Religious Statues affect prosocial behavior: Priming by material artifacts suggesting on social presence affects prosocial behavior
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Decision-making in environments with agency cues is of interest to religious studies scholars because of the potential role of agency cues in inspiring a sense of awe and subsequent social coordination. In a series of experiments disguised as a promotional initiative by a well-known company, we compared the effects of agentic and non-agentic cues on prosocial behaviour. More specifically, visitors to a university library were invited to make private donations to a cause in the presence of either an intentional agentic cue (statue of human face), a non-human intentional agentic cue (statue of an animal face), or a non-agentic cue (a plant). Results suggest that, while intentional agency cues might enhance prosociality, investigations are needed for potential parallel effects of crowds and of cue typicality in the chosen setting. |
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