Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale

1. Abstract

The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale is a specialized psychometric assessment instrument developed by social psychologists Leonard H. Seyfarth, Knud S. Larsen, K. Lamont, C. Haasch, T. Hale, and D. Haskin in 1984. The instrument was engineered to systematically assess an individual’s psychological openness, receptivity, and evaluative posture toward the public and personal rights of religious groups to engage in evangelistic activities. Grounded in the socioreligious definition of evangelism as the strategic employment of religious ideology through direct, intensive contacts with prospective converts, the measure operationalizes attitudes across two primary empirical dimensions: the public proclamation of religious faith (e.g., street preaching, media broadcast, public witnessing) and direct personal visitation (e.g., door-to-door solicitation, individualized proselytization).

The finalized scale comprises 21 items administered using a five-point Likert-type response format, spanning from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). The measure contains seven reverse-scored items calibrated to minimize acquiescence response bias. Developed through a rigorous criterion-referenced item-selection methodology from an initial pool of 80 potential items, the scale demonstrated substantial discriminative capacity by isolating statements that maximalized variance between the highest and lowest scoring deciles of an introductory psychology sample at Oregon State University.

Exploratory factor analysis conducted during initial scale validation revealed a multidimensional structural configuration capturing four distinct empirical components: Factor I (Respect for the courage to stand up for one’s beliefs), Factor II (Interpersonal approach), Factor III (Attitudes toward ideological conformity and spatial zoning restrictions), and Factor IV (Public-domain proselytization sensitivity). The scale demonstrates excellent internal reliability, boasting an uncorrected split-half reliability coefficient of .83 and a Spearman-Brown corrected reliability coefficient of .91. Construct validity is robustly supported via a strong positive correlation (r = .76) with Putney and Middleton’s Fanaticism scale, as well as significant known-groups validity differentiating individuals by religious tradition, personal religious activity, and denominational outreach orientation. This article provides a comprehensive psychometric review of the instrument, delineating its historical development, theoretical foundations, latent structure, administration protocols, and evaluative utility within contemporary psychology of religion and sociological research.

2. Keywords

Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale, evangelism measurement, religious proselytization, psychology of religion, religious outreach, religious conversion attitudes, religious tolerance, social psychology of religion, religious fanaticism, religious privacy rights

3. Authors

The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale was conceptualized, operationalized, and empirically validated by a collaborative research team led by Leonard H. Seyfarth and Knud S. Larsen at Oregon State University:

• Leonard H. Seyfarth, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States.
• Knud S. Larsen, Ph.D. — Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Known widely for extensive psychometric scale construction and socio-attitudinal research across social, political, and cross-cultural domains.
• K. Lamont — Department of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States.
• C. Haasch — Department of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States.
• T. Hale — Department of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States.
• D. Haskin — Department of Psychology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States.

Correspondence regarding the foundational validation studies of the instrument was originally addressed through the Department of Psychology at Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale is to provide an objective, standardized, and psychometrically validated measurement of individual differences in attitudes toward the public and private promulgation of religious beliefs. Religious outreach activities—ranging from door-to-door proselytization to street-level witnessing and televised evangelistic campaigns—frequently elicit intense socio-emotional reactions that intersect with fundamental concerns regarding freedom of speech, individual rights to privacy, religious freedom, and perceived ideological coercion. Prior to the development of this instrument by Seyfarth and colleagues in 1984, researchers in the sociology of religion and social psychology lacked a targeted, multidimensional scale focused specifically on how lay populations and targeted recipients perceive, evaluate, and react to evangelistic behaviors.

