Belonging To The Same Religion Enhances The Opinion Of Others’ Kindness And Morality

Abstract: Several theories suggest that religion evolved because it enhanced group cooperation; those individuals who professed a common religious belief cooperated better and therefore enhanced their individual fitness. The present experiment tested this hypothesis by asking participants to assess personality characteristics of unknown individuals who either wore a cross pendant, a symbol of Christianity, or a plain chain, using the Evaluation Of Others Questionnaire (EOOQ). The results indicated that participants who scored high on the Doctrinal Orthodoxy subscale of the Religious Orientation Scales gave greater scores to those wearing the cross pendant on the Kindness/Morality subscale of the EOOQ. This result is consistent with others that reported greater cooperation in economic games. However, here, we show that there does not need to be a competitive environment in order to reveal the increased assessment of kindness and morality, suggesting a potential mechanism for the enhanced cooperation seen in the competitive economic games.

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Full Text: http://www.jsecjournal.com/WidmanV3I4.pdf

Authors:  David R. Widman*

Department of Psychology, Juniata College

Katherine E. Corcoran

Department of Psychology, Juniata College

Rachel E. Nagy

Department of Psychology, Juniata College

Full Text: http://www.jsecjournal.com/WidmanV3I4.pdf

Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology

www.jsecjournal.com – 2009, 3(4), 281-289.

Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society

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