Depok, August 12th, 2023. The hijrah movement which has been rife in recent years is a process of spiritual transformation and a representation of religious spirit in the form of physical, spiritual and social changes. In this transformation process, a person can be intolerant if he feels superior in religion. To answer the question of how religious intolerance is formed through the mechanism of collective orientation in religious groups, Roosalina Wulandari, a student of the Psychology Doctoral Study Program, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia (UI) conducted a study entitled “Religious Identity Transformation: Explaining Religious Intolerance as Uncertainty Reduction Motivation Through Collective Orientation”.
According to Roosalina, many hijrah journeys are seen as an effort to strengthen religious spirituality. The strength of the collective culture in Indonesia means that hijrah—which was originally a process of personal spiritual transformation—is carried out in groups. In this case, group support is felt to be important in the process of sharing values and the validity of a new identity as someone who does hijrah.
However, spiritual passion is often tainted by some people who feel the most righteous, and in the end it gives rise to intolerance. This intolerance is not only aimed at those of different religions, but also towards fellow Muslims of different groups or beliefs. This of course raises the vulnerability to the diversity of religious communities in Indonesia.
In her study, Roosalina found that there are two types of hijrah actors, namely individualists and collectivists. Both are driven by the loss of meaning in life due to the crisis they are experiencing, but adopt different approaches in regaining meaning in life. The individualist type of hijra achieves the meaning of life through fulfilling epistemic needs, while the collectivist type achieves it through social relations and group identity.
Roosalina also involved the participation of the general public to examine the role of collective orientation as a mediator in the development of religious intolerance and group enthusiasm as a connecting factor. The findings showed that uncertainty has an impact on collective orientation that influences the formation of religious intolerance, both on an inter-religious and intra-religious scale. In addition, group enthusiasm can strengthen the effect of collective orientation on inter-religious intolerance.
“We hope that the results of this research can make a significant contribution to understanding spiritual transformation and social dynamics among Muslims in Indonesia. This study can also become the basis for further research on strategies to increase inter-religious tolerance and understanding. What’s more, intolerance often appears in political events in the country, such as regional head elections, general elections or presidential elections which will be held next year,” said Roosalina.
Thanks to her research, Roosalina earned her Doctorate degree from the Faculty of Psychology UI with the title of Very Satisfying. The doctoral promotion session was held in the Auditorium room H building, Faculty of Psychology, UI, last Monday (24/7).