Seyfarth et al. (1984) explicitly conceptualized evangelism as "the employment of religious ideology in intensive direct contacts with prospective recruits" (p. 56). In doing so, the authors differentiated evangelism from passive religious identification or institutional church attendance. Evangelism inherently requires social interaction, ideological persuasion, and crossing interpersonal boundaries. Consequently, this instrument serves multiple distinct empirical and clinical functions:

• Sociological and Empirical Mapping of Religious Pluralism: The scale enables empirical researchers to quantify public tolerance toward visible religious proselytization in increasingly secularized, multicultural, and pluralistic societies. It provides a diagnostic metric for tracking shifts in cultural norms regarding where religious discourse belongs (i.e., whether faith is viewed as a legitimate public enterprise or an exclusively private concern).
• Intergroup Relations and Religious Prejudice Research: In social psychological investigations of prejudice, the scale offers an operational tool to measure reactions toward outgroup religious groups known for intensive recruitment practices (e.g., Evangelical Protestants, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses). By measuring attitudes toward the act of evangelism itself, researchers can dissociate affective reactions toward proselytizing methodologies from broader religious prejudice or xenophobia.
• Institutional Evaluation and Denominational Research: Faith-based institutions, missiological researchers, and theological seminaries utilize assessments of this nature to gauge how their prospective outreach initiatives are received by target populations, identifying structural sources of public friction, perceived boundary violations, or interpersonal receptivity.
• Theoretical Integration in Personality and Social Psychology: The scale serves as an informative criterion variable in structural equation models exploring the linkages between personality traits (such as the Big Five personality dimensions, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness), sociopolitical ideologies (e.g., Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation), and cognitive styles (e.g., dogmatism, cognitive flexibility, need for closure).

By establishing an empirically derived metric, the authors provided an instrument capable of capturing both the affirmative appraisal of evangelistic zeal (viewing it as an act of courage, love, or duty) and the defensive aversion toward unsolicited religious overtures (viewing them as invasive, coercive, or socially inappropriate).

5. Psychological Construct

The core psychological construct measured by the instrument is attitude toward evangelism, defined as a multidimensional, evaluative disposition toward the rights, practices, methodologies, and socio-ethical acceptability of religious groups engaging in active proselytization. Rather than treating attitudes toward religious outreach as a unidimensional continuum from positive to negative, Seyfarth and colleagues recognized that religious communication operates across distinct operational modalities and cognitive appraisals.

The Dual-Component Structural Model

The conceptual framework of the scale distinguishes two fundamental delivery modalities of evangelistic enterprise:

1. The Public Component: This domain involves the overt promulgation of religious dogma in civic arenas, public squares, open educational campuses, and mass media channels. It encompasses public street preaching, public testimonies, mass distribution of literature, and open vocalization of religious convictions. Psychologically, public evangelism triggers considerations regarding freedom of speech, public nuisance, civil liberties, and the boundary between civic space and sacred persuasion.
2. The Visitation Component: This domain pertains to localized, personal, and domestic proselytization, typified by door-to-door canvassing, individualized witnessing in residential settings, and personal unsolicited approaches. Psychologically, visitation evangelism directly touches upon perceptions of psychological privacy, territorial encroachment, interpersonal boundaries, and perceived obligation or relational discomfort.

Latent Factor Dimensions

The 21-item final scale operationalizes these components across four specific empirical factors identified in the initial exploratory factor extraction (Seyfarth et al., 1984):

