Burn the Heretic! Hold the Phone! Religious People are Less Altruistic - Trebuchet
Trebuchet News|	07/11/2015| News
Burn the Heretic! Hold the Phone! Religious People are Less Altruistic
Outsourcing the entirety of your ethical values to millennia-old writings and the arbitrary dogma of self-appointed moral custodians lessens your capacity for independent acts of goodwill and makes you more likely to judge and punish others?
Well golly gee, who’da thunk it!
Many families believe religion plays an essential role in childhood moral development. But children of religious parents may not be as altruistic as those parents think, according to a new international study from the University of Chicago published Nov. 5 in Current Biology.
A team of developmental psychologists led by Prof. Jean Decety examined the perceptions and behavior of children in six countries. The study assessed the children’s tendency to share–a measure of their altruism–and their inclination to judge and punish others for bad behavior.
“Our findings contradict the common-sense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind toward others. In our study, kids from atheist and non-religious families were, in fact, more generous,” said Decety, the Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology and Psychiatry and the College and director of the University of Chicago Child NeuroSuite.
The study included 1,170 children between ages 5 and 12, from six countries–Canada, China, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.
For the altruism task, children participated in a version of the “Dictator Game,” in which they were given 10 stickers and provided an opportunity to share them with another unseen child. Altruism was measured by the average number of stickers shared.
Parents completed questionnaires about their religious beliefs and practices and perceptions of their children’s empathy and sensitivity to justice. From the questionnaires, three large groupings were established: Christian, Muslim and not religious. (Children from other religious households did not reach a large enough sample size to be included in additional analyses.)
“Together, these results reveal the similarity across countries in how religion negatively influences children’s altruism. They challenge the view that religiosity facilitates prosocial behavior, and call into question whether religion is vital for moral development–suggesting the secularization of moral discourse does not reduce human kindness. In fact, it does just the opposite,” Decety said.
Source: Eurekalert/University of Chicago
Image: Dan Booth. Not the be reproduced without express prior permission. Fire photo by Janutskas.
ethics religion society
Loitered Lens: Turbowolf
Burn the Heretic! Hold the Phone! Religious People are Less Altruistic - Trebuchet
Trebuchet News|	07/11/2015| News
Burn the Heretic! Hold the Phone! Religious People are Less Altruistic
Outsourcing the entirety of your ethical values to millennia-old writings and the arbitrary dogma of self-appointed moral custodians lessens your capacity for independent acts of goodwill and makes you more likely to judge and punish others?
Well golly gee, who’da thunk it!
Many families believe religion plays an essential role in childhood moral development. But children of religious parents may not be as altruistic as those parents think, according to a new international study from the University of Chicago published Nov. 5 in Current Biology.
A team of developmental psychologists led by Prof. Jean Decety examined the perceptions and behavior of children in six countries. The study assessed the children’s tendency to share–a measure of their altruism–and their inclination to judge and punish others for bad behavior.
“Our findings contradict the common-sense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind toward others. In our study, kids from atheist and non-religious families were, in fact, more generous,” said Decety, the Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology and Psychiatry and the College and director of the Univ
ersity of Chicago Child NeuroSuite.
The study included 1,170 children between ages 5 and 12, from six countries–Canada, China, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.
For the altruism task, children participated in a version of the “Dictator Game,” in which they were given 10 stickers and provided an opportunity to share them with another unseen child. Altruism was measured by the average number of stickers shared.
Parents completed questionnaires about their religious beliefs and practices and perceptions of their children’s empathy and sensitivity to justice. From the questionnaires, three large groupings were established: Christian, Muslim and not religious. (Children from other religious households did not reach a large enough sample size to be included in additional analyses.)
“Together, these results reveal the similarity across countries in how religion negatively influences children’s altruism. They challenge the view that religiosity facilitates prosocial behavior, and call into question whether religion is vital for moral development–suggesting the secularization of moral discourse does not reduce human kindness. In fact, it does just the opposite,” Decety said.
Source: Eurekalert/University of Chicago
Image: Dan Booth. Not the be reproduced without express prior permission. Fire photo by Janutskas.
ethics religion society
Loitered Lens: Turbowolf