Self-reported religiosity predicts prosociality only outside secular Western societies

Evidence

In virtually all of these priming studies, reported religious involvement was unrelated to prosocial tendenies, while religious priming made a substantial difference. In addition, religious involvement was unrelated to helping rates in the Good Samaritan study and similar ones conducted in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Yet several other studies conducted outside North America and Europe, including a fifteen-society comparative investigation, have indeed found a clear link between religious involvement and prosociality. How can we explain this apparent puzzle? — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 186

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: why does self-reported religiosity predict prosocial behavior outside WEIRD societies but not within them? Does this bear on whether Rodrigues’ internalized faith actually altered his conduct?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 186
• XREF: connects to: Religious behavior depends on situational context, observable action, and intergroup competition — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 19; Personal religiosity does not predict generosity in experiments.; Religious identity alone does not make people more charitable (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Religion is historically the primary motivator of prosociality among strangers. #qualifies (0.85)
• Chronic, communal, in-group religious practice drives the prosociality effect #expands (0.82) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 183
• Religious situations boost prosociality more than personal devotion does #corroborates (0.78) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 154