• Factor I: Respect for the Courage to Stand Up for One’s Beliefs: Comprising 11 items (Items 9, 4, 7, 18, 3, 13, 10, 1, 16, 8, and 17), this factor reflects a deep affective and ideological appreciation for the boldness, personal sacrifice, and moral dedication demonstrated by evangelists. Exemplified by items such as Item 4 ("People testifying to their faith are an inspiration to me") and Item 10 ("If a person believes he knows the word of God, it is his duty to spread it"), this dimension assesses the degree to which an observer views evangelism not as an imposition, but as a laudable act of integrity, spiritual duty, and altruism.
• Factor II: Interpersonal Approach: Comprising 6 items (Items 19, 20, 14, 12, 2, and 5), this factor captures an individual’s behavioral tolerance, patience, and normative comfort regarding direct, face-to-face proselytizing approaches, specifically door-to-door visitation. Exemplified by Item 12 ("Door-to-door evangelists deserve at least two minutes of listening time") and Item 19 ("It doesn’t bother me to see religious evangelists going door-to-door"), this construct measures the threshold at which personal boundary encroachment is perceived as either acceptable civil discourse or an invasive violation of domestic sanctuary.
• Factor III: Ideological Conformity and Spatial Containment (Unlabeled in original text): Defined by Items 5 and 15, this dimension isolates underlying cognitive resistance to universalizing religious claims and demands for spatial containment. Item 15 ("I’m annoyed at people who feel it is necessary that the rest of the world must conform to their beliefs and standards") targets aversive reactions toward religious absolutism, whereas Item 5 ("People who wish to spread their beliefs should be restricted to a designated area") gauges support for legal or geographic containment strategies designed to suppress public proselytizing.
• Factor IV: Public-Domain Boundary Sensitivity (Unlabeled in original text): Centered on Item 11 ("I don’t like it when people push their religion on me in public places"), this construct isolates an individual’s explicit psychological reactance against unsolicited ideological encounters in shared public spaces, delineating personal intolerance toward street-level or environmental proselytization.

6. Theoretical Framework

The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale is grounded in foundational paradigms from social psychology, communication theory, and the psychology of attitudes. Specifically, its conceptual architecture draws upon the Tripartite Model of Attitudes, Psychological Reactance Theory, and Intergroup Contact Models.

The Tripartite Model of Attitudes

Within classical social psychology (e.g., Hovland, Rosenberg, & McGuire), attitudes consist of three interacting components: affective (emotional reactions), cognitive (beliefs, knowledge, and evaluative judgments), and behavioral (action tendencies or behavioral intentions). The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale directly operationalizes all three strata:

• Affective Responses: Evident in items expressing visceral emotional reactions, such as Item 9 ("I am thrilled when someone approaches me…") versus Item 16 ("I hate it when I am approached on matters of religion") or Item 15 ("I’m annoyed at people…").
• Cognitive Valuations: Captured in normative beliefs regarding civil rights and moral imperatives, such as Item 8 ("Freedom to seek religious converts is important to me") and Item 10 ("If a person believes he knows the word of God, it is his duty to spread it").
• Behavioral Dispositions: Manifest in willingness to engage, listen, or accommodate the evangelist, such as Item 12 ("Door-to-door evangelists deserve at least two minutes of listening time") and Item 1 ("I like to listen to a religious evangelist").

Psychological Reactance Theory

A crucial theoretical mechanism underlying negative attitudes toward evangelism is Psychological Reactance Theory, formulated by Jack Brehm (1966). Brehm posited that when an individual perceives that their behavioral freedoms, personal autonomy, or cognitive sovereignty are threatened or restricted, an aversive motivational state (reactance) is activated, driving the individual to restore the threatened freedom. Evangelism, by its communicative nature, explicitly seeks to alter an individual’s worldview, moral code, and religious affiliation. When an evangelist initiates an unsolicited contact (especially within private spaces such as the home), the recipient often experiences an implicit or explicit threat to autonomy. Items such as Item 2 ("Religious soliciting is an infringement on my right to privacy") and Item 6 ("Religion shouldn’t be pushed") capture the operational manifestation of psychological reactance against ideological imposition.

Cognitive Consistency and Religious Schemas

The scale also interfaces with Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957) and social schema theory. Individuals hold deeply ingrained cognitive representations concerning religious privacy, sacredness, and social norms. In Western secularized democracies, prevailing cultural scripts often emphasize that religion is a profoundly personal, interior matter. When evangelists engage in public witnessing or unannounced home visitation, they violate normative social scripts regarding interpersonal distance and the secular nature of public space. High scores on the scale reflect cognitive schemas that integrate evangelism as an expression of authentic religious liberty and communal care, whereas low scores signify schemas that categorize evangelism as an aggressive boundary transgression and socio-normative violation.

7. Validity

The psychometric validity of the Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale was thoroughly established through criterion-group analyses, construct validation, and correlational comparisons during its original construction (Seyfarth et al., 1984).

