# The Influence of Religious Commitment on Social Cognition: An Exploratory Study of Social Representations of Peace Among a Sample of Graduates Cameroonians

## TL;DR

This study explores how religious commitment influences social representations of peace among Cameroonian graduates, finding that unity is central to these representations.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel exploration of social representations of peace through the lens of religious commitment in Cameroon.

## Key findings

- Unity is the most significant factor characterizing peace in social representations.
- No major differences in representations of peace were found between groups with varying levels of religious commitment.
- Proximity to the object is identified as a key factor in constructing social representations of peace in Cameroon.

## Abstract

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 (N = 156). Data collected via free association and characterization questionnaires were submitted to hierarchical and Q-sort analyses. Results indicated that unity 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 proximity to the object is the main factor underlying the construction of social representations of peace in Cameroon.