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Do religious contexts elicit more trust and altruism? An experiment on Facebook

Author

Listed:
  • Bradley J. Ruffle

    (Department of Economics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

  • Richard Sosis

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut)

Abstract

We design a decision-making scenario experiment on Facebook to measure subjects’ altruism and trust toward attendees of a religious service, a fitness class and a local music performance. Secular and religious subjects alike display significantly more altruism and trust toward the synagogue attendees than participants at the other two venues. By all measures of religiosity, even the most secular subjects behave more prosocially in the religious venue than in the comparable non-religious settings. We also find that secular subjects are just as altruistic toward synagogue and prayer group members as religious subjects are. These findings support recent theories that emphasize the pivotal role of religious context in arousing high levels of prosociality among those who are religious. Finally, our results offer startlingly little evidence for the widely documented religious-secular divide in Israel.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradley J. Ruffle & Richard Sosis, 2010. "Do religious contexts elicit more trust and altruism? An experiment on Facebook," Working Papers 1002, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1002
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    File URL: http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/humsos/Econ/Workingpapers/1002.pdf
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Some benefits of religion
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2013-02-10 19:54:16

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    Cited by:

    1. Czerniak, Adam, 2010. "Symptomy kryzysu globalnego a etyka gospodarcza religii światowych. Analiza porównawcza bankowości islamskiej i bankowości klasycznej w kontekście kryzysu finansowego [The differences between the c," MPRA Paper 26971, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Anja Koebrich Leon & Christian Pfeifer, 2013. "An Empirical Note on Religiosity and Social Trust using German Survey Data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 753-763.
    3. Miao, Shuchao & Chi, Jing & Liao, Jing & Qian, Long, 2021. "How does religious belief promote farmer entrepreneurship in rural China?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 95-104.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    religion; trust; altruism; religious context; religious-secular conflict;
    All these keywords.

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