Changing views of serpent handling: A quasi-experimental study

Knowledge about serpent handling sects (SHS) even among social scientists a nd legislators has been largely influenced by biased media reports. Our own field research suggests that factual knowledge about SHS is effective in c hanging stereotypes about serpent handling and in altering views as to the rights of believers to handle serpents in church. In a quasi-experimental s tudy, participants were pretested with respect to both prejudicial and reas oned evaluative views about SHS. Participants sa wither a video of contempo rary SHS in which handlers demonstrated and explained their faith, or a con trol tape in which contemporary SHS were shown but serpent handling was nei ther demonstrated nor defended. As predicted, viewing the serpent handling video was effective in reducing stereotyping of SHS and in changing attitud es regarding the sincerity of the believers and the right of SHS to practic e their faith without legal constraints. Appropriate controls indicated tha t changes were not simply a function of a pretest by treatment interaction. The relevance of these data for altering laws against the practice of serp ent handling is discussed.