Religiosity and resource allocation in Marajó, Brazil

Current research suggests that certain features of religion can harness our sociality in important ways, curbing selfish behavior and/or boosting prosocial behavior. If this is the case, embodied symbols of religious devotion should induce these effects. To test the claim that religious symbolism has an effect on sociality, we conducted the Random Allocation Game with a symbolic prime in Pesqueiro, on the island of Marajó, Brazil, among Christians. Our prime – a Bible and a crucifix pendant – appears to have influenced the allocations made toward distant co-religionists; people who played the game in the prime condition allocated more coins to the distant co-religionist. Additionally, self-reported beliefs about God’s knowledge and punishment had strong effects on fair gameplay across games.