Religion and Honesty; A Randomized Control Trial in Sudan
Presenter
Doctoral Candidate at the School of Information
Abstract
Religion is one of the main constructs that underlie cultural and social norms. It is of special importance to societies, particularly in developing countries (Poushter et al. 2019). Existing research mostly views religion as a black box that promotes either prosocial or antisocial behaviors (Mazar et al. 2008, Shariff & Norenzayan 2007, Ginges et al. 2009, Johnson et al. 2013, & Debono et al. 2016). I propose a randomized control trial to study how religious reminders might have contrasting effects on honest behaviors in Sudan, a predominantly Muslim country. Particularly, I try to answer the following questions; does reminding people with how punishing or forgiving God is have an impact on their honesty? Furthermore, how secular reminders compare to religious ones in promoting honest behaviors is relatively religious societies? Finally, does varying the financial reward for cheating has an effect on these interventions?