1,721,011 research outputs found
Perceived moral essentialism as a component of culturally evolved norm psychology: Complex test with real-world data
No full textIt is argued that norm psychology evolved through gene-culture coevolution and currently plays a crucial role in human ability to live in large societies. However, the specific features of norm psychology are not yet fully examined. This paper is focused on the perception of moral essentialism (umbrella term for perceived absolutism, universalism, and objectivism of moral norms). Cultural group selection favors groups with prosocial norms and when these norms are strong and stable, selection favors individuals with norm psychology that helps them to comply with the norms. I investigated whether moral essentialism could be part of such norm psychology in three studies using large-scale datasets from the US. First, Pew Religious Landscapes, Tightness-Looseness index, and FBI Crime Reports show that normatively tighter states in the US have more moral absolutists, and that the percentage of moral absolutists is negatively associated with the number of robberies (N=50). Second, data from World Values Survey suggest that moral absolutists justify transgressions against societal norms less than relativists across the US (N~5000). Finally, data from the National Study of Youth and Religion suggest that moral essentialists in the US benefit by being less likely punished by the local legal system (N~2000).
Please, download Pew data, WVS data, and NSYR data from the links provided in the paper. Other data are included in this repository. Then, run the R codes
The impact of ritual participation on perceived moral objectivity: A longitudinal investigation of the U.S. adolescents
No full textHow people perceive morality plays a crucial role in their behavior and moral decision-making. However, we have little understanding of the factors that drive the perception of morality as objectively existing. This study examines the impact of religion, specifically religious rituals, in promoting the perception of morality as objective. I analyzed two waves (2003, 2013) of the National Study of Youth and Religion to test whether religious participation during respondents’ adolescence predicted their perceived moral objectivity ten years later. Moreover, I estimated the difference in effects for those who anchored moral decision-making on religious and secular grounds. Ritual participation in 2003 was positively associated with moral objectivity in 2013. This association was stronger for respondents who grounded their morality in religion and who had powerful religious experience. The results point to the essential role of adolescence period in forming moral views
Perceived moral essentialism as a component of culturally evolved norm psychology: Complex test with real-world data
No full textIt is argued that norm psychology evolved through gene-culture coevolution and currently plays a crucial role in human ability to live in large societies. However, the specific features of norm psychology are not yet fully examined. This paper is focused on the perception of moral essentialism (umbrella term for perceived absolutism, universalism, and objectivism of moral norms). Cultural group selection favors groups with prosocial norms and when these norms are strong and stable, selection favors individuals with norm psychology that helps them to comply with the norms. I investigated whether moral essentialism could be part of such norm psychology in three studies using large-scale datasets from the US. First, Pew Religious Landscapes, Tightness-Looseness index, and FBI Crime Reports show that normatively tighter states in the US have more moral absolutists, and that the percentage of moral absolutists is negatively associated with the number of robberies (N=50). Second, data from World Values Survey suggest that moral absolutists justify transgressions against societal norms less than relativists across the US (N~5000). Finally, data from the National Study of Youth and Religion suggest that moral essentialists in the US benefit by being less likely punished by the local legal system (N~2000).
Please, download Pew data, WVS data, and NSYR data from the links provided in the paper. Other data are included in this repository. Then, run the R codes
The effect of Covid-19 emergence on religiosity: Evidence from Singapore
No full textHow do people deal with events they cannot control? Religious beliefs and practices are among common responses to uncontrollable situations. We analyze the responses of Singaporeans surveyed between November 2019 and March 2020—just before and just after Covid-19 hit the region—to understand how the beliefs and actions of both religious and non-religious people were affected by the emergence of the previously unknown virus. We find that after the emergence of Covid-19, religious respondents reported significantly higher levels of beliefs and service attendance frequency, while prayer frequency was not affected. We argue that the decrease in perceived controllability over people’s lives explains these results. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the dynamics of religious beliefs and practices during times of uncertainty
Religious costly signal induces more trustworthiness than secular costly signal: A study of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (Preregistration of follow-up study)
No full textPrevious research suggested that costly displays of commitment to group norms increase trust and facilitate cooperation. Such costly displays are characteristic for expressions of religious beliefs, which is tied to religious normative systems. Here, on a sample of more than 1800 participants distributed across five studies, we investigated whether costly behaviors are more effective in promoting trust when integrated within a religious rather than secular context using the Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela as a costly display of commitment. In two field survey investigations (Studies 1A-1B), we show that pilgrims base their pilgrim identity upon the physical effort and overall costliness of the pilgrimage. Next, in three pre-registered experiments with secular and Christian Spaniards, we compared the trustworthiness of Facebook posts relaying participation in the pilgrimage in secular or religious contexts with various control posts. Results showed that the pilgrimage increases trustworthiness as compared with subtle commitment signals and baseline conditions regardless of the secular or religious context (Study 2). However, comparing religious pilgrimage with a secular hike of the same difficulty revealed a greater increase in trustworthiness (as compared to control posts) only in the religious pilgrimage condition (Study 3). In studies 2 and 3, we matched religious participants with religious context and non-believers with secular context because costly signals were argued to serve as coalitional signals locked within the respective groups. The final study showed that the effect of religious pilgrimage extends beyond simply conveying adherence to prosocial norms since this effect was not observed for a pro-environmental hike of similar difficulty as the pilgrimage and that the previous results were not due to religious participants being more sensitive to costly signals in general because we recruited only believers as participants (Study 4). Finally, to complete our investigation, we will conduct a study that will test the effects of religious versus secular costly signals in the sample of both believers and non-believers without matching belief with specific conditions. This study will provide a complex test of our theory
Perceived moral objectivity as a component of norm psychology: The relationship between moral perception and compliance with norms (pre-registration of the additional analysis)
No full textThis is a pre-registration of the additional study to the manuscript titled “Perceived moral essentialism as a component of norm psychology: The relationship between moral perception and compliance with norms”. This archiv includes also the originally submitted manuscript
The effect of Covid-19 emergence on religiosity: Evidence from Singapore
No full textHow do people deal with events they cannot control? Religious beliefs and practices are among common responses to uncontrollable situations. We analyze the responses of Singaporeans surveyed between November 2019 and March 2020—just before and just after Covid-19 hit the region—to understand how the beliefs and actions of both religious and non-religious people were affected by the emergence of the previously unknown virus. We find that after the emergence of Covid-19, religious respondents reported significantly higher levels of beliefs and service attendance frequency, while prayer frequency was not affected. We argue that the decrease in perceived controllability over people’s lives explains these results. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the dynamics of religious beliefs and practices during times of uncertainty
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