| Sumario: | In a partial attempt to explain why religiousness in some people seems to be associated with ethnic and racial prejudice, sociologist G.W. Allport has suggested that there may be contrasting ways in which religion can function in an individual's life style. Religious values may, for instance, be held intrinsically; such an individual follows the teachings of his faith because he sincerely believes in them. His religious sentiment might be said to be functionally autonomous. On the other hand, religious values may be held extrinsically; to this incompletely matured person, religion acts in the service of narcissistic or segmental needs or desires, such as security or status. His religious faith is not satisfying in and of itself. It is generally with the latter type of religious values that prejudice is found. The Extrinsic Religious Value Scale (ERV) was routinely administered to entering freshmen classes at a fairly small, Midwest liberal arts college. Out of an initial sample of 576 taking the ERV in two successive years, those scoring in the top quartile were compared with those scoring in the bottom quartile on a number of social, psychometric, and academic variables. It was thus hoped that significant differences might emerge which would be consistent with the nature of the construct and which would thus correctly separate 50 percent of the group. A preliminary check was made to determine if the extreme and middle groups differed in terms of entering class distribution or sex. No differences emerged, so that differences, which were disclosed between the high and low scoring groups, could not be attributed to either of these factors.
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