Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-hzqq2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-27T11:31:15.386Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Big Gods: Extended prosociality or group binding?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Luke W. Galen
Luke W. Galen*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49401. galenl@gvsu.edu http://gvsu.edu/psychology/luke-galen-110.htm
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Big Gods are described as having a “prosocial” effect. However, this conflates parochialism (group cohesion) with cooperation extended to strangers or out-group members. An examination of the cited experimental studies indicates that religion is actually associated with increased within-group parochialism, rather than extended or universal prosociality, and that the same general mechanisms underlie both religious and secular effects.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e13
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Chiou, W. B. & Cheng, Y. Y. (2013) In broad daylight, we trust in God! Brightness, the salience of morality, and ethical behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology 36:37–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delhey, J., Newton, K. & Welzel, C. (2011) General is trust in “most people”? Solving the radius of trust problem. American Sociological Review 76:786–807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diener, E. & Wallbom, M. (1976) Effects of self-awareness on anti-normative behavior. Journal of Research in Personality 10:107–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galen, L., Sharp, M. & McNulty, A. (2015) The role of nonreligious group factors versus religious belief in the prediction of prosociality. Social Indicators Research 122:411–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galen, L. W. (2012) Does religious belief promote prosociality? A critical examination. Psychological Bulletin 138:876–906. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gervais, W. M. & Norenzayan, A. (2012a) Like a camera in the sky? Thinking about god increases public self-awareness and socially desirable responding. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48:298–302. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2011.09.006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadnes, M. & Schumacher, H. (2012) The Gods are watching: An experimental study of religion and traditional belief in Burkina Faso. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 51:689–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrell, A. (2012) Do religious cognitions promote prosociality? Rationality and Society 24:463–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKitrick, M., Landres, J. S., Ottoni-Wilhelm, M. & Hayat, A. (2013) Connected to give: Faith communities. Key findings from the national study of American religious giving. Jumpstart Labs.Google Scholar
McNamara, R. A., Norenzayan, A. & Henrich, J. (2016) Supernatural punishment, in-group biases, and material insecurity: Experiments and ethnography from Yasawa, Fiji. Religion, Brain, and Behavior 6(1):34–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pichon, I., Boccato, G. & Saroglou, V. (2007) Nonconscious influences of religion on prosociality: A priming study. European Journal of Social Psychology 37:1032–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pichon, I. & Saroglou, V. (2009) Religion and helping: Impact of target thinking styles and just-world beliefs. Archive for the Psychology of Religion 31:215–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preston, J. L. & Ritter, R. S. (2013) Different effects of religion and God on prosociailty with the ingroup and the outgroup. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 39:1471–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomson, N. D. (2015) Priming social affiliation promotes morality – regardless of religion. Personality and Individual Differences 75:195–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, M. R., Sikkink, D. & Loveland, M. T. (2007) The radius of trust: Religion, social embeddedness and trust in strangers. Social Forces 86:23–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar