of personality: A meta-analytic review.Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 15–25.
74.
SaroglouV. (2002c). Beyond dogmatism: The need for closure as related to religion.Mental Health, Religion, and Culture, 5(2), 183–194.
75.
SassD.A., & SmithP.L. (2006). The effects of parceling unidimensional scales on structural parameter estimates in structural equation modeling.Structural Equation Modeling,13(4), 566–586.
76.
SethiS., & SeligmanM.E.P. (1993). Optimism and fundamentalism.Psychological Science,4(4), 256–259.
77.
SorrentinoR.M., & ShortJ.C. (1986). Uncertainty orientation, motivation, and cognition. In SorrentinoR.M., & HigginsE.T. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior. (pp. 167–203). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
78.
StanleyG., & VaggP. (1975). Attitude and personality characteristics of Australian protestant fundamentalists.The Journal of Social Psychology,96, 291–292.
79.
StreyffelerL.L., & McNallyR.J. (1998). Fundamentalists and liberals: personality characteristics of protestant christians.Personality and Individual Differences,24(4), 579–580.
80.
TanA.T.H. (2008). Terrorism, insurgency and religious fundamentalism in Southeast Asia.Defence Studies,8(3), 311–325.
81.
TroldahlV.C., & PowellF.A. (1965). A short-form dogmatism scale for use in field studies.Social Forces,44(2), 211–214.
82.
VessM., ArndtJ., CoxC.R., & RoutledgeC. (2009). Exploring the existential function of religion: The effect of religious fundamentalism and mortality salience on faith-based medical refusals.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,97(2), 334–350.
83.
WetheJ.V. (2002). Rethinking the need and ability to achieve cognitive structure: measurement and theory issues. Doctoral Dissertaion, Purdue University.
84.
WilliamsonW.P., & HoodR.W.Jr. (2005, November). A new religious fundamentalism measure: preliminary work based on the principle of intratextuality. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Rochester, NY.
85.
WilliamsonW.P., HoodR.W.Jr., AhmadA., SadiqM., & HillP.C. (in press). The intratex-tual fundamentalism scale: Cross-cultural application, validity evidence, and relationship with religious orientation and the Big 5 factor markers.Mental Health, Religion, and Culture.
86.
WrenchJ.S., CorriganM.W., McCroskeyJ.C., & Punyanunt-CarterN.M. (2006). Religious fundamentalism and intercultural communication: The relationships among ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension, religious fundamentalism, homonegativity, and tolerance for religious disagreements.Journal of Intercultural Communication Research,35(1), 23–44.
87.
YusofZ.M., & IshakM. (2004). Inside a JI school.The New Paper on Sunday (Singapore), January 4, 2004.
88.
ZakrissonI. (2005). Construction of a short version of the right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) scale.Personality and Individual Differences,39, 863–872.