Construct and Convergent Validity

To demonstrate construct validity, Seyfarth et al. correlated the scale scores with the Fanaticism subscale from Putney and Middleton’s (1961) classic Dimensions of Religious Ideology Scale. Putney and Middleton defined religious fanaticism as an unyielding conviction that one possesses absolute religious truth coupled with an urgent impulse to impose that truth upon others. The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale demonstrated a robust correlation of:

r = .76 (p < .001)

This high correlation provides compelling convergent evidence that favorable attitudes toward evangelism are intrinsically linked to strong, uncompromising religious ideologies that prioritize proselytization as an absolute imperative. However, because the correlation does not approach unity, it also indicates that the scale retains unique variance, capturing evaluative appraisals of interpersonal civil liberties and evangelistic techniques beyond raw religious fanaticism.

Known-Groups and Discriminant Validity

The validation study provided extensive evidence of known-groups validity, demonstrating that the scale meaningfully differentiates between demographic, religious, and denominational cohorts based on predictable theoretical distinctions:

• Protestant vs. Non-Protestant Affiliation: Protestants demonstrated statistically significantly higher evangelism approval scores compared to non-Protestant participants (including Catholics, individuals from Eastern traditions, and non-affiliated respondents). This finding aligns with historic theological doctrines within Protestantism—especially Evangelicalism—that emphasize the Great Commission as a mandatory personal obligation.
• Religious Identity vs. Non-Affiliated: Individuals self-identifying with any organized religious tradition obtained significantly higher scores than individuals declaring no religious identity (e.g., agnostics, atheists, or secular humanists), who scored markedly lower due to heightened perceptions of privacy violations.
• Religious Activity (Active vs. Inactive): When stratified by operational involvement, respondents classified as "active in religion" (regular worship attendance, personal devotional practice) exhibited significantly more positive attitudes toward evangelism than "inactive" adherents, confirming that active behavioral commitment correlates with receptivity toward ideological expansion.
• Denominational Outreach Classification: On the basis of institutional doctrine, missiological priorities, and established denominational practice, Protestant respondents were categorized into "high-outreach" denominations (e.g., Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist) and "low-outreach" denominations (e.g., Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, liturgical mainline traditions). Participants from high-outreach traditions scored significantly higher on the scale than their peers from low-outreach traditions, establishing excellent discriminant sensitivity to subtle denominational socialization practices.

8. Reliability

The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale displays outstanding internal consistency and psychometric stability, as documented in the primary validation research conducted across independent student samples at Oregon State University (Seyfarth et al., 1984).

Split-Half Reliability Coefficients

To establish the scale’s internal consistency without the confounding influence of item-order effects, the authors utilized a split-half reliability protocol on their secondary validation cohort:

• Uncorrected Split-Half Reliability: r = .83
• Corrected Split-Half Reliability (using the Spearman-Brown Prophecy Formula): r_sb = .91

A corrected reliability coefficient of .91 satisfies the most stringent psychometric criteria (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994) for psychological assessment instruments, exceeding the recommended benchmark of .80 for basic research and approaching the .90 threshold required for individual diagnostic evaluation. This exceptionally high coefficient demonstrates that the 21 items, despite spanning different factor loadings, coalesce around a unified, highly consistent latent construct.

Item Homogeneity and Decile Discrimination

The scale’s reliability is further underscored by the rigorous empirical procedures utilized during its item-selection phase. From an initial pool of 80 potential items, the researchers systematically evaluated item-total correlations and extreme-group discriminability. Only items demonstrating maximal statistical divergence between the upper 10% (highest scoring decile) and the lower 10% (lowest scoring decile) of the exploratory distribution were retained. This criterion-referenced selection ensured optimal item discrimination and item-scale homogeneity, effectively eliminating psychometric noise and minimizing standard error of measurement across the score continuum.

9. Factor Analysis

The structural dimensionality of the Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale was established through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the retained 21 items. Seyfarth and colleagues (1984) employed a factor extraction threshold requiring primary item loadings of at least .30 for structural retention.

