[2] A sample statement from the scale is "The church is most important as a place to formulate good social relationships".
As more researchers began studying religious orientation, more problems arose with what the Intrinsic and Extrinsic scales were measuring.
They found that extrinsic orientation is positively related to racial or ethnic and gay or lesbian intolerance.
People who measure high in extrinsic religious orientation have a utilitarian approach, view religion as a meaningful source of social status, and conform to popular trends, including prejudice.
The validity of the religious orientation scales has proven debatable, and relationships to prejudice have either supported or refuted Allport and Ross's theories.
Research has found that people who hold an intrinsic religious orientation sincerely believe in and follow the teachings of their religion.
[1] Batson tested this hypothesis by having participants in a study (which they were led to believe was about watching and evaluating a movie) choose whether to sit in a theater with a white person or a black one.
This idea was tested alongside the intrinsic and extrinsic orientations by Batson in his theater experiment (see above).
To summarize Whitley and Kite as well as Batson, quest orientation appears to be a source of "universal love and compassion" that has long been sought by both religious scholars and psychology of religion researchers.
[1][4] Examples of people who have attained a quest orientation are Gautama Buddha, Malcolm X, and Mahatma Gandhi.