The influence of religious commitment on social cognition: An exploratory study of social representations of peace among a sample of graduates Cameroonians

The preservation of peace is a key concern of the Cameroonian people and the subject of debate within the political class. The public's marked interest in this issue prompted us to look at social representations of peace in Cameroon through the prism of religious commitment. Adopting a structural approach to social representations, we conducted a study among respondents with different levels of religious commitment (<i>N</i> = 156). Data collected via free association and characterization questionnaires were submitted to hierarchical and Q-sort analyses. Results indicated that <i>unity</i> is the factor that best characterizes peace. A comparative analysis of the organization of representations between groups with different levels of religious commitment failed to reveal any major differences. Based on the elements identified by participants, we argue that <i>proximity to the object</i> is the main factor underlying the construction of social representations of peace in Cameroon.