Factor Loadings and Latent Architecture

The analysis revealed a multidimensional solution characterized by four primary factors. The items loading onto each factor, listed in descending order of correlational magnitude, include:

Psychometric Evaluation of the Factor Structure

Factor I functions as the robust general core of the instrument, subsuming over half of the items (11 statements) and reflecting broad philosophical, emotional, and spiritual validation of public evangelism. Factor II specifically isolates the interpersonal modality of visitation, demonstrating that individuals differentiate between mass public proclamation and intimate door-to-door canvassing. Item 5 cross-loaded on both Factor II and Factor III, reflecting its dual valence regarding physical restriction to designated public zones and the direct personal management of evangelistic solicitation.

While Seyfarth et al. did not label Factors III and IV due to their sparse item saturations (two items and one item, respectively), modern structural standards (e.g., Brown, 2015) typically treat such groupings as "minor factors" or item-method artifacts associated with reverse-worded statements targeting privacy and public imposition. When utilizing the scale in contemporary empirical research, practitioners typically evaluate the instrument as a single unifactorial global composite (overall attitude toward evangelism) or as a two-factor model distinguishing between Public Evangelism Receptivity (Factor I) and Domestic/Interpersonal Visitation Tolerance (Factor II).

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

• Instrument Name: Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale
• Authors: Leonard H. Seyfarth, Knud S. Larsen, K. Lamont, C. Haasch, T. Hale, and D. Haskin
• Publication Year: 1984
• Target Domain: Social Psychology, Psychology of Religion, Missiology, Sociological Measurement
• Format: Self-report psychometric questionnaire
• Item Count: 21 items
• Response Scale: 5-point Likert-type scale scored as follows:
  • 1 = Strongly Disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Neutral
  • 4 = Agree
  • 5 = Strongly Agree
• Scoring and Directionality:
  • Direct Scored Items (14 items): Items 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, and 21 are scored directly as marked (Strongly Disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5).
  • Reverse Scored Items (7 items): Items 2, 5, 6, 11, 15, 16, and 20 represent negative attitudes, boundary sensitivity, or privacy objections. These items MUST be reverse scored prior to summing: Strongly Disagree = 5, Disagree = 4, Neutral = 3, Agree = 2, Strongly Agree = 1.
  • Composite Score Range: Total composite scores range from 21 to 105. Higher total scores denote significantly more positive, receptive, and approving attitudes toward religious evangelism and the civil rights of evangelists. Lower scores indicate negative attitudes, high psychological reactance, and strong preferences for privacy protection and religious spatial containment.
• Administration Time: Approximately 5 to 10 minutes; self-administered via paper-and-pencil or digital survey platforms.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Attitude Toward Evangelism Scale was initially developed in 1980 and published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature in 1984 (Seyfarth et al., 1984). The scale was published in the Journal of Social Psychology, which is currently published by Taylor & Francis. The complete 21-item questionnaire was released directly within the original empirical journal article for public scientific use and academic inspection.

In accordance with standard fair-use academic conventions, the instrument may be utilized for non-commercial, scholarly research, thesis projects, and scientific investigations without payment of royalty fees, provided appropriate bibliographic citation is given to Seyfarth et al. (1984). Commercial applications, incorporation into for-profit assessment platforms, or large-scale copyrighted republishing require explicit formal copyright permissions through Taylor & Francis or the original copyright holders.

12. References

• Brehm, J. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. Academic Press.
• Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). Guilford Publications.
• Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503620766
• Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion: Psychological studies of opinion change. Yale University Press.
• Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
• Putney, S., & Middleton, R. (1961). Dimensions and correlates of religious ideologies. Social Forces, 39(4), 285–290. https://doi.org/10.2307/2573426
• Seyfarth, L. H., Larsen, K. S., Lamont, K., Haasch, C., Hale, T., & Haskin, D. (1984). Attitude toward evangelism: Scale development and validity. The Journal of Social Psychology, 123(1), 55–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1984.9924513

13. Items of the Scale (Questionnaire)