Deliberative thinking increases tolerance of minority group practices: Testing a dual-process model of tolerance.

Tolerance of minority beliefs and practices is typically considered a critical ingredient for an equal and diverse society. Psychologically, people can use both intuitive and deliberative cognitive sources to make tolerance judgments. Following dual-process theories, this research uses survey experiments to manipulate intuitive versus deliberative thinking to examine whether deliberative thinking increases tolerance of minority practices. Across three studies using nationally representative samples of Dutch majority members (N = 1,811), we find that deliberative thinking increases tolerance, regardless of whether people deliberate over pragmatic or principled reasons for accepting contested minority practices and social changes. These findings are similar across a range of minority practices and robust across gender, age, educational level, and political orientation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

With rhyme and reason: Recognizing reasons for disliked practices increases tolerance.

Disapproval of others' beliefs and practices is an inevitable consequence of living with diversity, and the ability to tolerate, or put up with, these differences is crucial to maintain a functional society. Considering reasons to condone what one disapproves of is considered a key aspect of tolerance. Across three national samples (N = 1,708), the current research examines how recognizing arguments to support practices that one disapproves of increases tolerance. Studies 1-2 demonstrate that when participants generate arguments to support Muslim minority practices (Study 1) and Orthodox Protestant minority practices (Study 2), they disapprove of, they show increased tolerance towards such practices in society. In Study 3, the importance of considerations is experimentally extended by demonstrating that perceiving objectionable behaviour as more reasonable increases tolerance. Collectively, these studies demonstrate the importance of engaging in and perceiving reasonable considerations to enhance tolerance of dissenting beliefs or practices.