The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination

This study contributes to the debate over whether religion is a force for social good or harm. It shows that different belief concepts within the same religion can have different effects on distributive behaviour. A dictator game experiment, with two different charities as potential recipients, meas...

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Main Author: Lane, Tom
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63514/
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author Lane, Tom
author_facet Lane, Tom
author_sort Lane, Tom
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This study contributes to the debate over whether religion is a force for social good or harm. It shows that different belief concepts within the same religion can have different effects on distributive behaviour. A dictator game experiment, with two different charities as potential recipients, measures how priming the concepts of God and Jesus affects both the pro-sociality of Christians and their propensity to discriminate against LGBTQ people, an identity group traditionally opposed by their religion. Priming Jesus significantly raises the amounts Christians give to charity, but priming God has no such effect. Christians are found, at borderline significance, to discriminate against LGBTQ people, but this discrimination does not significantly increase when Jesus or God are primed.
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spelling nottingham-635142020-10-20T02:21:40Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63514/ The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination Lane, Tom This study contributes to the debate over whether religion is a force for social good or harm. It shows that different belief concepts within the same religion can have different effects on distributive behaviour. A dictator game experiment, with two different charities as potential recipients, measures how priming the concepts of God and Jesus affects both the pro-sociality of Christians and their propensity to discriminate against LGBTQ people, an identity group traditionally opposed by their religion. Priming Jesus significantly raises the amounts Christians give to charity, but priming God has no such effect. Christians are found, at borderline significance, to discriminate against LGBTQ people, but this discrimination does not significantly increase when Jesus or God are primed. 2020-09-29 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63514/1/ilovepdf_merged%20%286%29.pdf Lane, Tom (2020) The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics . p. 101625. ISSN 22148043 Christianity; Dictator Game; Pro-sociality; Discrimination; LGBTQ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2020.101625 doi:10.1016/j.socec.2020.101625 doi:10.1016/j.socec.2020.101625
spellingShingle Christianity; Dictator Game; Pro-sociality; Discrimination; LGBTQ
Lane, Tom
The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination
title The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination
title_full The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination
title_fullStr The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination
title_full_unstemmed The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination
title_short The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discrimination
title_sort effects of jesus and god on pro-sociality and discrimination
topic Christianity; Dictator Game; Pro-sociality; Discrimination; LGBTQ
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63514/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63514/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63514/