Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale [RRF]

Description

The Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale [RRF] is a self-report instrument designed to assess the degree to which individuals endorse fundamentalist religious beliefs.

Purpose

The scale focuses mainly on:

  • absolute faith in the infallibility and absolute truth of religious teachings,
  • resistance to change and to ideas that challenge traditional religious beliefs,
  • attitudes toward other religions and competing belief systems.

Scoring

Participants indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with relevant statements using a Likert-type scale. Responses are converted into numerical scores that can be used to calculate an overall religious fundamentalism index.

Applications

The RRF can be used in psychological and social research to examine religious fundamentalism and its relationships with variables such as tolerance, prejudice, social attitudes, and demographic characteristics.

References

Altemeyer, B., & Hunsberger, B. (2004). A Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale: The short and sweet of it. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.

Hood, R. W., Hill, P. C., & Williamson, W. P. (2005). The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism. Guilford Press.

Kirkpatrick, L. A. (1993). Fundamentalism, Christian orthodoxy, and intrinsic religious orientation as predictors of discriminatory attitudes. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion..