Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures

We propose that religion impacts trust and trustworthiness in ways that depend on how individuals are socially identified and connected. Religiosity and religious affiliation may serve as markers for statistical discrimination. Further, affiliation to the same religion may enhance group identity, or...

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Main Authors: Chuah, Swee Hoon, Gaechter, Simon, Hoffmann, Robert, Tan, Jonathan H.W.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41749/
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author Chuah, Swee Hoon
Gaechter, Simon
Hoffmann, Robert
Tan, Jonathan H.W.
author_facet Chuah, Swee Hoon
Gaechter, Simon
Hoffmann, Robert
Tan, Jonathan H.W.
author_sort Chuah, Swee Hoon
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We propose that religion impacts trust and trustworthiness in ways that depend on how individuals are socially identified and connected. Religiosity and religious affiliation may serve as markers for statistical discrimination. Further, affiliation to the same religion may enhance group identity, or affiliation irrespective of creed may lend social identity, and in turn induce taste-based discrimination. Religiosity may also relate to general prejudice. We test these hypotheses across three culturally diverse countries. Participants' willingness to discriminate, beliefs of how trustworthy or trusting others are, as well as actual trust and trustworthiness are measured incentive compatibly. We find that interpersonal similarity in religiosity and affiliation promote trust through beliefs of reciprocity. Religious participants also believe that those belonging to some faith are trustworthier, but invest more trust only in those of the same religion—religiosity amplifies this effect. Across non-religious categories, whereas more religious participants are more willing to discriminate, less religious participants are as likely to display group biases.
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spelling nottingham-417492020-05-04T19:59:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41749/ Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures Chuah, Swee Hoon Gaechter, Simon Hoffmann, Robert Tan, Jonathan H.W. We propose that religion impacts trust and trustworthiness in ways that depend on how individuals are socially identified and connected. Religiosity and religious affiliation may serve as markers for statistical discrimination. Further, affiliation to the same religion may enhance group identity, or affiliation irrespective of creed may lend social identity, and in turn induce taste-based discrimination. Religiosity may also relate to general prejudice. We test these hypotheses across three culturally diverse countries. Participants' willingness to discriminate, beliefs of how trustworthy or trusting others are, as well as actual trust and trustworthiness are measured incentive compatibly. We find that interpersonal similarity in religiosity and affiliation promote trust through beliefs of reciprocity. Religious participants also believe that those belonging to some faith are trustworthier, but invest more trust only in those of the same religion—religiosity amplifies this effect. Across non-religious categories, whereas more religious participants are more willing to discriminate, less religious participants are as likely to display group biases. Elsevier 2016-11 Article PeerReviewed Chuah, Swee Hoon, Gaechter, Simon, Hoffmann, Robert and Tan, Jonathan H.W. (2016) Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures. European Economic Review, 90 . pp. 280-301. ISSN 0014-2921 Religiosity Connectedness Discrimination Trust Experiment http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292116300605 doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.03.008 doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.03.008
spellingShingle Religiosity
Connectedness
Discrimination
Trust Experiment
Chuah, Swee Hoon
Gaechter, Simon
Hoffmann, Robert
Tan, Jonathan H.W.
Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
title Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
title_full Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
title_fullStr Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
title_full_unstemmed Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
title_short Religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
title_sort religion, discrimination and trust across three cultures
topic Religiosity
Connectedness
Discrimination
Trust Experiment
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41749/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41749/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41749/