The relationship between belief in pure evil and some social psychological variables

According to Baumeister (1999) many different cultures and peoples all over the world come up with roughly same image of evil which he called "the myth of pure evil". This beliefs effect individuals' personalities, cognitive characteristics, ideological-political attitudes and religious orientations. Three studies were conducted to demonstrate that believing in pure evil is an important and valid psychological construct. In the first study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants in order to determine how the myth of pure evil is understood in Turkish society. The data of this study was analyzed by thematic analysis method. In the second study, the "Believing Pure Evil Scale" developed by Webster (2012) was adapted into Turkish. In the third study, the relationship of belief in pure evil with fundamentalism, questioning religiosity, belief in a just world, right-wing authoritarianism, intolerance of uncertainty, and attitudes towards war and peace were examined. As a result of the analyzes, the relationship between fundamentalism and belief in pure evil is mediated by intolerance of ambiguity. Lastly, the relationship between questioning religiosity and belief in pure evil is mediated by both intolerance of ambiguity and right-wing authoritarianism. The results of all three studies are discussed in line with the literature.