Do religious cognitions promote prosociality?

Ashley Harrell

Rationality and Society, 2012, vol. 24, issue 4, 463-482

Abstract: Researchers have long argued that religion increases prosocial behavior, but results are equivocal. Recent findings on priming religious concepts seem to show that religion drives other-regarding behaviors. However, here I suggest that some religious concepts may not only be priming religion, but also anticipated rewards. I present the results of a new experiment that primes reward-related and reward-unrelated religious or secular concepts. Results show that priming reward-related concepts positively impacts prosocial behavior (specifically, generosity), regardless of their religious content. Religious cognitions alone are not sufficient to elicit generosity: reward cognitions must be present as well.

Keywords: Priming; prosocial behavior; religion; rewards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:24:y:2012:i:4:p:463-482

DOI: 10.1177/1043463112463930

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