Self-esteem and in-group bias among members of a religious social category

In a sample of New Zealand university students, the author extended earlier research into the relationship between self-esteem and intergroup discrimi nation. He found no support for the hypothesis that social-category members (i.e., Christians) experience an elevation in the domain of self-esteem (i .e., religious self-esteem) judged as more relevant to the in-group after e valuations favoring the in-group. Regardless of whether the evaluation targ ets behaved positively or negatively, the respondents in the experimental c ondition evaluated in-group (Christian) targets more highly than out-group (Atheist) targets. After evaluations favoring the in-group, the respondents did not experience an elevation of religious self-esteem, global self-este em, or mathematical self-esteem (judged as less relevant to the in-group).