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

Tom Lane

doi:10.1016/j.socec.2020.101625

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

Tom Lane

School of Economics

Research output: Journal Publication › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

29 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Article number	101625
Journal	Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Volume	90
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2020.101625
Publication status	Published - Feb 2021

Keywords

Christianity
Dictator Game
Discrimination
LGBTQ
Pro-sociality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Applied Psychology
General Social Sciences
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1016/j.socec.2020.101625

The effects of Jesus and God on pro-sociality and discriminationAccepted author manuscript, 1.98 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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